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| September 17, 2005 | Saturday | Sha'aban 12, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
At least 30 dead in Iraq car bomb attack BAGHDAD, Sept 17 (AFP) - Thirty people were killed and 38 wounded in a car bomb explosion Saturday evening at a market in a predominantly Shiite suburb south of Baghdad, a security official said. The attack occurred in the district of Nahrawan at around 7 pm (1500 GMT), the official said. An initial toll had put the casualties at five dead and 10 wounded.(Posted @ 23:52 PST)
PM Shaukat Aziz visits Jehangir Kothari Park at Clifton beach Karachi, Sept. 17 (PPI): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday said he had asked Sindh and city government Karachi to probe into tragic incident of loss of lives due to consumption of contaminated water in Landhi Town Karachi and furnish him the report. He stated this during visit to Clifton beach Karachi along with Sindh Governor Dr. Ishratul Ibad to review progress on renovation of Jehangir Kothari Parade and development of Bagh-e-Ibne Qasim.(Posted @ 22:38 PST)
Car bomb kills 14 in market east of Baghdad BAGHDAD, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A car bomb in a market place in Nahrwan, some 45 km (30 miles) east of Baghdad, killed 14 people and wounded 10 others on Saturday, police in Iraq said. "It was not a suicide bomb," police told Reuters. "A car parked in the middle of the square and later it blew up."(Posted @ 22:35 PST)
India must reciprocate Pakistan's positive approach: Ansari ISLAMABAD, Sep 17 (APP): Senior Kashmiri leader Maulana Abbas Ansari Saturday urged India to respond positively to the flexibility shown by Pakistan in resolving the Kashmir dispute. He said the world community was now realizing that peace in South Asia could only prevail if Kashmir dispute is resolved through peaceful means. Meanwhile the Chief of Jammu and Kashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi, Muhammad Azam Inquilabi has urged India to release all Kashmiri leaders and activists from jails, including recently arrested Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief, Aasia Andrabi, KMS reported.(Posted @ 21:38 PST)
9 miscreants arrested, huge cache of arms, ammo recovered from North Waziristan ISLAMABAD, Sep 17 (APP): Security forces during a cordon and search operation on Saturday rounded up 9 suspected miscreants and seized huge quantity of arms and ammunition in Northern Waziristan, Director ISPR Brig. Shahjahan Ali Khan told APP. Security forces had launched the operation on Friday evening in the area of Dawatoi, west of Tatakhel, and arrested 5 miscreants in various raids at seven suspected compounds scattered in the area.Security agencies also arrested 4 suspects from different checkposts in Dattakhel and Aimalkhel areas. There was no casualty from either side .(Posted @ 20:54 PST)
Rice says UN should deal with Iran once diplomacy is exhausted UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday that Iran should be taken before the UN Security Council for its suspected nuclear arms program "when diplomacy has been exhausted." Rice told the UN General Assembly that the world body "must be able to deal with great challenges like terrorism and nuclear proliferation, especially when countries like Iran threaten the effectiveness of the global non-proliferation regime." But after a round of US lobbying for world support to haul the Iranians before the Security Council for possible sanctions, Rice signaled a US openness to further negotiations between Tehran and Britain, France and Germany. "When diplomacy has been exhausted, the Security Council must become involved," the chief US diplomat said. "Iran should return to the negotiations with the EU-3 -- and abandon forever its plans for a nuclear weapons capability," she said.(Posted @ 20:48 PST)
Afghans urged to vote as eleven killed in new violence KABUL, Sept 17 (AFP) - Eleven people were killed in fresh violence ahead of Afghanistan's first parliamentary polls for three decades on Sunday, but the United Nations urged Afghans to defy rebel threats of attack and vote. Suspected Taliban fighters gunned down three policemen including the police chief of a district in Kabul late Friday, while two more officers were wounded, interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said Saturday. Officials reported that four Taliban militants were killed in other incidents around the country, while 20 rebels were arrested for trying to blow up a huge dam. The Taliban have warned Afghanistan's 12.5 million voters they could face attacks if they vote in Sunday's poll. But they had failed to carry out similar vows to derail the October 2004 presidential poll. "We're very confident that those extremists will fail to disrupt the process tomorrow," the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, told a news conference in Kabul. Nearly 5,800 candidates are standing for all 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the national assembly, and for the 34 provincial councils, which have a total of 420 seats. More than 100,000 Afghan army, police and security forces had been deployed to "every corner of Afghanistan" to guard the country's 26,000 voting centres. Around 10,500 NATO-led peacekeepers will also provide security. In neighbouring Pakistan, meanwhile, about 80,000 troops backed by patrolling military aircraft were on alert along the border to stop militants crossing into Afghanistan to launch attacks, the military said.(Posted @ 20:04 PST)
