Suspected terrorist attack on Russian train injures one

Source: Xinhua

MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- A bomb exploded on railway tracks in northern Russia Tuesday, injuring a train driver, with local media reporting it as suspected terrorism.
The blast, equivalent to 200 to 400 grams of TNT, hit an inspection locomotive on the outskirts of the northwestern city of St. Petersburg, damaging a meter of the track.
The regional transport prosecutors' office blamed terrorists for the explosion.
"We are considering this as an act of terrorism. This is the main theory," Anatoly Kvashnin, head of the office, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Last November, a bomb attack derailed a Russian express train en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing 27 people.

Deadly blast hits Iraq pilgrims

Source : Al jazera

The pilgrims were travelling through Baghdad on the way to Karbala when the blast struck [AFP]   At least 54 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in an attack by a suspected female suicide bomber in Baghdad, an interior ministry official has said. The attack took place on Monday amid a procession by Shia Muslims who were on a pilgrimage to the southern city of Karbala, 80km southwest of the Iraqi capital, for the religious rite of Arbaeen. Major-General Qassim Atta, the spokesman for the Baghdad operational command, said: "At 11.45am (0845 GMT), a woman wearing an explosives-filled belt blew herself up in the middle of a crowd of pilgrims going to Karbala." Iraqi authorities lack enough policewomen to conduct searches at most checkpoints, and security forces have been reluctant to use bomb-sniffing dogs against people because of cultural sensitivities. "We informed all checkpoints to be careful and to intensify the search procedures,'' Atta said. Hundreds of thousands of worshippers, beating their heads and chests in ritual mourning, pour into Karbala for the rite, many walking for hundreds of kilometres. Several hours later a roadside bomb in the district of Doura, in southern Baghdad, wounded 12 pilgrims, an interior ministry source said. Shia rite Arbaeen is a Shia religious observation that occurs 40 days after the Day of Ashoura, the commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. Thousands of troops and police have been deployed to protect worshippers as they walk towards the Imam Hussein shrine. During a pilgrimage last February, a female suicide bomber attacked a tent filled with women and children resting during the walk to Karbala, killing 40 people and wounding 60 others. A month before that, a suicide bomber dressed in women's clothing and hiding among Iranian pilgrims killed more than three dozen people outside a mosque in Baghdad's Shia neighbourhood of Kazimiyah. Saad Muttalibi, an adviser to the Iraqi council of ministers, told Al Jazeera that protecting the large number of pilgrims was always going to be a challenging task. "It is almost impossible to protect six million civilians," he said referring to the pilgrims. "The problem that we have is that the Americans have released a number of prisoners from their prisons straight into society without allowing the Iraqi government to do further interrogations to check to the validity of their innocence. "The other problem is that the Iraqi security forces are not doing enough in combating terrorism in harder way."

Female Suicide Bomber Hits Iraqi Pilgrims

A female suicide bomber walking among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad detonated an explosives belt on Monday, killing at least 46 people and wounding more than 122, officials said. (1 February 2010)

Authorities probe reports of Taliban leader's death

Source: Gulf news

Militants claim Hakimullah Mehsud is alive and well

• By Mohsin Ali, Correspondent
• Published: 00:00 February 1, 2010
• 

• Pakistan Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud (left) places his arm around Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud during a news conference in South Waziristan on May 24, 2008.
• Image Credit: Reuters

