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| July 03, 2007 | Tuesday | Jamadi-us-Sani 17, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Shooting at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid; 10 including one soldier killed ISLAMABAD, July 3 (AP) - Security forces clashed with militants outside Lal Masjid in Islamabad, triggering gunfire that left one soldier dead and dozens of students and troops injured. (According to a private tv channel nine others including eight Lal Masjid students had been killed when last reports came in). The students later set fire to two government buildings, including the Ministry of Environment. They first tore down a section of the wall around the three-story ministry building near the mosque and pelted it with rocks. About four hours after the first shots were fired, the government sent a mediator into the mosque to end the clashes,. The mediator, Shah Abdul Aziz, a lawmaker from Pakistan's tribal areas, had earlier held talks with the mosque administration in attempts to resolve its disputes with the government. Trouble began when Lal Masjid students carrying guns and dozens of women wearing black burqas, rushed toward a nearby police checkpoint early Tuesday afternoon. Police and paramilitary Rangers fired tear gas shells and, as the students retreated, an Associated Press photographer saw at least four male students, some of them masked, fire shots toward security forces about 200 meters away. Gunfire was also heard from the police position. A man used the mosque's loudspeakers to order suicide bombers to get into position. “They have attacked our mosque, the time for sacrifice has come,” the man said. An hour later, dozens of students were patrolling the area around the mosque, and sporadic shots were still heard. Some of the students carried gas masks and several were seen with gasoline-filled bottles and Molotov cocktails. About a dozen were armed with guns, including AK-47 assault rifles. Dozens of stone-throwing students shattered windows of the ministry building, chanting, “Taliban, long live Taliban,” and set the building afire. Fast-spreading flames and black smoke poured out of windows and doors on the first floor. Also torched was the adjacent building belonging to the Capital Development Authority, which oversees Islamabad's administration. One paramilitary soldier hit in the clash died later at a hospital, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said. A doctor at the nearby Polyclinic Hospital said that about 60 people had been brought there and most were suffering from the effects of tear gas, but they also included several students _ both male and female _ with bullet wounds, he said. The doctor said two members of the security forces were also being treated for gunshot wounds. (First Posted @ 16:26 PST Updated @ 17:44 PST)
15 includilng 3 policemen killed, scores injured in Lal Masjid clsashes ISLAMABAD, July 03-(PPI): With the death of a businessman in the firing at Abpara market, the death of a cameraman of a local newspaper, three policemen and a Ranger, the death toll in Lal Masjid clashes has increased to 15, reports said. The others were believed to be students of the Lal Masjid. The media men including a Bureau Chief of a TV channel were injured, while another cameraman was in a critical condition. Scores of people were also injured and some private tv channels put the figure at well over 150, most of them with breathing problems on account of heavy tear-gas shelling. (First Posted @ 19:18 PST Updated @ 20:06 PST)
Pakistan cyclone toll rises to 220 QUETTA, Pakistan, July 3 (AFP) - Authorities stepped up efforts Tuesday to provide aid to two million people affected by a cyclone and floods in southern Pakistan, as the death toll rose to at least 220. Military helicopters airdropped more food and other relief supplies in swamped parts of Balochistan and Sindh provinces amid clearer weather and falling water levels. Balochistan home secretary Tariq Ayub said three to seven days of food had been provided to flood-affected people. Ali Gul Kurd, the deputy relief commissioner for Baluchistan, said there were no reports of any disease epidemics despite the large region flooded since Cyclone Yemyin hit the region a week ago. “We have sufficient supplies of food, medicines, anti-(snake) venom kits and water purification tablets,” Kurd said. Ten civilian medical teams are waiting to fly out as soon as more helicopters are available, but navy and army medical teams had already reached there, Kurd said. “The area is very large and around two million people are affected, we require more helicopters,” he said. Kurd added that the number of dead in Baluchistan had climbed to at least 120. Another 250 people were missing, including women and children. National disaster relief chief Farooq Ahmad Khan was quoted by state media as saying that another 100 people have been killed by the floods in neighbouring Sindh province. A further 230 were killed on June 23 when a fierce storm hit Karachi, the main city in Sindh province. Meanwhile the Pakistan meteorological department said that more rains forecast to hit the south would not be as bad as expected. “The situation is not that alarming now. The system is weakening after giving heavy rains in southern Pakistan overnight,” department chief Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
