| Taliban militants attack US base in Afghanistan Kabul, Aug 19 : Six suicide attackers were killed after a group of Taliban militants attacked a US military base in southeast Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, officials said Tuesday. The attack late Monday against Camp Salerno, a US military base in Khost province, came hours after a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-filled vehicle outside the same base, killing 10 civilians and wounding 13. "The operation has just ended and we have the dead bodies of seven Taliban with six of them having suicide vests," provincial governor Arsala Jamal told DPA Tuesday. Jamal said around 15 Taliban insurgents, "most of them suicide bombers," tried to enter the main US base in the region, but were pushed back by Afghan and international forces using airstrikes. The surviving bombers escaped and hid themselves in residential houses and cornfields, he said, adding a suicide bomber exploded himself as Afghan and foreign soldiers were trying to arrest him in a cornfield. "The blast killed the bomber and wounded four Afghan commandos," Jamal said, adding, "There are also unconfirmed reports that two foreign soldiers were also wounded." He confirmed that two civilians were killed and three others were wounded during the airstrikes. An army source, who declined to be named, said 13 attackers were killed and six army soldiers were wounded. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that their forces pushed back the attackers using small arms fire. Helicopters also engaged the militants as they were trying to flee from the scene. "Three of the insurgents killed themselves by detonating their suicide vests. ISAF forces killed three other suicide bombers before they could detonate their vests," ISAF statement said. There were no ISAF casualties in the attack, it added. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed a group of 15 suicide bombers entered the base and killed and wounded a large number of soldiers. "Fifteen of our mujahedin, all equipped with light and heavy weapons, entered the military base and attacked several compounds inside the base, where the foreign forces were staying," Mujahid said in a statement posted on a Taliban website. 10 French soldiers killed near Afghan capital Kabul, Aug 19 : Ten NATO-led French soldiers were killed Tuesday morning in a clash with Taliban militants east of Kabul, officials said. Taliban militants attacked the French soldiers' convoy in Saroubi district, some 50 km east of the capital Kabul, an army source who declined to be named told DPA. He said more than a dozen other soldiers were also wounded. A spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not confirm the death toll but said its soldiers were involved in a combat outside of Kabul city. General Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman, claimed that several militants were also killed in the attack in the Uzbeen area of the district. "Thirteen bodies are with the army," he said. Taliban militants said in a statement posted on their website that their forces attacked a convoy of "American forces" in Saroubi district after midnight Tuesday, killing 20 soldiers and destroying five military tanks. The rebel statement said that five Taliban militants and several civilians were also killed in the airstrike by the foreign forces that was carried out Tuesday morning. US offers condolences over French deaths in Afghanistan Crawford, Aug 19 : US President George W. Bush offered his condolences to the families of French soldiers killed and wounded in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, the White House said Tuesday. "The president was briefed on that this morning during his intelligence briefing, sends his condolences to the loved ones of those lost, as well as those wounded," spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters. "And to the people of France, (we) offer our heartfelt thanks for the sacrifice that they are making, and the commitment that the French are making, to help secure Afghanistan," Johndroe said, as Bush was on his Texas ranch. He spoke after French President Nicolas Sarkozy decided to fly to Afghanistan on Tuesday after 10 French troops died and 21 were wounded in a Taliban ambush, vowing that France will not abandon the NATO mission there. Mush to travel to Mecca before deciding on his future course Islamabad, Aug 19 : Former President Pervez Musharraf is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia with his family to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca in the near future, following which he will decide whether to live outside Pakistan. Musharraf, who resigned yesterday to avert his impeachment by the PPP-led ruling coalition, will remain in the country for some time before travelling to Saudi Arabia, media reports said today. Reports have suggested that Musharraf does not want to give the impression that he is fleeing the country to avoid charges that were levelled against him by the coalition. After announcing his resignation during a televised address yesterday, Musharraf left the Presidency in the heart of Islamabad and went to his camp office in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi, where he is expected to stay for a few days, media reports said today. Following his trip to Saudi Arabia for Umra, a pilgrimage to Mecca that can be performed at any time of the year, Musharraf will spend some time