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| April 27, 2008 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 Militants blow up gas pipeline in Balochistan: gas company QUETTA, April 27 (AFP): Tribal rebels blew up a gas pipeline in Balochistan suspending supplies to several districts in central Pakistan, officials said Sunday. A main gas pipeline transporting natural gas from Sui plant in Dera Bugti district was damaged by explosives at two places overnight, gas company spokesman Mohammad Inayatullah said. Another pipeline was also blown up in a separate pre-dawn attack in nearby Naseerabad district, the spokesman said. “The attacks forced closure of supplies to industrial units in Punjab,” the spokesman said adding that alternate supply arrangements were made for domestic consumers in the province. “We hope to resume supplies late Sunday,” he added. A militant group, Baloch Republican Army, claimed responsibility for the attacks. (Posted @ 18:22 PST)  Karzai unhurt as explosions, gunfire disrupt Kabul military parade KABUL, April 27 (AFP) Taliban attacked an Afghan military parade on Sunday, sending thousands of troops and police scattering although President Hamid Karzai and other attending dignitaries were unharmed. Gunfire and explosions erupted after Karzai had taken the stage following an inspection of troops at a ceremony to mark the defeat of Soviet invasion of Afghanistn. Karzai and the scores of cabinet members, ambassadors, US military commanders assembled on the stage for the event slammed to the floor or were whisked out but they were unharmed, officials said.. “We carried out the attack. We fired rockets at the scene of the celebration,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told an AFP reporter. “We had placed six personnel in the area,” he said. “Three of our men have been killed.” He did not say how they were killed but a security officer said one suspected attacker was arrested. An official at Karzai's palace said he was safe and back in the presidential palace. “It is not clear at this stage what exactly happened but the president and other dignitaries are safe,” the official said on condition of anonymity. Defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said: “Things are not clear.” “There was some gunfire and there may have been some wounded. But there were no casualties among the dignitaries and authorities.” (First Posted @ 11:05 PST Updated @ 11:35 PST) Pakistan condemns attack on Afghan military parade ISLAMABAD, April 27 (AFP): Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned an attack on a military parade attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that killed three people including an MP, officials said Sunday. Gilani assured Afghanistan of his support to defeat the “common enemy” and overcome “terrorism and extremism. I strongly condemn the attack on the ceremony commemorating the 16th anniversary of the victory of mujahedeen in Afghanistan,” Gilani said in a statement. “In this hour we stand by our Afghan brothers and sisters and fully share their resolve to defeat the common enemy and overcome the challenge of terrorism and extremism,” the prime minister added. (Posted @ 19:30 PST) Afghan MP dies, Kabul parade attack toll reaches three KABUL, April 27 (AFP): An Afghan MP wounded in an attack on a military parade attended by President Hamid Karzai on Sunday has died, the health minister told AFP, taking the death toll to three. Fazl-Ul Rahman Samkanai had suffered severe bullet wounds to his stomach and liver and died on the operating table, the minister said. Three people including a child, were killed and more than a dozen wounded when gunmen opened fire on President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan and foreign leaders at a parade Sunday, the health minister said. Three other people were treated for minor injuries and released, the health told AFP. Among the wounded were two parliamentarians, four soldiers and several security guards, the minister said. The Taliban movement said it had carried out the attack. (First Posted @ 12:10 Updated @ 17:50 PST)