Ballot for Haj-2006 during first week of October ISLAMABAD, Sep 17 (APP): Ministry of Religious Affairs on Saturday announced that ballot for Haj under government scheme will be held in the first week of October. The Ministry has received more than 1,38,000 Haj applications against 90,000 vacancies for government scheme and 60,000 applications under private Haj scheme. The ministry warned the people that private group organizers have utilized their quota of 60,000 pilgrims and no seat is available with them now.(Posted @ 19:58 PST)
Govt spending a record Rs 134 bln for development of Balochistan: Shaukat GWADAR, Sept 17 (APP)- Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Saturday that federal government was spending a record Rs134 billion on mega development projects in Balochistan. Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of Gwadar Port Civic Centre, he said that this year Rs21 billion have been allocated under annual development programme for Balochistan which is about 10.5 percent of the total outlay. He noted that coastal highway has been completed, a new airport was in the offing, renovation of the existing airport was in hand, and the second phase of Gwadar port will start after the completion of phase-I. He advised the people of Balochistan to welcome investment in Gwadar. "The world has changed. This is the era of globalization and you must welcome investors in Gwadar," Citing example of Dubai has said investors can buy a factory or a house. Why deny people of Gwadar from such investment. Whoever talks against this approach is not a friend of people of Gwadar and Pakistan, he observed.(Posted @ 19:05 PST)
Western border sealed to avert disruption on Afghan polling day: ISPR PESHAWAR Sept 17 (APP): Army troops deployed on Western Border are carrying round the clock patrolling to curb any attempt of illegal crossing of border by saboteurs and disrupt Afghan parliamentary polls on Sunday. More than 5000 additional troops have been sent to the tribal areas mostly in North and South Waziristan agencies to seal the border whereas contingents of Quick Reaction Force (QRF) have been put on high alert to meet any eventuality. Corps Commander Lt- Gen Safdar Hussain continues to stay in the area to personally control the ongoing operations and monitor the situation. Pakistan Army has established 761` posts over a stretch of 600 kilometers of Pak Afghan border. To plug gaps within posts, troops patrol all along the border. Extra mobile check posts have also been set up in Waziristan and all vehicles are being thoroughly checked. Curfew has been further tightened in the five kilometers border belt. Army gunship helicopters and surveillance aircraft have also been employed while Army Corps of Signals has made special arrangements for quick dissemination of information.(Posted @ 18:45 PST)
Sri Lankan rebels call for immediate truce talks KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, Sept 17 (AFP) - The political leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels has called for immediate talks with Sri Lanka's government to save a shaky ceasefire.Tamil Tiger political chief S.P. Thamilselvan said the rebel group was ready "even in the next minute" to begin talks with the government. "We are anxious to start the talks immediately... even in the next minute," Thamilselvan said in an interview at his political headquarters on Friday night. He said the rebels had suggested an overseas venue for any future talks..(The Tigers earlier turned down the international airport as a possible neutral venue.)Thamilselvan said he was concerned by reports Britain was seeking to get the European Union to impose a ban on the Tigers. "We are convinced that the EU will not take such a decision to ban us."(Posted @ 18:34 PST)
Twenty Taliban arrested for plot to blow up Afghan dam KABUL, Sept 17 (AFP) - Afghan and US forces arrested 20 suspected Taliban rebels who were planting bombs at a hydroelectric dam in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, a defence ministry spokesman said. A patrol spotted the rebels as they laid the explosives at the Girishk dam in restive Helmand province and they were arrested after an hour-long exchange of fire, ministry spokesman Mohammed Zahir Azimi told AFP. "Twenty Taliban were arrested today by joint Afghan and coalition forces as they were placing bombs to blow up the dam in Girishk district," Azimi said, without giving further details.(Posted @ 18:15 PST)
