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| Monday, March 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Jehad training on despite ceasfire Islamabad, March 4 Pakistan continues to train youth, mostly teenagers, for jehad in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s announcement of ceasefire against militants notwithstanding. Gunmen on rampage Hostages’ release today?
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| Suicide bomber kills 2, self Netanya, (Israel), March 4 A suicide bomber killed himself and two other persons in an explosion that rocked the heart of the Israeli coastal city of Netanya today, a day after Islamic militants vowed to launch fresh attacks. Fears of tainted meat cloud Id BBC blast work of
Irish group 16 killed in two fire incidents
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Jehad training on despite ceasfire Islamabad, March 4 More than 200 men, mostly teenagers, have enlisted in a month-long training programme being conducted in remote mountains of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The camp has been declared a base-camp for ‘Kashmiri freedom struggle’ by the PoK Government. The camp consists of one or two large makeshift shelters and mud and brick rooms used mostly for storing weapons, maps and supplies. Trainee Mujahideen spend most of their time in open in extremes of temperatures. According report published in latest edition of weekly ‘Newsline’ gruelling training at militant camps has produced a breed of young and hardened fighters for whom jehad is the key to paradise. Rigorous training is imparted in throwing hand grenades, setting off explosives, use of a variety of light weapons including pistols, assault rifles and rocket launchers. Basics of map reading and handling of communication equipment are also included in the programme. Religious and psychological gruelling is a routine. Trainees are taught to tolerate long spells of hunger and thirst, crawl and walk on mountains for days. Quranic lessons are regular. The volunteers, most of whom are from rural backgrounds and low income families, begin their day at the camp with Islamic prayers. Till evening they are kept busy in gruelling physical and military exercises. According to the weekly, Kashmir is one of the world’s “hottest Islamic jehad spots.” Inspired by the “spirit of jehad in Afghanistan”, trainees believe that Kashmir is the first stage towards their ultimate goal of achieving Islam’s domination over other civilisations. “Thousands of trained guerrillas are anxiously waiting for their turn to sneak into ......Kashmir. But not everyone is lucky enough to get a chance. They move into action when only their ameer asks them to.” ith its headquarters at Muridke near Lahore, has produced a large number of highly-motivated Islamic fighters who have given a new dimension to militancy in Kashmir. Its cadres prefer to die in an encounter rather than get arrested by security forces. According to the weekly, when militancy in Kashmir began in 1989, training was initially imparted in Afghanistan. Now camps operate in remote regions of PoK and some isolated parts of North West Frontier Province close to the border with Afghanistan. Every year thousands of young men are trained for jehad by more than a dozen militant groups including Leashkar-e-Toiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed (of Maulana Massod Azhar), Al Badr and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen. There are also several small organisations which specialise in operations in a particular area of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Gunmen on rampage Lahore, March 4 The killings in Sheikhupura, 45 km north of the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore, began in a crowded market when gunmen on a motorcycle raced by firing indiscriminately, killing three persons, all of them Shiite Muslims, the police said. Later gunmen killed a policeman and injured another. Within minutes there was a shooting at a graveyard outside Sheikhupura and seven Shiite Muslims were gunned down, the police said. The killings were done by six gunmen on three motorcycles. The police said they weren’t certain that the same gunmen were responsible for all the killings, but the method of killing was the same — all the shootings were carried out by men on motorcycles firing automatic rifles. No one claimed responsibility for the killings, but the police suspect militant Sunni Muslims, who have been targeting Shiite Muslims here with regularity over the past several months. The killings generated violent protests by Shiite Muslims, who fired shots in the air with automatic weapons and shouted for revenge. The police suspect an extremist Sunni Muslim group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, or Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet, was involved in the killing.
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Hostages’ release today? Dhaka, March 4 The ultimatum by the government to release the foreign nationals held hostages by tribal kidnappers in the deep forest of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) was extended for the second time on Friday. The two day time limit was scheduled to expire on Saturday. But the kidnapper’s request for another extension till tomorrow Monday has been accepted by the government. The kidnappers in a letter on Saturday received in the evening has assured to release the three hostages — two Danes and one British engineers by Monday. Mr Kalpa Ranjan Chakma, Minister for Hill Tracts Affairs, himself a tribal of the CHT, was confident of securing release of the hostages by the time set by the tribal captors of the foreign nationals. The three engineers were kidnapped on February 13, exactly 19 days ago, on their way back from a spot in CHT after inspection of the Rangamati-Khagrachari high way at a place known as Naniarchar. They are employees of a Danish construction firm entrusted with the development of the CHT road. Media reports from Rangamati, the district headquarter, indicates that the people, mainly tribals, inside the 30 kilometre security cordon enforced immediately after the kidnapping were leaving their homes in fear of threatened combing operation to secure release of the hostages. However, the government has assured to desist from the operation if the hostages are released as per assurance. The captors in a letter to Mr Kalpa Ranjan Chakma also assured that the hostages were in good health. Since the receipt of the letter all agencies involved in release of the hostages including two experts from Scotland Yard, diplomats from Danish and British Embassies are waiting anxiously for the moment when the hostages will be freed. All preparations have been made to immediately transport them by helicopter first to Chittagong and then to Dhaka. Earlier on Thursday, Mr Kalpa Ranjan Chakma at a public meeting at Naniarchar attended by huge number of tribals, village chiefs, other tribal officials gave two day’s ultimatum, distributed leaflet with pictures of the hostages and assured safe passage for the kidnappers. This has apparently worked. The tribal villagers put pressure on the captors to end the tension in the Hills. The captors were changing residence every day in their hideouts in deep forests, it is reported. Tribal messengers carried letters from negotiators — the CHT Minister and Dipankar Talukdar, a tribal legislator. This means that the couriers knew the captors very well and also their hideouts. Report in two Dhaka dailies—The Jugantar and The Prathom Alo claimed that negotiators could convince the captors to release the hostages on payment of a ransom of Takas one crore only. The kidnappers had originally demanded Taka Nine Crore. |
