Terrorism Watch

Baghdad - Iraqi authorities say insurgents have gunned down three soldiers at a checkpoint near the country's capital. Police officials said that the early Saturday shooting took place in Taji, 20km north of Baghdad, and two other soldiers were wounded. Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media. Violence has ebbed in Iraq, but insurgent attacks are still frequent. Source http://www.news24.com/World/News/3-soldiers-in-Iraq-shot-dead-20121103

05:32 IST, Friday, 2 November 2012 Mario Itzep denounced the killing of six indigenous protesters in Totonicapan An indigenous leader in Guatemala who is an outspoken critic of the government says he has escaped an attempted shooting. Mario Itzep of the National Indigenous Observatory said two men on a motorbike opened fire on him in Guatemala City. He said he had recently received anonymous telephone calls telling him that unless he stopped bothering the government he would regret it. Mr Itzep said he was not injured in the incident. He recently filed a suit with the Prosecutor's Office for Human Rights over the killing of six indigenous people during protests in Totonicapan at the beginning of October. An army colonel and eight soldiers have been charged with extrajudicial killing in connection with the case. Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20176385

Amnesty International Demands Independent Investigation Into Rights Violations by Ethiopian Gov't The Ethiopian authorities are committing human rights violations in response to the ongoing Muslim protest movement in the country. Saturday, November 3,2012 Ethiopia: Government continues to target peaceful Muslim protest movement The Ethiopian authorities are committing human rights violations in response to the ongoing Muslim protest movement in the country. Large numbers of protestors have been arrested, many of whom remain in detention. There are also numerous reports of police using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators. Key figures within the movement have been charged with terrorism offences. Most of those arrested and charged appear to have been targeted solely because of their participation in a peaceful protest movement. Tens of thousands of Muslims have participated in regular peaceful protests throughout 2012, opposing alleged government interference i

Residents on an affluent suburban street have spoken of their shock after a neighbour admitted accessing a catalogue of terrorism information on a computer. Umer Farooq pleaded guilty to 14 counts of possession of material that could be useful to a terrorist at a hearing at the Old Bailey in London. Anti-terror police found he had been accessing material which included an al-Qaeda magazine and details of how to make explosives, poisons and lethal mines. Unemployed Farooq, 34, who is single and has no children, had been lodging with family members in their £500,000 house on leafy Bramhall Moor Lane, Hazel Grove, for around three years. Neighbours were stunned to see the property raided by police in April. Eyewitnesses saw computers and books being taken from the detached house – but said they still had no idea the swoop was terrorism-related. Near-neighbour Jessie Pipe, 32, said residents were stunned to learn of the case yesterday She said: “You don’t expect it anywhere –

A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near a vehicle carrying the regional head of a government-allied militia in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing him and five others, police and the militant group said. Senior police officer Akhtar Hayyat said several people were also wounded in the blast near a gas station in the district of Buner in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He said Fateh Khan, the head of the local anti-Taliban militia, was killed along with three guards and two passers-by. Mr. Khan was also a prominent leader of the secular Awami National Party, which rules the coalition government in the province, and which has angered the Taliban by supporting several military offensives in tribal districts and in the towns. Shortly after the attack, Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility by telephone for the killing of Mr. Khan. Buner is believed to be a hiding place for the Pakistani Taliban. It is located near the Swat Valley, where the insurgent g

- Ahram Online At least a Somalian was killed in two suicide bomb attacks a Mogadishu targeted a restaurant AFP , Saturday 3 Nov 2012 Two suicide bombers attacked a restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday, wounding several people, police said, and killing one victim, according to a witness. "There were two suicide bombers who attacked the Village restaurant. The two of them have died and other people who stayed in the place were injured. We are still investigating the casualties," said Abdi Adan, a Somali police officer. A witness to the attack, Ahmed Salad Ibrahim, said a security guard at the restaurant had been killed in the blast, a report police said they could not immediately confirm. Another witness, Idle Husien, said there had been a "heavy exchange of gunfire before the heavy explosions". "I'm not far away from the place and I can see people injured and the severed dead bodies of the suicide bombers," Husien said.