Kashmir panel wants India-Pakistan to speed up talks NEW DELHI, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Separatists in occcupied Kashmir have urged India and Pakistan to speed up peace moves to resolve a long-running dispute over the Himalayan region, days after summit talks between the neighbours ended in a stalemate.The call from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference came after the panel's chief held talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in New York late on Friday. "Hurriyat Conference feels that we need to strengthen the bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the alliance, told reporters."But along with this, we believe that there is a need to speed up the dialogue process and have more confidence-building measures," Farooq said after the meeting.(Posted @ 17:40 PST)
NZ's Labour edges ahead at close of vote counting WELLINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Helen Clark's Labour Party had edged ahead of conservative opposition National at the close of vote counting after a close election on Saturday and appeared set to form the next government. With 100 percent of polling places counted by about midnight (1200 GMT), Clark's Labour had 40.7 percent of the vote compared with 39.6 percent for National under former central bank governor Don Brash. That would translate into 50 seats for Labour in a 122-seat parliament to National's 49, with Labour likely to form a coalition government with key minor parties. National has refused to concede defeat but does not appear to have enough potential coalition partners.(Posted @ 17:32 PST)
Rebels kill 3 Algerian guards, policeman-newspapers ALGIERS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Islamic militants have cut the throats of two Algerian municipal guards and shot dead two other people as part of a campaign to disrupt a referendum aimed at ending 13 years of civil strife, local media said on Saturday. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) rebels captured two municipal guards on Friday and slit their throats in the Skikda province, some 500 km east of the capital Algiers, El Watan and Liberte said. The attackers then ambushed a police convoy heading for the site of the ambush, shooting dead a policeman and a municipal guard and injuring four others, the newspapers said.(Posted @ 17:18 PST)
Natwar Singh to visit Pakistan soon: Kasuri ISLAMABAD, Sep 17 (APP): Indian Foreign Minister, Natwar Singh, is expected to visit Pakistan on October 3, at the special invitation of Foreign Minister, Khrusheed Mehmood Kasuri(Posted @ 16:26 PST)
U.S. general predicts big Afghan turnout, violence KABUL, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said he expects a record turnout in Sunday's landmark elections and while there would be some violence, it would not be enough to stop Afghans voting. "I think that tomorrow what we are going to have with the elections here, we're going to have a record turnout," Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry told Reuters in an interview on Saturday at the main U.S. military base in Kabul.(Posted @ 16:14 PST)
Six police, top rebel killed in Russia's Chechnya MOSCOW, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Chechen militants have killed six pro-Moscow police and wounded another nine, local media reported on Saturday terming it as a major blow to Russian forces in the turbulent region. Local news agencies reported that four policemen died in a firefight in the Vedeno region on Friday, in the heart of Muslim Chechnya's mountainous south. Five police were also injured, RIA Novosti news agency reported. Interfax news agency said another two policemen were killed and four more were injured on Friday when their car was fired on in Grozny. It is rare for Russia, which still has more than 100,000 troops in and around the region, to lose so many police in a single day. Meanwhile, Chechen rebel Web sites reported that top rebel commander Akhmad Avdorkhanov died in a clash earlier in the week, -- the second leading freedom-fighter to die this year. Aslan Maskhadov was killed in March last.(Posted @ 16:04 PST)
Hijacked light plane crashes in NZ's Auckland harbour WELLINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A light aircraft, hijacked by a pilot who threatened to crash it into New Zealand's highest building in Auckland, plunged into the city's harbour, radio reports said on Saturday. The 328 metre (1,140 feet) Sky Tower was evacuated after threats were made by the pilot, who reports said had stolen the plane from a local airport south of Auckland. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard the plane and what their condition was. Police were unavailable for comment and there were no further details. (Posted @ 15:52 PST)
Security incidents in Iraq, Sept 17 Sept 17 (Reuters) – Nine bodies of people who were shot in the head and chest were found in Baghdad, Police said. Three bodies were found bound in the eastern New Baghdad district; four bodies were found bound and blindfolded in the western Ghazaliya district of Baghdad, and the bodies of two more people who were shot in the head and chest were also found in the western Jamia'a district. Meanwhile, one insurgent was killed by U.S. forces in the northern Ubaydi district of Baghdad, while one civilian was killed and 17 people, including three Iraqi soldiers, were wounded when a car driven by a suicide bomber exploded near an Iraqi army patrol in Baquba, police said. (Posted @ 15:48 PST)
