Tuesday 30 July 2013

Al-Qaida claims responsibility for Iraq bombings.


Al-Qaida claims responsibility for Iraq bombings.

Baghdad | AP | 30 Jul 2013 :: Al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings across the country that killed at least 58 people, most of them in predominantly Shiite Muslim areas.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq, said on a website commonly used by Sunni extremists. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified, but its style was consistent with earlier al-Qaida statements.
The blasts on Monday, 18 in all, were the latest in a surge of bloodshed that has swept across Iraq since April, killing more than 3,000 people and worsening the already strained ties between Iraq’s Sunni minority and the Shiite-led government. In July alone, nearly 700 people have been killed in insurgent attacks, according to an Associated Press count.
The scale and pace of the violence have fanned fears of a return to the widespread sectarian bloodletting that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Al-Qaida’s Iraqi branch and other Sunni insurgent groups have long targeted the country’s security forces in a bid to undermine faith in the Shiite-led government and to stir up sectarian tensions. But the group has grown emboldened in recent months following a government crackdown on Sunni protests calling for better treatment by the State.
Last week, the group carried out simultaneous attacks on two prisons that allowed hundreds of inmates, including senior al-Qaida members, to escape and left dozens of people dead.
A spokesman for al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, described the jailbreak as a “great victory” in an audio message posted on the same website on Tuesday.
Last year, al-Qaida launched a campaign called “Breaking the Walls” that made freeing its imprisoned members a top priority. Al-Adnani said that effort came to a close with the twin attacks on the prison, and announced a new campaign dubbed “The Harvest of the Soldiers.” He did not specify what the new operation aims to achieve.(Courtesy:The Hindu)

Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen killed in U.S. drone strike.

Al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen killed in U.S. drone strike.

U.S. drones strikes in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012compared to
 2011, from 18 to 53, according to the New America Foundation, a
 Washington-based think-tank. (File photo: AFP
Aden | AFP | 30 Jul 2013 :: A U.S. drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen at dawn on Tuesday in the second such attack in three days, a tribal source told AFP.

"The car in which the three were travelling -- two Yemenis and a Saudi -- was blown to pieces and all of them were killed outright," the source said.

The attack struck in Shabwa, a southern province that borders Abyan, where Saturday night's strike hit.

"It was carried out by a U.S. drone," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The strike targeted two vehicles on the road between Al-Aram and Al-Saeed.

"Only one vehicle was hit and the other got away," the source said.

The United States, the only country to operate drones in the region, has sharply increase its use of them against al-Qaeda targets in Yemen over the past two years.

Washington regards al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a merger of militants in Yemen and neighboring Saudi Arabia, as the worldwide jihadist network's most active and dangerous branch.

U.S. drones strikes in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012 compared to 2011, from 18 to 53, according to the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank.

A U.S. drone strike killed six suspected al-Qaeda militants in neighboring Abyan province on Saturday night, a Yemeni military source told AFP.

The six suspects were travelling in a two-vehicle convoy in the Mahfad mountains, an area of Abyan where the jihadists remain active despite the recapture of most of the province's main towns in a Yemeni army offensive last summer.

AQAP took advantage of the weakness of Yemen's central government during an uprising against now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 to seize large swathes of territory across the south and east.

Washington has given strong support to the efforts of Saleh's successor, President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, to reassert central government control.

President Barack Obama is to host Hadi for White House talks on Thursday.

Several AQAP leaders have been killed in U.S. drone strikes, most recently the network's deputy leader Saeed al-Shehri whose death was confirmed by the jihadists on July 17.

But, although weakened, AQAP still carries out frequent hit-and-run attacks against members of the Yemeni security forces.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

At least 10 killed in Homs mortar attack.


At least 10 killed in Homs mortar attack.

Syrian opposition and government forces are engaged in a renewed struggle for the strategic city

A Syrian rebel runs for cover in Homs
 (photo credit: AP/Fadi Zaidan/File)
DAMASCUS | Syria | AP | 30 Jul 2013 ::  A late-night mortar attack killed at least 10 people in a government-held district in the embattled central city of Homs, an official and opposition activists said Tuesday.
The government official, who spoke anonymously in line with regulations, says 10 died and 26 were wounded when three mortar rounds hit the neighborhood of Dablan before dawn. Many living in the district fled there to escape fighting elsewhere in the city.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people including a child were killed, and the attack happened late Monday close to midnight. The Observatory is citing hospital sources in Homs.
The attack came hours after government forces took control of another district in the city, Khaldiyeh that has been a rebel stronghold since the start of the 2-year-old conflict.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)

Pakistani Taliban free over 175 inmates in DI Khan jailbreak.


