W O R L D

Mehsud surfaces on video to threaten strikes on US
Washington, May 3
Four months after he was believed killed in a US drone strike, Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has appeared in a new video, vowing revenge attacks against major American cities.

An image from a Pakistani Taliban video released by IntelCenter, a private contractor working for intelligence agencies, shows Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud before a map of the US with explosions on it. — AP/PTI

Lankan court suspends Fonseka’s court martial
Colombo, May 3
Sri Lanka’s court of appeal today suspended a court martial hearing against Sarath Fonseka until May 21 so that a decision could be made on the validity of the legal proceedings against detained former army chief.

Mehsud surfaces on video to threaten strikes on US

Washington, May 3
Four months after he was believed killed in a US drone strike, Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has appeared in a new video, vowing revenge attacks against major American cities.

Mehsud threatened to carry out strikes against the US within a month for killings of the Taliban and Al-Qaida leaders as he surfaced in a nine-minute video apparently made on April 4, US monitoring groups reported.

“The time is very near when our fidayeen will attack states in major US cities,” Mehsud warned on the video where he was shown flanked by two armed masked men.

This is the first time that Taliban have directly threatened to carry out suicide attacks on the US soil, on the pattern of their close allies Al-Qaida.

The video comes in the wake of an attempted car bombing in New York’s Times Square on Sunday and follows another video released by Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) in which the group claimed responsibility for the failed strike. The US investigative agencies have, however, ruled out the attack being handiwork of any Islamist terror organisation.

Referring to the reports of his death, 27-year-old Tehreek-e-Taliban chief in the video rubbished them describing them as “open lie and propaganda by the non-believers”.

“Inshaallah (God willing) very soon in some days or a month’s time the world will see the fruit’s of most successful attacks by our fidayeen in the USA,” Mehsud warned in the video.

The video in which the TTP claimed responsibility for Times Square attack, the outfit said it was a retaliation for having “martyred many of our Muslim leaders and many respective brothers from Al-Qaida”.

He specifically named the killing of Baitullah Mehsud, his predecessor in TTP who was killed in a US missile strike in August last year.

Mehsud said the TTP had already infiltrated the US. “Our fidayeen have penetrated the terrorist American, we will give extremely painful blows to the fanatic America.” He also warned NATO and other allies to abandon the US or they would face worst humiliation and destruction than America itself. — PTI

Lankan court suspends Fonseka’s court martial

Colombo, May 3
Sri Lanka’s court of appeal today suspended a court martial hearing against Sarath Fonseka until May 21 so that a decision could be made on the validity of the legal proceedings against detained former army chief.

The court martial is probing charges that Fonseka conspired against the President and his family and engaged in politics while in uniform.

Fonseka, who unsuccessfully contested January presidential elections against Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested soon after the polls on the charges.

Meanwhile, a second court martial hearing against him is expected to go ahead tomorrow. The second court martial is probing charges of violation of military procurement procedures by Fonseka.

Fonseka last year led the military to victory over Tamil Tigers, ending decades of ethnic conflict on the island, but he and Rajapaksa later fell out.

The former army chief is now an elected Parliamentarian and heads the opposition Democratic National Alliance. — PTI

Indian faked racial attack to get insurance money

Melbourne, May 3
An Indian national was let off lightly with a suspended eight-month jail term after it was found that he took advantage of racial tensions in Australia to falsely claim that he was set on fire after he accidentally burnt himself in a botched insurance claim bid.

Jaspreet Singh, 28, had claimed that he was racially attacked in Melbourne after he reportedly burnt himself while torching his car to make an insurance claim.

During a court hearing, it was found that Jaspreet Singh who had said that he was doused with petrol and set alight by four men after he parked his car near his home early January, was planning to claim insurance money to fund a holiday to India.

The police found he had suffered the burns while trying to torch his Ford sedan, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard today.

Jaspreet had pleaded guilty to criminal damage with intent to gain through arson, attempting to obtain property by deception and making a false report to the police.

Senior constable Luke Devlin told the court that Jaspreet had failed “to consider atmospheric conditions... (and) a vapour explosion occurred”.

Deputy chief magistrate Felicity Broughton imposed an aggregate jail term of eight months suspended for two years on Jaspreet but said if he had not pleaded guilty, Jaspreet would have been jailed for 15 months. She said Jaspreet ‘s behaviour was clearly a planned and premeditated enterprise. Jaspreet had suffered burns to his arms, feet, neck, face and scalp.

According to ‘The Age’, police official Paul McClure said Jaspreet was in dire financial circumstances after the collapse of a business, and was going to use the burnt car to make an insurance claim.

He said the events could have some bearing on Singh’s wife who is in Australia on a student visa and hopes to apply for permanent residency when the visa expired. Broughton said for Jaspreet to have claimed that he was a victim of a racist attack at a time when tensions between Australia and India was a cynical action. — PTI