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Car bomb kills 14 in Baghdad
Zarqawi group beheads two Iraqis |
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Stop making statements, judge tells Blair
Crucial Sino-Indian talks on Jan 24
Bangladeshi quizzed over attack on Dostum
Global meet on tsunami alert system
Maoists abduct 200 teachers, students
Pak troops, tanks enter Sui Amanullah Kasi
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Car bomb kills 14 in Baghdad
Baghdad, January 21 The explosives-laden car blew up outside the al-Taf mosque in the capital’s southwest, where Shiites were celebrating Eid al-Adha. Attacks on Shiites have increased in the run-up to Iraq’s January 30 parliamentary and provincial elections. Today’s blast was the second outside a Shiite mosque in the capital this week and it came a day after a chief terror leader in Iraq berated Shiites in an Internet audio recording that appeared aimed at sowing division in the country. An official at Baghdad’s al-Yarmouk Hospital said the blast at the mosque killed at least 14 persons and wounded 40. The car exploded as worshippers were leaving after prayers in the building, a witness said. The blast left several cars in flames and showered the area with charred debris. At al-Yarmouk Hospital, dozens of weeping men and women franticly searched for news about loved ones feared caught up in the bombing. Meanwhile, US soldier was killed today during a pre-dawn raid north of Baghdad, the military said. The soldier from the Army’s 1st Infantry Division was killed in an operation to kill or capture members of an insurgent bomb-making cell in the town of Ad Duluiyah, the military said in a statement.
— AP |
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Zarqawi group beheads two Iraqis
Dubai, January 21 The tape showed two men, who identified themselves as Ali Hussein Jassem Mohammad Al-Zubaidi and Ahmad Alwan Hussein al-Mahmadawi, standing in front of a banner bearing the name of Al- Qaida Organisation of Holy War in Iraq. The tape, which was posted on an Islamist website, later showed militants severing the heads of the two hostages, who were blindfolded with their hands bound behind their backs. — Reuters
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Stop making statements, judge tells Blair
MAJ Dan Taylor of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers appeared at the hearing at an army base in the German town of
Osnabruck which is trying Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, and Lance corporals Mark Cooley, 25, and Darren Larkin, 30, for abusing detained Iraqi civilians in Iraq in 2003.
Shocking photographs used as evidence against the accused were published earlier this week. The abuse took place at an army supply base outside the Iraqi city of Basra in May 2003, after British soldiers arrested and detained Iraqi civilians who had been caught looting supplies. The case took an unexpected twist yesterday when the presiding Judge Advocate Michael Hunter urged politicians, including Tony Blair, to stop making public statements about it. His plea followed the Prime Minister's comments in the Commons on Wednesday in which he described the images as "shocking". After the court martial proceedings were halted by legal argument, the Judge Advocate said: " I appeal that no public statement, if possible, should be made with regards to this trial. I say appeal because I fully appreciate that there may well be times when somebody has to make a public statement. When questions were raised yesterday of such immense public concern, the Prime Minister could not have sensibly refused to make a statement." He added: " I would ask that great care be taken that those who find it necessary to make public statements should not say anything that might prejudice the fairness of this trial." Mr Blair took legal advice and consulted the Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, about what he could say about the case before Question Time on Wednesday, when the issue was raised by the Tory leader, Michael Howard. A No 10 spokesman insisted Mr Blair had made his remarks in general terms but took "full note" of what the Judge Advocate had said. Defence lawyers have suggested that Major Taylor created a climate which sanctioned the offences of abuse because he issued a controversial order to "work hard" the detained Iraqi civilians which was in breach of the Geneva convention. His evidence is also likely to determine whether his superiors bore any blame for the torture and abuse of Iraqi civilians. —
By arrangement with The Independent |
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Crucial Sino-Indian talks on Jan 24
Beijing, January 21 "This will be the first meeting of the strategic dialogue between India and China and the main focus will be the big global issues," one official said. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran would represent India while the Chinese side would be headed by Vice Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Wu Dawei. The aim of the dialogue is to broaden the scope of the blooming bilateral relationship, allowing both sides to exchange notes on global and regional security issues, the official said. For example, the two sides are expected to exchange views on the stalled North Korean nuclear issue, a topic personally handled by Mr Wu as the host of the six-party talks on a sensitive issue that has severe implications for the security and stability of Asia.