Pakistani Taliban free over 175 inmates in DI Khan jailbreak.

Nearly 400 prisoners including militants escaped
 on Aril 15, 2012 from Bannu Jail after an attack by
 insurgents armed with guns, grenades and
 rockets. – File photo
PESHAWAR | 30 Jul 2013 ::  Dozens of heavily-armed Pakistani Taliban insurgents freed nearly 175 inmates, including 35 ‘high-profile militants’, during a brazen overnight attack on the central jail in Dera Ismail Khan, officials said Tuesday.
At least nine people, including four policemen and five militants, were killed in the attack and the following shootout, said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousufzai.
KP chief minister Pervaiz Khattak termed the brazen attack a failure on the part of the intelligence agencies, and has vowed to punish those found guilty of negligence.
Khattak confirmed the number of escaped prisoners, including the 35 hardcore militants. Earlier unconfirmed intelligence reports had suggested at least 45 high profile militants were being held at the jail.
Earlier unconfirmed intelligence reports had suggested that 247 prisoners, including 6 women, had gone missing after the attack. Six of the fugitives were later arrested from Daraban Road, sources had said.
The heavily armed militants had attacked the prison from different sides around midnight. Armed with guns, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and bombs, the militants dressed in police uniforms bombarded the prison before escaping with scores of inmates after a three-hour shootout.
According to police, the gunmen launched their attack with a series of heavy explosions before firing rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.
The attack began with a huge explosion and several smaller blasts before security forces engaged the attackers. An intelligence official said the militants shouted “God is great” and “Long live the Taliban”.
Military troops were eventually called in which conducted a six-hour long operation to take back control of the prison.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Shahidullah Shahid, accepted responsibility for the attack. Speaking to Dawn.com, he claimed around 100 militants attacked the prison including a number of suicide bombers.(Courtesy:Dawn)Read More>>>

Sunday 28 July 2013

Suicide bomber kills eight Kurdish security personnel in Iraq.


Suicide bomber kills eight Kurdish security personnel in Iraq.

TIKRIT | Retures | 28 Jul 2013 ::  A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives blew himself up near a Kurdish security forces patrol killing at least eight of them early on Sunday, police said.
The attack took place in the centre of the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km north of the capital Baghdad, in a notoriously unstable region over which both the central government and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan claim jurisdiction.
No group claimed responsibility but suicide bombings are the trademark of Al Qaeda, which has been regaining momentum in its insurgency against the Shia-led Baghdad government.
More than 4,000 people have been killed by militants in Iraq this year, of which more than 800 were killed in July alone, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.
Sectarian tensions across the region have been inflamed by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, putting growing strain on Iraq, where Kurds, Shia and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.
Sunni insurgents, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, have been recruiting from Iraq's Sunni minority, which resents Shia domination of their country since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.(Courtesy:Dawn)

Friday 26 July 2013

Car bomb kills 10, wounds 62 in Syrian capital.


Car bomb kills 10, wounds 62 in Syrian capital.

Syria situation: In this image taken on July 22, 2013
 from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which
 has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP
 reporting, columns of smoke billowing as a result of
 heavy bombing, in the countryside outside of Aleppo.
Syria | AP |26 Jul 2013 :: A powerful car bomb exploded in a suburb of the Syrian capital Thursday, killing 10 people and wounding dozens of others, Syria’s state-run news agency said.
The explosion in Jaramana, just few kilometers southeast of Damascus, came as the United Nations’ top official said more than 100,000 people have been killed in the ongoing civil war gripping Syria.
The state news agency SANA reported that the explosion caused heavy damage to nearby buildings and destroyed many cars. It said 62 people were wounded.
Jaramana, a neighbourhood that overwhelmingly supports the government of President Bashar Assad, has been targeted by a series of explosions before. The Britain—based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-government activist organization, said the blast killed seven and wounded more than 30. It said the blast caused heavy material damage and started a fire.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.
More than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict started in March 2011, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday, calling for a political solution to end the conflict. So far, however, the violence in Syria has defied all international attempts for a political solution.(Courtesy:The Hindu)

More than 2,000 killed in Syria since start of Ramadan, NGO says.