PAKISTAN-BASED Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin says Hindu pilgrims going to the Amarnath shrine have nothing to fear. He also says that the Valley has been relatively peaceful because the militants are lying low deliberately, but, he warns, terror will strike again at an opportune time. In an interview to Riyaz Wani, the separatist leader denounces the Indo-Pak trade dialogue and asserts his commitment to the struggle for azadi in Kashmir. EDITED EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW Controversy over the Amarnath Yatra has flared up again with Hurriyat(G) Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani threatening agitation against the construction of a road to the holy cave shrine. He alleges the yatra is an attempt to alter the demography of Kashmir, while the civil society in Kashmir is worried about the fallout on the environment. First, let me make it clear that we are not against the pilgrimage. To paint us as such is itself part of the politics of the yatra. And this is primarily responsible

Melbourne: Underlining that India and China are destined by geography to be “rivals”, West Bengal Governor and former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan Thursday said Beijing's increasing assertiveness on its part while dealing with disputes is “most disconcerting”. He also said Chinese activities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and its “not-so-subtle wooing” of some of India's neighbours to New Delhi's detriment is a matter of concern. Narayanan added that potential for a conflict also exists as competition between India and China for new energy sources intensify. “To some extent, China and India are destined by geography to be rivals: neighbours with large populations, old civilisations, rich and venerable cultures, and disputes with regard to their borders,” Narayanan, who is also a former chief of the Intelligence Bureau said in his keynote address at the annual Australia India Institute conference on India here. “The two countries are, nevertheless, far apart

ISLAMABAD, Nov 2 (Agencies): A mother and father in Pakistani-administered Kashmir have been arrested for murdering their 15-year-old daughter by dousing her with acid "in the name of an honour," police say. They say it is one of the first such cases of its kind in the region. Honour killings happen when mostly male family members believe the victim has brought dishonour to their community. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported 943 women were killed in honour killings last year. That represented an increase of more than 100 from 2010. But such happenings are rare in parts of Kashmir under the control of Pakistan. Police say that the incident took place in a remote village in the southern district of Kotli. They say that the case was brought to their attention by the couple's eldest daughter. It will not be clear until Friday - when the parents are due in court - if they admit or deny murder charges. Local police officer Raja Tahir Ayub said the BBC tha

PressTV - Brazilian police in the city of Sao Paulo have launched a key anti-crime operation aimed at reducing major offenses, following a rise in killings in the area. "Operation Saturation" was carried out on Monday in the city's southern Paraisopolis favela of 80,000 people, with the intention of "choking off soaring drug trafficking" and reducing the number of robberies and thefts, said the state secretary for public security Antonio Ferreira Pinto. A heavily-armed military police force has been deployed to the area which is located adjacent to the more affluent Morumbi district. On Monday, at least 10 people were gunned down in Sao Paulo and another was killed in Sao Bernardo do Campo. At least 40 people have died in shootings since Thursday. In September, the number of murders in the area rose to 144, up from 71 during the same month last year. Experts say at least 80 police officers have been murdered in the region this year. The crackdown is

Nov 2: Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), UK, has launched a parliamentary petition to be sent to the president of India to ask him for return of mortal remains of JKLF founder Muhammad Maqbool Butt to Kashmir from Tihar Jail, New Delhi. The Front launched a parliamentary petition to be signed by members of Commons and Lords during the meeting of All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir in London last night. At a meeting chaired by Lord Ahmed, who himself hails from Kashmir, many Kashmir related issues including the issue of Kashmir’s unmarked mass graves, forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings and imprisonment of minors as well as the constitutional issue of Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) including Pakistan’s annexation of Gilgit-Baltistan territories were debated. It was decide that the APPG would support the move to launch a parliamentary petition to be sent to the President of India to ask for the return of mortal remains of Kashmiri independence leade

Egypt terror threat – the popular Sinai resort towns of Dahab, above, Sharm el-Sheikh, Taba and Nuweiba have been excluded from the travel warning. Photograph: Reuters The Foreign Office has raised its terrorism warning for visitors to Egypt from medium to high, particularly urging Britons against travel to the Sinai region, after a recent spate of militant attacks. The change comes on the same day that a report revealed that police in Egypt had foiled a plot by al-Qaida-linked militants to attack tourists in the popular Red Sea coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Mirror said the attack, involving firearms and rocket-propelled grenades, had been planned for Christmas. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said she could not comment on any link, adding that changes to travel advice were based on "a number of sources". While Sharm el-Sheikh is on the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, it and other nearby resorts, Taba, Nuweiba and Dahab, are excluded from the Foreign Office

