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| October 29, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 24, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
100 killed when Indian train derails in floodwaters NALGONDA, India, Oct 29 (AFP) More than 100 people were killed Saturday and 20 to 30 more were feared dead when a passenger train derailed and toppled into swirling floodwaters in southern India, officials said. "While over 100 bodies have been recovered from the site, 20 to 30 passengers are feared to have been washed away," home minister of Andhra Pradesh state, K. Jana Reddy, told reporters. The engine and the first seven carriages fell into the floodwaters when the train hit breaches in the track caused by water overflowing from reservoirs following incessant rains in the region in the last two days, he said. The Press Trust of India reported that rescue teams used cutting tools to break into the mangled compartments. The Delta Fast Passenger train derailed as it hit a section of the track at Nalgonda, about 70 kilometres (44 miles) from the state capital Hyderabad. "You can't access the train because of the gushing water. The rear engine is pulling the train (into the water)," an official said. More than 700 passengers were rescued from the train, authorities said. (First Posted@ 12:40 PST Updated@ 21:12 PST)
Blasts across Indian capital kill at least 50 NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (AFP) Powerful explosions ripped through crowded markets of New Delhi just moments apart on Saturday, killing at least 50 people in an apparently coordinated attack on the eve of a major Hindu holiday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "terrorist elements," as suspicion fell on militant groups opposed to the peace process between India and Muslim neighbour Pakistan. Dozens of people were reported injured and local television channels showed pictures of the carnage, with blood on the pavements and the remains of ruined shops heaped in piles of wreckage on the streets. Officials said the death toll was expected to rise from the blasts, which hit at least two bustling markets, Paharganj and Sarojini Nagar, where tens of thousands of holiday shoppers had thronged the streets. A third was reported in the Okhla industrial district while a fourth reported at Gole market turned out to be a hoax. "It appeared as if 10 bombs had gone off together," a witness at Sarojini market said where blazes continued to burn their way through devastated shops and alleyways. (First Posted@1800 PST Updated @ 22:02 PST)
Indian PM blames "terrorist elements" for New Delhi serial blasts NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (AFP) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday blamed "terrorist elements" for serial blasts in New Delhi which killed at least 50 people. "The target is clearly the innocent citizens. Efforts to spread chaos and disturb peace will not be allowed to succeed at any cost. The government is determined to defeat nefarious designs of terrorist elements," Singh said in a message. "The prime minister has expressed shock and distress over the blasts but has asserted that militant violence would not weaken the country's resolve to fight terrorism," the statement said. "The prime minister has also urged people to remain calm," it added. Singh was visiting the insurgency-hit northeastern Indian state of Tripura and would immediately return to the capital, his spokesman Sanjaya Baru said. Indian President Abdul Kalam also condemned the blasts and extended his condolences to families of those killed.(Posted @ 21:16 PST)
Pakistan denounces New Delhi bombings as "terrorism" ISLAMABAD, Oct 29 (AFP) Pakistan strongly condemned Saturday's bombings in Indian capital New Delhi as a "criminal act of terrorism," a foreign ministry statement said. "Pakistan strongly condemns the terrorist attacks in New Delhi, which have resulted in the loss of a number of innocent lives," the statement said. "The people and government of Pakistan are shocked at this barbaric act and express deep sympathy with the families of the victims," it said. Islamabad also called for a thorough investigation to punish the culprits. "We hope that a thorough investigation will be carried out and the perpetrators of this act of terrorism will be brought to justice." At least 50 people were killed Saturday in serial blasts in New Delhi, India's home minister and senior government officials said.(Posted @ 21:06 PST)
Bangladesh offers reward in hunt for militants DHAKA, Oct 29 (Reuters) Bangladesh, hit by a wave of bombings over the past two months, has put up a reward of $152,000 for information leading to the arrest of two fugitive Islamist militants. "Anyone providing specific information leading to the arrest of Shayek Abdur Rahman, leader of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, and Bangla Bhai, chief of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), will be given five million taka ($76,000) each," Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar told reporters late on Friday. Bangladesh banned the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and JMJB last February for criminal activities.(Posted @ 21:34 PST)
British soldier killed in Afghanistan LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) A British soldier was killed in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Saturday, the Ministry of Defence in London said. A spokesman for the department said five other British soldiers were wounded in the attack. He would not give any further details. A US soldier was also killed in insurgency-hit eastern Afghanistan Saturday when a patrol came under fire on the volatile border with Pakistan, the US-led coalition force said.(Posted @ 21:20 PST)
