W O R L D

Afghanistan suffers a day of bloodshed
Kabul, June 6
As many as 38 civilians were killed in a bloody day across Afghanistan today as a twin suicide bombing laid waste to a crowded makeshift bazaar and a NATO air strike hit a home, Afghan officials said.
IN RUINS: Villagers at the site of the pre-dawn NATO airstrike that killed civilians celebrating a wedding, including women and children, south of Kabul. — AP/PTI

‘Al-Qaida has people to fill in Libi void’
New York, June 6
Al-Qaida has people to fill in the void created by the death of its leaders like Abu Yahya al-Libi, a US security expert has warned, highlighting the need to tackle the terror network's ability to exploit "ungoverned space" in countries like Pakistan in order to defeat it.

Pak CJ Iftikhar begins graft proceedings against his son
Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Wednesday initiated suo motu proceedings against his son Arsalan Iftikhar following allegations in the media that he was paid up to Rs 400 million by a real estate tycoon to influence cases in the apex court.
Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry with son Arsalan.

Syria’s Assad names new PM after vote
Damascus, June 6
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today appointed agriculture minister Riad Hijab as the strife-torn country's new premier and tasked him with forming a government, state television reported.

Al-Qaida advertises for suicide bombers
Baghdad, June 6
The Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has begun posting Internet advertisements offering training to suicide bombers for targeting the US, Israel and France, adverts on several jihadist web forums show.

Afghanistan suffers a day of bloodshed
23 killed in twin suicide strikes on NATO base z NATO raid claims 15 lives at wedding party

Kabul, June 6
As many as 38 civilians were killed in a bloody day across Afghanistan today as a twin suicide bombing laid waste to a crowded makeshift bazaar and a NATO air strike hit a home, Afghan officials said.

Twenty-three persons were killed and 50 others were wounded in the suicide attack in a car park crammed with vehicles supplying the largest NATO base in southern Afghanistan, the police said.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck first and as a crowd gathered to help the victims a second bomber walked into their midst and set off explosives strapped to his body, Kandahar provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq told AFP.

"All casualties are civilians, not a single military person," he said.

Hours earlier, at least 15 civilians, including women and children, were killed in a NATO air strike on a home in Logar province south of Kabul, who had gathered to celebrate a wedding, the police said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said "multiple insurgents" were killed in the air strike, which was ordered after troops came under fire.

But deputy provincial police chief Rais Khan Sadeq Abdulrahimzai told AFP: "18 civilians, including women and children, are dead," adding that seven Taliban insurgents were also killed.

Provincial government spokesman Din Mohammad Darvish said "around 15 civilians are dead" after the attack in the early hours of Wednesday.

An AFP correspondent said he saw at least 15 bodies that had been loaded into five vehicles and driven by villagers to the provincial capital of Pol-i-Alam. He said he saw the bodies of three women and four children, one as young as a year old and the oldest about 10 years old. — AFP

‘Al-Qaida has people to fill in Libi void’

Abu Yahya al-Libi

New York, June 6
Al-Qaida has people to fill in the void created by the death of its leaders like Abu Yahya al-Libi, a US security expert has warned, highlighting the need to tackle the terror network's ability to exploit "ungoverned space" in countries like Pakistan in order to defeat it.

Bill Roggio of Long War Journal, a news website which reports on the war on terror, sounded a cautious note on the killing of Qaida's second-in-command Libi in a recent drone strike in North Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan.

While Libi was an influential religious leader, Al-Qaida did not rely on him alone to provide religious guidance, Roggio said in a blog post.

Libi had moved up the ranks to become the second-in-command in the terror network after Ayman al-Zawahri, who assumed leadership of the group following the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Al-Qaida has been able to replace past leaders who have been killed or captured after the US launched its war against it and its allied groups since the 9/11 attacks, Roggio said. "Until we tackle Al-Qaida's ideology, state support and ability to exploit ungoverned space in countries like Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, you are not going to defeat the organisation," he said. — PTI 

Pak CJ Iftikhar begins graft proceedings against his son
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Attorney-General Irfan Qadir urged the Chief Justice not to sit on the bench to hear the case involving his son as it violated the code of conduct. The CJ asked him to present his view in writing and promised to give it due consideration when the hearing is resumed on Thursday. 

Produce ‘killed’ girls before court: SC
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that four tribal girls, believed to have been beheaded following an alleged decree by a jirga (assembly) to punish them for applauding a dance by two boys in Kohistan, be produced before it.

Before adjourning the case, the court issued the directive after hearing conflicting versions from the government that the girls were alive while civil society representatives insisted that they had been murdered.

A three-member bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, which had taken suo moto notice of the widely publicised case, adjourned the hearing for the day when Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured it that a helicopter would be sent to bring the girls.

Domestic and international media reports appeared on Monday claiming that the village cleric had issued an edict for the killing of four women and two men after a mobile phone video emerged of the six singing and dancing at a wedding in a remote village in Kohistan.

Speaking outside the court, Mohammad Afzal, who had reported the matter earlier, reiterated that all four women had been killed. Afzal said the women, who were also related to him, were killed on May 30 and their throats had been slit. Afzal said the decision to kill the women had been taken by a jirga in Mansehra a month ago.

Syria’s Assad names new PM after vote

Riad Hijab, new Syrian PM

Damascus, June 6
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today appointed agriculture minister Riad Hijab as the strife-torn country's new premier and tasked him with forming a government, state television reported.

"President Assad issued a decree asking Riad Hijab to form a new government," the television said. The appointment comes after a new parliament was voted in on May 7 in elections boycotted by opposition groups.

Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi confirmed the report on Twitter, saying, "Dr Riad Hijab is the new prime minister of Syria and will form the new government." Hijab, 46, replaces former premier Adel Safar, who had formed his government in April 2011, one month after an Arab Spring-inspired uprising erupted across Syria, shaking the regime which responded with force.

According to figures of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 13,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the uprising. Hijab was born in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province and holds a PhD in engineering. He was appointed minister of agriculture in April 2011. Prior to that, from 2004 to 2008, he served as head of the Baath Party in Deir Ezzor. — AFP

Al-Qaida advertises for suicide bombers

Baghdad, June 6
The Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has begun posting Internet advertisements offering training to suicide bombers for targeting the US, Israel and France, adverts on several jihadist web forums show.

The advertisements ask for volunteers to get in touch via email with details about their own experience and proposed targets.

"The aim of this training is to continue with our brothers who are seeking to carry out operations that make for great killing and slaughtering of the enemies of Islam," said the advertisement attributed to Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

"It is clear now that the individual jihad, or what is called the lone wolf, has become more widespread and its features have started showing -- in summary, it is a complete jihadist operation to be carried out by a single bomber." It said the targets of the attacks were "those who are fighting the Muslims and Islam" and specifically pointed to "economic, military and media interests of the enemy." — AFP