12:25 IST, Saturday, 3 November 2012 Anti-terror police could be seen taking aim in Poso Anti-terror police on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have shot dead one suspected militant and arrested another in the district of Poso, police say. The suspects allegedly resisted arrest by throwing home-made bombs at the police when they swooped before dawn in the jungle village of Kayamaya. Two policemen were killed in the area last month while investigating an alleged Islamist training camp. Poso was notorious for violence between Muslims and Christians a decade ago. On Wednesday, police killed another suspected militant, arrested two and found explosives in Poso. Security forces have been battling Islamist militants since the 2002 bombings in Bali which killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists. Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20190333

11/2/2012 4:22 AM ET Morocco's security forces have busted an Islamist terror cell and arrested nine of its members. A statement issued by the Internal Affairs Ministry on Thursday said the terrorist cell had planned to set up a training camp in the northern Rif mountains "in order to carry out terrorist acts against public authorities" in Morocco. "As part of its preparations for such terrorist acts, members of the cell planned to make explosives via Internet and to rob shops in Sale City in Rabat in order to find money for financing their criminal projects," the Ministry said. Several items, including tools, bullet-proof vests as well as black flags symbolizing the al-Qaeda were recovered from the detained suspects. Five of the nine detained suspects were remanded in custody while the remaining four were taken for "further investigation" by judicial police. Moroccan authorities have stepped up efforts to crackdown on Islamist militants ever

PressTV - A powerful bomb explosion has injured at least four Norwegian soldiers serving with the US-led forces in northern Afghanistan, Press TV reports. The western military alliance said in a statement that the incident took place in Chimtal District located in the western part of Balkh Province. The soldiers were injured after a roadside bomb struck their patrol vehicle in the troubled region. More than 369 US-led foreign troopers have been killed in militant attacks and explosions so far this year. A total of 566 US-led forces died in Afghanistan in 2011. However, 2010 remains the deadliest year for foreign military casualties, with a death toll of 711. The sharp rise in military casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the US and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the Afghan war. The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from

Video http://youtu.be/2dAAVTu25QM At least 23 people were killed when a fuel truck crashed into a flyover in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, triggering an explosion that brought down an industrial building and set fire to nearby vehicles. At least 22 people were killed and dozens injured when a fuel truck crashed into a flyover in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, triggering an explosion that brought down an industrial building, Saudi state television reported. State-owned Ekhbariya television news channel reported on that the death toll had risen to 23 and emergency workers were still searching the collapsed building for more victims or survivors. Health ministry spokesman Saad al-Qahtani said 135 people were injured, mostly men and including some foreigners. Although the incident took place near the headquarters of the Saudi Arabian National Guard and the Prince Nayef Arab University for Security Studies, officials speaking on state television said it was an accident

| Philippine News | philstar.com DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines - New People's Army (NPA) rebels allegedly shot dead a former ranking official of the communist movement in Negros Oriental on All Saints' Day. Colonel Marion Sison, commander of the 79th Infantry Battalion, said that former NPA vice commander Elmo Taburada, succumbed to three gunshot wounds. Taburada, from NPA's Sentro de Gravidad Platoon of the Komiteng Rehiyon Sentral Bisayas-Southeastern Front in Negros Oriental, surrendered to the Army early in 2012 and subsequently lived a "normal life" with his family based in Avocado. Army officials condemned the attack by the rebels, calling it a "desperate move" by the insurgents who continue to threaten its former members and to inspire fear among residents, Sison said. The incident, however, is an indication that the government is succeeding in its anti-insurgency campaign, the officials said. Sison said that the NPA rebels, who left a n

INQUIRER.net 1:30 pm | Friday, November 2nd, 2012 MANILA, Philippines—The military found an abandoned camp of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Iloilo Thursday, an Army spokesman said. “The camp has several foxholes, kitchens, and three makeshift classrooms and a water supply,” Major Enrico Ileto, 3rd Infantry Division (ID), said in a statement Friday. The camp was built by the communist rebels in a remote area and it could have been used as a training facility, Ileto said. “The camp was situated behind mountainous terrain, thick vegetation and trees and can be reached through hours of walk from the nearest barangay roads of Bucari, Danao and Cagay of Leon Municipality,” he said. Ileto said that the camp was discovered with the help of the local residents who tipped off about the presence of the rebel camp. He said a previous encounter with the rebels made government troops suspicious because of the high level of resistance the insurgents were putting up. “A squad of soldiers

1 November 2012 Last updated at 16:17 GMT An explosion in a Colombian town during Halloween celebrations killed two people and injured more than 30, among them 14 children, police say. The blast happened when a device being carried by two men on a bicycle went off, apparently prematurely. The men were suspected members of a local drug gang and may have been targeting the police station in the town of Pradera, officials said. The men who died are believed to be the attackers. The explosion happened near the central square of Pradera where hundreds of children had gathered for Halloween celebrations. The town's mayor told Colombian media that three of the children were badly hurt. Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20166777