outside Pakistan. This could include a trip to the US to see members of his close family, a source told the Daily Times newspaper. Musharraf's younger brother Naved, a doctor, lives in Chicago, while his son Bilal has a residence in Boston. Reports have suggested that Musharraf resigned following an agreement with the ruling coalition, which would provide him security and not try him after declaring any of his actions as unconstitutional. Algeria suicide bomb attack kills 43 Algiers/Paris, Aug 19 : At least 43 people were killed Tuesday in a suicide bomb attack at a police academy in eastern Algeria, officials in Algiers said. Nearly 40 people were also wounded in the attack, which took place in the town of Issers, some 60 km east of the capital. The attacker drove a bomb-laden car into the main entrance of the school where police academy candidates had gathered. The attack was the worst since a double car bombing in mid-December in which 41 people were killed, including 17 UN workers. In Paris, the French foreign ministry condemned the attack, expressing solidarity with the Algerian government in its fight against terrorism. Tuesday's attack follows the death of 12 people - 11 soldiers and one civilian - on Sunday when suspected Islamist terrorists attacked a military convoy near the coastal town of Skikda, 350 km east of Algiers. Iran to build more nuclear power plants Tehran, Aug 19 : Iran has asked its energy companies to look for potential sites to set up more nuclear power plants in the country, a senior official said. Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh, deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation and head of a state- owned nuclear energy production company, said that his company has signed an agreement with six local companies to set up nuclear power plants. These companies were asked to look for potential sites within a year for setting up new nuclear power plants, Iran's state run IRNA news agency Tuesday quoted the official as saying. The construction of the power plants would begin after finalising the sites, Fayyazbakhsh said. Earlier, 62 foreign and 58 Iranian companies had applied for the work, but the six Iranian companies won the bid, he added. Russia is helping Iran to build its first nuclear power plant in the country's southern port of Bushehr. The plant was expected to start its operation early this year, but was postponed due to disputes over payment. Iran's Ahmadinejad appoints US educated scholar as advisor Tehran, Aug 19, : Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday appointed US educated Hamid Molana as his advisor, state-run IRNA news agency reported. Molana has worked with the faculty of International Relations of major American and European universities in the past 50 years, the report said. He is the founding director of the International Communication Programme at the School of International Service in the American University. He completed his Ph.D. in Communication and Political Science (1963) from the Northwestern University in the US. He also studied economics and Journalism there. Top Iran cleric chides Ahmadinejad aide over Israeli remarks Tehran, Aug 19 : A top Iranian cleric has chastised a leading aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his controversial remarks that Iranians are "friends with Israelis," the press reported today. Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi questioned the competence of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie to hold office over his comments, which sparked fury among conservative MPs, Islamist student groups and some clerics. "There is no doubt that the Israeli regime and people are both against Islam and Muslims, occupying their lands... So how could we speak of friendship with them?" Marakem Shirazi was quoted as saying by the conservative Jomhuri Eslami newspaper. Russia and Georgia exchange prisoners Moscow, Aug 19 : Russia and Georgia today exchanged prisoners captured in the conflict that started when Tbilisi launched an assault on the Moscow-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia on August 7. In the exchange carried out in Igoeti, a town located some 40 km from Georgian capital Tbilisi, Moscow handed 13 Georgian military personnel and two civilians taken prisoner in South Ossetia, in exchange for five Russians including two pilots, Land Forces spokesman Colonel Igor Konashenkov said. The Igoeti checkpoint has in recent days marked the current limit of Georgian control in the area, with one side blocked by Georgian police and the other controlled by a handful of Russian soldiers. In Moscow, the foreign ministry has welcomed the exchange of prisoners of war saying all the outstanding issues will be resolved in a constructive way. The five-day-long war in which hundreds of people were killed came to an end after Russia and Georgia signed a cease-fire deal brokered by France. Saudi rejects reports of plane waiting to take Mush out of Pak Dubai, Aug 19 : Saudi Arabia has dismissed as "fabricated" reports that it has an aircraft waiting to take former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to the kingdom where he could be offered asylum following his ouster. "This news is totally lacking in truth and is fabricated," Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Awad Esseiri was quoted as saying by 'Okaz' newspaper today. He was reacting to media reports that a Saudi plane was in Islamabad to