W O R L D

Twin blasts kill 26 in Pak
Bombers strike Quetta home of top military commander 
Taliban carried out attack to avenge arrest of Qaida men
Islamabad, September 7
Targeting paramilitary forces which recently captured top Al-Qaida operatives, Taliban suicide bombers hit the house of a top Pakistan military commander in southwestern city of Quetta today, killing 26 persons, most of them soldiers and wounding 82 others.

COLOUR OF TERROR: An injured man waits for help while the body of a child lies at the site of the double suicide bombing in Quetta on Wednesday. — Reuters

43 die in Russian air crash
Entire ice-hockey team among those killed 
Tunoshna, September 7
A passenger plane carrying a Russian ice-hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport today, leaving 43 persons dead. The crash of the Yak-42 aircraft, whose passengers included players and coaches of a team that includes foreign stars, plunged Russia's sports world into grief and marred a showcase political forum featuring President Dmitry Medvedev.

A picture of the Lokomotiv ice-hockey team taken on Aug 21, 2011, in Yaroslavl.
— AFP

Rebels want Niger to stop Gaddafi from crossing border Benghazi, September 7 Libya's new leaders today said they were urgently seeking Niger's cooperation in preventing toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, his family or his troops from crossing the border. "We have sent a delegation today that is going to Niger to talk ... about securing our borders to stop any kind of infiltration of Gaddafi troops to Niger, to stop any attempt by Gaddafi or his family to escape to Niger," Fathi Baja, head of the NTC's political affairs committee, told reporters.

ON THE RUN: Muammar Gaddafi

Jindal ready for second innings
Washington, Septembers 7
Piyush ‘Bobby’ Jindal, the first Indian-American ever to be elected as the Governor of a US state, filed his re-election papers, with analysts saying he is unlikely to face any major challenge and seems assured of a second term as Louisiana’s chief executive. “I’m honored to qualify today to run for re-election to the office of Governor. I am pleased and honored the people have entrusted me to be their governor these past three and a half years. I’m officially asking them today to elect me to a second term,” Jindal told reporters after fling his papers in Baton Rouge.

 

 

Twin blasts kill 26 in Pak
Bombers strike at Quetta home of top military commander 
Taliban say they did it to avenge arrest of vital Qaida men

Islamabad, September 7
Targeting paramilitary forces which recently captured top Al-Qaida operatives, Taliban suicide bombers hit the house of a top Pakistan military commander in southwestern city of Quetta today, killing 26 persons, most of them soldiers and wounding 82 others.

The suicide bombers, who detonated more than 90 kg of explosives, in and around the house of Deputy Inspector General of the paramilitary force ‘Frontier Corps’ (FC), Brig Khuram Shehzad, missed him but killed his wife, a colonel and many other soldiers.

“Twenty-four bodies have so far been recovered in the twin suicide attack in which the residence of the Brigadier was totally damaged. The DIG himself is critically injured,” Duniya television quoted local police chief Hamid Shakil as saying.

Claiming the responsibility for the attack, first such incident in Quetta, the Taliban spokesman said it was in revenge against the arrest of some top militants, including Younis al Mauritani and two others.

In the blasts, the first suicide bomber detonated his car laden with 90 kg of explosives next to a group of Frontier Corps soldiers and officers standing in front of their commander’s house, while the second attacker managed to sneak into the premises and blew himself up inside.

The house, located in a highly guarded area of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, was blown up by the impact of the twin blasts.

Local TV channels reported that wife of the DIG was killed in the attacks, while the Brigadier was critically injured and rushed to a nearby military hospital.

The blast took place days after the Pakistan army announced the security forces arrested a top Al-Qaida leader. The US had praised the arrest of Mauritani, who was involved in planning and carrying out international operations, according to the Pakistan army.

Two other senior Al-Qaida operatives, Abdul Ghaffar al Shami and Messara al Shami (Mujahid Amino) were also arrested along with al Mauritani. — PTI

43 die in Russian air crash 
Entire ice-hockey team among those killed 

Tunoshna, September 7
A passenger plane carrying a Russian ice-hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport today, leaving 43 persons dead.

The crash of the Yak-42 aircraft, whose passengers included players and coaches of a team that includes foreign stars, plunged Russia's sports world into grief and marred a showcase political forum featuring President Dmitry Medvedev.