November 1, 2012 By: Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C: Leader of one of the first Baloch Diaspora organizations in North America has welcomed the U.S. stance on human rights violations but has asked the Obama administration to direct the C.I.A. to support the Baloch separatists. Dr. Wahid Baloch, president of Baloch Society of North America (BSO-NA), said he welcomes Her Excellency Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe remarks on Balochistan situation at the U.N. Human Rights Council but said that it fell far short of the Baloch expectations as the Baloch want the U.S. and International community to physically intervene in Balochistan to save lives of Baloch people and end the illegal and unjust occupation of their homeland by Pakistan and Iran. "Balochistan was an independent sovereign state and was forcefully occupied by these two Islamic states against the will and consent of Baloch people. It is the duty of United States and the international community to help Baloch re-

ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A senior Yemeni security officer was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the southeastern province of Hadramout on Friday afternoon, a government official told Xinhua. Two masked gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed Basel al- Kathery, a senior officer of the central security forces near his house in Sayun town before fleeing the area, the local government official said, requesting anonymity. The security officer, from the provincial anti-terrorist office, was gunned down while he was getting out of his residential building in central Hadramout province, the government source said. The drive-by shooting, which carried the hallmarks of an al- Qaida operation, was the latest of a wave of armed attacks and assassinations targeting senior Yemeni security and intelligence officials across the Arab country, according to police sources. Yemen's military launched a month-long offensive earlier this year and forced al-Qaida militants to flee several

Atlanta: Police closed streets and sidewalks around CNN Center in downtown Atlanta as they investigated a chemical bomb threat, but found no such device during a search of the complex. Atlanta police spokeswoman K Y Jones tells The Associated Press no chemical was located in today morning search. She said shortly after 6 am that all streets in the area were open again. Police say a caller claimed to have planted a chemical bomb at the cable news channel's headquarters. Police had closed streets and sidewalks to vehicles and pedestrians on the block to the north of the center, and on the block to the west of the center. The complex is home to CNN and several restaurants and shops. The area is just south of Centennial Olympic Park. PTI Source http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/chemical-bomb-threat-at-cnn-center-closes-streets_809027.html

New Delhi: A self-styled commander-in-chief of a banned Manipuri group was arrested here leading to the rescue of two officials of a construction project abducted in Manipur for Rs 2 crore ransom, police said on Friday. Ningthoujam Romen Singh (27), also the Finance Secretary of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP-MC), was apprehended from Sarai Kale Khan by Special Cell yesterday, Special Commissioner of Police SN Srivastava told reporters here. He was based in Agra since May-June and allegedly coordinating extortion and other crimes in Manipur with the help of his associates. Prior to coming to Agra, he was in Goa and Nepal. "His arrest led to the rescue of two officials of Moirang's Takmu Water Sports Construction project by Manipur Police. His men had abducted them and Singh had demanded Rs 2 crore for their release," Srivastava said. Singh and his brother-in-law Rajesh had joined KCP-MC as overground workers in 2007 and a year later, he was arrested in Meghalaya

Raipur: A Naxal 'commander' wanted in 43 cases and carrying a reward of Rs 67,000 on his head, was arrested in a joint operation conducted by the police and Border Security Force jawans, officials said on Thursday. SP (Kanker district) Rahul Bhagat said alleged Naxal 'commander' Pandu Ram Aanchala was arrested in Krugalmaspi village in the district. He said police had received information about the movement of Maoists around Partapur region, following which district police and BSF jawans had reached the area. The area was cordoned off and Aanchala arrested, Bhagat said, adding, he was being interrogated. Source http://zeenews.india.com/news/chhattisgarh/chhattisgarh-naxal-commander-arrested_808879.html

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Taliban said Friday that they would launch attacks on a major political group in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, local media reported. The Mutahida Qaumi Movement or MQM, which enjoys strong support in Karachi, has been critical at the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and had organized a huge rally last month to condemn the Taliban attack on a 14-year-old girl Malala Yousafzai in Swat valley. MQM leaders also claimed that Taliban have now sneaked into Karachi from the northwest and are involved in terrorist and criminal acts there. Taliban, who routinely issue threats to political leaders, have said they will attack the MQM leadership. "We have decided to deal with the brutal, apostate MQM, which has occupied Karachi. We will show no mercy on the group," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a Urdu-language statement. "We have taken the decision to free the oppressed people of Karachi from the hold of the tyr

