|
|
| July 08, 2007 | Sunday | Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Senior officer killed as Lal Masjid siege enters 6th day ISLAMABAD, July 8 (AFP) –Militants entrenched in Islamabad’s Lal Masjid shot dead a senior Pakistani army officer during fierce clashes with troops on the sixth day of the siege on Sunday . Colonel Haroon Islam was leading an operation to help free some of the women and children being used as human shields by the militants inside the fortified mosque complex when he was shot, the army said. Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP another army officer was injured in the fighting. “Rashid Ghazi and his militants were responsible for the killing of a senior army officer,” Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said. “The operation will continue and Ghazi has to surrender.” Security forces have held back from raiding the now bullet-pocked mosque but there have been intense clashes around the perimeter. Security forces blew up sections of the compound wall during the night and there were further intense exchanges of fire, a security official said early Sunday. “Security forces dynamited the wall to allow people inside to come out.” They risked being shot by militants if they attempted to climb the wall, which is seven to eight feet high, he said. Cleric Abdul Rasheed Ghazi claimed security forces had killed 30 female and 40 male students in the siege. The women were buried at the site, he said. The government says the total death toll is 20. The cleric said he and his followers had enough rations, arms and ammunition inside the compound to “fight for another 25 to 30 days and we will do that, God willing.” (Posted @ 09:48 PST)
Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan mosque: security officials ISLAMABAD, July 8, 2007 (AFP) - Islamic militants from a group linked to Al-Qaeda and to the murder of the journalist Daniel Pearl are believed to be leading hold-outs at a Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, security officials said Sunday. At least two commanders from the banned group Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, whose name means Movement of Islamic Holy War, are inside the besieged Mosque, the officials said on condition of anonymity. “We believe there are militants from Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, which was involved in the Pearl murder. Based on intelligence we suspect that two commanders from the group are in there,” one senior official told AFP. “They have taken control and they are putting up fierce resistance.”The information was based on “intercepts” and other intelligence, the officials said, without naming the men. But the militants are thought to be giving orders to the hundreds of radical students in the mosque, they said. The government says women and children are being held as human shields, which the mosque's clerics deny. “Our forces are holding back as long as it is possible to avoid the deaths of women and children,” the security official said. (Posted @ 13:00 PST)
Gunmen kill three Chinese in northwest Pakistan Peshawar, Pakistan, July 8, (AFP) - Three Chinese nationals were shot dead late Sunday by unidentified gunmen at their residence in Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province, police said. A fourth Chinese living in the same house was critically wounded in the attack, police officer Mohammad Yaqub told AFP. (Posted @ 22:44 PST)
23 die due to landslide in Kohistan district KOHISTAN, July 8 (APP) - As many as 23 persons died and 13 suffered injuries due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in Kohistan district late Saturday night. The incident occurred in union council Jeejal of the district as a result several houses were buried under avalanche. The rescue operation was carried out by local people who removed 23 bodies. The injured were rushed to the district headquarter hospital. (Posted @ 17:36 PST)
Blast kills policeman, four others kidnapped in Pakistan KHAR, Pakistan, July 8, (AFP) - Militants blew up a security vehicle in Pakistani tribal area, killing a policeman and wounding seven others, while four more officers were kidnapped, officials said Sunday. The attacks were both in Bajaur district bordering Afghanistan, a stronghold of the banned militant group Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, which has links to besieged Lal Masjid in Islamabad. (Posted @ 16:48 PST)
Israeli cabinet approves Fatah prisoner release JERUSALEM, July 8, (AFP) - Israel's cabinet Sunday approved the freeing of 250 Palestinian prisoners in a move aimed at boosting moderate president Mahmud Abbas in his battle for authority with Hamas. The cabinet passed the measure, which applies only to prisoners who are members of Abbas's Fatah party, by a vote of 18 to seven, a senior government official told AFP. (Posted @ 16:08 PST)
