 |
|
Israeli troops
kill 10 in Gaza A Palestinian family stands inside their damaged house after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza on Thursday. Israeli forces withdrew from Zeitoun neighbourhood after a bloody , two-day incursion in which 13 Palestinians and six Israeli soldiers were killed. C’wealth to
discuss Pak’s reinstatement Saddam never used
look-alike, says doctor |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
15 Maoists killed ‘Terrorists’
beheaded US hostage Rogue soldiers to
blame for Iraqi abuses
|
|
Israeli troops kill 10 in Gaza
Gaza, May 13 The new spiral of violence intensified debate between proponents and opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate settlers from Gaza, now stalled by rightist hardliners in his own Likud party. Witnesses said two missiles hit a crowd in Rafah refugee camp, killing seven persons near the spot where militants blew up an explosives-packed troop carrier yesterday. Five soldiers in the vehicle were killed. An Israeli military source said the missiles were fired at militants trying to plant bombs. In a second missile strike in the camp hours later, three Palestinians were killed, medics said. The army had no immediate comment. On Tuesday, six Israeli soldiers died when their armoured vehicle hit a landmine during a raid in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, a militant stronghold. Israeli forces pulled out of Zeitoun early today in what Palestinian sources said was an Egyptian-mediated deal under which militants returned the remains of the servicemen. Palestinian medics said 16 persons, including militants and bystanders, were killed and 185 wounded during the two-day siege. “There is a war against terror, and in that war there are bad days,’’ Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said as commentators compared the situation in Gaza to daily attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon that led to their withdrawal in 2000. The polls show most Israelis see Gaza as a liability that should be abandoned. Sharon vows to pursue his plan despite its defeat in a May 2 Likud vote that also reflected fears Palestinian militants would seize on a unilateral pullout as a victory. Olmert told Israel Radio that Sharon was working on a plan ‘’to disengage from Gaza’’ that would also address Likud concerns. In Zeitoun, thousands of Palestinians rushed into the street after the army pullout and surveyed a scene of destruction — dozens of houses and buildings blown up by Israeli forces and roads chopped up by heavy armour. “(Soldiers) completed blowing up houses and workshops where we found mortars, lathes and materials to make Qassam rockets and explosives,’’ Israeli army chief Moshe Yaalon said in broadcast remarks. Islamic Jihad, one of the main groups behind suicide bombings against Israelis, claimed responsibility for the Rafah ambush and said its fighters used an anti-tank rocket and a large bomb laid in the vehicle’s path to destroy it.
— Reuters |
|
C’wealth to discuss Pak’s reinstatement
London, May 13 A lifting of the suspension, imposed in 1999 after President Pervez Musharraf seized power, would be a symbol of Pakistan’s reintegration into the international community. The Commonwealth cites Pakistan’s lack of democratic and judicial reforms for the continuing exclusion but has acknowledged recent moves towards democracy, including General Musharraf’s pledge to step down as Chief of Army staff by the end of this year. Last month, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said Pakistan, now a key US ally in its “war against terror”, had resolved several central issues obstructing its readmission and that “productive changes” had taken place. The reinstatement is, however, a thorny issue for the Commonwealth which is keen to avoid the perception that it has bowed to pressure from Iraq-war allies Britain and Australia. One Pakistani source said the country was optimistic. “We are hopeful it may go our way especially as the European Union last month concluded an agreement based on similar preconditions,” said the source. The EU last month ratified a long-delayed commercial and economic pact after its parliament said it was finally satisfied with Islamabad’s moves towards democracy. “The Commonwealth has not been swayed by previous moves to democracy so it could legitimise General Musharraf’s democratic credentials domestically,” said Gareth Price, South Asia expert at London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs.
— Reuters |
|
Saddam never used look-alike, says doctor Oslo, May 13 Ala Bashir, author of a book published in Norway and including tidbits about his most famous patient, whom he describes as “gentle”, said he would have known if Saddam had employed doubles. “No one has ever approached me to do surgery for anyone to help to make a double for Saddam Hussein. I definitely would have been an obvious choice. I have not seen anyone who had such an operation,” Bashir said in an interview with AFP yesterday. Western governments and media have repeatedly asserted that Saddam often used look-alikes, most recently during a crowd-hugging public appearance last year in Baghdad, as American troops were closing in on the capital. Bashir, a plastic surgeon, was a member of the Iraqi leader’s medical team for 20 years, during which he found that Saddam, ruthless towards his enemies, could also be perfectly nice. “He is very nice, very gentle and very polite when he is talking to the people. But he is very hard with people who opposed him,” Bashir said in the interview, he always uses the present tense when talking about his former master. The 64-year-old doctor said he did a face job on Saddam only once.
— AFP |
|
Kathmandu, May 13 Security forces shot dead at least 15 Maoist guerrillas in an operation launched at Karki Gaon in Bhojpur district in east Nepal yesterday, the officials said. The Maoists also killed two Armed Police Force personnel in the cross-firing. Four soldiers who sustained injuries have been airlifted to the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan. The fighting took place as the Maoists attacked a patrol team of the security forces from the base camp at Tumlingtar. The rebels fled the area after the security forces launched an aerial attack on them. The Maoists detonated a powerful bomb at the Revenue Tribunal Office at Kamalpokhari in Kathmandu today, the police said. The building damaged by the blast, but no one was injured.
— PTI |
|
‘Terrorists’ beheaded US hostage
Dubai, May 13 “We are ashamed because these terrorists carried out this revolting and inhumane act in the name of our religion and culture,” UAE Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahayan said in a statement. “This disgusting brutality can never be justified and has nothing to do with Islam or with our Arab values. The United Arab Emirates condemns this act in the strongest of terms,” he said. Sheikh Abdullah said the “gruesome act” was a crime against the civilised world.
— Reuters |
|
Rogue soldiers to blame for Iraqi abuses
Fort Huachuca, May 13 That training emphasizes legal questioning, and no torture or abuse is allowed, Maj-Gen James A. Marks, commander of Fort Huachuca and the Army’s Intelligence Center, said yesterday. “That’s a bunch of rogue soldiers conducting evil acts,” General Marks said, referring to those responsible for the abuse. He said military interrogators are restricted in their actions. For example, interrogators can disrupt a prisoner’s sleep cycle but can’t deprive them of sleep. The prisoner can fear the interrogator, but interrogators aren’t allowed to use force.
— AP |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Gaza, May 13
Video
