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| February 19, 2007 | Monday | Safar 1, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Blast kills 67 on India-Pakistan friendship train PANIPAT, India, Feb 19 (AFP) At least 67 people burned to death after a blast aboard a train from India to Pakistan that officials said Monday was intended to damage the peace process between the two neighbours. “We have counted 67 bodies so far. Thirteen people are injured. They have been taken to New Delhi for treatment,” Panipat police superintendent Mohinder Singh Sheoran said. A ball of fire raced through two passenger carriages around midnight near Panipat, 100 kilometres north of New Delhi. The twice-weekly service runs from the Indian capital to the Pakistani city of Lahore. Explosives were found in two suitcases which directly pointed to sabotage, Indian Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told reporters following the overnight blast on the “Samjhauta (Friendship) Express”. In a statement, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed “anguish and grief” at the loss of lives. “The culprits will be caught,” he vowed. Police said several Pakistanis were among the dead and wounded. (First Posted @ 08:40 PST, Updated @ 10:43 PST)
Pakistani minister says Indian visit still on ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (Reuter) - Pakistan's foreign minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said Monday he was going ahead with a trip to India on Tuesday as planned, despite “horrendous” bomb blasts on a train in India that killed at least 66 people, most of them Pakistanis. If anything, the two countries should step up their peace efforts in response, he said. The minister said he had instructed the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi to send staff to the site to help Pakistan nationals caught up in the blast. Pakistani Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said there were 757 passengers on board the train, 553 of them Pakistanis. He said Pakistan, for its part, would continue the train service as scheduled on Monday, although security would be stepped up on the Pakistani leg of the journey. “This kind of incident can't stop good and positive relations between India and Pakistan,” Ahmed said. The Indian High Commission in Islamabad said arrangements had been made to process visas immediately for relatives of people on the train wishing to go to India. A temporary visa office was also being set up in Lahore. (Posted @ 12:45 PST)
President Musharraf says train blast won't stop peace process ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (AFP) President Pervez Musharraf vowed Monday a “heinous” attack on an Indian train that killed 67 people, mostly Pakistanis, will not be allowed to stop the two neighbours' peace process. “We will not allow elements which want to sabotage the ongoing peace process to succeed in their nefarious designs,” a government statement quoted General Musharraf as saying. “Such wanton acts of terrorism will only serve to further strengthen our resolve to attain the mutually desired objective of sustainable peace between the two countries.” The president “underscored the need for the leadership of Pakistan and India to move forward undeterred in the quest for dispute resolution and lasting peace in the region,” the statement said. He “expressed the hope that the Indian government would take all necessary measures to bring the culprits of this heinous crime to justice”. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said he would be speaking to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to “express the viewpoint of the government and feelings of the Pakistan people over the tragic incident”. Aziz had ordered the Pakistan Air Force to keep C-130 planes ready, along with a medical team, to airlift the dead and injured from India, the official Associated Press of Pakistan said. (First Posted @ 14:25 PST Updated @ 21:54 PST)
Indian PM expresses deep shock, calls PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (APP) Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Monday expressed his deep shock and sorrow over the tragic train explosion in India that killed many innocent Pakistanis. The Indian prime minister in a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assured him that his government would share the findings of its inquiry into the incident and extend full cooperation to Pakistanis injured in the blast and their relatives. He said that India will also permit a Pakistan Air Force aircraft to fly into India for taking the injured and the dead back to their home country. Singh informed that 12 injured Pakistanis were being treated in New Delhi and only one was being looked after in Panipat. Aziz told Singh that Pakistan expects the perpetrators of this heinous crime to be brought to book and given exemplary punishment. (Posted @ 23:30 PST)