Tennis: Federer wins Wimbledon title LONDON, July 8, (AFP) - Roger Federer won the Wimbledon men's singles title for the fifth successive year on Sunday with a 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal. It was Federer's 11th career Grand Slam title, taking him within three of Pete Sampras's record of 14 and his 54th consecutive grasscourt win. The victory also shattered Nadal's hopes of becoming only the second Spanish winner of the men's singles title to follow Manolo Santana in 1966. (Posted @ 23:26 PST)
5 killed, 11 injured in rain-related incidents in Sahiwal Sahiwal, Pakistan, July 8 (APP) - Five persons, two women and three children were killed while eleven others sustained injuries in rain-related incidents in Sahiwal and around the city on Sunday. In the first mishap, a woman was killed while her four children suffered injuries when the roof of her house collapsed in a village. In another village, a boy died while two other children injured when roof of a house caved in. (Posted @ 21:38 PST)
NY Times calls Iraq a 'lost cause' WASHINGTON, July 8, (AFP) - The New York Times on Sunday called for US troops to leave Iraq now, writing that President George W. Bush's plan to stabilize the country through military means is a lost cause. “It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit,” the influential daily wrote in a rare, single-issue editorial taking up one-half of an entire news page. (Posted @ 20:22 PST)
At least 13 people killed in road accident in Iran TEHRAN, Iran, July 8, (AP) - At least 13 people were killed in a road accident after four fuel-smuggling trucks crashed into each other in southeastern Iran, state television reported Sunday. The report said the accident happened when the four trucks, which were carrying a total of 17 people and thousands of litters of fuel, were traveling on the road with their headlights turned off to avoid detection by police. (Posted @ 19:46 PST)
Jet fighter cannon injures four at Sri Lanka air base COLOMBO, July 8, (AFP) - Four airmen were seriously injured Sunday after a cannon was activated on a jet fighter near the island's only international airport, officials said. The war plane was being loaded with weapons at the Katunayake air base -- which shares a runway with the Bandaranaike International Airport -- when the incident happened, a military official said. “Four airmen have been injured and taken to hospital and there is some damage to the aircraft also,” the official said. (Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Suicide bomber kills 23 Iraqi army recruits: police BAGHDAD, July 8, (REUTERS) - A suicide truck bomber killed 23 new Iraqi army recruits and wounded 27 others on Sunday when he rammed into their truck while they were traveling on a road south of Baghdad, police and an army official said. They said the incident took place near the town of Haswa. The recruits were Sunni Arabs from western Anbar province who had just joined Iraq's security forces. They had been at a recruitment centre in the town of Falluja earlier in the day. (Posted @ 14:46 PST)
Car bombs kill eight in central Baghdad -police BAGHDAD, July 8 (Reuters) - Six people were killed on Sunday by a car bomb parked on a busy shopping street in central Baghdad, police said, and two more people perished in a second blast in the capital. Seven people were wounded in the first attack, in the mainly Shi'ite district of Karrada, the police said. The second car bomb was near a hotel used by westerners in the southern neighbourhood of Jadriya, police said. Five people were wounded in that attack, near the al-Hamra hotel, although the hotel itself was not being targeted, police said. Jadriya is also mainly Shi'ite. (Posted @ 13:10 PST)
Former Indian premier Chandra Shekhar dies NEW DELHI, July 8, 2007 (AFP) - Former Indian prime minister Chandra Shekhar, who served briefly during a period of political turmoil, died Sunday from a blood-related illness at the age of 80, a report said. Shekhar died of a blood disease after being ill for three months, the Press Trust of India reported. (Posted @ 11:55 PST)
Bangladesh, India restore train link DHAKA, July 8 (AFP) - An Indian passenger train will arrive in the Bangladesh capital Sunday for the first time in more than four decades as the neighbours move to re-connect links separated by war. The train carries 32 Indian Railways officials who will hold two days of meetings with their Bangladesh counterparts to fix customs rules, schedules and the launch date of the Dhaka-Kolkata train service. (Posted @ 11:03 PST)
Iraq truck bomb death toll may be 150 - officials BAGHDAD, July 8 (Reuters) - The death toll from Saturday's truck bomb attack in a market in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmato may be as high as 150, local officials said Sunday. Mayor Mohammed Rasheed said the confirmed death toll was 130, with 250 wounded. But police said 20 people were still missing and presumed dead. Rasheed said the truck bomb destroyed about 50 small shops and 50 houses. (Posted @ 10:46 PST)
U.S. soldier killed in Iraq's Salahuddin province BAGHDAD, July 8 (AP) - A U.S. soldier was killed by an explosion near his vehicle during operations in Iraq's Salahuddin province, the U.S. military said Sunday. The blast on Saturday wounded four other soldiers, it said. (Posted @ 10:35 PST)