 U.S. air strikes kill 6 in Sadr City despite truce BAGHDAD, April 27 (Reuters): U.S. forces said on Sunday they killed six militants in air strikes overnight in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, despite a call by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for his fighters to observe a truce which seems to have reined them in. U.S. forces, who have launched several air strikes a day from Apache helicopters and remote-controlled drones, said they spotted three groups of militants at night and hit them from the air with Hellfire missiles, killing five gunmen. A sixth fighter was killed by a helicopter strike in the morning and a seventh died in a shootout. (Posted @ 23:40 PST) Iraq mass graves yield 100 bodies BAGHDAD, April 27 (Reuters): Iraqi security forces have found more than 100 bodies in two mass graves, military officials said on Sunday. Fifty bodies were found in a mass grave in central Iraq on Sunday, a military source in the area said, and another team said it had discovered more than 50 bodies in a grave south of Baghdad on April 17. (Posted @ 23:04 PST) Algerian army kills 14 Al-Qaeda fighters: papers ALGIERS, April 27 (Reuters): Algerian government forces killed 14 Al-Qaeda fighters and destroyed a number of rebel hideouts in mountains east of Algiers, newspapers reported on Sunday. Four rebels, including a leading member of Al Qaeda's north Africa wing, were killed by the army last week in El Oued province, 700 km southeast of Algiers, El Khabar and Echorouk said, citing security sources. (Posted @ 22:24 PST) Two killed in Thai south, army warns of more attacks NARATHIWAT, April 27 (AFP): Suspected separatists shot dead two Muslim men in the Thai south on Sunday, police said, as the army warned of possible strikes by militants on the anniversary of a deadly mosque raid. A 36-year-old Muslim man and a 38-year-old local government worker were shot dead in separate incidents in Narathiwat province, police said. Thai security officials warned that rebels may be planning attacks to mark the fourth anniversary of the Krue Se Mosque massacre, when 32 people were killed by Thai security forces in Pattani province. (Posted @ 22:02 PST) Iraqi militants fire salvo at Baghdad's Green Zone during sandstorm BAGHDAD, April 27 (AP): Militants fired a salvo of rockets or mortar shells into Baghdad's Green Zone Sunday, apparently taking advantage of a sandstorm that blanketed the Iraqi capital. At least eight rounds hit the heavily guarded section of Baghdad that houses the Iraqi government and U.S. Embassy, said a police official. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage. (Posted @ 20:46 PST) Kenyan army accused of mass torture NAIROBI, April 27(Reuters): Kenyan security forces have tortured more than 4,000 people in an indiscriminate offensive against rebels in the remote Mount Elgon area, local rights groups said on Sunday. Activists said the systematic abuses including crawling on barbed wire, pouring water into mouths and forcing victims to whip each other, was the worst wave of torture in Kenya under the government of President Mwai Kibaki, in power since 2002. (Posted @ 20:10 PST) 10 killed in Baghdad clashes BAGHDAD, April 27 (AFP): Sporadic overnight clashes between militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Sadr City killed at least 10 people, including a woman, Iraqi and US officials said on Sunday. At least 44 people were wounded in the clashes which continued well after day break. (First Posted @ 16:10 PST Updated @ 19:46 PST) Chinese out in force for SKorea's Olympic torch run SEOUL, April 27 (AFP) The Beijing Olympic torch on Sunday began the South Korean leg of its worldwide relay, with cheering flag-waving Chinese vastly outnumbering protesters amid a huge police presence. A huge cheer rang out as the relay began, accompanied by 60 track-suited police runners. Another 60 will take over at the half-way point of the 24-kilometre route. Police mounted a massive security operation involving 8,300 regular and anti-riot officers backed up by two helicopters. The relay was due to finish at City Hall in central Seoul at 7:00 pm. and was to be flown late Sunday to North Korea. (First Posted @ 10:10 PST Updated @ 12:00 PST) Virus outbreak in Chinese city kills 19 children BEIJING, April 27 (Reuters): A virus outbreak in an eastern Chinese city has killed 19 children and left hundreds ill, state media reported on Sunday nearly two months after the outbreak started. The intestinal virus called “enterovirus 71” or EV71, began spreading in Fuyang in Anhui province from early March, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the city health office. The victims were mostly aged from two to six. By Saturday, 19 children had died from the outbreak and 204 remained in hospital, including four in critical condition. In total, 789 were struck by the virus. (Posted @ 18:58 PST) Nepal police detain 80 Tibetan protesters KATHMANDU, April 27 (AFP): More than 80 Tibetan protesters shouting anti-Chinese slogans were detained in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Sunday after police broke up a rally near the Chinese embassy, police said. “We have detained more than 80 Tibetans who were protesting against China,”said a police officer at the scene. (Posted @ 17:56 PST) Nigerian police station attacked; 5 officers killed PORT HARCOURT, April 27 (AP): Armed men attacked a police station in Nigeria's restive southern oil region, killing five officers. A Rivers State police spokeswoman said the gunmen who stormed the station on Bonny Island early Sunday also made off with seven weapons. (Posted @ 17:05 PST) Latest Sri Lanka fighting kills 35 rebels 7 soldiers: military COLOMBO, April 27 (AP): Sri Lanka's military said 35 Tamil Tiger rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the latest fighting in the north. A military spokesman said the deadliest fighting Saturday was on the front lines of Welioya, where 22 insurgents and seven soldiers died. One soldier was reported missing. Thirteen other rebels were killed in separate battles in Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar districts, the spokesman said. (Posted @ 16:55 PST) 
Two soldiers killed in fighting in eastern Turkey: officials DIYARBAKIR, April 27 (AFP): Two Turkish soldiers were killed and one wounded in a clash with Kurdish rebels in the east of the country, local security officials said Sunday. The fighting erupted overnight during a military operation near the village of Suveren, in Bingol province, against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), sources said. (Posted @ 16:35 PST) German high-speed train derails after hitting sheep BERLIN, April 27 (Reuters): Four people were seriously injured when a German Intercity Express (ICE) train derailed at a speed of over 200 km per hour after hitting a flock of sheep in a tunnel near Fulda, German police said on Sunday. The four, suffering broken bones, were taken to hospital. Another 19 people with lesser injuries including bruises and cuts were treated and released. (Posted @ 16:30 PST) China needs 2,800 aircraft in next 20 years BEIJING, April 27 (APP): China will need to acquire more than 2,800 passenger aircraft and freighters during the next 20 years, European plane maker Airbus forecast. The demand, valued $329 billion represents 11.6 percent of the world's total demand for that period, it noted. An estimated 2,670 passenger aircraft and 130 cargo planes will be added into the mainland's fleet, according to Airbus' 2007-2008 Global Market Forecast (China). The passenger fleet would triple in size by 2026. (Posted @ 16:25 PST) Fire in Morocco mattress factory kills 55: CASABLANCA, April 27 (APP/AFP): Fifty-five people were killed and 12 seriously injured in a fire Saturday at a mattress factory in Morocco's biggest city Casablanca, according to a revised official toll. The domestic MAP news agency, citing the emergency services, said the fire broke out on the ground floor of a four-storey furniture plant at around 1000 GMT, when 155 employees were present. (Posted @ 15:50 PST) 
Mogadishu fighting kills 10, Muslim militia take town MOGADISHU, April 27 (Reuters): Fighting between Muslim militia and Somali troops killed 10 people in Mogadishu, and the militants took control of the provincial town of Jowhar, residents and officials said Sunday. The militia attacked the Villa Baidoa military base in the south of the city, sparking machine-gun fire and mortar exchanges. Six soldiers died in the overnight battle, an army officer told Reuters. Two women and two men living nearby also died from a mortar hit. “Three other people were wounded but we could not take them to hospital until this morning because the fighting was heavy,” a resident said. (Posted @ 15:35 PST) Thai police seize more than 1,000 fake passports in raid BANGKOK, April 27 (Reuters): Thai authorities seized more than a thousand fake Asian and Western passports and arrested a Bangladeshi man in one of the biggest anti-counterfeiting operations in recent years, police said Sunday. The man was nabbed in a Bangkok townhouse late Saturday where they found a sophisticated passport making operation and more than 1,000 finished and unfinished documents, police said. The passports were for countries including the United States, New Zealand, France, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Malta. (Posted @ 15:30 PST) Iran says Azeri guards kill two Iranians TEHRAN, April 27 (AFP): Iran on Sunday expressed fury after what it said was the deadly shooting by Azeri border guards of two Iranian men who were returning to Iran after illegally crossing the border. “The way the Azeri forces dealt with the two young Iranians is denounced and unacceptable,” an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman told reporters. He added that the Iranian border authorities were looking into the matter. (Posted @ 15:25 PST) Assad denies building nuclear reactor DOHA, April 27 (AFP) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied Sunday that a site raided by Israel last year was a nuclear reactor under construction as charged by