transport Musharraf to Saudi Arabia amid speculation that he could be granted asylum in the kingdom after stepping down as President yesterday. The envoy said the kingdom was interested in "security, stability and sovereignty of Pakistan and will not interfere in internal political affairs" of its close ally, the Saudi newspaper reported. Saudi Arabia had earlier given asylum to former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif after his government was toppled in a bloodless military coup by Musharraf in October 1999. Sharif and his family were sent into exile to Jeddah in 2000 before their return home last November. Iraqi interpreter returns rather than divorce a wife Copenhagen, Aug 19 : An Iraqi interpreter, who was recently granted asylum in Denmark but was asked to divorce one of his two wives, has opted to return to Iraq instead, reports said Tuesday. "It was a difficult decision for them, but now they have left to see how things are in Basra," lawyer Marianne Volund told the Nyhedsavisen newspaper. The interpreter was among the 200 Iraqis including family members offered asylum when Denmark last year withdrew its troops from southern Iraq. Iraqi interpreters and others who have served with foreign organisations or allied forces have often been targeted by militant groups. Volund said the interpreter and his family "missed Iraq" but were also fearful of returning. "But they were also troubled by the attention their case had generated," she added. Pak media sees Musharraf's exit as 'silent revolution' Islamabad, Aug 19 : "A silent revolution" -- that is how the Pakistani media today described the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf whose "belief that he alone was a saint and all others villains" proved his undoing. Pakistan's leading newspapers said Musharraf's exit was "inevitable" albeit delayed and asked the PPP-PML(N) government to attend to the country's problems and relations with India and Afghanistan after the "hurdle" is gone. Welcoming Musharraf's decision, 'The Nation' newspaper said "the day climaxing a silent revolution will go down as a major landmark of our history and may leave some important lessons for those who had been used to nursing Bonapartist notions." "After Musharraf's exit, the ruling coalition will have to accept the responsibility of running the government because from now on it would not be able to find anyone else to shift the blame for its failures," it added. Gilani's trip key in winning Bush support for Musharraf's exit Islamabad, Aug 19 : Pakistan's ruling coalition used Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's July visit to Washington for convincing President George W Bush, the "last holdout" of Pervez Musharraf in the US, to stop backing the ex-army chief. This was the culmination of a sustained campaign to neutralise the pro-Musharraf lobby in Washington, in which American Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson and her counterpart in the US Husain Haqqani played a key role, the Dawn daily reported today. Diplomatic sources in Washington described President Bush as Musharraf's "last holdout" in the US capital. Others in the Bush administration - including Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - had long given up on Musharraf but Bush remained faithful to the person he considered a close ally and a personal friend, the daily said. Patterson told the Musharraf backers in the Bush administration that if US continued supporting him it would end up stoking massive anti-American feelings in Pakistan. Mush resignation will not lead to power vacuum in Pak: Rice Washington, Aug 19 : Displaying faith in the democratically elected government of Pakistan, the US has rejected suggestions that the ouster of former President and key US ally Pervez Musharraf will lead to a power vacuum in the country. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the situation in Pakistan is "fragile", but the government is democratically elected and will continue to receive US assistance. "... Obviously, it's a fragile situation in Pakistan because it's a new civilian government for the first time in a long time in Pakistan, since 1999, but it is an elected government. I think it has fabulous support. And that's a lot to build on," Rice said. The top administration official was asked if the power vacuum following Musharraf's resignation means a slow descent into chaos in Pakistan and if Washington is concerned about it. Suicide bombing in Pakistani hospital kills 23 Islamabad, Aug 19 : At least 23 people, including two policemen, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a hospital in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), officials said. Pro-Taliban militants accepted responsibility for the attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, some 300 km south of the provincial capital Peshawar. The blast occurred outside the emergency ward of the hospital where a crowd of mostly Shia Muslims had gathered to protest the assassination of their leader, Asif Shah, by unknown gunmen riding a motorbike earlier in the day. "Twenty-three people have been confirmed killed," NWFP police chief Naveed Malik said. Fifteen people were seriously wounded, but the number of injured could be higher as many were immediately moved to various hospitals, he added. Afghan interpreter killed as blast hits NATO troops: official Kandahar, Aug 19 : A bomb struck NATO soldiers in Afghanistan