Philippine-Muslim rebel peace talks in Malaysia make major breakthrough MANILA, Sept 17 (AFP) - The Philippine government and Muslim separatist rebels said Saturday they had made an important breakthrough in their latest round of peace talks held in Malaysia which has been mediating the peace talks. The latest round of talks ended Friday with a breakthrough on the central contentious issue of "ancestral domain," or areas once inhabited by Muslims in the southern region of Mindanao, the MILF and the government said in a joint statement. "With this breakthrough, the peace process is on track to complete the ancestral domain agenda before the end of the year," following the talks held in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and Friday, the statement added. Muslims, who once inhabited most of the southern Philippines, have complained that they had been eased out of many of their territories by centuries of Christian migration. (Posted @ 15:26 PST)
NKorea nuclear talks, at 'critical stage,' to continue Sunday BEIJING, Sept 17 (AFP) - Delegates to multilateral negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program have decided to extend their talks into Sunday to seek agreement on a compromise put forward by the Chinese host, officials said. The six delegations met Saturday afternoon, but South Korea's Yonhap news agency said they decided to reconvene one day later as one of the teams, which was not identified, had yet to get instructions from its government. (Posted @ 15:10 PST)
US fires new salvo at Syria, blaming it for Iraq bombings WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (AFP) - The United States has stepped up its war of words against Syria, blaming Damascus for a new string of suicide bombings in Iraq and threatening "serious consequences" and unspecified international action if Syrian authorities failed to crack down on Islamic militants using their territory as a staging base. "Innocent people are getting blown up in Iraq because Syria is allowing its territory to be used by terrorists bent on sowing murder and mayhem in Iraq and they're not going to succeed," Deputy State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters Friday. (Posted @ 12:58 PST)
Sharon, Abbas agree to meet in October JERUSALEM Sept 17 (APP/AP) Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have tentatively agreed to meet at the beginning of October, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Saturday.A key item on the agenda will be the fate of the Gaza-Egypt border, he said. He added that a possible date could be Oct. 2. Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment. (Posted @ 12:02 PST)
Sharon threatens to disrupt Palestinian vote NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) Israel could hinder voting in the occupied West Bank during a Palestinian legislative election in January if Hamas candidates take part in the Jan. 25 ballot, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in remarks published on Saturday. (Posted @ 11:57 PST)
Musharraf discusses bilateral relations with Jafari NEW YORK, Sept 17 (APP): President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari of Iraq held a meeting at the Roosevelt Hotel Friday during which matters of bilateral, and regional interest were discussed. Matters that came up under the discussion included efforts made by Iraq and the arrangements for bringing more Iraqi troops together, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram said. (Posted @ 11:47 PST)
Pakistan, India have made considerable progress on Siachen: Musharraf NEW YORK, Sept 16 (APP): President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday that Pakistan and India have made "considerable" progress on Siachen and Sir Creek issues, and have shown commitment to continue the peace process for resolving the long-running Jammu and Kashmir dispute amicably. On his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister in an interview with the Time magazine, he said “We are keeping confidentiality so that extremists may not derail the peace process." On terrorism, he said, it will be met with military force and extremism will be dealt by winning the hearts and minds of people. He said the Madrassa strategy was aimed at streamlining the education system in the madaris and the government would encourage teaching of modern subjects in religious institutions. (Posted @ 11:43 PST)
Beirut car bomb kills one and wounds 23 BEIRUT, Sept 16 (Reuters) A car bomb exploded near a branch of Lebanon's Byblos Bank in the Beirut area of Achrafieh late on Friday, killing one person and wounding at least 23, Red Cross and security sources said. (Posted @ 09:59 PST)
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