the United States. Last September's Israeli air strike “hit a military site under construction, not a nuclear site as Israel and America claimed,” Assad told the Qatari daily Al-Watan in an interview. “Does it make sense that we would build a nuclear facility in the desert and not protect it with anti-aircraft defences?” he asked. “We don't want a nuclear bomb even if Iran acquires one,” added Assad, “Where would we use it?... War in the region will effectively remain conventional,” he said. Assad underlined that he believed Iran “does not think differently” on this score. (Posted @ 12:30 PST) North Sea oil pipeline closed over refinery strike LONDON, April 27 (AFP) A major North Sea pipeline supplying around 40 percent of Britain's oil and gas shut down Sunday as over 1,200 workers at Grangemouth refinery west of Edinburgh began a two-day strike in a row over pensions, a spokesman said. (Posted @ 11:50 PST) One killed, 10 injured after plane strikes spectators at air show in Germany FRANKFURT, Germany, April 27 (AP) A private plane struck a crowd of onlookers shortly after landing at a small air show in central Germany on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 10 others, including two children, police said. The prop-powered plane hit people along the runway and then struck a children's carousel before coming to a halt. Police were still trying to determine how the plane hit the spectators. (Posted @ 11:25 PST) 4.7 magnitude quake shakes Reno RENO, Nevada , April 27 (AP) More than 50 aftershocks were recorded on the west edge of Reno after an earthquake that shook cans off shelves, knocked pictures off walls and dislodged rocks on hillsides along the Sierra Nevada. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage from the magnitude 4.7 quake that was the largest in a two-month-long swarm of tremors. “The earthquake was strongly felt in west Reno and felt throughout the Reno metropolitan area.” (Posted @ 10:30 PST) Suicide bombing kills six in Baghdad Baghdad, April 27 (Reuters) A suicide car bomber targeting a police patrol blew himself up, killing six people, including two policemen, and wounding five, three of them police, police said, adding that a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded six people in northeastern Baghdad, including two policemen, while a suicide car bomber killed three people and wounded six in the northern city of Mosul, The bomber targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint. Meanwhile, five bodies were found in different districts in Baghdad on Saturday, police said. Separately, U.S. forces said they killed five gunmen in air strikes and gunbattles during a raid on suspected al Qaeda militants in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. (Posted @ 10:30 PST) Seventeen killed in Mexico drug battle near U.S. TIJUANA, Mexico, April 276 (Reuters) Seventeen Mexican drug gang members were killed near the U.S. border on Saturday, their bodies scattered along a road after one of the deadliest shootouts in Mexico's three-year narco-war. Six men were wounded and another six were arrested, but some gang members are thought to have escaped. Heavily armed federal police patrolled across Tijuana after the gunfight. Soldiers and police guarded the city's main hospital where the wounded were being treated to prevent any attempt by drug gangs to pull them out. (Posted @ 10:15 PST) Tigers bomb military sites in Sri Lanka air raid COLOMBO, April 27 (AFP) Tamil Tiger rebels using light aircraft bombed two military targets in northeastern Sri Lanka on Sunday and wounded at least one soldier, security sources said. The LTTE hit two targets in the Weli Oya region, where security forces had launched a fresh ground offensive against the rebels on Saturday. There was no immediate word either from the defence ministry or the rebels about the air strike. (Posted @ 09:55 PST) Second test satellite for Galileo launched, reaches orbit BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan, April 27 (AFP) A second experimental Giove-B satellite for the EU's Galileo satellite navigation project was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Sunday. The satellite “reached its nominal orbit and the orbit's parameters were excellent,” the navigation department chief of the European Space Agency (ESA) Didier Faivre said. (Posted @ 09:45 PST) Quake rocks southern New Zealand WELLINGTON, April 27, 2008 (AFP) An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale struck southern New Zealand on Sunday, officials said. The tremblor was felt in Queenstown, and was likely felt throughout the southern end of the South Island. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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