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| August 24, 2008 | Sunday | Sha'aban 21, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (06:00 GMT)
 Pakistan rejects truce offer by militants in tribal area KHAR, Pakistan, Aug 24 (AFP) - Pakistan on Sunday rejected a ceasefire offered by Taliban militants in the troubled Bajaur tribal region near the Afghan border as troops killed seven more rebel fighters, officials said. Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik immediately rejected the offer. “We will not accept the ceasefire,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad. “We do not believe in their verbal commitments. If they are sincere they should first surrender,” he said, adding that tribal militants have violated their pledges in the past after troops stopped their operations. Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, earlier this month. The government says at least 500 militants have been killed since then. Troops fired artillery shells and gunship helicopters pounded suspected militant hideouts almost daily since the operation was mounted on August 6. (Posted @ 21:00 PST)  Militants offer unilateral truce in Pakistan tribal area: TTP spokesman KHAR, Pakistan, Aug 24 (AFP) - Taliban militants in Bajaur tribal region near the Afghan border Sunday offered a unilateral ceasefire as a two-week-old military operation left some 500 people dead, Maulvi Omar, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement)a said. “We have directed our militants to stop attacks against the government and security forces in Bajaur from today,” he told AFP. The decision has been taken following talks with tribal elders, he said in a telephone call from unknown location. “The jirga (elders council) insisted that Taliban should stop fighting in the interest of the people of Bajaur.” The jirga has “assured” that troops will also suspend shelling and bombing raids in the area, he said. “We are ready for talks with the government and the truce is an important development towards dialogue,” Omar said. No official reaction was immediately available to the Taliban offer. Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, earlier this month. The government says at least 500 militants have been killed since then. Troops fired artillery shells and gunship helicopters pounded suspected militant hideouts almost daily since the operation was mounted on August 6. The offensive also displaced nearly 200,000 people in the region. (Posted @ 20:22 PST) Split feared in Pakistan's coalition over judges issue ISLAMABAD, Aug 24 (AFP) - Pakistan's fragile coalition government is facing a Monday deadline on reinstating judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf that could determine whether its major parties split. Pakistan Muslim League (N), the party of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif has imposed a Monday deadline for hearing from its coalition partner, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), on whether the judges will get their jobs back. Although the PPP has signalled it will agree to the reinstatement, it has been dragging its feet on the issue. Sharif held a meeting with close aides Sunday to discuss the political situation, the presidential election and the judges issue, party officials said. A decision whether to participate in the presidential election will be announced on Monday, they added. Sharif also wants the powers of the presidency reduced to prevent the next incumbent from dissolving parliament -- a power created by Musharraf -- and said he would back Zardari for president if this happened. PPP deputy secretary general Raza Rabbani said Saturday that the judges would be restored to office but declined to disclose a timeframe. Sharif's party spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said the issue of whether Zardari would stand for the presidency was the PPP's “own decision,” not that of the coalition partners. “We do not want a civilian president with the same powers that Musharraf had, mainly the power to dissolve parliament,” Farooq said. “Our top priority is restoration of the judges and we want it done on Monday,” Farooq insisted, adding that the party would meet in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the latest developments. “The alliance is intact today but its future depends on the fulfilment of the promise Zardari made for the restoration of the judges,” he said. (First Posted @ 17:18 PST Updated @ 20:50 PST) Pakistan forces target militant positions in Swat valley, kill 50 MINGORA, Pakistan, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Pakistani troops and helicopter gunships targeted militant hideouts in the Swat Valley on Sunday, the military said, after fierce fighting killed 50 militants and 10 soldiers in the past 24 hours. “Fighting is still going on. We hit and destroyed over 40 militants' bunkers and a training camp,” said Major Nasir Ali, military spokesman in the region. “We have confirmed reports that 50 militants were killed while 10 of our soldiers were martyred.” Ali said the number of militants' deaths could be higher as many bodies had been taken away. Residents in Kabal, about 20 km west of Mingora, the region's main town, said intermittent mortar bombing by security forces had continued since Saturday while Cobra helicopter gunships carried out strikes early Sunday morning on militants' positions in the mountains. Seven villagers were killed and three wounded in mortar bombing, residents said. “We