More than 2,000 killed in Syria since start of Ramadan, NGO says.

Free Syrian Army fighters pray along a street in Aleppo's
 Salaheddine neighborhood on July 9, 2013. (Reuters)
Al Arabia | 26 Jul 2013 :: At least 2,014 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began on July 10, a watchdog said on Thursday.
More than 1,323 of the dead were pro- and anti-regime fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said that the overall “toll has been particularly high in the past four days,” adding that both camps “concealed the real number of dead so the real toll is actually higher.”
The Britain-based Observatory said that 438 army soldiers were killed in Ramadan, and 69 members of the government’s paramilitary National Defense Force were killed.
Meanwhile, 545 civilians who joined the rebels were killed in the Muslim holy month. Thirty of them were soldiers who had defected from the Syrian army, and 241 were foreign and unidentified fighters.
The death toll also included 639 civilians, including 105 children and 99 women, most of whom were killed in army shelling, said the Observatory.
An additional 52 unidentified corpses were accounted for in the Observatory's toll.
According to the Observatory, more than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict so far, which began after President Bashar al-Assad’s regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against a March 2011 popular revolt calling for change.
The United Nations estimates that some 5,000 people a month are dying in Syria's civil war.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

Thursday 25 July 2013

Car Bomb Kills Ten, Wounds Dozens in Pro-Assad Syrian Suburb.


Car Bomb Kills Ten, Wounds Dozens in Pro-Assad Syrian Suburb.

DAMASCUS | Syria | 25 Jul 2013 :: A powerful car bomb exploded in a suburb of the Syrian capital Thursday, killing 10 people and wounding dozens of others, Syria’s state-run news agency said.
The explosion in Jaramana, just few kilometers (miles) southeast of Damascus, came as the United Nations’ top official said more than100,000 people have been killed in the ongoing civil war gripping Syria.
The state news agency SANA reported that the explosion caused heavy damage to nearby buildings and destroyed many cars. It said 62 people were wounded.
Jaramana, a neighborhood that overwhelmingly supports the government of President Bashar Assad, has been targeted by a series of explosions before. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-government activist organization, said the blast killed seven and wounded more than 30. It said the blast caused heavy material damage and started a fire.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.
More than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict started in March 2011, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday, calling for a political solution to end the conflict. So far, however, the violence in Syria has defied all international attempts for a political solution.
The conflict began largely as peaceful protests against Assad’s rule. It escalated into a civil war after opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government lashed out Thursday at the U.S. decision to send arms to rebels fighting troops loyal to Assad, saying Washington is unsuitable to act as a broker at any peace negotiations in Geneva.
“The American intensions seek to continue the cycle of violence and terrorism in Syria in order to destabilize security and stability in the region,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. government opposed providing any lethal assistance to Syria’s rebels until last month, but is moving ahead now with sending weapons to vetted rebels after securing the approval of the House and Senate Intelligence committees.
The White House acknowledged that momentum in the conflict has shifted as the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group and Iran have helped Assad’s forces.
President Barack Obama and his national security team still have yet to say publicly what weapons they’ll provide the Syrian opposition and when they’ll deliver them. There has also been concern in the West that U.S. weapons could end up in the hands of al-Qaida-linked groups.
At the same time, the U.S. and Russia have been working to set up a peace conference in Geneva to try to end the civil war. No official date has been set for the conference as the opposition refuses to attend any talks that are not about Assad’s departure. Government officials say participation in the conference should be without preconditions.
“Washington’s decision to send arms to terrorists in Syria confirms that the American administration is not fair in efforts to find a political solution and hold an international conference in Geneva,” said Syrian state TV, citing an unnamed Foreign Ministry official. Assad’s government routinely refers to opposition fighters as terrorists.(Courtesy:Epoch Times)

Pakistan Taliban faction claims attack on ISI office.


Pakistan Taliban faction claims attack on ISI office.

