Dhaka, May 1
Suspected Islamic militants today exploded several bombs at Bangladesh’s three major railway stations, including one in capital Dhaka, spreading panic among commuters and prompting authorities to step up security in the emergency-ruled country.

Security officials and witnesses said the bombs exploded between 6.45 and 9.30 am local time, rocking the railway stations in Dhaka’s Kamalapur, northeastern Sylhet and Chittagong.

Only one person was injured in Chittagong, the southeastern port city, in the explosions.

Zadid Al-Qaida, an unknown outfit, claimed the responsibility, leaving an aluminum plate at the explosion scenes with inscribes slamming the minority Kadiani sect of Muslims, also known as Ahmedias, and NGO activists asking them to quit their jobs by May 10.

“Kadianis and NGO activists, be careful,” it read.

Authorities ordered an immediate investigation while the police and other security agencies launched a manhunt to find the suspected militants.

“It initially appeared that a single organisation exploded the bombs in a planned way,” a security official said, as army troops examined the evidence at the scenes.

The blasts occurred a month after the execution of six top leaders of outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which had announced its presence carrying out a series of nationwide bomb blasts in the country on August 17, 2005.

Officials earlier suspected the group could be reorganised under new outfits following a massive security clampdown on its remnants. — PTI

Kathmandu, May 1
A young couple from Punjab was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a forest in northern Nepal on Sunday.

Chandra Prakash (24) and Neelu Devi (22) were found dead in a forested area in Chame village in remote Manang district, near Nepal's northern border with Tibet.

The couple had checked into Manang Trekkers’ Holiday Hotel on Friday and had apparently left their room to go on a trek.

They had informed the hotel staff that they would return the next day. However, when they failed to do so or contact the hotel, the authorities informed the police on Sunday.

A search for the missing pair led to the discovery of their bodies at a desolate spot on the same day.

Police reports stated that an empty pesticide bottle was found near the spot along with a note stating that no one was responsible for their death.

In the hotel register, Prakash had given his profession as an accountant, while Neelu was described as a housewife.

The duo had given a ward number in Patiala district as their address. However, when Patiala police searched the area, they failed to locate the dead couple’s family, giving rise to the suspicion that they may have given a false address.

The bodies have been sent for a postmortem.

Last month, an Indian tourist, G.S. Raghavendra Swami, was found hanging in his room in Hotel Countdown in the Satghumti area of Thamel. — IANS

Toronto, May 1
A career criminal testifying at the Air India inquiry said he was offered a suitcase full of cash by Sikh militants to blow up the plane but he turned down the offer and instead warned the police about the plot months before the bombing in 1985.

Gerry Boudreault testified behind a white curtain as he described a series of 1984 meetings with militants, who wanted guns and explosives and were willing to pay him $ 180,000 to get a bomb on an Air India flight.

Boudreault, whose identity was not released at the inquiry, has previously testified publicly in an unrelated 1994 hearing that he told the police in advance about the Air India plot. Air India Flight 182 exploded and crashed off Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing 329 persons.

Despite a criminal record spanning 40 years, Boudreault said he only met with the plotters because he wanted more information to pass on to the police.

He said he kept police apprised of developments after each meeting with the militants. One Vancouver officer laughed at him and said, “That will never happen,” Boudreault testified.

Boudreault said the police were suspicious of his story because of his criminal record

Boudreault said he first met Harmail Singh Grewal in 1977 and began a lengthy friendship with the British Columbia man.

He said it was Grewal, who introduced him to the militants who wanted his help in carrying out acts of terrorism, including the bombing and an assassination attempt on then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Those people were described as Q, W and Z at the inquiry, but they were all associates of suspected mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar.

W, who once lived in Calgary, made calls from Boudreault’s house around the same time to Inderjit Singh Reyat in Duncan, B.C., Boudreault testified.

Reyat has admitted he supplied components for Air India plot and that Parmar, who was killed in India in 1992, asked him to build the bombs.