can't even flee. There's curfew on the one hand and on the other hand, militants use us as a human shield when they are attacked. What we can do?” villager Khaisat Bacha told Reuters. Separately, suspected militants killed and dumped bodies of four men on the roadside in a village, police said, adding the men's hands and legs were tied with rope. More than 200,000 people have fled fighting in northwestern Pakistan this month and are in urgent need of relief assistance, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday. The Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 30 trucks of relief goods were being sent for displaced people in various camps. Meanwhile, in the South Waziristan tribal region, militants ambushed a military convoy near the Afghan border on Sunday, wounding three soldiers, security officials said. (First Posted @ 17:38 PST Updated @ 19:36 PST) Pakistani troops kill seven militants in Bajaur KHAR, Pakistan, Aug 24 (AFP) - Pakistani troops killed seven militants in clashes in Bajaur tribal district near the Afghan border while Taliban rebels slaughtered an alleged spy, officials said Sunday. Troops launched a mortar attack on suspected militant hideouts in the rugged Bajaur tribal district overnight after their check posts came under attack, security officials said. “Five militants were killed in the mortar fire targeting suspected militant hideouts,” an official said, requesting anonymity. Separately, militants also attacked two security posts in another tribal district of South Waziristan late Saturday, wounding three soldiers, officials said adding that two militants were killed in retaliatory strikes. Meanwhile, officials said that Taliban militants in the area slit the throat of a 35-year-old man after accusing him of spying for US troops across the border in Afghanistan. The body was found dumped in a field on the outskirts of Khar, the main town in Bajaur district and a letter placed near the body said “This man was an American spy,” local officials said. (Posted @ 16:44 PST)  25 people survive Kyrgyz plane crash: official BISHKEK, Aug 24, (Reuters) - Twenty-five people out of 90 aboard a Kyrgyz passenger plane which crashed outside the capital Bishkek on Sunday have survived, the country's emergencies minister said. “There were 90 people on board, 25 out of them survived,” Emergencies Minister Kamchibek Tashiyev told Reuters. (First Posted @ 23:18 PST Updated @ 23:54 PST) Cricket: Champions Trophy postponed until 2009 LONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Next month's Champions Trophy in Pakistan has been postponed, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Sunday. “The ICC Board today agreed unanimously to postpone the ICC Champions Trophy...until October 2009,” the world governing body said in a statement. “Pakistan will retain the right to host the tournament but it was agreed that if other members continued to express reservations over issues of safety and security then the ICC Board would have the right to decide about the tournament's location,” the statement added. The decision followed a teleconference of the ICC's executive board. ICC president David Morgan said in the statement: “There was complete support and sympathy for the Pakistan Cricket Board and the situation it finds itself in, which is not of its making. “However, there was also a realisation that, under the current circumstances, some of the teams due to compete in the ICC Champions Trophy had reservations about touring there which could not be removed. “In those circumstances it was considered prudent to postpone the event to October 2009, a time when we all hope conditions may be more acceptable for all the competing teams.” (Posted @ 19:25 PST) One killed as hundreds defy curfew in tense Kashmir SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Aug 24 (AFP) - Indian security forces killed a Muslim and injured his son as they enforced a strict curfew in Kashmir on Sunday. The man was shot dead by police in Srinagar and his son was hurt when they came out of their home, residents and doctors said. Hundreds of Kashmiris defied the curfew and dozens were injured, including more than a dozen newsmen and photo journalists, reports said. (Posted @ 21:08 PST) Indian troops enforce curfew in tense Kashmir; hundreds defy SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Aug 24 (AFP) - Indian security forces enforced a strict curfew in occupied Kashmir including Srinagar on Sunday, a day ahead of a major rally planned by separatists who oppose Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region. Residents defied the curfew and held small anti-India demonstrations in Srinagar and other towns on Sunday before being chased away by security forces by using batons and tear gas, residents and police said. Some 40 people were hurt in the police action, residents said. Several journalists and photographers were also hospitalised after they were allegedly beaten up by police officers. Separatists have held a series of large demonstrations over the past two weeks, reviving calls for independence in the Kashmir valley. They plan to hold a high-profile rally on Monday in Lal Chowk, or Red Square, in the historic centre of Srinagar. The curfew also covered other Muslim-dominated towns of occupied Kashmir, a police statement said. Armed security personnel patrolled the empty streets of Srinagar. “The curfew has been imposed to pre-empt the rally,” a police officer told AFP, requesting not to be named. “They are