— PTI |
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Bangladeshi quizzed over attack on Dostum
Kabul, January 21 The victims were hurt yesterday when a man with explosives hidden under his clothes blew himself up near Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum after open-air prayers in the northern city of Sheberghan. Dostum was unharmed. A spokesman for the former ruling Taliban said it carried out the attack to avenge the deaths of hundreds of Taliban prisoners at the hands of Dostum's militia during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. However, investigators initially speculated that the attack was more typical of Al-Qaida. Provincial police chief Mohammed Nader Fahimi said a Bangladeshi man picked up in a market in the city just after the attack was still being questioned. "We cannot say at present whether he has a link with the man who carried out the attack or not," Fahimi said. He declined to elaborate. The police was also seeking two former Taliban officials they said had been spotted in the area a few days ago. The police chief said he had met with Dostum yesterday afternoon. "He is fine, but he is worried about those who have been injured," he said.
— AP |
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Global meet on tsunami alert system
Bangkok, January 21 The January 28-29 meeting on the tsunami-devastated tourist island of Phuket follows a UN gathering in Kobe, Japan, where the UN was tasked with ironing out differences among a flood of proposals on how to build the system in the wake of the Indian Ocean tragedy. Thailand wants the system to build on the existing Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), based in Bangkok, which offers training on disaster management. "Thailand has proposed that the UN-sponsored ADPC, which is located in Bangkok, be responsible for the early warning system," ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeao said in statement. Among the countries expected to attend are the 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asian and African nations bordering the Indian Ocean, and major donors such as the European Union, Japan and the USA. The meeting is the first in a string of gatherings aimed at recovering from the disaster that killed more than 5,300 persons in Thailand.
— AFP |
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Maoists abduct 200 teachers, students
Kathmandu, January 21 The Maoists have taken the persons for political indoctrination programmes, Kantipur radio reported quoting its local reporter. The rebels forcibly took away 13 teachers and 77 students from Setidevi Secondary School in Salukalika village and 12 teachers along with 100 students from Chandeshwori Secondary School in Gothgaun from the class rooms yesterday, it said.
— UNI |
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Pak troops, tanks enter Sui Amanullah Kasi
Quetta, January 21 Addressing a press conference here, former deputy chairman of the Senate and JWP's senior vice-president Mir Abdul Jabber and party's provincial president Mir Humayun Marri condemned the government for using force in political matters. They claimed that regular troops and 16 tanks had moved into Sui and Dera Bugti area from Kashmore, Sindh. They said deployment of troops a day before Id-ul-Azha had some specific objective that the rulers wanted to achieve during the holidays. The JWP leaders said that they were facing difficulty in getting information about the actual situation of Sui and Dera Bugti as the telephone system of the district had not been working since Wednesday night. Senator Sanaullah Baloch, a leader of the Baluchistan National Party-Mengal, who was present on the occasion, warned that the army operation against the Bugti tribesmen would not remain confined to that area as the action would be treated as an attack on the entire Baluch nation. He pointed out that two days back an All-Party Conference at Quetta had unanimously adopted a declaration condemning military intervention in political matters and had termed it a dangerous step that would harm the integrity of the country. He said rulers were violating international norms and constitutional and human rights by invading Dera Bugti. He maintained that Baluch would be on the back of the Bugti tribesmen to protect the rights of the province. He cautioned the government against confronting with federating units and said it would push the country into grave political crisis. Meanwhile, Baluchistan Home Minister Mir Shoaib Nausherwani said the Frontier Corps had started a search of 'those houses' in Sui from where rockets had been fired on gas installations. Talking to Dawn on Thursday, the Home Minister said that army regulars had been deployed to protect the gas installations but they were not involved in the search operation. He declared that no military operation would be launched in Dera
Bugti. |
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A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque in Baghdad today, killing at least 14 persons and wounding 40, police and hospital officials said, in the latest violence in the lead-up to this month’s elections.
The explosives-laden car blew up outside the al-Taf mosque in the
capital’s southwest, where Shiites were celebrating Eid al-Adha.
