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4 killed as militants storm US Embassy in Syria
US safety hinges on Iraq outcome: Bush
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51 dead in Yemen stampede
Astronauts on spacewalk
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4 killed as militants storm US Embassy in Syria Damascus, September 12 Three assailants and a member of Syria’s anti-terror squad were killed in a shootout during the bid to storm the Embassy, which came just a day after the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the USA in 2001. “The terrorist attack failed. It did not achieve the objectives of the criminals responsible,” Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid during a visit to the scene of the attack, the state news agency SANA reported. He said three “terrorists” were killed and one was wounded in clashes with Syrian forces charged with protecting the embassy, located in the high-security diplomatic quarter of the capital. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The state news agency SANA also said an anti-terror operative was killed and another 14 persons wounded, including an Embassy guard and passers-by in the area, which is close to the offices of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “All Embassy personnel and their family members are safe,” the US Embassy said in a statement, adding that the local guard was injured by gunfire and was in stable condition. Chinese state media said a Chinese diplomat had been slightly injured by a stray bullet. It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks against US diplomatic missions across the globe, the most recent being in March 2006 in Pakistan. After the attack, pools of blood lay splattered on the sidewalk outside the Embassy, along with a burned car apparently used by the attackers. A sports utility vehicle with US diplomatic tags had a bullet hole through its front window, and the glass windows of nearby guard houses also were shattered. There were conflicting reports of what happened. Syrian TV said one car was rigged with explosives but never was detonated by the attackers. But one witness said a second car did explode, and TV footage from the scene showed a burned car. The Syrian Interior Ministry, which is in charge of police, said a fourth attacker was wounded in the incident, which it called a “terrorist attack”. The report, carried on state-run television, said anti-terror units brought “the situation under control” and an investigation was under way. In Washington, a US State Department spokesman confirmed the attack by “unknown assailants” but had few details. “Local authorities have responded and are on the scene,” said spokesman Kurtis Cooper said. He said he had no further information. State television said four armed attackers “attempted to storm” the Embassy, using automatic rifles and hand grenades. Syrian security guards attacked the gunmen, killing three and wounding a fourth, TV said. Television footage showed a delivery van loaded with pipe bombs strapped to large propane gas canisters outside the Embassy. Had the bombs detonated, the explosions would have caused massive damage. A Syrian who works at the American Embassy, contacted by the Associated Press by the telephone, said there were no US casualties. The employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the
incident started just after 10 am (1130 IST).
— AP
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US safety hinges on Iraq outcome: Bush
President George W. Bush on Monday said the United States was engaged in “a struggle for civilisation” and stressed that the safety of America “depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.” Speaking to the nation on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, Mr Bush said: “America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it was over. So do I. But the war is not over, and it will not be over until either we or the extremists emerge victorious.” United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, meanwhile, warned that Iraqi society stood at a critical juncture. Iraqi government figures showed an average of 100 civilians killed everyday and over 14,000 wounded each month, Mr Annan said, adding the State ran the risk of a civil war. In a report to the UN Security Council, Mr Annan warned that if “current patterns of discord and violence prevail for much longer, there is a grave danger of a breakdown of the Iraqi State, and potentially of a civil war, which will be detrimental not only to the Iraqi people but also to other countries in the region and the international community in general.” In his address from the Oval Office, Mr Bush said the United States had learned much about the enemy that attacked on September 11 and recognised it as a global network of extremists driven by a totalitarian ideology that hated all that America stood for. Recent polls show a decline in support for the US war in Iraq. A Senate intelligence committee report released last week revealed a lack of evidence of ties between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaida, a key premise of the Bush administration’s case to invade Iraq in 2003. Calls for US troops to pull out of Iraq have grown louder over the months. Mr Bush, however, insists to “cut and run” will be a fatal mistake for America. “Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists will leave us alone. They will not leave us alone. They will follow us,” Mr Bush said, adding that “ the safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.” He said the war against terrorists is “more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century and the calling of our generation.” “We are in a war that will set the course for this new century and determine the destiny of millions across the world,” Mr Bush said. He insisted that the terrorists “have not been idle.” “We helped drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan,” Mr Bush maintained. A resurgent Taliban, however, has been undermining security in the country and last week a suicide bombing in the heart of Kabul, a stone’s throw from the US Embassy, was the worst violence in the country since the Taliban government was toppled. While Osama bin Laden and the top leadership of Al-Qaida remain in hiding, Mr Bush said the United States’ message to them is clear: “No matter how long it takes, America will find you, and bring you to justice.” He said the United States should maintain its resolve to follow through with what he acknowledged was not an easy fight. Meanwhile, a US human rights group faulted the lessons learnt from the attacks of September 11, 2001. Following the terrorist attacks, many Americans understandably wanted their government to do anything possible that might protect them from terrorism. The Bush administration exploited that fear to push through various measures with scant regard to international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said. “Systematic prisoner abuse, widespread detention without trial, and proposed kangaroo courts were the result. Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and secret CIA prisons became the unfortunate symbols of US counter-terrorism efforts. “Even within the United States, the rights of many Muslim men were compromised through the misuse of laws such as those on detaining immigrants and material witnesses,” the group said. The loss of the moral high ground had made it harder to dissuade angry young men from resorting to the deliberate killing of civilians, the group stressed.
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51 dead in Yemen stampede
IBB, Yemen, September 12 Another official, who declined to be named, said people were crushed after the president left the rally and the crowd rushed to get out of the stadium in the southern province of Ibb. Some 150,000 people were inside the building and an even larger number had thronged the streets surrounding it. “The president promised to compensate the families who lost a relative in the stampede. They will receive monthly salaries,” said the official.
— Reuters
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Astronauts on spacewalk
Cape Canaveral (US), September 12 Only six women have participated in 159 US spacewalks, and only a single woman has gone on any of the 118 Russian spacewalks. A major reason for the lack of female spacewalkers is the spacesuit, which isn’t designed for small sizes, said Piper, who is 5-foot-10-inches. “I fit in the suit better,” Piper said before the mission. “If you fit in a suit then the easier it is to work.” Piper, a spacewalking novice, was joined outside the space station by spacewalking veteran Joe Tanner, on the first of three highly choreographed spacewalks during the 11-day mission to attach a 17 1/2-ton addition to the space station.
—AP
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