Karachi | 25 Jul 2013 ::  The Jundullah faction of the banned Pakistani Taliban today claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on an ISI office in Sindh province, saying it was carried out to avenge the killing of commander Waliur Rehman in a US drone strike.

In a statement sent to TV news channels, Jundullah spokesman Ahmed Marwat said, "We sent four suicide bombers and our target was the ISI."

"It was revenge for the killing of Waliur Rehman," he said, referring to the killing of the senior Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan commander in a drone strike earlier this year.
The statement blamed the Pakistan government of working with US forces. Marwat said the militants would continue attacking security forces for targeting the rebels.

"These (intelligence officials) are friends of the US and until they refrain from their coalition with the US, we will continue to target them," he said.

Five persons, including a Deputy Director of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, were killed when a group of suicide attackers stormed a high-security compound in Sukkur yesterday.

Five terrorists also died during the attack, officials said.

The compound housed offices of the ISI, Military Intelligence, Pakistan Rangers and police.

Militants have targeted ISI offices in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces in the past. Dozens of people have died in attacks on ISI offices in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Peshawar in recent years.(Courtesy:NDTV)

Death toll in Spain derailment hits 77; terrorism ruled out.


Death toll in Spain derailment hits 77; terrorism ruled out.

 Spain | SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA  | 25 Jul 2013 :: Spanish investigators tried to determine Thursday why a passenger train jumped the tracks and sent eight cars crashing into each other just before arriving in this northwestern shrine city on the eve of a major Christian religious festival, killing at least 77 people and injuring more than 140. 

Seventy-three people were found dead at the scene of the accident and four died in hospitals, said Maria Pardo Rios, spokeswoman for the Galicia region's main court. At least 141 people were injured — some of them critically — after the eight-carriage train carrying 218 passengers derailed about an hour before sunset Wednesday night. 

Authorities did not identify any possible causes of the accident on a pronounced curve just outside Santiago de Compostela, but a spokeswoman with Spain's Interior Ministry said Thursday that the possibility that the derailment was caused by a terrorist attack had been ruled out. She spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ministry policy. 

It was Spain's deadliest train accident since 1972, when a train collided with a bus in southwestern Spain, killing 86 people and injuring 112. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, went to the crash scene on Thursday. Officials in the city canceled ceremonies for its annual religious festival, which attracts tens of thousands of Christians from around the world. 

Rescue workers spent the night searching through smashed cars alongside the tracks, and Pardo said it was possible that the death toll could go higher. Many of the dead were taken to a makeshift morgue set up in the city's largest indoor sports arena. 

A regional Galicia health official, Rocio Mosquera, told reporters at a press conference early Thursday morning that 141 passengers from the train had been treated at area hospitals, with their conditions ranging from light injuries to serious. Some were still in surgery hours after the crash. 

As dawn arrived, cranes brought to the scene were used to lift the cars off the tracks and rescue workers were seen collecting passenger luggage and putting it into a truck next to the tracks. 

The site itself was a scene of horror immediately after the crash. Smoke billowed from at least one car which caught fire; another broke into two parts. Residents of the urban neighborhood alongside the tracks struggled to help victims out of the toppled cars. 

Rescue workers lined up bodies covered in blankets alongside the tracks and some passengers were pulled out of broken windows. Television images showed one man atop a carriage lying on its side, using a pickaxe to try to smash through a window. Residents said other rescuers used rocks. (Courtesy:Los Angeles Times)

Attacks kill 17 people in Iraq.


Attacks kill 17 people in Iraq.