Islamabad: The state-run Pakistan television (PTV) claimed Sunday that Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud had died of wounds suffered in a January 14 US drone missile strike and secretly buried by his loyalists.
However, Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said they were trying to verify the report while the Taliban denied the claim.
Reports of Mehsud's death first came to light after the drone strike on January 14 on his hideout in an area between North and South Waziristan. Within days the Taliban provided to media an audio recording of Mehsud.
He had taken over the command of banned Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following the death of its chief Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in August last year in South Waziristan.
The PTV report, quoting unidentified local sources, said Mehsud died on January 28 and was buried in a village in the Orakzai tribal area.
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told a foreign news agency by telephone that the Taliban chief was "alive and safe".
"The purpose of stories regarding his death is to create differences among Taliban ranks but such people will never succeed," the TTP spokesman said.
Major-General Abbas said the army had no information from its sources either to confirm or deny the report of Mehsud's death.
"We have these reports coming to us. We are investigating whether it is true or wrong," army spokesman Abbas told The Associated Press.
"We are investigating whether it is true or wrong."
Interior Minister Rahman Malek told private television channel ARY News that the government was also trying to verify the report.
"We [have been] hearing this news for so many days. We have received [the] news from various sources that he has been killed," Malek said.
"But I will say that we have no verifiable information from which we can confirm that he is dead, but the local elders and local population, they are saying that he has been buried."
Mehsud recently appeared in a video alongside a Jordanian man alleged to have later killed seven CIA agents in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Analysts here forecast that splits and in-fighting would hit the TTP in case of Hakimullah's disappearance from the scene.
The army has already seized all bases of the TTP in South Waziristan and claims to have killed nearly 2,000 militants and made them flee to other areas in the tribal territory straddling the border with Afghanistan.
The TTP and its allied extremist groups in Punjab province of Pakistan have been carrying out suicide attacks in retaliation to the army crackdown, first in Swat region and then in South Waziristan.
In the latest incident a bomber blew himself up at a security check-post at Khar, the town in Bajaur tribal district on Saturday, killing 17 people.
Crucial victory
Mehsud's death would be an important success for both Pakistan, which has been battling the Pakistani Taliban, and the United States, which blames Mehsud for a recent deadly bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan.
A tribal elder told the AP that he attended Mehsud's funeral in the Mamuzai area of Orakzai on Thursday. He said Mehsud was buried in a Mamuzai graveyard after he died at his in-laws' home. The elder spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Taliban.
Pakistani intelligence officials have said that Mehsud was targeted in a US drone strike in South Waziristan on January 14, triggering rumours that he had been injured or killed.

Gun attack at Mexico student party leaves 13 dead

Source: BBC

Gunmen kill partygoers in Mexico

Gunmen have killed 13 people at a high school student party in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez.

Two adults and 11 teenagers died, while about two dozen others were injured, as the attackers fired indiscriminately on partygoers, according to reports.
It was not immediately clear if anyone at the party was linked to the drug gangs that have made Ciudad Juarez one of the world's most dangerous cities.
At least 15 other people died in the city, on the US border, at the weekend.
Witnesses said the gunmen drove up to the house in several cars late on Saturday or in the early hours of Sunday.
Scattered bodies
They began shooting at people from outside the property before moving inside, and pursued some of the youngsters trying to escape over a fence.

The men drove up in four SUVs, went into the house and shot at everyone, you could hear the gunfire all around Neighbour Q&A: Mexico's drug-fuelled violence

The bodies of the victims - whose ages reportedly ranged from 15 to 20 - lay scattered around the house.
Unnamed police officials told AP news agency that witnesses had counted at least 15 attackers.
"The men drove up in four SUVs, they were well-armed. They went into the house and shot at everyone, you could hear the gunfire all around," said a neighbour at the scene, quoted by Reuters news agency.
Ciudad Juarez, straddling a highly lucrative drug-smuggling route into the US, is the scene of a vicious ongoing turf war between rival cartels.

The victims' ages reportedly ranged from 15 to 20

Some 45,000 troops and extra police have been deployed to crack down on the gangs in the city, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
But the campaign has done little to curb the bloodletting - more than 7,000 people reportedly died in Mexican drug-related violence last year.
Beheadings, attacks on police, and shootings in clubs and restaurants are a daily occurrence in some regions.
In two of the worst attacks in 2009, gunmen stormed drug rehabilitation clinics in September, killing nearly 30 people.