Insurgents slaughter 40 Iraqis in day of bombs BAGHDAD, Feb 19 (AFP) Bombs detonated across central Iraq on Monday, killing 40 people. Five Iraqi commuters were killed by a bomb that gutted a bus in the district of Karrada. In a second attack, a roadside bomb exploded in the path of a police patrol in nearby Zafaraniyah. It killed three police and three civilians and wounded 40 bystanders. A barrage of mortars slammed into a district on the southern edge of Baghdad and killed 11 people. North of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber attacked a house in the Khazraj district belonging to an Iraqi army officer killing five soldiers and wounding 10, police said. In Ramadi, two suicide car bombers killed four policemen and seven civilians. (First Posted @ 11:05 PST Updated @ 23:12 PST)
Taliban capture district in Afghanistan KABUL, Feb 19 (AFP) Around 300 Taliban insurgents captured the remote Bakwa district in the western province of Farah on Monday after storming its small capital and forcing out government forces, a provincial governor said. Policemen who fled the remote area were arriving at their command post along the main local highway, their commander said. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul said it would take action if the government asked. (Posted @ 22:56 PST)
Iraq suicide bomber kills two US troops, wounds 17 BAGHDAD, Feb 19 (AFP) A suicide bomber attacked a US outpost in Tarmiyah, 30 km north of Baghdad, on Monday killing two American soldiers and wounding 17 more, the military said. (Posted @ 22:50 PST)
Alleged bombers plead innocence at Madrid trial MADRID, Feb 19 (AFP) Two men, Moroccan Jamal Zougam and Syrian Basel Ghalyoun, accused of direct involvement in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings on Monday maintained their innocence on the third day of Europe's biggest trial to date of Al-Qaeda related terrorism. Zougam said he went to work at his phone shop on the day of the blasts after getting up around 10:00am -- two-and-a-half hours after the bombs went off. (Posted @ 22:30 PST)
Police unearth over 400 baby bones in India BHOPAL, India, Feb 19 (AFP) Police were investigating Monday a hospital's involvement in illegal female foeticide after 437 baby bones were dug up close by the complex, a state government said Monday. Police began unearthing the bones on Saturday from Christian Medical Hospital, in central Madhya Pradesh state, after a tip-off that medical staff were carrying out illegal abortions. (Posted @ 21:40 PST)
World leaders condemn India train bombing LONDON, Feb 19 (AFP) Britain led the worldwide condemnation of the firebombing of a train from India to Pakistan that killed at least 67 people Monday, describing the incident as “utterly shameful.” The United States expressed shock and sadness at a “deliberate act of terrorism”. In its role as president of the European Union, Germany condemned the bombing and called on “all parties in India and Pakistan to oppose further acts of violence”. Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern described the attack as “awful” and said it should not be “allowed to undermine this important process.” Elsewhere, Japan condemned the firebombing as “an extremely vicious and unforgivable act.” Spain described Monday's bombing as “a very serious and brutal terrorist attack”. (First Posted @ 19:20 PST Updated @ 19:52 PST)
Row over doors as bomb-hit train arrives in Pakistan WAGAH, Pakistan, Feb 19 (AFP) Pakistan's railways minister criticized India Monday for locking the doors of the train that was hit by firebombs, killing 67 people, mostly Pakistanis. The ill-fated “Samjhauta (Friendship) Express” arrived at Wagah, the main border crossing between the two countries, at around 6:15 pm (1315 GMT) -- five hours behind schedule, a correspondent said. “Most of the deaths occurred because the bogies were locked from inside. Some people jumped out of train after breaking window glass,” Rashid told state television from Wagah station. “Many lives could have been saved if the train was not locked from inside,” Rashid said. He added: “I will talk to the prime minister about this so that he should ask the Indians not to lock passengers inside the trains.” Rashid also condemned the fact that Indian officials had not provided a list of dead 18 hours after the blast. (Posted @ 19:36 PST)
Pakistan must “clarify its position” on Taliban: UN KABUL, Feb 19 (AFP) The Pakistani government must clarify its position on Taliban rebels in Afghanistan after a provincial governor likened them to a liberation movement, the United Nations said Monday. UN representative Tom Koenigs said he was “very astonished” by governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai's statement. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Afghanistan's complaints were based on a “distorted report” of Aurakzai's words. “The governor had mentioned what militant Taliban were saying to win the sympathies of the Afghan population living in south and east Afghanistan,” Aslam told a weekly news briefing. “Some reports have wrongly presented this as the assessment and views of the governor himself.” (Posted @ 19:24 PST)