scared of our peaceful but massive demonstrations for freedom,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of All-Parties Hurriyet Conference and the region's leading cleric, told AFP. “The rally in Lal Chowk is to remind India of its promises,” he added. Shabbir Shah, a veteran Kashmiri leadert, said police ransacked his home overnight and harassed members of his household, though he slipped away before they arrived. Nearly a dozen separatists were detained during night time raids, police said. (First Posted @ 10:15 PST Updated @ 19:20 PST) Zardari breaches disqualify him for president's office: JI LAHORE, August 24-(PPI): Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan in a strongly worded statement on Sunday said that Asif Zardari is an unfit candidate for the office of president, for there had been numerous cases of corruption against him in local and foreign courts. Those cases were shelved under the NRO promulgated by former President Pervez Musharraf. (Posted @ 20:10 PST) President shouldn't have power to dismiss NA: Zardari NEW YORK, Aug. 24 (APP) - Pakistan People's Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari says he believes that the president should not have the power to dissolve the National Assembly and that the head of state's role should be “more ceremonial”. “Parliament is sovereign, and one has to look at the future of Pakistan's democracy as more important than individuals as such,” he said in an interview with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth before he was formally nominated by his party to be its candidate for the post of President. Replying to a question, the PPP leader also said that he was in favour of restoring ex-chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry along with 60 other superior judges. “I personally am in favour of the chief justice, but there is a position in the party, which says that he has become too politicized in the last many months and he has been leading rallies,” Zardari said. Elaborating his views on Presidential powers, he said, “We fought this war for democracy, and all the powers that Musharraf enjoyed were obviously non-democratic. We need to have a debate in the Parliament and see how strong we want the future president [to be] and how strong we want to make our prime minister. I think the president should not have the power to dissolve the assembly.” (Posted @ 20:04 PST) ANP announces support for Zardari ISLAMABAD, Aug 24 (APP): Awami National Party legislatures will vote for PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in the presidential election on Sept 6, ANP spokesman Zahid Khan said Sunday in a PTV interview. He said that as a majority party PPP has right to nominate its candidate for the slot of the president of Pakistan. Asked about his party's stance on the restoration of judges, he replied that ANP supports the reinstatement of deposed judges and will wholeheartedly back the resolution being tabled in the National Assembly next week. ( First Posted @ 19:52 PST Updated @ 22:36 PST) 4 Pakistanis killed in accidental explosion in Saudi Arabia RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug 24 (AP) - Four Pakistanis were killed Saturday in an accidental explosion at an airport in the country's western resort city of Taif .They were killed when a fuel tank exploded on an old plane they were dismantling. Another man was also injured. A statement from the government's civil aviation branch said. (Posted @ 18:00 PST) Cricket: India beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs COLOMBO, Aug 24, (AFP) - India defeated Sri Lanka by 33 runs in the third one-day international here on Sunday to gain a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Brief scores: India 237-9 in 50 overs; Sri Lanka 204 in 49 overs. (Posted @ 22:54 PST) India says 59 killed over last six months on Bangladesh border DHAKA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - A total of 59 people have been killed trying to cross the border between India and Bangladesh illegally in the last six months, Ashish Kumar Mitra, director-general of India's Border Security Force (BSF), said Sunday adding that the dead included 34 Bangladeshis and 21 Indians, while the others could not be identified. (Posted @ 21:14 PST) Nine killed, over 20 wounded in Iraq violence BAGHDAD, Aug 24 (AFP) - Three bomb attacks and a shootout claimed the lives of nine people and wounded more than two dozen in Iraq on Sunday, security officials said. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded when a roadside bomb blasted their patrol in the town of Bala Druz, near the restive city of Baquba. In Baquba itself, two policemen were killed and six others including a woman were wounded in a shootout when insurgents fired at a police patrol, a security official said. Up to three people were killed and eight wounded, including five policemen, when a bomb targeting a patrol exploded on a through-road leading to Iraq's interior ministry in Baghdad, security sources at the ministry said. As police ran to the scene to help a second bomb went off, wounding another five officers, they said. (First Posted @ 16:30 PST Updated @ 20:36 PST) Olympics: Curtain down on 'truly exceptional' Beijing Games BEIJING, Aug 24 (AFP) - The Beijing Olympics drew to a spectacular close on Sunday. International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge described the Games as “truly exceptional” in a lavish closing ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium which culminated in the handing over of the Olympic flag to Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, which will host the 2012 edition. “Through these Games, the world learned more about China, and China learned more about the world,” said Rogge. “These were truly exceptional Games.” At the end of the 16 days of competition and 302 events, China had 51 gold medals, 15 more than the United States on 36, with Russia winning 23 and Great Britain 19. It is the first time China has won the gold medal count, although in total medals won the United States has 110 to China's 100. “More than 40 world records were set, more than 100 Olympic records, and of course we had the two icons of the Games, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.” Rogge said. At the end of Sunday's ceremony, the Olympic flag was passed to Johnson while London's position as the new host city was marked by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page dueting with Leona Lewis on 1970s rock classic Whole Lotta Love. Londoner, and former England football skipper, David Beckham booted a ball off the top of a London bus before the Olympic flame was extinguished. (Posted @ 20:16 PST) Kashmir on brink as India scrambles for solution: analysts NEW DELHI, Aug 24 (AFP) - A lack of political leadership threatens to allow seething Hindu-Muslim tensions and separatist anger in revolt-hit occupied Kashmir to spiral out of control, analysts say. Kashmir, which is witnessing its biggest anti-India demonstrations in years, is “poised at a very delicate stage,” said security analyst Uday Bhaskar. “The political process has not been able to defuse the situation and now we're at a very critical point where we have a very disturbing communal divide,” said Bhaskar. Since June, at least 31 Muslims and three Hindus have died in police firing on protesters in Kashmir and Jammu areas. “A matter of almost trifling significance has been allowed to swell -- indeed, has been engineered -- into a national crisis,” said former police chief Kanwar Pal Singh Gill, credited with stamping out a deadly Sikh insurgency in the 1990s. The snowballing crisis has breathed new life into Kashmir's separatist movement, with hundreds of thousands of Muslims taking to the streets. Analyst B. Raman, a former Indian intelligence officer, criticised the “government's inept handling and the BJP's (Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party's) cynical exploitation of the crisis,” ”What militants failed to do in Kashmir since 1989 the government and the BJP have achieved for them” -- dividing the region along religious faultlines, he said. Hindustan Times columnist Vir Sanghvi suggested a radical solution to the problem. “I reckon we should hold a referendum in the (Kashmir) valley,” he said, referring to a longstanding demand by Pakistan and rejected outright by India since 1947. “Let the Kashmiris determine their own destiny. If they want to stay in India, they are welcome. But if they don't, then we have no moral right to force them to remain,” Sanghvi said. “It's time to think the unthinkable.” (Posted @ 17:00 PST) Grenade attack kills 11 at Burundi wedding BUJUMBURA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - A man killed 11 people in Burundi when he hurled a grenade into his brother's wedding party in what police said on Sunday was a land dispute. Police arrested a person who it said was a brother of the groom. The groom and his wife survived the attack. (Posted @ 19:40 PST) 10 Taliban fighters killed in Afghan clashes KABUL, Aug 24 (AP) - U.S.-led coalition troops clashed with a group of Taliban fighters in Tagab valley of Kapisa province in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six militants, officials said. President Hamid Karzai, meanwhile, sacked two Afghan army officers following a joint Afghan-coalition operation in the country's west that he said killed at least 89 civilians. In southern Helmand province Sunday, four militants were killed by NATO aircraft and Afghan troops, the military alliance said in a statement. Troops fired on the militants after they attacked an Afghan army unit that was guarding a satellite station in Helmand's Musa Qala district, the statement said. In Kunar province, a civilian Mi-8 supply helicopter contracted by NATO-led troops crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday, killing one person on board and wounding three others, the alliance said. Separately, three civilians were killed and seven others wounded when their vehicle was hit Sunday by a roadside bomb in the eastern Khost province, provincial police chief said. (Posted @ 17:44 PST) Ex-Bangladesh PM's son crippled by torture DHAKA, Aug 24 (AFP) Tareque Rahman, the eldest son and heir apparent of two times former Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia, was partially paralysed when tortured in custody, doctors said Sunday. Tareque was strung up blindfolded in a dark room, then dropped down and struck against a wall, fracturing two bones in his back, Kazi Mazharul Islam, the doctor who treated him quoted from his medical report. Rahman was partially paralysed by the impact of the fall, which has resulted in “gradual wasting of his right lower limbs,” he said. Rahman, who is joint secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been detained since March last year on graft charges after the government launched an anti-corruption crackdown. (Posted @ 16:30 PST) Blockade-running boat activists tour Gaza Strip GAZA