Taliban denies leader is dead

Source: Al jazeera

Hakimullah Mehsud, left, was previously reported killed on January 14 [File: EPA] The Pakistani Taliban has dismissed reports on state television suggesting that Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the group, had been killed and subsequently buried. Pakistani televsion said on Sunday that Mehsud died in an attack by a US drone some time in the past two weeks, but the Tehrik-e-Taliban were quick to respond. "There has been a call to a local television station and Qari Hussein, a senior commander of the Pakistani Taliban, is said to have denied reports of the death of Hakimullah Mehsud," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said. "There is no concrete evidence to suggest that Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, but there is also some suspicion because there has been no video message to prove that he is alive." The AFP news agency reported that a senior Taliban spokesman had said that Mehsud was "alive and safe". "The purpose of stories regarding his death is to create differences among Taliban ranks, but such people will never succeed," Azam Tariq was quoted as saying. "People who are saying that Hakimullah has died should provide proof of it - we have already proved that he is alive and we have provided two audio tapes of him to all the media." Drone attacks There was previously speculation that the Pakistani Taliban leader had been killed on January 14, but within days two audio tapes purporting to be recorded by Mehsud were released dismissing the claims. in depth   Pakistani Taliban says leader alive   CIA attack 'revenge for Mehsud'   Blog: Hakimullah Mehsud - dead or alive?   Focus: Pakistan, another bloody year?   Riz Khan: Is Pakistan heading towards civil war? Taliban spokesmen admitted that Mehsud had been in the Shaktoi area where the suspected US drones launched the attack, but said he left about an hour beforehand. It was not clear if the reports on Pakistani television were suggesting that Mehsud had died from injuries sustained in the January 14 raid or whether he had been hit in a subsequent attack. At least 10 other Taliban fighters reportedly died in the January 14 attack. The Pakistani military said that it was investigating the claims on Saturday. "So far, we haven't received any confirmation from our sources," General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani military spokesperson, told Al Jazeera. However, he said that the military had succeeded in severely reducing the Tehrik-e-Taliban's ability to operate. "We have kicked them out of their base in South Waziristan and there is a complete disconnect from the various sections of this organisation. "They have been demoralised, partly dismantled, partly defeated, and in great disarray, so this a great success." Taliban succession Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban, died last August but it took the Taliban a number of weeks to admit that he had been hit in the missile strike which killed him. Al Jazeera's Hyder said that if Hakimullah Mehsud's death was confirmed it would be likely to damage the organisational structure of the Tehrik-e-Taliban. "Indeed it will be a very difficult thing for them to recover if they were to lose two so important leaders in quick succession," he said. "The Americans have intensified the drone attacks, particularly after the attack ... on the CIA operatives in Khost." Mehsud appeared in a video left by the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA operatives in the attack across the border in Afghanistan on December 30. Talat Massood, a military analyst and former Pakistani general, told Al Jazeera that the Tehrik-e-Taliban were under pressure from the Pakistani army. "There are immense pressures on them and Pakistan has been fairly successful in regaining the territory that was held by them," he said. "They were on the run, they were on the defensive and if their leadership has been eliminated, I think that the Pakistani military and other forces fighting them have a clear advantage.

Taliban fighters attack Afghan city

Source: Al jazeera

Afghan security forces trapped the Taliban fighters in an empty building in Lashkar Gah

Afghan troops, backed by Nato helicopters, have clashed with Taliban fighters after they attacked United Nations and government buildings in Helmand province, witnesses and officials said.

The battle lasted eight hours after Taliban fighters launched the assault in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of the southern region, early on Friday.
Provincial officials said at least five attackers were killed and four Afghan soldiers had been injured in the fighting.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said seven fighters, armed with suicide vests and machine guns, had been sent to carry out the attack.
He said that 20 foreign and Afghan soldiers were killed or wounded, but Nato said no deaths had been reported on the pro-government side.
Kamal Uddin, the deputy provincial police chief, said no civilian casualties had
been reported.
Fighters disguised
Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from the capital, Kabul, said fighters had stormed various points in the city.

"Attack helicopters are over the city and have fired upon insurgents" International Security Assistance Forces (Isaf) statement

"Apparently they were dressed in either Afghan national army uniforms or police uniforms. Several explosions have been heard," he said. Nato said its troops and Afghan soldiers had contained the Taliban fighters in an empty building.

"We cleared the building just minutes ago and all the enemy elements were killed," General Shair Mohammad Zazai, the southern military commander, said after the fighting ended.
  
"We have collected five bodies of the militants and the building is under our total control," he told the AFP news agency.
Taliban assaults

Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial government, said officials had received tips in recent days that the Taliban planned an attack on government buildings in Lashkar Gah.
The Taliban have attempted similar attacks in Kabul, most recently on January 18 when seven attackers were killed after a five-hour assault.
Five Afghan civilians and security forces also died in that fighting.
The Helmand assault comes a day after a new fund aimed at reducing the Taliban threat was announced in an international conference on the future of Afghanistan held in London.
The fund sets aside $140m for the first year of a programme to "reintegrate" moderate Taliban into the Afghan society.