Iraq car bomb kills 25 northeast of Baghdad BAQUBA, Iraq, Oct 29 (Reuters) A car bomb exploded in a crowded small town northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 40 more, police sources said. The blast hit the Shi'ite town of Howaider, which is north of the provincial capital Baquba, around sundown when people were breaking the Ramadan fast.(Posted @ 20:48 PST)
India's Congress, minister deny Iraq probe report NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (Reuters) India's ruling Congress party and the country's foreign minister denied on Saturday a U.N. investigation report which said the two received favours from Saddam Hussein to help get U.N. sanctions lifted. The report by the U.N.-established Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, named politicians in Russia, France, Britain, Italy and elsewhere. Congress and Foreign Minister Natwar Singh were among those in this list. "I am deeply shocked and outraged by these allegations which are baseless and untrue," Singh said in a statement from Frankfurt, where he was in transit on his way back from a visit to Russia. "Indian National Congress has been incorrectly and unfairly named. We reject this," Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told a news conference.(Posted @ 18:30 PST)
Blast hits SSGC pipeline near Sibi KARACHI, Oct 29 (APPP): A 12" diameter SSGC's Quetta pipeline that supplies natural gas to Quetta and areas en route, was damaged by a blast near the Damboli repeater station, 53 kilometres upstream of Sibi and 152 kilometres downstream Shikarpur, at about 12:20 am on the night between Friday-Saturday. A press note issued by SSGC here Saturday said it was for the second time within a month that a major SSGC pipeline had been damaged by miscreants. The valves at Damboli and Shori repeater stations were shut down. Only three small villages near Sibi, namely Lehri, Bhag and Jhatpat have temporarily suffered a disruption in supply on account of the blast, a SSGC spokesman said. Meanwhile, SSGC Emergency Repair Teams dispatched from Sibi, Shikarpur and Karachi Terminal have reached the site of the blast to undertake urgent repairs, and it was expected that the damaged pipeline will be fully repaired and normal supply of gas to the entire area will be restored by late evening today.(Posted @ 16:45 PST)
Country to achieve growth targets: PM ISLAMABAD, Oct 29 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday said that despite the challenges faced due to the devastation caused by the October 8 earthquake, the pace of economic development will not be hampered and the country will achieve the growth targets set for the financial year 2005-06. Talking to the President of US Import and Exports Bank James Lambright who called on him in his office, the Prime Minister appreciated the humanitarian, logistic support, engineering and medical assistance provided by US in the quake affected areas. Aziz said that the strength of the economy was based on broad-based, fundamental structural reforms and the micro economic indicators were moving in the right direction. He asked Lambright to look into the possibility of extending its operations in Pakistan, in particular the PIA and the power sector. James Lambright was optimistic about the economic prospects of Pakistan and said it was based on strong economic fundamentals. Lambright expressed grief at the widespread devastation and the loss of precious lives.(Posted @ 16:42 PST)
Iran slams UN Security Council condemnation TEHRAN, Oct 29 (AFP) Iran on Saturday slammed the UN Security Council condemnation of its president's anti-Israeli remarks, but insisted there was no intention to attack the Jewish state. Iran said that a UN Security Council statement that condemned the remarks was "unacceptable". But the foreign ministry also moved to repair some of the considerable diplomatic damage wrought by the remarks, saying "the Islamic republic of Iran is committed to its engagements based on the UN charter and has never resorted to, nor threatened to resort to force against another country.”(Posted @ 16:35 PST)
Israeli raids cut Gaza electricity GAZA, Oct 29 (Reuters) Israeli warplanes carried out a dozen bombing raids against rocket launching sites in northern Gaza on Saturday, knocking out electricity to several thousand homes, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said. Most of the Israeli bombs and missiles struck open areas, but several landed near homes and police stations and cut deep craters in roads, the sources said. In the West Bank on Saturday, Palestinians exploded a car bomb in the town of Nablus, an Israeli military spokeswoman said, adding the attack caused no injuries. (Posted @ 16:15 PST)
Magnitude 6.5 quake shakes southern Indian Ocean HONG KONG, Oct 29 (APP/AP) An earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale shook the southern Indian Ocean Saturday, the Hong Kong Observatory said. The epicentre was initially determined to be about 2,200 kilometres southwest of Perth, Australia. The quake was recorded at 0417 GMT. (Posted @ 14:20 PST)