Former Vancouver police officer Rick Crook, who is now with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said Grewal described a plan to bomb two planes and said a meeting had taken place in a Lower Mainland restaurant in September or October 1984.

Crook testified that Grewal seemed willing to tell the police who was behind the plot, but his lawyer at the time, George Angelomatis, told him not to do so unless a deal was reached.

A partial transcript was released yesterday of Grewal’s conversation with Crook in October 1984.

Despite some concern about Grewal’s credibility, Crook took the information very seriously “because of the magnitude of what he was talking about.”

He prepared a report that was passed on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP, but had no further involvement in the case because it was beyond his scope as a Municipal police officer with eight years on the job. — PTI

Kathmandu, May 1
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Prachanda today warned of launching a fresh round of protest from all sectors - government, parliament and street - to establish democratic republic “if the eight parties fail to announce Nepal a republic state through Parliament immediately”.

Speaking at a programme on the 118th May Day here today, Prachanda said: “Our party will start protest in Parliament, government, PLA camps and streets alike if the eight parties fail to agree on declaring Nepal a republic.”

He said: “If our responsibility towards establishing peace is underestimated then we will be forced to launch another revolution.”

Islamabad, May 1
A Pakistan court has acquitted Murtaza Bhutto, the estranged brother of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in a criminal case, 11 years after his death.

District and sessions judge of Thatta Raja Lehrasiab Khan acquitted 21 accused in the Shah Bunder case, including Murtaza and seven youths killed in the Shah Bunder encounter.

According to an FIR registered by the Thatta police, 21 activists of the Al-Zulfikar Organisation headed by Murtaza were caught on May 11, 1992 while returning in a vessel from Gujarat after allegedly receiving terrorism training.

The FIR stated that law enforcement agencies personnel killed seven of the 20 accused after a brief exchange of fire and arrested 13 of them.

Murtaza Bhutto was accused of having arranged the India trip.

In 1996, Murtaza accused the police of unfairly targeting his organisation. Hours after the conference, he was shot and killed along with six supporters during a clash with the police.

His family blamed Benazir, who was then Prime Minister, for the murder, a charge she denied. — PTI

Baghdad, May 1
Iraqi authorities are investigating reports that the alleged leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been killed in a struggle within his own group, the interior ministry said today.

“There is intelligence information. Some information, you know, needs confirmation, but this information is very strong,” interior ministry operations director Brig-Gen Abdel Karim Khalaf said.

“The clashes took place among themselves. There were clashes within the groups of Al-Qaida. He was liquidated by them. Our forces had nothing to do with it,” he added in an interview on state television.

A US military spokesman could not confirm the report.

“I hope it’s true, we’re checking, but we’re going to be doubly sure before we can confirm anything,” said Lieut-Col Chris Garver, noting that several previous report of Masri’s death had proved unfounded.

US officials say Masri, who is allegedly also known as Abu Hama al-Muajir, is an Egyptian car bomb specialist who heads Al-Qaida’s Iraq’s subsidiary. The US state department has put a one million dollar bounty on his head.

Two months ago there were reports in the Iraqi media that Masri had been wounded in a shootout with Iraqi soldiers, but these later proved false.

Kalaf said Masri was killed on Tuesday near Taji, a town just north of the capital. — AFP

Aruran Vinayagamoorthy (32) and Sivarajah Yathavan, (36) appeared in Melbourne Magistrates court. They are charged with intentionally being a member of a terrorist organisation and providing support and making funds available to a terrorist organisation.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between July 6, 2002, and May 1, 2007.

Commonwealth prosecutor Mark Dean SC said the defendants collected money in Australia that was sent through various channels in Asia to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), listed as a terrorist outfit by the Australian government.

Dean also said the pair supported the organisation by providing electronic and marine equipment.

He said the authorities searched the men’s homes today where further evidence was obtained.

Defence lawyer Rob Stary said more information on the nature of the charges the men faced was needed so they could apply for bail.