The Taliban released a statement dismissing the initiative as  "futile", but a UN official revealed that "active members of the  insurgency" had met an envoy from the international body early this month at their request.

Secret 'Taliban talks' in Maldives

Source: Al jazeera

It's a controversial idea that some say is the only way to bring peace to Afghanistan ... How to convince members of the Taliban to put down their guns, and bring them into the political fold. Al Jazeera has learned that secret talks were held last week on the Maldives Islands between a government official, Afghan MPs and an armed opposition group fighting alongside the Taliban. An ambitious plan is under way to get fighters lay down their arms in return for money and jobs. David Chater has this exclusive report.

Execution 'likely' for 9/11 suspect

Source: Al Jazeera

The mayor of New York said the trial of suspected 9/11 plotters should be moved out of the city [AFP]

Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, has said the man accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States is likely to be executed following his trial.
"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ... will be brought to justice and he's likely to be executed for the heinous crimes he committed," Gibbs said in an interview with the CNN news network on Sunday.
John Terrett, Al Jazeera's Washington correspondent, said the comment has a lot to do with the first amendment of the US constitution which guarantees free speech.
"You see this all the time in the middle of a trial and in this case before a trial, people talk quite openly on television about a person’s guilt, politicians and prosecutors as well, they lay a case out against somebody live on TV.
"Seen from another jurisdiction [outside the US] this seems very odd. I think Robert Gibbs was technically wrong to talk in the way he did today because obviously the trial isn't under way and he does not know."
Trial location
Gibbs did not confirm reports that Barack Obama, the US president, had begun looking for places other than New York to prosecute Mohammed, and four men accused of being co-conspirators of the 2001 attacks, in the face of criticism over security and costs.
"We are talking with the authorities in New York. We understand their logistical concerns," Gibbs said.
"We will work with them and come to a solution that we think will bring about justice."
Critics have said the government's plan to try the suspects just blocks from where the World Trade Centre stood before the 2001 attacks, would require a large security cordon, hurt businesses in the area and give the defendants certain legal rights in criminal court.
On Saturday, Dean Boyd, a US justice department spokesman, said: "We're considering our options."
The New York Times and the Washington Post newspapers have both reported that the lower Manhattan courthouse is out of the running for the trial, citing unnamed administration officials.
Contingency options
"Conversations have occurred with the administration to discuss contingency options should the possibility of a trial in lower Manhattan be foreclosed upon by congress or locally," an Obama administration official was quoted as saying.
It was not clear what other venues are under consideration.
Al Jazeera's Terrett said originally New Yorkers and their mayor were behind the trial taking place there but over time they started to feel differently.
"Only last Wednesday Mayor Bloomberg said 'we don't want the trial'," Terrett said.
"Now you have towns like Newburgh which is in New York upstate from the city saying they would like it because it would bring business into their area.
"They could choose many of the military bases around the city, such as the military academy of West Point, north of New York. My understanding is that it would still be a civilian court convened on the military base."
One Obama administration official told the Reuters news agency that "no decision has been made" on the venue
Nearly 3,000 people were killed at the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon in Virginia and in a field in Pennsylvania during the co-ordinated attacks.

Bomber attacks Pakistan checkpoint

Source: Al Jazeera

More than 750 people have been killed in over 80 drone attacks in Pakistan since August 2008 [AFP] At least 16 people, mainly civilians, have been killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, officials said. Soldiers were searching the bomber when he detonated his device in Khar, the main town in the Bajaur tribal region, on Saturday. "The death toll has gone up to 16 including two paramilitary soldiers," Iqbal Khattak, a senior administration official, said. Another 23 people were wounded, with six in a critical condition. "I suspect the number of dead might go up as many of the wounded are in critical condition," Fazl-e-Rabi, a police official, told the Reuters news agency. The bomber was apparently making his way to nearby government buildings and military barracks when he was stopped by soldiers. The checkpoint is in the town's main bazaar, three vehicles and four shops were destroyed in the bombing, Khattak said. Air attacks The suicide attack came a day after Pakistani security forces killed 24 suspected fighters in air attacks and clashes in the town of Chinar, also in the district of Bajaur. in depth   Focus: Pakistan, another bloody year?   Riz Khan: Is Pakistan heading towards civil war?   Blog: Return to the Swat Valley One paramilitary soldier was killed and three others wounded in the clashes. Also on Friday a suspected US drone fired three missiles in North Waziristan killing at least nine people. Missiles hit a compound alleged to be used by Taliban fighters in the town of Muhammad Khel. The identities of those killed in the attack were not immediately known. The targeted compound was said to be a centre for local Taliban and was also a base for fighters belonging to the Haqqani network, which is known for staging attacks on US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. Previous raids A series of drone raids have been carried out this month in North Waziristan, home to fighters loyal to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network. A number of US raids in early January are reported to have targeted Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. He was initially reported dead, but an audio recording purportedly carrying a message from Mehsud dispelled rumours of his death and vowed revenge for the drone programme. The US never confirms drone attacks, but its forces in neighbouring Afghanistan and the Central Intelligence Agency are the only ones known to use the unmanned aircraft capable of firing missiles. The attacks have often resulted in civilian deaths, stirring anger among Pakistanis and even bolstering support for the Taliban and anti-US sentiment. More than 750 people have been killed in over 80 drone attacks in Pakistan since August 2008.