CITY, Aug 24 (AFP) Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists from 17 countries toured the Gaza Strip on Sunday after their two fishing boats were allowed in despite an Israeli naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory. Mostly American and British, they include Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair who is now an international Middle East peace envoy. They also include Jeff Halper, an Israeli Jewish activist. The boats made the 370-kilometre voyage from Larnaca port on Cyprus's south coast and carried 200 hearing aids for Gaza children and 5,000 balloons. The activists plan to stay in Gaza for 10 days and visit hospitals, universities and refugee camps before sailing back to Cyprus aboard the two boats, according to the organisers. (Posted @ 16:25 PST) 10 missing after giant avalanche in French Alps ANNECY, France, Aug 24 (AFP) Ten people were believed missing after a major avalanche swept down a mountainside early Sunday near Mont Blanc in the French Alps, police said. Eight climbers caught up in the avalanche on the Mont-Blanc du Tacul were brought to safety, while three helicopters, dozens of rescuers and specially-trained dogs searched for survivors. The avalanche, 200 metres long and 50 metres wide, happened before dawn Sunday and appeared to have been caused by a block of ice that started rolling down the mountain, police said. (Posted @ 16:10 PST) Sri Lanka battles kill 30 rebels, 3 soldiers COLOMBO, Aug 24 (AP): Government troops attacked Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka's north, triggering battles that killed 30 rebels and three soldiers, the military said Sunday. The latest battles erupted Saturday along the front lines separating government-held territory and the rebels' de facto state in the north, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. In the worst fighting, troops clashed with rebels in Welioya, leaving 16 rebels and one soldier dead. Another eight soldiers were wounded. Soldiers also attacked two rebel bunkers in Vavuniya, killing nine guerrillas, he said. Other fighting in the region killed five rebels and two soldiers, he said. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment on the military's claims. (Posted @ 13:30 PST) Israel raids offices of Islamic Movement JERUSALEM, Aug 24 (AFP): Security forces raided the offices of the Islamic Movement in the northern Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm early Sunday and accused it of aiding the Palestinian Hamas movement, police said. The raid on the offices of the Al-Aqsa institution, operated by the Israeli Arab Islamist party, saw police confiscate documents, computers, and a safe with money. The operation was ordered by the defence ministry, an official added. (Posted @ 13:00 PST) Two Russian officers killed in Chechnya attack MOSCOW, Aug 24 (Reuters): Two senior Russian officers were killed when their armoured vehicle was hit by explosives in Russia's restive Chechnya on Sunday, Interfax news agency reported, two days after a gun attack in a nearby province. In the latest incident, a major and a lieutenant died of their wounds and two other officers were injured after two bombs went off underneath their vehicle in the village of Agishty. Russian security officials have said they expected a rise in rebel attacks after Russia launched a military incursion into Georgia. (Posted @ 12:10 PST) Sri Lanka's ruling party sweeps local polls COLOMBO, Aug 24 (AFP): Sri Lanka's ruling party swept two local councils in an election seen as a referendum on the administration's war against Tamil rebels, results showed on Sunday. President Mahinda Rajapakse's United People's Freedom Alliance comfortably won the provincial councils by polling over 55 percent of Saturday's vote, according to the department of elections. Rajapakse wanted the ballot for the highest level of local government in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces to be a referendum on his military campaign against Tamil separatists. (Posted @ 11:50 PST) Fay kills 11 across Florida, makes 4th landfall APALACHICOLA, Aug 24 (AP): Tropical Storm Fay began wrapping up its disastrous slog across Florida on Saturday by making a record fourth landfall on the northern Gulf Coast. Emergency officials said 11 people have been killed in the state alone. Across the Florida peninsula, communities began cleaning up the damage from several inches of rain that flooded homes, destroyed crops and prompted Governor Charlie Crist to ask for a major disaster declaration from the federal government. (Posted @ 10:05 PST) Mexico police chief, 10 others killed by gunmen PACHUCA, Mexico, Aug 24 (AFP): The Hidalgo state police chief was kidnapped and shot to death, a police officer was killed in southeastern Tabasco state and nine people were murdered in northern Chihuahua state, local officials said Saturday. The relentless killing spree in Mexico has claimed the lives of more than 2,700 people so far this year, despite a crackdown by authorities against drug trafficking and kidnapping gangs and organized crime in general. In the latest violence, Hidalgo state police chief Raymundo Zamorano was kidnapped at gunpoint while patrolling the streets of Pachuca in his official car late Friday, state public safety secretary Damian Canales told AFP. Zamorano's bullet-riddled body was found Saturday 60 kilometers outside the city, he added. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
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