today, with initial reports saying an interpreter was killed and troops had suffered casualties, an Afghan official and the force said. The insurgent Taliban movement, behind a wave of attacks in southern Afghanistan, said its men had carried out the bombing which was caused by a roadside land mine. NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed blast in southern Kandahar province's volatile Panjwayi district. "We have suffered casualties," an ISAF media officer said. Asked if this meant dead or wounded, he said: "That includes everything." Malaysia denies targeting Anwar with new DNA bill Kuala Lumpur, Aug 19 : Malaysia is planning to force criminal suspects to give DNA samples, but denied it is targetting opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who refused to give a sample after his arrest on sodomy charges. Anwar, a former deputy premier until being sacked in 1998 and jailed on sodomy and corruption charges, has rejected the new allegations as a government plot and says he fears a DNA sample could be manipulated. "It is not politically motivated and has nothing to do with Anwar. The government has been working on this bill since 2001," Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar reportedly said after introducing the bill in parliament yesterday. "It is ridiculous to attribute it to political motives," he said, according to the New Straits Times daily. Syed Hamid said the legislation would enable police to record and store the DNA of every person charged in court or arrested on suspicion of a criminal offence. Pak Parliament sets up panel to monitor J-K situation Islamabad, Aug 19 : Ignoring India's assertions that Islamabad should not interfere in its affairs, Pakistan's Parliament today decided to set up a panel to monitor human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir and mobilise world opinion in support of the "right of self-determination" for Kashmiri people. Ruling Pakistan People's Party leader and Law Minister Farooq Naek moved a motion for setting up a special panel on Kashmir comprising parliamentarians in the National Assembly and it was passed unanimously by the lower house. The motion said the committee would "monitor human rights violations" and "mobilise world opinion in support of the cause of right of self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir". The panel will also "increase awareness within as well as outside the country about the Kashmir issue" and "solicit and provide political, moral and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir". Indian Sikh offers to host Musharraf post resignation Islamabad, Aug 19 : An Indian Sikh has offered to host former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on his sprawling farm in the state of Punjab following his resignation, describing the former military ruler as a brave man who has origins in India. Baldev Haeussler Singh has offered Musharraf who resigned yesterday in the face of a move by Pakistan's ruling coalition to impeach him 350 acres of cultivated land, well-bred horses, a bungalow and a luxury vehicle in the Indian state. Singh, who hails from Lohara Kotli village in Ferozepur district of Punjab, told the Daily Times newspaper about his offer for the unpopular military ruler, who is yet to announce whether he intends to remain in Pakistan or go abroad. Asked the reason for his offer, Singh, who described himself as a social activist, said, "Musharraf is a brave man and has his origins in India." Singh explained that though Pakistani politicians did not hold Musharraf in high esteem, he is popular in India and "all Indians love him because of his straightforward foreign policy". Israeli PM to be grilled again in graft probes Jerusalem, Aug 19 : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to be questioned this week over allegations of graft, for the sixth time since May, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said today. Friday's questioning, to take place at Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem, should last two and a half hours, Rosenfeld said. It will be the third such interview since the beleaguered premier announced on July 30 he would step down after his centrist Kadima party holds primary elections in September. Olmert, 62, is under investigation in six different cases of alleged wrongdoing in the years before he took office in 2006, when he was mayor of Jerusalem and trade and industry minister. Islamist terror cell plotting to kill British Queen? London, Aug 19 : An Islamist terror cell busted with details of bomb-making and suicide vests is said to have been plotting to kill the British Queen and some high-profile members of the Royal Family, including Prince Charles. This suspicion has been drawn from a list, containing information about the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York and Princess Royal, which police have recovered from the possession of the arrested members of the terror cell, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported. Also on the list were the names of Princess Michael of Kent, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and The Duke and Duchess of Kent. "They had details of explosives and poisons along with information about London landmarks and a computer folder on Royal residences. We'd be foolish to rule out the fact that they may have been planning an attack," the British newspaper quoted a counter-terrorism source as saying. |