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Friday,
May 10,
2002, Chandigarh, India  
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450 die in
Nepal in 2 days
Rebels
declare one-month ceasefire Rocket
attack on Jalalabad airport 29 killed
in landmine blast in Russia
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Poll
predicts win for Sweden’s PM Bush’s
kin opposes new US visa rules
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450 die in Nepal in 2 days
Kathmandu, May 9 About 250 suspected Maoists have been killed in retaliation in the Gam area of Rolpa district, 400 km west of Kathmandu, on Tuesday and Wednesday, state run Radio Nepal said today. Many villagers were feared to be among those killed as the Maoists used them as human shields, the radio added. Reinforcements were mobilised in the area to counter the terrorists after the death of over 100 security personnel, including army personnel and policemen, yesterday. Of the 135 security personnel deployed in the area 104 had died on the spot, Radio Nepal said. The terrorists also destroyed police posts, post office and other government buildings during the clash that lasted for two days. In another encounter in Chainpur of Sankhuwasabha district, the security forces have killed 80 more rebels bringing the Maoist toll to 100 on Tuesday and yesterday, the police said. The latest attack comes in the wake of Prime Minister Deuba’s visit to Washington, where he called his crackdown on the Maoists part of the global war on terrorism. The USA has sanctioned $ 20 million in military aid to the Himalayan kingdom to quell the Maoist insurgency. Meanwhile, the Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation of the assault on the guerrilla camps, saying Nepalese forces may have used excessive force without trying to capture the rebels. In a report released yesterday, the global human Rights watchdog also expressed concern over the Nepalese Government’s decision to put reward on the heads of top rebel leaders saying that it might act as an incentive for security personnel to indulge in brute use of force. The Maoists had carried away the bodies of their dead, he added. Earlier, the Defence Ministry had confirmed the death of four armed police force members in the incident.
PTI |
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Rebels declare one-month ceasefire
Kathmandu, May 9 The ceasefire was made in an e-mail from rebel commander Prachanda to some Nepali newspapers and could not immediately be verified. But the communists have used this method in the past. “We announce a ceasefire from our side for one month starting May 15,” the e-mail said. It did not give a reason for the truce, but said the guerrillas would resume fighting if government forces attacked during the break. No comment was immediately available from the government, which says several hundred rebels died in a major offensive against their western strongholds in the past week. During a visit by Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba this week, the USA pledged $ 20 million in military aid to help crush the six-year rebellion that has killed more than 4,000 persons and wrecked the economy.
Reuters |
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Rocket attack on Jalalabad airport
Islamabad, May 9 It quoted provincial government officials as saying the rockets were fired from the southern flank of the facility last evening. The Pakistan-based private news service said the rockets landed some 500 metres north of the airport near the headquarter of the Afghan Army’s First Corps. However, there was no report of any casualties so far, it said. It said yesterday’s rocket attack on the Jalalabad airport was the first since the fall of Afghanistan’s fundamentalist Taliban regime last year. Other such facilities in eastern Afghanistan, particularly the Khost airport, have been frequent targets of rocket attacks in recent weeks. The Jalalabad airport served as a vital base in a military operation against suspected Al-Qaeda hideouts in the eastern Tora Bora hills in December and is still being used by the US and British forces. Meanwhile the Pakistani police has detained 23 members of extremist groups with suspected links to Al-Qaeda in response to a suicide bombing which killed 11 French nationals, sources said today. Senior Interior Ministry officials said the crackdown started overnight under a tough new plan to end a wave of terrorist violence which culminated in yesterday’s bloody car bombing outside Hotel Sheraton. He said that after the arrest of suspected Al-Qaeda members in Faisalabad and Lahore in March, security agencies had prepared a list of people who were believed to have provided them shelter. Meanwhile, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie arrived in this southern Pakistani city today where all French nationals were killed in a suicide car bombing. The minister immediately visited Agha Khan Hospital where 10 French citizens are lying wounded, one in a critical condition, according to the Pakistani Navy. Later, the wounded were flown home in a flying military hospital today. Washington: The Bush Administration has condemned the suicide bombing in Karachi which killed 14 persons, including 11 French nationals working on a submarine project. “The United States of America deplores and condemns the terrorist murders carried out by a suicide bomber in Karachi,” a statement by President George W Bush said yesterday. “The attack underscores the dangers all our citizens continue to face from such attacks, and strengthens our resolve to continue working together to fight terrorism”, it added.
AFP, PTI |
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29 killed in
landmine blast in Russia “According to information we have, more than 100 persons were injured and about 20 died at the scene,’’ said a police spokesman in the republic of Dagestan, which borders Russia’s rebel Chechnya. The deaths came just moments before President Vladimir Putin, addressing the main Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square, said terrorism was the new threat facing the world, as Nazism had been almost 60 years ago.
Reuters |
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French minister visits blast site
Islamabad, May 9 Alliot-Marie was received at the Karachi airport by Pakistan Information Minister Nisar Memon and navy chief Abdul Aziz Mirza and the French ambassador. Alliot-Marie, accompanied by a 30-member delegation that includes doctors, visited the blast site and PNS Shifa where she laid floral wreaths on the coffins of the French nationals. The French minister is in the southern Pakistani city to find details of the incident in which 14 persons working on the Augusta submarines were killed.
UNI, AFP
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Poll predicts win for Sweden’s PM Stockholm, May 9 Somalia-born Abdirisak Aden, a 33-year-old candidate from Rinkeby, a Stockholm suburb populated by immigrants from all over the world, is married with two children. He and two other Swedish citizens of Somali extraction were put on the UN sanctions list of organisations and individuals suspected of contact with the Al-Quida network after the September 11 events. All three deny any kind of terrorist activity. Mr Aden has been an official of the financial network Al-Barakaat, enabling Somalis in Sweden to send money to help their relatives back home in the absence of a functioning banking system. In Sweden, the three men are generally considered victims of an error. The Swedish Secret Service have looked into the matter and found no substance in the UN/US suspicions. The Swedish authorities have investigated and found no illicit transfer of funds.
Observers News Services |
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Bush’s kin opposes new US visa rules OPPOSITION to the new US visa regulations that could limit the period of stay for tourists visiting the USA to 30 days has come from an unexpected quarter. Florida Governor Jeb Bush, younger brother of President George Bush, has written to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) Commissioner James Ziglar, suggesting that the visa restriction could cause a “substantial reduction” in Florida tourist dollars if foreign visitors feel unwelcome. “While I understand that the security of our nation is of paramount importance and all necessary steps must be taken to ensure the safety of our citizens,” Mr Bush said in his letter, “I hope that the INS will decide to publicly communicate our willingness to accommodate our valuable guests.” Governor Bush has pointed out that Florida draws eight million foreign visitors a year who spend nearly $ 5.5 billion including 500,000 in sales taxes. According to Palm Beach Post, which reported Governor Bush’s views on the new visa regulations, the INS estimates the number of foreigners who stay in America beyond 30 days is 2.5 million, or about one in four. The paper noted that the rule which could take effect in July, affects tourist and business visas. It quoted Danille Polen, spokeswoman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, as saying “We will see more backlogs and increasing chaos at the ports of entry.” |
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Moscow, May 9