SC continues hearing on CJ's petition ISLAMABAD, July 03 (PPI) - The 13-member full court of the Supreme Court headed by justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday on Tuesday continued the hearing on the constitutional petition of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry against the presidential reference and formation of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Counsel of the federation, Justice (r) Malik Mohammad Qayyum, in his arguments on the formation of Supreme Judicial Council submitted that Article 209 of the Constitution was equally applicable to the Chief Justice like other judges. He urged that there was no separate provision for appointment, remuneration, retirement or resignation of the Chief Justice of Pakistan thus no difference could be made between other judges and the Chief Justice. He argued that the SJC was fully empowered to decide the matter of incapacity or misconduct of the Chief Justice like other judges and there was no provision for special forum for trial of Chief Justice in the Constitution. He said the Chief Justice of Pakistan could also be restrained to perform his functions if he was facing a reference. He submitted that the constitution also does not provide protection to the judges from suspension. In his submissions on the formation of opinion of the President, he argued that the President always acted upon the advice of the Prime Minister and it was the Prime Minister who formed opinion. He will continue his arguments on Wednesday. (Posted @ 20:28 PST)
Thousands protest Pakistan mosque battle PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 3 (AFP) - More than 3,000 religious students chanting anti-government slogans rallied in the town of Mingora in Malakand division to denounce the violence at Lal Masjid, witnesses said. “The government must stop the operation against Lal Masjid,” local religious leader Maulana Fazal Ullah told the rally. Another 250 persons burned tyres and blocked a main road for half an hour in the city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, said the incident would cause nationwide unrest. “We condemn this ill-conceived act which will bring disaster and anarchy to the country,” the MMA chief told a party gathering in the central city of Muzaffargarh. Maulana Fazalur Rehman, leader of the opposition and a senior member of the MMA, said the actions of the security forces were “an abortive attempt to suppress the voice against obscenity, vulgarity, indecency.” He said that the government must resolve the problem through talks. (Posted @ 21:10 PST)
Syria says ready for unconditional talks with Israel DAMASCUS, July 3, (AFP) - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Tuesday that Damascus is ready to resume unconditional peace talks with Israel, at a press conference with his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller. “We engaged in negotiations with Israel for 10 years,” Muallem said. “Syria is ready to resume these in accordance with what has been achieved” during previous Syrian-Israeli talks, which have been stalled since January 2000. “We are in favour of achieving a peace which is fair and in accordance with United Nations resolutions,” he added. (Posted @ 23:28 PST)
Car bomb kills 18 near Baghdad Shiite bastion BAGHDAD, July 3, (AFP) - A car bomb attack in a market near Baghdad's Shiite bastion of Sadr City killed at least 18 people and wounded 35 more on Tuesday, medics and security officials told AFP. The explosives-laden car tore through a market in the Al-Shaab neighbourhood near the Shiite slum which is often a target of extremists. The dead and wounded were taken to three city hospitals, medics and security officials said. (Posted @ 22:46 PST)
EC takes up reference against Imran Khan on July 16 ISLAMABAD, July 03 (PPI)- The Election Commission of Pakistan will take up the reference against Chairman, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and MNA Imran Khan on July 16 and notices will be issued to him to file written statement on the date fixed, says a ECP statement.. It was also ordered that copies of the references together with their accompaniments be dispatched to the respondent (Imran) along with the notice. (Posted @ 21:18 PST)
Top Pakistan official to curtail trip to India NEW DELHI, July 3 (AFP) - Pakistan Interior Ministry Secretary Syed Kamal Shah now in New Delhi as part of the Pakistan delegation for bilateral talks on terrorism is likely to rush back to Islamabad where nine people died Tuesday in Lal Masjid clashes in Islamabad, an Indian foreign ministry source said. The two-day talks on terrorism and drug trafficking were scheduled to end Wednesday evening. (Posted @ 20:44 PST)
Cricket-India v Pakistan one-day clash called off due to rain GLASGOW, Scotland, July 3 (Reuters) - Tuesday's one-day international between India and Pakistan was called off after persistent rain saturated the Titwood ground. Officials abandoned hopes of starting the one-off, 50-over match after an inspection at 1400 local time (1300 GMT). (Posted @ 19:42 PST)