Bloodshed washing over country since April has left more than 3,000 people dead

BAGHDAD | AP | 25 Jul 2013 ::  Insurgents assaulted a police headquarters in northern Iraq early Wednesday, killing nine policemen, part of a series of attacks that left at least 17 dead in a growing surge of violence.
The attackers struck the town of Bashmaya outside the city of Mosul, one of the major flashpoints in a wave of bloodshed that has washed over the country since April and left more than 3,000 people dead. The scale of the violence is intensifying fears of a return to the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 US-led invasion.
A police official said nine policemen were killed and two wounded in the initial attack. An ambulance rushing to the scene was hit by a roadside bomb, wounding the driver and his assistant, the official said.
A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to brief reporters.
Insurgents this year have frequently attacked security forces in Mosul, a longtime militant stronghold.
On Monday, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into an army convoy in Mosul, killing at least 13 people — including 10 soldiers. Police found the bodies of four off-duty policemen Tuesday on a road with bullet wounds in their heads. Gunmen in a speeding car also shot dead two other off-duty policemen as they were walking down a street.
Also Wednesday, a car bomb exploded as an army patrol passed by outside the northern city of Kirkuk, killing an officer and a solider, police Lt. Col. Abbas Qadir said. Five soldiers were wounded, he said. Kirkuk is 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.
And in Baghdad, police found three bullet-ridden corpses, police and medical officials said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters. They also reported that a bomb exploded in the evening in the religiously mixed northern neighborhood of Qahira, killing three and wounding 11.
In the northern city of Tuz Khormato, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Baghdad, a bomb hidden in a motorized cart exploded in a residential area, wounding 35 people and damaging several houses, police Col. Hussein Ali Rasheed said.
The security situation in Iraq began to deteriorate sharply after security forces cracked down in April on a protest camp in the northern city of Hawija, sparking clashes in which 44 civilians and one member of the security forces were killed, according to estimates by the United Nations.
Overall levels of violence have since escalated and insurgent attacks have become more audacious, including raids this week against two high-security prisons near Baghdad that killed dozens and set free hundreds of inmates, including al-Qaeda-linked militants.
On Tuesday, al-Qaeda’s Iraqi branch claimed responsibility for the attack.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)



Wednesday 24 July 2013

Attacks Kill 14 People In Iraq, Officials Report.


Attacks Kill 14 People In Iraq, Officials Report.

BAGHDAD | 24 Jul 2013 ::  Insurgents ambushed a police headquarters in northern Iraq early Wednesday, killing at least nine policemen and extending the surge of attacks that has killed more than 500 people this month alone, officials said.
The attack took place in the town of Bashmaya outside the city of Mosul, which has been one of the major flashpoints in a wave of bloodshed that has washed over the country since April and left more than 3,000 people dead. The scale of the violence is intensifying fears of a return to the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
A police official said nine policemen were killed and two wounded in the initial attack. An ambulance rushing to the scene was hit by a roadside bomb, wounding the driver and his assistant, the official said.
A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media.
Insurgents this year have regularly attacked security forces in Mosul, a longtime militant stronghold.
On Monday, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into an army convoy, killing at least 13 people — including 10 soldiers. Police found the bodies of four off-duty policemen Tuesday on a road with bullet wounds in their heads. Gunmen in a speeding car also shot dead two other off-duty policemen as they were walking down a street.
Also Wednesday, a car bomb exploded as an army patrol passed by outside the northern city of Kirkuk, killing an officer and a solider, police Lt. Col. Abbas Qadir said. Five soldiers were wounded, he said. Kirkuk is 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.
And in Baghdad, police found three bullet-ridden corpses across the city, police and medical officials said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief media.
The security situation in Iraq began to deteriorate after security forces cracked down in April on a protest camp in the northern city of Hawija, sparking clashes in which 44 civilians and one member of the security forces were killed, according to estimates by the United Nations.
Overall levels of violence have since escalated and insurgent attacks have become more audacious, including raids this week against two high-security prisons near Baghdad that killed dozens and set free hundreds of inmates, including al-Qaida-linked militants.
On Tuesday, al-Qaida’s Iraqi branch claimed responsibility for the attack.(Courtesy:Epoch Time)

Tough times follow Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban to Delhi.


Tough times follow Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban to Delhi.