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Ex-PM Chaudhry faces opposition Suva, March 4 Some groups in the five-party People’s Coalition of ousted premier Mahendra Chaudhry want to replace the ethnic Indian Fijian with Mr Tupeni Baba, an indigenous Fijian. Some coalition leaders believe they can only regain power with an indigenous Fijian in the ethnically-divided nation. The move against Mr Chaudhry came as Fiji’s political factions scrambled in the wake of a ruling by the Court of Appeals last week that an interim government imposed after a coup last May was illegal. The government was ordered to recall Parliament by March 15 to select a new administration. The interim government has said it will comply with the court order, but nationalist groups may oppose the ruling. The nation’s powerful tribal chiefs may also intervene against the ruling. Mr Baba, former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, told AP today that members of the coalition had asked him to the challenge Mr Chaudhry as leader. “Yes, I have been asked, yes, but I don’t want it to be said that I was merely asked because I am Fijian,” Mr Baba said. “If I served in that position i would like to serve as a person who has the merit and the acceptability of the Fijian people.” But Mr Chaudhry repeated his claim today that he is still Fiji’s legal Prime Minister, and said he believed he retained the support of his coalition.
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Suicide bomber kills 2, self Netanya, (Israel), March 4 Ambulances rushed to the site, not far from the scene of an explosion on New Year’s Day which wounded dozens of people and for which the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility. Israeli police chief Shlomo Aharonishky said three persons, including the bomber, had been killed and at least 45 were wounded when the bomber set off explosives while waiting with other people at a street crossing. It was the third attack in 16 months in Netanya, 16 km from the West Bank. “Apparently this is the body of the terrorist who was moving with a case on his body and in fact activated a bomb in an open area,’’ central region Police Commander Yehuda Bechar told Israel’s Channel Two television from the site of the blast. The explosion shattered glass, but damage was not
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Fears of tainted meat cloud Id Cairo, March 4 During Id al-Azha, Islam’s feast of sacrifice, Muslim families traditionally slaughter a head of livestock and donate a third of the meat to the needy. The three-day Id, which involves vast banquets of food, begins tomorrow. Huge amounts of red meat are consumed every Id, but fears of disease loom over demand during this year’s holiday. “my grandfather is really scared of red meat this year because of the news of mad cow disease. So he says this year, he’ll be eating chicken,’’ said Walaa, a 20-year-old saleswoman at the annual Cairo Id trade fair. Over the past few months, local media reports of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) and the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in Europe have alarmed many in Egypt — the Arab world’s most populous nation. News of the animal diseases has driven many consumers to domestic meat — which local authorities say is disease-free — while others have given up meat and dairy products altogether. Officials have launched a sweeping media campaign to inform people of measures taken to ensure their meat is safe. In early February, Egypt imposed a four-month ban on beef, live cattle and animal-based fodder from Europe because of concerns about mad cow disease. The brain-wasting disease has been linked to its human equivalent new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed more than 80 persons, mostly in Britain. Conscious of the usually buoyant Id demand, the authorities have stepped up security measures to guarantee that the 36 million Egyptian pounds ($ 9.3 million) worth of imported meats for this year’s Id are safe for human consumption. Mr Farouk Abdel Aziz, general supervisor for foodstuffs in Alexandria, said on Thursday that the government had introduced a state of emergency at sea and airports to ensure the imported meat is safe and does not contravene the ban. He said the only meat currently imported comes from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, India and China. For Id, Egypt imported some 40,000 sheep from Australia and 120 tonnes of frozen mutton from New Zealand alone. Despite government efforts, Egyptian consumer confidence remains shaken.
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BBC blast work of Irish group London, March 4 There were no reports of injuries from the bomb, which was planted inside a taxi, but there was damage to the BBC building in White City, West London. Mr Alan Fry, chief of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch, said the bomb “was clearly a big device” and was made using high explosive. He said bomb disposal experts rushed to the scene after receiving a coded warning passed on to them by a London hospital and a charity. They were attempting to carry out a controlled explosion using a remote-controlled robot when the bomb exploded, destroying the taxi and spreading debris over a wide area. “I believe that those responsible for this explosion a are indeed a dissident Irish Republican group and that is where we are commencing this investigation,” said Mr Fry. Asked if he thought the real IRA, a splinter group from the Irish Republican Army which is opposed to the Northern Ireland peace agreement, was to blame, he said, “That would be my expectation.” The blast marked an escalation of their campaign of violence in the british capital which has seen a series of bomb attacks over recent months.
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16 killed in two fire incidents Seoul, March 4 A fire swept through a greenhouse in southern Seoul before dawn, killing 10 persons sleeping inside. In northwest Seoul, a two-storey burning building collapsed early in the morning, burying nine firefighters who were trying to extinguish the flames.
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