Foreign doctors questioned over British bomb plot LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Police were holding eight people on Tuesday, at least four of them foreign doctors, over a suspected al Qaeda plot against Britain that has triggered a manhunt stretching as far as Australia. One British security source said two of the suspects were Indian, the rest were Middle Eastern and “quite a few” were doctors -- a contrast with recent British conspiracies led by “homegrown” militants, often with modest academic backgrounds. Two of those arrested worked at hospitals in England, one was a doctor in Scotland and Australian police also detained an Indian doctor, Mohamed Haneef, under counter-terrorism laws. Police sources said the other suspects also had medical links. “We don't know enough to say whether they were radicalised here or overseas, or how they met,” a security source said. (Posted @ 19:35 PST)
Lebanese family killed in UN truck crash MARKABA, Lebanon, July 3 (AFP) - A Lebanese family of four, including two young children, were killed when their car collided with a UN tanker truck near the Israeli border on Tuesday, sparking anger among locals, police said. Two people in the truck belonging to the Polish contingent of UNIFIL were injured and were taken to a hospital that was surrounded by angry demonstrators who prevented UNIFIL from evacuating the men for several hours, witnesses said. Lebanese soldiers intervened to prevent two Nepalese troops from being manhandled, while the UN peacekeeping force had one of its patrols stoned by demonstrators. (Posted @ 19:26 PST)
Cricket: Sri Lanka on top as Bangladesh hit new low COLOMBO, July 3 (AFP) - Sri Lanka took charge of the second cricket Test after Bangladesh crashed to their lowest total of 62 on the opening day's play here on Tuesday. Sri Lanka built on the advantage to reach 154-1 in their first innings before heavy rain ended play 16.3 overs early. (Posted @ 19:24 PST)
23 insurgents killed near Ramadi Baghdad, July 3 (Reuters) - U.S. forces killed at least 23 insurgents suspected of links to al Qaeda in fierce fighting over the weekend near Ramadi, 110 km west of Baghdad, the military said. A car bomb targeting a police colonel's convoy killed two civilians and wounded 19 others, including seven policemen, in central Kirkuk, while Coalition forces killed three suspected militants and detained 29 others during raids in western and central Iraq on Tuesday, the U.S. military said. Meanwhile, a U.S. helicopter was shot down by insurgents near Baghdad on Monday, but its two pilots escaped with only minor wounds, the U.S. military said. (Posted @ 18:48 PST)
Pakistan Navy Ship Tariq reaches Ormara with relief goods KARACHI, July 03 (PPI): akistan Navy Ship Tariq Tuesday reached Omara carrying relief goods for the people of flood-hit areas of Balochistan, said a Press release. The relief goods included 38000 litres of mineral water, 9000 litres fresh milk, 400 cartons of dry milk, 4 and a half tons of packets of ration and 250 tents. PNS Tipu Sultan is also scheduled to sail later Tuesday evening with a large quantity of relief goods. Four helicopters of Pakistan Navy are continuing relief operations. They carried out 16 sorties in the cyclone-hit areas of Gawadar, Pasni and Ormara and dropped packets containing essential food items. (Posted @ 18:06 PST)
U.S. provides $ 390,000 assistance to flood victims ISLAMABAD, July 03-(PPI): To help recover from the effects of flooding and related damages caused by Cyclone Yemyin in Sindh and Balochistan, the United States has authorized the release of $390,000 for emergency relief supplies for the affected families in the region. This emergency relief will help 11,000 households or approximately 90,000 people, in the districts of Jaferabad, Naseerabad, Jhall Magsi and Bolan. (Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Torrential rain lash Talhar (Sindh), many villages submerged TALHAR, Sindh, July 03 (PPI): About one hundred villages were inundated and thousands of people were stranded, as rain played havoc with Talhar taluka on Monday night. (Posted @ 17:54 PST)
12 killed, dozens injured in Egypt tour bus crash ISMAILIA, Egypt, July 3 (Reuters) - At least 12 Egyptians were killed and 58 others injured when a tour bus collided with a bus carrying labourers on a highway near the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday, a medical source said. (Posted @ 17:12 PST)
One dead, 29 hurt as train hits bus in Germany BERLIN, July 3 (Reuters) - A train crashed into a tour bus in the norhteastern German town of Malchin on Tuesday, killing one person and leaving nine people badly injured, police said. A further 20 people were slightly hurt from the crash at a level crossing, said police. No further details were immediately available. (Posted @ 16:48 PST)
Seven people killed in fresh Sri Lanka violence COLOMBO, July 3 (AFP) - Four suspected Tamil Tiger rebels and three soldiers were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka's embattled north, military officials said Tuesday. Tamil Tiger guerrillas set off a powerful roadside blast in the district of Vavuniya Tuesday, killing the three soldiers, military officials said. The attack came hours after security forces confronted a group of rebels further north in the Jaffna peninsula along a de facto front line at Muhamalai and killed four of them, a military official said. In a separate incident, suspected Tiger rebels shot and wounded a policeman in the Jaffna town early Tuesday as he travelled to work, the ministry said. (Posted @ 16:32 PST)
