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Rebels shoot down Ukrainian military plane, 49 killed
An armed pro-Russian separatist stands guard at the site of the crash of the Il-76 Ukrainian army transport plane in Luhansk. Reuters
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Iraqi forces regain some territory
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Rebels shoot down Ukrainian military plane, 49 killed
Kiev, June 14 President Petro Poroshenko summoned his security chiefs for consultations and promised an "adequate" response after the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile as it came in to land at Luhansk airport near the border with Russia. "All those involved in cynical acts of terrorism of this magnitude must be punished," he said, declaring Sunday a day of mourning for the nine crew and 40 paratroopers killed. Charred debris was scattered for hundreds of metres over the sloping wheat field where the plane came down overnight near Novohannivka, a village 20 km southeast of Luhansk. The tail section jutted up from the ground, with parts of the engines, fuselage and other parts lying around it. A platoon of rebel forces clad in camouflage fatigues scoured through the ruins for ammunition that had been intended for the government forces in east Ukraine. "This is how we work. The fascists can bring as many reinforcements as they want but we will do this every time. We will talk to them on our own terms, " said a stocky 50-year-old rebel who identified himself as Pyotr. He had an assault rifle in one hand, a light machine gun in the other and two ammunition belts round his neck. Local residents said government forces, who hold the airport and are often described as fascists by their foes, attacked rebel positions near the airfield with jets soon after day broke. The toll is the highest suffered by government forces in a single incident since the conflict in Ukraine began and is likely to fuel tension between Russia and Kiev's main ally, the United States, which accuses Moscow of arming the rebels. — Reuters
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Afghan Prez frontrunner Abdullah Abdullah wants warm ties with neighbours
Ashish Kumar Sen in Washington DC Afghan presidential frontrunner Abdullah Abdullah wants to improve ties with Afghanistan’s neighbours, including Pakistan, and will not make it his priority to ask India for military aid. “In terms of dealing with Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi’s government, I don’t think that the priorities of Afghanistan will be to ask for military aid at this stage,” Dr Abdullah said, outlining his agenda if he is elected President. Dr Abdullah walked a diplomatic tightrope as he laid out his plans for good ties with New Delhi and Islamabad. Pakistan views with suspicion India’s relationship with Afghanistan. There are many other areas of cooperation between Afghanistan and India that need to be enhanced to promote economic development and empowerment in Afghanistan and stability in the region, Dr Abdullah said. “So asking for more military assistance [from India] will not be a priority at this stage, but there will be a comprehensive set of areas of cooperation that is needed to be explored further,” he added. Dr Abdullah spoke via Skype on Thursday at a meeting organised by the Atlantic Council and the Center for American Progress in Washington. He was confident about an easy election victory despite a poll predicting a tight race. “A close race is not an eventuality,” he said. He described Afghanistan’s foreign policy under President Hamid Karzai as unpredictable, and urged a reset in Kabul’s relationships, especially with its neighbours and the West. Discussing plans to mend ties with Afghanistan’s neighbours, Dr Abdullah said the relationship with Pakistan is important as both countries face a common challenge of terrorism. “Events in Kabul and Karachi show we are dealing with common threats,” he said, referring to the Taliban attacks on the international airport in the Pakistani port city this week. Dr Abdullah’s conciliatory tone toward Pakistan came despite an assassination attempt earlier this month that Afghanistan’s National Security Council blamed on “foreign intelligence services”, a thinly veiled accusation against Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency. On the recent release of five Taliban prisoners by the US in exchange for American prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl, Dr Abdullah said his main concern was that the militants do not re-enter the battlefield. “Earlier, there have been some prisoners released in Afghanistan … to help the peace process, but the fact of the matter has been that those people have gone directly to the battlefield,” he said. While the Taliban have stepped up their attacks inside Afghanistan and threatened to disrupt Saturday’s vote, Dr. Abdullah rejected comparisons with Iraq where Al-Qaida-inspired militants have overrun large swathes of the country. “The circumstances are different between Afghanistan and Iraq. Here Talibanisation has been rejected by the population as a whole,” Dr Abdullah said in response to a question from The Tribune.
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Iraqi forces regain some territory
Baghdad, June 14 Troops and tribal militia found the burned bodies of 12 policemen as they recaptured Ishaqi in Salaheddin province from Sunni Arab insurgents, a police colonel said. It was one of the closest points to the capital that the militants had reached in the offensive that saw them overrun a large chunk of northern and north-central Iraq this week. Troops also retook the nearby Muatassam area of Salaheddin, the police colonel said. Last night, police and residents expelled militants from another town in the province, Dhuluiyah, where they had set up checkpoints, witnesses said. held fast in the Muqdadiyah area of Diyala province, preventing militants from taking the town in heavy fighting, a police colonel said. — AFP
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Pro-Russian separatists shot down an army transport plane in east Ukraine on Saturday, killing 49 servicemen and dealing a blow to a military campaign to defeat the rebels and hold the country together.
Baghdad, June 14