Bin Laden deplores climate change

Source: Al jazeera

The new tape is the second from the al-Qaeda leader to be released in the last week

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change.
In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations.
"This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions - whether intentionally or unintentionally - and about the action we must take," bin Laden said.
"Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury - the phenomenon is an actual fact."
The tape follows one released earlier this week in which the al-Qaeda leader praised a Nigerian man accused of a failed attempt to blow up an airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas Day.
'Grave repercussions'
In the new recording, bin Laden says "all the industrial states" are to blame for climate change, "yet the majority of those states have signed the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to curb the emission of harmful gases".

"Noam Chomsky was correct when he compared the US policies to those of the Mafia" Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader

He continued: "However, George Bush junior, preceded by [the US] congress, dismissed the agreement to placate giant corporations. And they are themselves standing behind speculation, monopoly and soaring living costs. "They are also behind 'globalisation and its tragic implications'. And whenever the perpetrators are found guilty, the heads of state rush to rescue them using public money."
The Kyoto Protocol, a UN treaty aimed at combating global warming, was adopted in December 1997 and has since been ratified by 187 states, but not by the US congress.
Although a signatory to the agreement, the US under Bush refused to ratify the treaty, saying that it should contain binding goals for developing countries to reduce emissions as well as those for industrialised nations.
Targeting US dollar
In the new recording, bin Laden said: "Noam Chomsky [the US academic and political commentator] was correct when he compared the US policies to those of the Mafia. They are the true terrorists and therefore we should refrain from dealing in the US dollar and should try to get rid of this currency as early as possible.
"I am certain that such actions will have grave repercussions and huge impact."
While continuing to attack America, bin Laden's comments mark a shift from his earlier, more regionally focused commentary.
In his previous tape, bin Laden warned that there would be further attacks on the US unless Barack Obama, the current US president, took steps to resolve the Palestinian conflict.
The Obama administration dismissed bin Laden's comments on the earlier tape and said intelligence analysts had not confirmed that the voice was that of bin Laden.

Day 2 of violence claims 10 more lives

Source: Daily times

Sunday, January 31, 2010

By Faraz Khan

KARACHI: As many as 10 people were killed in separate parts of the city on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 12 in the violent events that started the previous night.

According to details, tension sparked off Friday night when activists of the Awami National Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement clashed over ‘wall-chalking’ in Qasba Colony, resulting in the death of one activist each of both parties.

The violent incidents continued on Saturday, especially in Orangi Town where at least seven people were killed - bringing the death toll to nine in the town - while three others were slain in different parts of Karachi.

In an incident of violence, Rasool Khan - a rickshaw driver by profession - was gunned down near Qasba Morr in Orangi Town by unidentified suspects who opened fire on him when he was waiting for passengers. The culprits then easily managed to escape from the crime scene.

According to a press release issued by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Khan was their party member. However, ANP had earlier claimed his affiliation with their party.

In another incident, a young man, apparently a Pukhtoon, was killed near the 1-C bus stop in Orangi Town in Peerabad police station limits.

Also in Orangi Town, the bodies of two young men, apparently Pukhtoon, were found from the Shadab Ground. One of the victims was identified as Badshah Khan while the other was yet to be identified until the filing of this report.

According to the police officials, the men were killed after being kidnapped and culprits had gunned them down after subjecting them to torture.