Zeenews Bureau Islamabad: Unidentified gunmen attacked prominent rights activist Marvi Sirmed in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad on Friday evening. The attack took place at Murree Road near Bani Gala on the outskirts of Islamabad when gunmen, who were in a black car, fired at Sirmed's vehicle, who was returning home from work. According to reports, Sirmed and her husband escaped unhurt and are reported to safe after the attack. "They tried to target us twice and fired several shots at my car which missed. Luckily, my driver sped away and we escaped," Sirmed told a news agency. Sirmed is a renowned freelance columnist with Pakistan’s newspaper Daily Times. She is also a political commentator, Governance specialist and human rights activist. Sirmed is an outspoken defender of democracy and human rights, especially the rights of minority communities like Hindus, Christians and Shias. She has received threats from rightwing and extremist groups several times in

A dirty bomb attack on the UK is a "real threat" and every country has to be vigilant against a nuclear strike, the Foreign Office has warned. Alistair Burt, who is in charge of counter-terrorism policy, admitted there had been fears of a bomb during this summer's Olympics. The threat was considered to be strong enough for nuclear detectors to be deployed for the Games, he said at the start of a two-day summit in London. The Foreign Office minister said the number of cases involving the loss or theft of nuclear materials around the world was growing. And he called for countries to show "utmost vigilance" and unite to combat the threat of a nuclear attack. "Nuclear terrorism is a real and global threat. A successful attack, no matter where in the world it came, would be catastrophic," he said. "Catastrophic for the immediate devastation and terrible loss of life, and for the far-reaching consequences - psychological, economic, politica

For a very clear picture of the training centres, movement of the insurgents and camp’s location The country’s premier scientific intelligence agency, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), is ‘routinely’ processing data generated by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from Maoist-controlled areas and sending those to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters here, both police and paramilitary sources confirmed. NTRO’s main station in Hyderabad is receiving the satellite images and other data, including audio, and sending those to the CRPF over the last few months. Field level commanders of the CRPF are instructed on the basis of the information gathered from the UAVs. Scepticism While the process ‘to regularise’ the gathering of information using UAVs, parallel to human intelligence, started about a year back, the killing of tribals in Bijapur in late June has expedited the process. “Now we can get a very clear picture of the training centres, movement of th

Tensions are rising in oil-rich Kuwait and Bahrain with the two monarchies finding it hard to contain the growing popular protests.In Kuwait, police used tear gas and smoke canisters on Wednesday to disperse thousands of protesters. Tensions are rising in oil-rich Kuwait and Bahrain with the two monarchies finding it hard to contain the growing popular protests. In Kuwait, police used tear gas and smoke canisters on Wednesday to disperse thousands of protesters heading toward the prison where Musallam al-Barrak, a popular protester, was lodged. Mr. Barrak was arrested for a speech critical of the Kuwaiti Emir. Picked up on Monday, Mr. Barrak was charged two days later on three counts and has been imprisoned for 10 days by prosecutors, pending further questioning. Two weeks ago at a public rally, he had appealed to the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, to avoid the pitfall of “autocratic rule”. Since under the Kuwaiti constitution the Emir is considered “immune and inviolable

Prakasam District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Chairman and Telugu Desam Party leader Ch. Srinivasa Rao has been feared kidnapped in Sahebganj district of Jharkhand. Confirming that Mr. Rao had been missing since Thursday night, Prakasam Superintendent of Police K. Raghuram Reddy said according to information received from the Sahebganj police, Mr. Rao was supposed to have reached the district headquarters by Thursday evening. But he had not returned. Mr Rao's mobile phone had gone blank since then. Sahebganj Superintendent of Police A. Vijayalaxmi had called him over telephone to know whether any telephone call had been received by his family members from anyone demanding ransom. On a complaint from the relatives of Mr. Rao the Sahebganj police have launched a search for him. Source http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/ongole-dairy-chairman-feared-kidnapped-injharkhand/article4058073.ece

Advocating deeper economic ties in the Indian Ocean region and emphasis on maritime security, India on Friday pitched for more robust “cooperative regionalism” and said the geo-strategic importance of the area cannot be underestimated. “As focus of global economic growth shifts to Asia, it will occupy even greater salience in our strategic perspective,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said in his address at the Ministerial Meeting of the 20-nation Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) in Gurgaon. “We envision IOR-ARC as a regional body that can respond effectively to this need and enhance our individual and collective capacities to deal with contemporary challenges facing our common maritime domain,” he said on the concluding day of the five-day conference. Mr. Khurshid stressed that IOR-ARC should be strengthened to enable it to rise to expectations of the region. The grouping was set up in 1997 with the primary objective of promoting susta

