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Laden offers truce to European countries
Italian hostage in Iraq slain Nation page: USA planting WMDs in Iraq? Iranian
diplomat shot
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Tamil Tiger linked to Rajiv killing shot 20 Palestinians hurt as Israeli copter fires rocket
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Laden offers truce to European countries Cairo, April 15 “I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries,” the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of Bin Laden. There was no way to verify the speaker’s identity. The message said the truce would last three months and could be extended. However, the speaker indicated that it would not begin right away: “The truce will begin when the last soldier leaves our countries,” he said without elaborating. “Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood,” the message added. “This is a difficult but easy equation.” The message also vowed revenge for Israel’s killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. London: Britain today rejected an offer of a truce with European nations attributed to Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, saying that the notion of an armistice with terrorists was “an absurdity”. The offer of peace if European countries withdrew troops from Muslim nations, made in an audio tape, purportedly from Bin Laden, was “a cynical ploy”, a Foreign Officer spokesman said. “The idea of an armistice with a group that defines itself by violence is an absurdity,” he said. The voice on the cassette, the authenticity of which could not be verified, was broadcast by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television. “Neither we nor our European partners are going to be intimidated into withdrawing from action against terrorism or to break the trans-Atlantic alliance that has been the cornerstone of our freedom and defence policy for decades”. In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said discussing a peace deal apparently offered by Osama bin Laden to European countries would be “unthinkable”. In Shanghai, European Commission President Romano Prodi said. “How could you possibly react to this statement? There is no possibility for a deal under a terrorist threat. It is completely impossible,” he told reporters in Shanghai. Meanwhile, in Madrid, incoming Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Spaniards should “neither listen to nor pay attention to” an audiotape message attributed to Osama bin Laden justifying the March 11 attacks in Madrid.
— AP, AFP |
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Italian hostage in Iraq slain Baghdad, April 15 Journalist Alexandre Jordanov, who was taken hostage south of Baghdad 3 days ago, was freed, a French diplomat said. But that left about 40 other foreigners still being held hostage amid a wave of kidnappings. In a statement sent to Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, the captors of the Italians said they had "killed the hostage after comments by (Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi ... that the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq was not negotiable." Al-Jazeera said it had received a "video film and photos showing the murder of the hostage" but said it could not broadcast the material for fear of upsetting its viewers. Frattini named the dead hostage as Fabrizio Quattrocchi (35) from Genoa. The kidnappers threatened to kill the other three hostages "one by one if their demands were not taken into account," Al-Jazeera said. Berlusconi had said on Tuesday that there was "no question" of Italy withdrawing its 3,000-strong military from Iraq. Meanwhile Yukihisa Fujita of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, speaking in Amman, gave more details of the two Japanese kidnapped. He said one was freelance journalist Junpei Yasuda. He identified the other man simply by
his family name, Watanabe. — AFP |
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Iranian diplomat shot
Baghdad, April 15 The Tehran, state television reported that the diplomat was Khalil Naimi, first secretary of the mission. — AFP |
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Ashish Kumar Sen
writes from Washington Concerned that US intelligence agencies are not being given access to Pakistani metallurgist Abdul Qadeer Khan, a US Congressman has written to President Pervez Musharraf asking that these interviews be allowed to proceed. Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., New Jersey Democrat, told General Musharraf he was “concerned that you are not permitting further inquiry into this situation.” The former co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans said despite the fact that Pakistan had been declared an ally in the US-led war on terrorism, its “nuclear behaviour” exemplified the opposite. Mr Pallone is not the only one with these concerns. In an article in the Wall Street Journal this week, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh questioned General Musharraf’s cooperation as a US ally in the war on terror. “General Musharraf was polite but unhelpful,” Mr Freeh wrote. “Pakistan was not going to help us get this terrorist out of Afghanistan.” The former FBI chief was referring to Osama bin Laden. Mr Freeh’s comments confirmed what National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told the commission last week. Although Pakistan has provided the US and its Asian allies some information regarding the nuclear transfers, American officials believe that the Pakistani Government is withholding critical information. In his letter, Mr Pallone pointed out that there were still no safeguards in place to prevent further nuclear assistance from Pakistan to rogue nations that did not have an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. “In addition, because your government is failing to comply with the USA in its investigation, I believe the US Department of State should work with the United Nations and appropriate agencies to enter Pakistan and monitor its nuclear programme,” Mr Pallone wrote. He said UN supervision was necessary in order to ensure that Pakistan was no longer capable of allowing nuclear information to fall into the wrong hands and in order to ensure that the USA could adequately conduct an investigation into the illegal actions of Dr Khan by serving as a nuclear resource to rogue nations. In Islamabad, a foreign ministry spokesperson declined to go into specifics of a New York Times report that Dr Khan had seen three nuclear bombs in North Korea. “We have been sharing information with the international community and other countries who have a direct interest in this matter,” the Pakistani spokesperson said. State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher told reporters that Washington “has received significant amounts of information from Pakistan about the network, about Mr Khan’s activities, about the activities of his associates, about others who were involved.” |
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Tamil Tiger linked to Rajiv killing shot
Colombo, April 15 The Tiger operative identified as Neelan was shot dead by V. Muralitharan or Karuna just before he disbanded his group and escaped in the face of a major offensive to dislodge him from the eastern district of Batticaloa on Monday. The LTTE posthumously conferred the rank of Lt Col on Neelan, the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said. “The deputy head of the Batticaloa intelligence unit, Lt Col Neelan (Sinnathamby), was shot dead by the “traitorous” Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna on April 12 before he fled his jungle hideouts in Batticaloa district,” the Tamilnet said. “The Lt Col rank is usually earned only by senior members of the LTTE,” LTTE sources said, adding “Lt Col Neelan was responsible for several battle field successes.” ‘The Sunday Leader’ newspaper here had reported the detention of Neelan by Karuna and had speculated that the renegade may use the prized catch as a bargaining chip, possibly with India because of his links to the Gandhi case.
— PTI |
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20 Palestinians hurt as Israeli copter fires rocket Gaza City, April 15 The helicopter fired a rocket at a group of Palestinians gathered in the flashpoint Rafah refugee camp, which lies close to the border with Egypt, while bulldozers razed two houses and a third house was dynamited, the sources added. Israel's army radio said the operation was aimed at destroying a tunnel used to smuggle weapons under the border from Egypt.
— AFP |
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Britain calls it a cynical ploy
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