India seeks Pakistani cooperation in combating terrorism NEW DELHI, July 3 (Reuters) India will ask Pakistan to step up cooperation in combating terrorism, officials said, as the neighbours began the latest round of security talks Tuesday. The two-day talks will be between the top home (interior) ministry bureaucrats. “The Indian side will raise security concerns and urge the Pakistani side to widen cooperation in combating the menace of terrorism,” an Indian statement said. (Posted @ 14:28 PST)
Bus crash in Budapest injures 36 BUDAPEST, Hungary, July 3 (AP) A tourist bus ran off the road and crashed in the Hungarian capital Tuesday, injuring 36 people, 16 of them seriously, authorities said. The bus plunged three meters and cut through an industrial fence before smashing into the wall of a house, the MTI news agency reported. The bus had been carrying some 50 people, mainly elderly Hungarians travelling from Budapest to the western part of the country. (Posted @ 12:40 PST)
Afghans say killed 33 Taliban after deadly blast KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 3 (Reuters) Afghan police killed 33 Taliban insurgents after a roadside bomb detonated by the militants Monday killed eight policemen in the southern province of Kandahar, the provincial governor said Tuesday. (Posted @ 12:33 PST)
Two Marines die in accident in Iraq's Anbar province BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 3 (AP) Two Marines died in a ''non-hostile related'' accident in Iraq's western Anbar province Sunday, the military reported Tuesday. The accident took place while they were conducting operations in Anbar, the military statement said. (Posted @ 11:05 PST)
Suspected militant killed in eastern Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, July 3 (AP) U.S.-led coalition troops killed a suspected militant and detained two others during an operation in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday, a coalition statement said. The man was shot as the troops were entering a compound suspected of housing militants in the Zana Khan district of Ghazni province, it said. (Posted @ 10:18 PST)
US, Russia to ink accord on strategic weapons talks KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine, July 3 (AFP) The United States and Russia Tuesday were to sign an accord on talks with an eye toward the expiration of the landmark START strategic weapons agreement, the White House said Monday. The agreement was to be signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the heels of the meeting between presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin in Kennebunkport, Bush adviser Steve Hadley said. Also Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe has said, the United States and Russia were to release another document, a joint statement on their will to cooperate in supplying other countries with civilian nuclear technology under the control of the IAEA. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Serena Williams wins on painful leg at Wimbledon WIMBLEDON, England, July 3 (AP) Hobbled and hurting and essentially playing on one leg, Serena Williams managed to gut out a three-set victory at Wimbledon Monday against Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal showdown against No. 1 Justine Henin. (Posted @ 09:58 PST)
Zoellick starts World Bank presidency WASHINGTON, July 3 (AFP) Robert Zoellick started work Monday as the new president of the World Bank after a pay-and-promotion scandal toppled its last chief, Paul Wolfowitz. (Posted @ 09:55 PST)
Floods and mud raise monsoon death toll in western India to 75 MUMBAI, India, July 3 (AP) More than 10,000 people were evacuated from inundated villages in western India after torrential monsoon rains killed at least 75 people in two states and flooded Mumbai, government officials said. At least 63 people died in the western state of Gujarat over the past two days, while 12 died in Maharashtra state’s Amravati district, officials said. Roughly 5,000 in each state have been evacuated from low-lying areas. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
US Democrats pan Bush for commuting Libby sentence WASHINGTON, July 3 (AFP) Top US Democrats condemned as “disgraceful” and a “betrayal” President George W. Bush's decision Monday to commute the jail term of former senior White House aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby. “The president's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people,” Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, said in a statement. Bush commuted the 30-month jail term imposed on Libby for lying to federal investigators in a case over an ousted spy which highlighted doubts about the administration's case for the war in Iraq. (Posted @ 09:48 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 12.59 points: KARACHI, July 3: The KSE-100 index was at 13942.29, up 12.59 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 10:05 PST)
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