Official rehabilitation process stalled as many families lack proper papers Over 30,000 inmates have left relief camps of their own accord to return to the districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang over the past five days. The Bodoland Territorial Council objected to the Assam government’s ‘pro-forma’ list of displaced families that do not possess land documents even as it rejected land documents of around 13,000 displaced families whose papers were cleared by the administration in Kokrajhar and Chirang. During the first phase of rehabilitation, the district administration forwarded the cleared forms, along with copies of land records, filled up by 19,000 families taking shelter in relief camps, to the BTC authorities for verification. However, the BTC rejected the forms of around 13,000 families on the grounds that a single land document had been shown against multiple forms. Several families who had produced copies of the same land document informed the authorities that they belo

The number of people killed in the explosion of a fuel truck in the Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh has rose to 26, said the Ministry of Health on Friday. The dead included Saudis and foreigners of several nationalities, the ministry said in a statement. The accident, one of the worst in recent times in the oil-rich kingdom, occurred on Thursday when the truck exploded after hitting a concrete flyover in the east of Riyadh. Fuel leaked from the truck, causing multiple vehicles to crash and setting several of them ablaze, said security officials. Saudi authorities said on Thursday that at least 22 people had been killed in the accident, which they blamed on reckless driving by the truck driver. The driver, who was not Saudi, survived the accident, said security officials. They gave no further details about his condition or nationality. The accident came two days after at least 28 people were killed in a wedding party blaze in the east of the kingdom. Source http://www.thehindu.

WikiLeaks on Thursday started releasing a set of more than 100 “classified or otherwise restricted” files from the U.S. Defence Department that details policies for dealing with detainees in U.S. military prisons such as Guantanamo Bay. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said the documents reveals the “excesses” of the US-driven “war” on terror. "The 'Detainee Policies' show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the U.S. Department of Defense. It shows the excesses of the early days of war against an unknown 'enemy' and how these policies matured and evolved, ultimately deriving into the permanent state of exception that the United States now finds itself in, a decade later,” he said in a statement from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London where he has been holed since June after seeking refuge there to avoid extradit

By Associated Press, Friday, November 2, 9:32 PM QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen riding on two motorcycles opened fire on a bus at a small fuel station in southwest Pakistan on Friday, igniting a massive blaze and leaving 18 dead, a Pakistani official said. Abdul Mansoor Kakar said all 16 people on the bus, including eight women and three children, were killed and the bodies badly burned. The vehicle had been parked next to fuel drums that ignited during the attack, starting a fire that engulfed the bus and killed two in a nearby car. The story sheds new light on the attack, but raises two important questions. The attack took place in the town of Khuzdar in the province of Baluchistan. No one claimed responsibility and the motive of the attack was unclear, Kakar said, adding that the incident was under investigation but no arrests were made. Khuzdar is located 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. The region has experienced a decades-lon

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — As midday prayers came to an end at the Grand Anwar mosque in Ethiopia’s capital, worshippers continued on to what has become a regular second act on Fridays — shouting anti-government slogans. The demonstrations this Friday did not turn violent. But tensions are rising between the government in this mostly Christian country and Muslim worshippers. On Monday, federal prosecutors charged a group of 29 Muslims with terrorism and working to establish an Islamic republic. Not all encounters between police and the protesters have been peaceful. In July, hundreds were arrested after a scuffle in the mosque that injured many and damaged property, including city buses. Religious violence outside the capital has killed eight and wounded about a dozen this year in two incidents, including one last month when protesters tried to free jailed Muslim leaders in the Amhara region. Protests first erupted in December after the state, wary of Islamist extremists, wanted to

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — When the army ousted the president here just months before his term was to expire, a thirst for power by the officer corps did not fully explain the offensive. But a sizable increase in drug trafficking in this troubled country since the military took over has raised suspicions that the president’s sudden removal was what amounted to a cocaine coup. The military brass here has long been associated with drug trafficking, but the coup this spring means soldiers now control the drug racket and the country itself, turning Guinea-Bissau in the eyes of some international counternarcotics experts into a nation where illegal drugs are sanctioned at the top. “They are probably the worst narco-state that’s out there on the continent,” said a senior Drug Enforcement Administration official in Washington, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his work in the region. “They are a major problem.” Since the April 12 coup, more small twin-engine