One of the major problems that they face is lack of work permit.AP
New Delhi | 24 Jul 2013 :: Sharifa Jan fled Afghanistan for India last year when the Taliban killed her husband and threatened her six children. New Delhi's chaos baffled her but the city also provided a safe haven. But like thousands of other Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in India her security comes at a price: Jan's family is trapped in limbo. The Afghans don't have work permits. Many have trouble enrolling their children in school. They can't even get a local phone. ``If today there is no education, no good food and drink, no good living conditions, then what will they become in the future?'' Jan, 40, said of her children. ``They won't become anything.''
With their blue United Nations refugee cards, the Afghans do little more than just survive. The Afghan refugees `'need help and more attention,'' said M. Ashraf Haidari, deputy chief of mission of the Afghan embassy in India. Sayeed Habib Hadat, who has degrees in English and information technology, survives by working informally as a translator at pharmacies for Afghan patients.
``We just solved one of our problems, that is, our lives are saved. But here are a lot more problems,'' said Hadat, 28, who fled Afghanistan last year. His family has applied for resettlement in Australia in hopes they can finally start building their future. Australia recently vowed to resettle all refugees who arrive in the country by boat on the island nation of Papua New Guinea. The move is seen as a way to deter an increasing number of asylum seekers. Afghanistan is among the largest sources of asylum seekers reaching Australia.
There were more than 18,000 Afghan refugees in India as of December 2011, according to the foreign ministry. It is unclear how many more unregistered Afghans are living here. Last year the largest number of refugees worldwide - 2.6 million in 82 countries - were from Afghanistan, according to a report released by the United Nations in June. Afghanistan has been the main source of refugees for over three decades with numbers fluctuating from 500,000 in 1979 to more than 6.3 million at the peak of the conflict in 1990. Ninety-five percent of Afghan refugees are in Pakistan and Iran, where many of them live in squalid camps.(Courtesy:The Indian Express)

Italy: Convicted ex-CIA chief in Milan has been arrested.


Italy: Convicted ex-CIA chief in Milan has been arrested.

Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr,
 also known as Abu Omar, walks down a 
Cairo street on April 11, 2007. 
ROME  | 24 Jul 2013 ::  A former CIA base chief in Italy who was convicted in absentia in the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from the streets of Milan, has been arrested, an Italian Justice Ministry official said Thursday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to say where and when Robert Seldon Lady's arrest took place.
The Italian news agency Adnkronos quoted police in Panama as saying that Lady was taken into custody near the border with Costa Rica.[Link in Italian]
Other Italian news outlets reported that he was arrested while entering Panama from Costa Rica and that Italian authorities now have two months to request Lady’s extradition to Italy. [Link in Italian]
However, Panama’s security minister, Jose Raul Mulino, and the National Police press office told the Associated Press in Panama City that they were not aware of the detention.
Lady, the former Milan base chief, was sentenced last year by an Italian appeals court to nine years in prison in the kidnapping of the extremist cleric in 2003.
The cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized under a procedure known as “extraordinary rendition,” in which the CIA secretly detained terrorism suspects abroad and transferred them to third countries for interrogation. He was flown by the CIA to Egypt, where, he says, he was tortured, and released in 2004.
Lady was one of 23 Americans tried for their alleged roles in the operation, all but one of them CIA officers or contractors.
Three other Americans indicted in the case, including Jeffrey Castelli, the former CIA station chief in Rome, were given diplomatic immunity and acquitted in 2009. But this year, a Milan court vacated the acquittals and convicted them in absentia. Castelli, who works for a Los Angeles firm, PhaseOne Communications, was sentenced to seven years in prison and the other two to six years. (Courtesy: Los Angeles Time)

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Bomb explodes at Egypt police station amid deadly rival clashes.

Bomb explodes at Egypt police station amid deadly rival clashes.

Supporters of ousted President Mursi walk near the mock
 grave of a pro-Mursi protester. (Reuters)
Al Arabia | 24 Jul 2013 :: One person was killed and 17 others wounded after a bomb was hurled at a police station in an Egyptian province early Wednesday, security sources said.
The bomb was thrown by unknown assailants from a passing car in Mansoura, a province north of Cairo.
The violence came a day after clashes in Cairo between opponents and Islamist supporters of Egypt's deposed president, Mohammed Mursi, which killed least 10 people.
Shortly after Wednesday’s explosion, a Health Ministry statement confirmed one person was killed and 12 were injured. Security sources speaking to Reuters put the injuries toll at 17.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, at least one Mursi supporter was killed during a protest march in Cairo, a security source and the Muslim Brotherhood said.

The Muslim Brotherhood said on its website that police in civilian clothes had opened fire using live ammunition early on Wednesday on marching Mursi supporters, killing two and injuring others, Reuters reported.

The Muslim Brotherhood has accused the Ministry of Interior of using thugs in plain clothes to attack protesters, but security officials have denied this accusation.
The recent violence has pushed the deaths to at least 100 since the army deposed Mursi and replaced him with an interim administration led by Adli Mansour, the head of the constitutional court.
Egypt can expect new elections to be held in about six months.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)