Following this incident, 40-year-old Toti Khan was killed while his companion Gul Khan wounded when people carrying weapons restored to firing at a high-roof near the mobile market in Orangi Town in Mominabad police station limits.

Also in Mominabad police station limits, another man was killed whose identity was yet to be ascertained until the filing of this report.

Naik Mohammad, apparently a Pukhtoon, was also shot dead in Orangi Town police station limits.

Three other people who were killed in separate parts of the city included Sajid Ahsan, Fahim Baig and Sajid Umer.

Sajid Ahsan, 22 - an employee of a private news channel and also said to be affiliated with the MQM - was killed in Sharifabad police station limits.

Fahim Baig was gunned down while his friend Mansoor wounded in the Sultanabad area in Manghopir police station limits.

The police have termed the incident as a business dispute.

Sajid Omer - a former member of the group of Lyari’s gangster Rehman Dakait - was found dead from the Usmanabad area in Kalakot police station limits.

According to some reports, people carrying weapons torched at least three vehicles - including a passenger bus - on Saturday night in Tauheed Colony in Mominabad police station limits.

Intense firing gripped Aligarh Colony, Qasba Colony, Gabol Colony, Bukhari Colony and Kati Pahari areas, creating panic and fear among the residents.

The bodies of the people killed in Orangi Town were brought to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where an angry mob chanted slogans and blocked the roads in protest.

Incidents of firing continued in various areas of Orangi Town where businesses were closed down and the streets were deserted as the residents were confined to their homes.

It is pertinent to mention here that at least 42 people were killed in the five-day carnage earlier this month and later it ended after the two big political party’s leadership negotiated with each other over the issue but it again escalated.

Law enforcers have been unable to stop the bloodbath and make any arrests in this regard. Moreover, the police have been unable to ascertain the actual cause of the incident and unsurprisingly have been trying to change the nature of the violence by giving flimsy excuses.

Meanwhile, as a routine practice, government officials have also issued their statements in this regard.

Taking notice of the recent wave of target killings in the city, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has and directed Capital City Police Officer Waseem Ahmed to control the tense situation in the city.

He called on him to provide security to common people and demanded immediate arrests of the miscreants.

Karachi shooting tally mounts to 12, injures 15

Source: The news
Updated at: 0500 PST, Sunday, January 31, 2010

KARACHI: The death tally in Karachi target killing shooting incidents has mounted to 12 persons and wounded 15 in last 36 hours.

The spate of firing, commenced in Orangi Town and Qasba Colony localities on Friday night, is still in progress with regular intervals while police claimed the firing incident sprouted when unknown assailants gunned down two political activists in Qasba Colony on Friday night which was followed by series of shooting and target killing incidents in other parts also.

The deceased were Sharif Khan of the ANP and Mohammed Javed of the MQM.

On Saturday morning, armed men forced the closure of shops in Orangi Town, Peerabad, Qasba Colony, Paposh Nagar, Kali Pehari and Banaras areas. They also torched a mini-bus and resorted to aerial firing.

SHO Orangi Town Matiur Rehman said that on Saturday afternoon armed men opened indiscriminate fire in Bukhari Colony, injuring five persons. They were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries. Three of them were identified as Awal Khan, Saeed Baadshah and Rasool Khan. The sources said the deceased were labourers and had no political affiliation.

In Mominabad, armed men attacked a Hi-roof van, killing one person and injuring another. SHO Mominabad Shabbir Ahmed said the deceased was Tooti Khan while the injured person was identified as Raaz Mohammad.

He said Tooti Khan, resident of Sohrab Goth and a trader by profession, had come to Mominabad, along with his colleague Raaz Mohammad, to purchase steel. When he reached Mominabad No-5, armed men stopped his car and opened indiscriminate fire on them. Raaz Mohammed is said to be out of danger.

Meanwhile, an employee of a private TV channel was killed in the Sharifabad police limits. SHO Sharifabad Aqeel said Sajid Ali was present outside the house of his uncle in the Liaquatabad Furniture Market, when gunmen shot him dead. Sajid received a bullet on his head.

Another person, Naek Zada, was gunned down in the C-1 area of Orangi Town. Police said the deceased was not affiliated with any political party.

Besides, armed men torched a mini-bus in Orangi Town. According to the fire office, a mini-bus of route G-7, bearing registration number JE-3407, was torched in Sector-11L, Orangi Town. A fire tender was immediately sent to extinguish the fire, but the mini-bus was completely burnt.