Pakistani delegation to visit Israel: radio JERUSALEM, Oct 29 (AFP) A 200-member delegation of Pakistani officials and businessmen is to visit Israel in early November, in a bid to bring the two countries closer which have no diplomatic relations, Israeli military radio said. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom are to receive the Pakistani delegation of retired generals, religious leaders, politicians and business people, radio said, though there was no official confirmation. (Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Taliban kill Afghan election candidate, his son and brother KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct 29 (AFP) Taliban fighters have shot dead a man who contested Afghanistan's provincial elections last month, and his son and brother, provincial officials and a spokesman for the militants said Saturday. The attackers opened fire on Ghani Khan, an engineer, late Thursday as he was driving in volatile southern Helmand province with his brother and son, a provincial government spokesman said. Khan was a candidate from Helmand's Nawzad district in the September 18 vote for provincial councils but did not win a seat. (Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Car bomb in West Bank; Israeli air strikes in Gaza NABLUS, West Bank, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Palestinians exploded a car bomb in the West Bank town of Nablus on Saturday as an Israeli military patrol went by, an Israeli military spokeswoman said. The attack caused no injuries. Also on Saturday, Israel launched three air strikes against rocket launching sites in northern Gaza. There were no reports of injuries from these air attacks. (Posted @ 13:20 PST)
US-led forces kill 14 militants in Afghanistan KABUL, Oct 29 (AFP) - US-led coalition and Afghan troops supported by attack helicopters and aircraft killed 14 militants during clashes in Afghanistan in which an Afghan soldier also died, the military said. Thirteen were killed in clashes Thursday and Friday in insurgency-hit Uruzgan province, the first erupting when Afghan and US troops came under fire from guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, a coalition statement late Friday said. A US soldier and an Afghan troop were wounded . "In a second contact with the enemy just a few kilometres (miles) from the first location, one ANA (Afghan National Army) soldier was killed and another three were wounded," the statement said. "There may be around four to five Taliban casualties -- they have taken their bodies with them." In another incident on Thursday, "two enemy fighters were killed after they fired upon coalition forces," the military statement said. "A total of 13 enemy fighters were killed in the three engagements. Coalition aircraft and attack helicopters provided close air support for the operations," it said. One militant was also killed by US troops in eastern Paktika province Friday when he and others were spotted allegedly trying to plant a bomb, the coalition said in a separate statement. (Posted @ 12:20 PST)
Saddam accepted UAE exile plan to avert Iraq war-TV DUBAI, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had secretly accepted a last-minute plan to go into exile to avert the 2003 Iraq war, but Arab leaders shot the proposal down, Al Arabiya television reported on Friday. UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan made the proposal for Saddam to go into exile at an emergency Arab summit just weeks before the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. But the 22-member Arab League, led by Secretary-General Amr Moussa, refused to consider the initiative. "We had got the final agreement from the different parties, the main players in the world and the person concerned – Saddam Hussein -- within 24 hours," Mohammed bin Zayed, deputy head of the UAE armed forces and crown prince of Abu Dhabi, told the UAE-based channel in a documentary. "So we were coming to put facts on the table, and there would have been results had it been discussed," he said. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak says in the documentary that the United States had signalled its support for the proposal. The documentary says Iraqi delegation had been unaware of Saddam's "secret consent" to the plan, which Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri dismissed as "silly". It was not clear why Arab opposition alone scuppered the arrangements, which Al Arabiya said would have seen Saddam go into UAE exile with a promise of protection from legal action. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
US invites Asma Jehangir, two other UN torture investigators to Guantanamo WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday invited three U.N. human rights investigators, including the one who examines torture allegations, to visit the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in a bid to show "we have nothing to hide."The Pentagon said the three would be permitted to observe operations at Guantanamo "and ask questions of the command, staff and U.S. officials who would accompany them." But Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a Pentagon spokesman on detainee issues, said they would not be allowed to speak to detainees because that was the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Pentagon said the invitations were extended to Austria's Manfred Nowak, special investigator for the United Nations on torture, Pakistan's Asma Jahangir, who focuses on religious freedom, and Algeria's Leila Zerrougui, who looks into arbitrary detention. "This goes to our desire to show that we have nothing to hide," Ballesteros said. (Posted @ 09:05 PST)
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