Islamabad, April 9
A high-intensity blast ripped through a bustling fruit and vegetable market here today, killing at least 23 persons and injuring over 100 others, in one of the deadliest attacks in the Pakistani capital.

The blast occurred in the fruit market in Sector I-11 on the outskirts of the capital, bordering the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

"We have 20 bodies and three more bodies are in Holy Family Hospital. We currently have 54 injured out of which some are in very critical condition," Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Akram told PTI.

A 5-kg bomb was used and was planted in a crate of guavas that was brought to the market.

The bomb went off early in the morning when people had gathered to take part in the daily auction of the fruits, Assistant Inspector General of Islamabad Police Sultan Azam Taimuri said.

Over 100 people were injured in the attack and were rushed to PIMS and the Holy Family hospital in Rawalpindi, authorities said. Emergency was declared at both hospitals shortly after the explosion.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast.

However, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid issued a statement condemning the blast and regretting the death of civilians in the attack. He described such attacks, in which innocent civilians are targeted, as "un-Islamic".

Security officials and the police cordoned off the area and a Bomb Disposal Squad combed the locality for explosive devices.

"Around 1,500-2,000 people were at the market at the time of the blast," Inspector General of Police, Islamabad, Khalid Khattak told reporters at the blast site.

The blast site was strewn with severed body parts and bloodstained clothes amid fruit boxes.

The attack comes a month after the deadly terror assault on the premises of a court in the federal capital.

Though bombings happen frequently in Pakistani cities in the restive parts of the country, they are relatively rare in the capital.

The capital has been plagued by such brazen attacks recently, even as the government and the banned Taliban are in talks with each other to end the cycle of violence that has engulfed the country over the past one decade. The Taliban has announced a ceasefire till April 10.

President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have strongly denounced the blast. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who visited the scene of blast has sought an immediate investigation report. — PTI 

London, April 9
British culture minister Maria Miller today quit the Cabinet after an embarrassing row over her expenses linked to a mortgage, saying the controversy has become a "distraction" for the David Cameron government.

The controversy "has become a distraction from the vital work this government is doing," she said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister and Miller discussed her future last night and her resignation was confirmed today, Cameron's spokesman said.

Cameron, who had publicly backed Miller despite mounting concerns in his Conservative Party, said he hoped the 50-year-old lawmaker would be able to return to Cabinet "in due course".

The PM promoted British-Pakistani MP Sajid Javid as the new Culture Secretary. The Tory MP for Bromsgrove, whose bus driver father is from Pakistan, moves up from Treasury Financial Secretary where he worked as a close ally of UK Chancellor George Osborne.

The 44-year-old is one of the few Conservative Cabinet ministers to come from a working class background. Miller had faced a week of pressure from the main opposition Labour Party, and from her Conservative colleagues, over payments she had claimed linked to a mortgage.

She was cleared of funding a home for her parents at taxpayers' expense, but was told to repay £5,800 of the expenses she claimed.

An independent inquiry panel had previously recommended she repay £45,000. But the lower sum was approved by a committee of lawmakers - a decision which sparked a backlash across the political spectrum and calls for changes in how complaints against MPs are investigated.

The committee also criticised her "attitude" during the investigation, which it ruled was a breach of parliamentary code of conduct.

Miller apologised in the Commons (lower house of the British Parliament), but was criticised for the brevity of her statement. — PTI

Jakarta, April 9
Indonesia's main opposition party was on course to win most votes today in parliamentary elections and strengthen the chances of its popular candidate, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, in an upcoming presidential poll.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) had around 19 per cent of the national vote, according to unofficial tallies, with more than 80 per cent of a sample of votes counted.

However that figure is lower than recent surveys had predicted and, if confirmed, could make it harder than expected for Widodo, seen as a fresh face in a country still dominated by figures from the autocratic Suharto era, to become President.

Nevertheless the 52-year-old seemed happy with his party's showing, telling reporters: "Thanks be to God that the people have put their trust in the PDI-P."

The Democratic Party of current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono looked on course for a huge loss, with the tallies giving it around 10 per cent, half its share in the 2009 legislative elections.

Millions earlier streamed to polling stations across the huge archipelago, which stretches across three time zones from remote and mountainous Papua in the east to the crowded main island of Java and to Sumatra in the west.

Some 186 million people were eligible to vote for around 230,000 candidates competing for about 20,000 seats in national and regional legislatures, though the most important vote is for the lower house of the national parliament.

Today's polls determine who can run in presidential elections in July and all eyes are on frontrunner Widodo and the PDI-P, which has long been tipped to win the biggest share of the vote. — AFP

Kiev, April 9
Ukraine said today pro-Russian militants had freed 56 "hostages" after US and EU diplomats set up their first direct talks with Moscow and Kiev aimed at resolving the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

Ukraine's SBU security service said the group walked free from its headquarters in Lugansk after separatists seized the building and other key government offices at the weekend in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland.

The separatist raids have drawn Western charges that Russia, its troops already massed along Ukraine's border in response to its ouster of a Moscow-backed regime, is backing the separatists and plotting to grab more territory after annexing Crimea last month.

But US and EU diplomats also crucially agreed with Moscow that it was time to deescalate the worst European security crisis in decades by setting up a four-way round of negotiations involving Kiev next week.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's office confirmed she would meet US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov along with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsya in one of the European capitals.

A source in the Russian foreign ministry told Moscow's state-run RIA Novosti news agency the talks would probably be held at the end of the week.

The breakthrough agreement was reached after hundreds of irate activists occupied a series of strategic buildings in the east at the weekend and declared independence for the bustling region of Donetsk. — Reuters

Perth, April 9
Two fresh underwater signals possibly from the missing Malaysian jet's black box have been detected with the head of the search team today expressing optimism about finding the final resting place of the aircraft "in a matter of days".

Australian ship Ocean Shield towing a pinger locater in the southern Indian Ocean yesterday reacquired two signals after earlier detecting two on Saturday.

All of the four "pings", heard possibly from the black box of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, have been recorded within approximately 27 km of one another.

"Ocean Shield has been able to reacquire the signals on two more occasions, late yesterday afternoon and later last night," Angus Houston, head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre which is leading the search, said today.

Houston said the detection yesterday afternoon was held for approximately five minutes and 32 seconds and the detection late last night was held for nearly seven minutes.

The new information has narrowed the search area to 75,000 sq km from yesterday's 77,580 sq km area.

In another major development in the search for the plane, Australian authorities analyzed the signals picked up on Saturday and determined that they were not natural occurrences, but likely came from specific electronic equipment. Some marine life make similar sounds. — AFP

Colombo, April 9
The Sri Lankan military today said legal redress would be available for 423 individuals, including 32 Sri Lankans currently residing in India, designated as financiers of terrorism in the country.

Sri Lanka last week banned LTTE and 15 other Tamil diaspora groups for their alleged terror links.

Some 423 individuals, including 32 Sri Lankans presently residing in India, were listed as members of the banned LTTE offshoots and as financiers of terrorism.

"These individuals have been only designated not banned. If they have an issue with it they have the option of resorting to legal redress," Defence Ministry spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said.

"They may even win de-listing if the court deemed our action to be flawed," he said. A politician from the north had asked the Sri Lankan government as to why did it take to so long to designate these individuals if it had the evidence against them.

Responding to the remark, Wanigasooriya said: "This was because of his ignorance. These things cannot be done overnight. We have to go through a complex process of verification before any action could be taken."

Sri Lankan Defence Ministry has said it would now request foreign governments to take action against the designated groups and individuals under the UN Security Council resolution 1,373 which is binding on all states. — PTI