Israel: Slain Hamas Commander Was Top Weapons Smuggler

Source: VOA

The killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai prompts threats from Hamas, increases tension between Israel and the Palestinians and could hamper efforts to free a captive Israeli soldier 

31 January 2010

Photo: AP

The father of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was recently killed, holds up a family photo showing al-Mabhouh (C) at their home in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 29 Jan 2010

Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are trading accusations and threats after the killing of a top Hamas commander in the United Arab Emirates. 

Israeli officials say a Hamas commander who was found dead in the Persian Gulf city state of Dubai played a central role in smuggling weapons from Iran to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.  But officials stopped short of confirming Hamas allegations that Israel's Mossad spy agency assassinated the commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Hamas released news of the alleged assassination on Friday, though the incident occurred nine days earlier.  The group admitted that al-Mabhouh had played a key role in supplying weapons and money to his native Gaza from his base in Syria.  Hamas, which rules Gaza, promised revenge for the killing at the appropriate time and place.

According to various Palestinian accounts, al-Mabhouh was poisoned, electrocuted or strangled by Israeli agents.  Hamas suggested the assassins accompanied Israeli Cabinet Minister Uzi Landau, who visited the United Arab Emirates several days before the killing.

But at Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Landau said that is nonsense.

He said he was in Abu Dhabi for an international conference, and the Hamas claims that he was accompanied by Mossad agents come from a "wild Oriental imagination."

Cabinet Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said regardless of what happened in Dubai, terrorists should beware.

He said "anyone who raises a hand against the Jews must know that he is risking his own life."

Another minister referred to an old Jewish adage, that if your enemy comes to kill you, kill him first.  

Karzai rejects Taliban conditions

Source: VOA

The Taliban says it is willing to hold talks only if foreign forces leave the country first [AFP]

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said Taliban fighters should drop their demand that US and Nato forces must leave Afghanistan before reconciliation talks can be held.

Karzai said on Sunday that talks would make it easier for troops to leave, adding that he was hoping to launch a peace initiative this year.
At a conference on Afghanistan in London last week, Karzai called on tribal and ethnic leaders to take part in a "loya jirga" - or assembly of elders - as a start to peace talks and announced an international fund to reward Taliban fighters who disarmed.

However, Taliban commanders dismissed the initiative, saying that they were only willing to hold talks only if the more than 110,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan withdraw.
Karzai said the Taliban's insistence on a withdrawal of Western troops before any talks was "not a meaningful gesture".

"The international community is here for success in defeat of terrorism, success in the defeat of extremism," Karzai told a news conference.
"Therefore, they have to be satisfied that they have achieved their objective before they can leave."

'Peace and security'

The US is sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan this year, while other nations are set to contribute 7,000 extra soldiers, to try to turn the tide in the war with the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

in depth

Inside Story: Is 'Afghanisation' possible?   Video: Taliban payout could be unpopular   Video: Afghan villages form local militias   Focus: Making room for the Taliban   Video: Secret 'Taliban talks' in Maldives   Your Views: Is it time to cut a deal with the Taliban?   Talking to the Taliban   Timeline: Afghanistan in crisis

Washington has said that it then wants to begin drawing down its forces in mid-2011.

At the London conference, Karzai said that Kabul and its international backers would concentrate of wooing his "disenchanted brothers" who were fighting for money rather than ideology.

He said that he was been hoping that the leaders of anti-government groups would be removed from international "terrorist" blacklists to pave the way for talks.

The United Nations removed five names last week, but none of them were senior Taliban figures. "We as Afghans are trying our best to reach as high as possible to bring peace and security to Afghanistan, but it has an international aspect as well. It is a bit more complicated," he said.

Karzai said he would convene the jirga in less than six weeks, before another international conference he intends to host in Kabul, the capital, some time in the next few months.
The Afghan president has consistently made overtures to the Taliban, and the West has been increasingly supportive of proposals to lure fighters back into the political process in a bid to end years of fighting in a war now into its ninth year.

Yemen Truce Offers Greeted With Suspicion

Source: VOA
31 January 2010

Meantime, fighting breaks out just day after the leader of the Shi'ite rebels in northern Yemen said he wants an end to the clashes, and accepts the government's terms for a cease-fire. 