Indian police detain suspect in deadly train bombing NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (AFP) Indian police have detained a man in connection with the bombing of a train from India to Pakistan which killed 67 people, Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav announced Monday. Police had also launched a hunt for his associate, missing since the midnight blasts, the minister said. (Posted @ 19:14 PST)
Cricket: Hair rejects ECB offer LONDON, Feb 19 (AFP) Darrell Hair said he will not take up an offer from the English cricket authorities to be placed on their reserve list for the 2007/08 season. The Australian said he would not be on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) reserve panel for next season. (Posted @ 18:10 PST)
Muslim concerns about Jerusalem dig justified: Rice JERUSALEM, Feb 19 (AFP) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Muslim concerns about Israeli renovations near a revered Jerusalem mosque are justified, in an interview with a Palestinian newspaper published Monday. “There are some safety concerns, but there are also some very justified concerns about not crossing certain lines with the excavation,” the US top diplomat was quoted as telling Al-Ayyam. She called on the Israeli authorities to consult all concerned parties before going forward with the building work to a ramp leading to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Iran launches war games with missile tests TEHRAN, Feb 19 (AFP) Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched three days of war games on Monday aimed at improving defensive capabilities with a succession of missile tests. The “Power Manoeuvre” war games were conducted by the elite force in 16 of Iran's 30 provinces. A total of 750 missiles and canon munitions would be fired during the excercise, IRNA said. (Posted @ 16:34 PST)
Two killed in Afghanistan auto-rickshaw protest HERAT, Afghanistan, Feb 19 (AFP) Two people were killed and 13 others injured when some 400 protesting auto-rickshaw drivers clashed with police Monday in western Afghanistan, a hospital said. The drivers of tuk-tuks - three-wheeler motorcycles that work as taxis - demonstrated against a ban on their operations within Herat city, witnesses said. The rally turned violent when police fired in the air and beat protesters with sticks to push them back from the provincial governor's secured compound. The protesters responded by hurling stones, metal and wooden sticks at the police. Herat authorities in January prohibited the locally-made tuk-tuks from operating because they were polluting the town. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Rice meets Abbas, Olmert for peace talks JERUSALEM, Feb 19 (AFP) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was holding three-way peace talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Monday but her mission has been complicated by battles over a Palestinian unity cabinet. The first-ever joint talks between Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas began around 10:00 am behind closed doors in a luxury Jerusalem hotel. Rice is later scheduled to give a statement to the media, in a sign of the difficulties facing her initiative. US officials said the three were meeting alone, accompanied only by interpreters, and that the talks would probably last about two hours. (Posted @ 14:23 PST)
India deploys troops at train stations after blasts NEW DELHI, Feb 19 (AFP) - Indian security forces went on their highest security alert and paramilitary troops were posted at railway stations after 66 people died in blasts aboard a train to Pakistan, officials said. Authorities sent in police reinforcements and paramilitary troops to the five stations in the Indian capital after the attack on the “Friendship Express” near the northern city of Panipat, a police spokesman said. Troops also climbed aboard New Delhi's packed local train services . “Movement of passengers on our stations are being carefully monitored through CCTVs (close-circuit television cameras),” an official said. India's state-run railways also went on a “red alert” posting paramilitary forces at stations across northern India, Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav told reporters before leaving for the blast site 100 kilometres north of the capital. Two of four bombs planted on board the train were defused, he said. (Posted @ 12:25 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 198.31 points: KARACHI, Feb 19: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 11577.71, up 198.31 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Feb 19: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.75 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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