More than 240 goats die in California trailer wreck SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 (Reuters)- More than 200 goats were suffocated to death in an overturned livestock trailer near San Francisco because police were more concerned with controlling traffic and preventing another accident and disregarded pleas to let their herder free them, their owner said Saturday. In all 243 goats died after the four-tier truck trailer transporting them flipped when the truck's driver made a sharp turn. “Those goats didn't have to die,” she said. “It wasn't necessary. We had herding dogs.” (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
Soccer- Brazil, Uruguay storm into Copa semi-finals BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela, July 8 (Reuters) - Brazil and Uruguay fired 10 goals past their opponents in reaching the Copa America semi-finals on Saturday. After managing just one goal in three group stage games, Uruguay hit four in one match as they ousted hosts Venezuela 4-1 in San Cristobal. Brazil thrashed a demoralised Chile 6-1 in Puerto La Cruz. (Posted @ 10:22 PST)
Cricket: Powell leads Windies to ODI series win over England NOTTINGHAM, England, July 8 (AFP) - Daren Powell (4 for 40) sparked a top-order collapse as West Indies beat England by 93 runs to win the third one-day international at Trent Bridge Saturday and so come from behind to take the series 2-1. England, set 290 to win, were bowled out for 196 with more than five overs remaining. West Indies now travel to Dublin for a quadrangular one-day tournament also featuring Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands starting on Tuesday. England next face India in three Tests followed by seven one-dayers. The first Test is due to start at Lord's on July 19. (Posted @ 10:20 PST)
Seven 'new' Wonders of the World named amid controversy LISBON, July 8 (AFP) - Seven “new” wonders of the world including the Great Wall of China and the Coliseum in Rome, selected by nearly 100 million voters and upsetting cultural experts, were announced late Saturday at a celebrity-studded televised ceremony in the Portuguese capital. The others are the Taj Mahal in India, the centuries-old pink ruins of Petra in Jordan, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, and the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico. Losing out among the frontrunners on the short-listed sites were the Acropolis in Greece, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the statues on Easter Island, and Britain's Stonehenge. The UN cultural body that designates world heritage sites does not support the event. “The list of the seven new wonders will be the result of a private initiative which cannot contribute in any significant or lasting way to the preservation of the elected sites,” UNESCO said in a statement. The initiative seeks to recreate the popularity of the seven wonders of the world of antiquity. Only one of the seven, the Pyramids of Egypt, still stands today -- and it was ruled out of the contest. The others were: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Asia Minor, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos of Alexandria. (Posted @ 10:18 PST)
US planned to capture Zawahiri in Pakistan: report WASHINGTON, July 8 (AFP) - The United States came close to executing in early 2005 a secret military operation to capture senior members of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas, The New York Times reported on its website Saturday. But citing unnamed intelligence and military officials, the newspaper said the operation was aborted at the last minute after top administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan. The target was a meeting of Al-Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahiri, the report said. The mission was called off after then-defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter Goss, then CIA director, the paper said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was cancelled, The Times reported, citing a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Sixty-eight dead or missing in violent weather in China BEIJING, July 8 (AFP) -At least 68 people were reported dead or missing due to fierce weather in China over the past week, with most of the fatalities due to flooding in the nation's southwest, state press said Sunday. Since July 2 at least 26 people have died and 17 gone missing in flooding in Sichuan province where torrential rains have pummelled the region through Saturday, Xinhua reported. A rare tornado in Anhui and neighbouring Jiangsu last week killed 14 people and injured nearly 150 others as 100 kilometre per hour winds destroyed hundreds of home in the region. (Posted @ 09:32 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
The DAWN Group of Newspapers
Haroon House, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi 74200, Pakistan.
Phone:+92 (21) 111-444-777 Fax: +92 (21) 569-3995
webmaster@dawn.com
Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version.
|
|
|
Contributions |