 

Yemen's government says its troops have killed 20 members of the northern Houthi insurgency.  The latest clashes come as both the government and rebels offer conditions for ending the nearly six-year conflict.

Yemen media report fighting in the northern provinces of Malahidh and Saada.

Government officials say they are rejecting the latest Houthi offer to accept the government's ceasefire plan because the rebels failed to agree to all the terms.

A statement Saturday attributed to rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said his fighters would accept five of the government's demands.

The message, posted on the internet, said the rebels wanted the bloodshed to end, and called on the government to place national interests first.

Government officials said the Houthis failed to say they would stop their attacks against Saudi forces across the Yemen border.  Last week, the rebels announced a cross-border truce, but Saudi officials said rebel snipers remained on their territory.

Shi'ite Houthi rebels have complained that Yemen's central government discriminates against them.  A variant of that refrain is echoed in the south, where a secessionist movement is strong.

Foreign powers have been paying increasing attention to the poorest Arab nation, where they argue the chaos is making it easier for al-Qaida militants to set up base.

Yemen offers ceasefire to rebels

Source: Al jazeera

Abdel Malik al-Houthi says he would accept conditions after the fighting stops, and not before [AFP]  Yemen's national defence council has said the army could stop its offensive against al-Houthi rebels in the north of the country if they end all hostilities. The council, which is chaired by Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, issued a statement on Sunday which said there was "no obstacle" to ending military operations. But the offer would only come into effect if Abdel Malik al-Houthi, the rebel commander, complied with six conditions set out for the proposed ceasefire. These conditions include removing checkpoints, ending banditry, handing over all captured military equipment, releasing goverment troops and officals as well as an end to all attacks on the Saudi Arabian military and territory. The renewed offer of ceasefire was made even as Yemeni soldiers clashed with rebels in the northern provinces of Malahidh and Saada, killing 20 people, state media reported on Sunday. On Saturday, al-Houthi released an audio message via the internet in which he advised the government not to allow the conflict to be used by "international and regional forces" as an excuse to drag Yemen into a wider war. "It was these forces and the stupidity of the government that led them to launch attacks on its own people," he said. "Nevertheless, and for the fourth time, I announce our acceptance of the five conditions [for an end to the conflict] after the aggression stops ... the ball is now in the other party's court." Sixth condition However, al-Houthi did not address the sixth condition, the ending of attacks on Saudi Arabia, which the government in Sanaa added after Riyadh launched an assault against the rebels in November. In depth   Profile: Yemen's Houthi fighters   Inside story: Yemen's future   Riz Khan: Yemen, a failed state?   Video: Yemen's tough al-Qaeda challenge   In depth: Yemen's future "This is a key demand we cannot make concessions on," Tarek al-Shami, a spokesman for Yemen's ruling party, told journalists on Sunday. And Mohammed Qubaty, a member of Yemen's ruling party, said al-Houthi's offer was ambigious. "From one side, they ignore one of the six conditions ... from the other, he makes no reference to implementation of the other five conditions. "They say they accept them, but want to start a dialogue about implementing them, while the government wants them to get on with implementation immediately", Qubaty said. " "I think the rebels are cornered now and are trying to buy time." Saudi perspective A Saudi military source told Reuters news agency that rebel snipers were still crossing the border into Saudi territory and exchanging fire with Saudi troops, nearly a week after the rebels said they would withdraw from Saudi territory. Al-Houthi had announced on January 25 that his fighters were pulling out of Saudi Arabia, but with the warning that "if the Saudi regime maintains its aggression after this initiative, it would be showing that its intention is not to defend its territory, but to invade our borders". The Saudi government said it was they who had driven the rebels out of the border region. "They did not withdraw. They were forced out," Prince Khalid bin Sultan, the Saudi deputy defence minister, said. And in order for Saudi Arabia to accept the Houthi ceasefire, Sultan said the rebels must create a 10km buffer zone between them and the border, agree to let Yemen’s military to take up positions along it, and return six captured Saudi soldiers. The Houthis have been engaged in sporadic fighting with government forces since 2004, in a war they say is to defend their community against discrimination and the aggression of local government representatives in the northern Saada province. The latest stage of the conflict broke out on August 11, when the military launched "Operation Scorched Earth" - an all-out assault against the rebels. According to international aid organisations, more than 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since 2004.