The plane was carrying 37 passengers and eight crew to Minsk in Belarus when it crashed a few kilometers from the airport at Tunoshna outside Yaroslavl, 250 km north of Moscow, the Emergencies Ministry said.

Citing preliminary information, the ministry said two people survived and were taken to hospital. The plane was carrying members of Lokomotiv - a leading Continental Hockey League (KHL) hockey team based in Yaroslavl - for a match in Minsk, KHL president Alexander Medvedev said in televised comments.

"There has been a terrible tragedy," Medvedev said after the opening match of the league's season in the city of Ufa was interrupted by news of the crash, stunning spectators and sports officials. He announced a minute's silence and postponed the match.

There was no immediate word on the identity of the victims. Lokomotiv's roster includes European and NHL stars, among them Czech national side players Karel Ranuchek, Jan Marek and Josef Vasicek, Slovakia's legend Pavol Demitra and Swedish goalkeeper Liv Stefan, according to the KHL. Its head coach is Canadian former Detroit Red Wings assistant Brad McCrimmon, according to the KHL.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered Transport Minister Igor Levitin to travel to the crash site and Medvedev sent his first deputy chief of staff, Vladislav Surkov.

The crash was Russia's deadliest since June, when a Tupolev Tu-134 jet slammed into a roadside while trying to land in fog in the northern Russian city of Petrozavodsk, killing 45 people. — Reuters

Rebels want Niger to stop Gaddafi
from crossing border

Benghazi, September 7
Libya's new leaders today said they were urgently seeking Niger's cooperation in preventing toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, his family or his troops from crossing the border.

"We have sent a delegation today that is going to Niger to talk ... about securing our borders to stop any kind of infiltration of Gaddafi troops to Niger, to stop any attempt by Gaddafi or his family to escape to Niger," Fathi Baja, head of the NTC's political affairs committee, told reporters.

A large convoy carrying Gaddafi 's henchmen crossed into Niger on Monday, sparking speculation that the fugitive strongman had fled with them. However, the rumours have been widely dismissed, including by Libya's now-ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), which believes he is still in the country.

"We ask any neighbouring countries to stop Gaddafi people from going to their land," Fathi said, speaking to reporters in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"The delegation will leave in the hours to come from Tunis to Niger," he added.

When asked about the convoy that crossed to Niger reportedly carrying money and gold, he replied: "We don't know how much money this convoy was transporting but according to what we know, security reports provided by groups in this region, from phone contacts and and certain people's dispatches, we can say that they have seen money and gold in these cars."

The large convoy of civilian and military vehicles entered Niger late Monday and drove through the city of Agadez.

Niger was adamant Gaddafi was not aboard the convoy while Washington said that while some senior officials of the ousted regime were in the convoy, the fallen dictator was not believed to be among them.

"We don't have any evidence that Gaddafi is anywhere but in Libya at the moment," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

She urged the Niger government to arrest any Libyan officials in the group who might be sought by international authorities for human rights violations or other crimes.

Fathi at the Benghazi press conference said that the delegation in their talks with the president and foreign minister of Niger would ask that Gaddafi's aides who have crossed into Niger be sent back to Libya. — AFP

Jindal ready for second innings

Washington, Septembers 7
Piyush ‘Bobby’ Jindal, the first Indian-American ever to be elected as the Governor of a US state, filed his re-election papers, with analysts saying he is unlikely to face any major challenge and seems assured of a second term as Louisiana’s chief executive.

“I’m honored to qualify today to run for re-election to the office of Governor. I am pleased and honored the people have entrusted me to be their governor these past three and a half years. I’m officially asking them today to elect me to a second term,” Jindal told reporters after fling his papers in Baton Rouge.

Born of Indian-American Amar and Raj Jindal, who migrated from Punjab, Bobby Jindal was elected as the Louisiana Governor in 2007 in a four-way race by garnering 54.2 per cent of the total votes.

At the age of 36, he had become the youngest serving Governor in the US - a position which has now been overtaken by her Republican party mate Nikki Haley, who this year was sworn in as the Governor of South Carolina. Haley is seven months younger than Jindal. — PTI