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| March 5, 2006 | Sunday | Safar 4, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Villagers flee unrest in northwestern Pakistan as fighting dies down MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan , March 5, 2006 (AP) _ Hundreds of people lugging bags and bundles of clothes fled a northwestern town Sunday after pro-Taliban tribesmen and foreign militants battled security forces in Pakistan, witnesses and the army said. The clashes reportedly killed at least 46 fighters, five soldiers and two civilians. The heavy fighting _ some of the worst in the North Waziristan region in years _ started Saturday and died down early Sunday in the area, where well-armed, fiercely independent tribes have long resisted government control, said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the army's spokesman.(First Posted @ 09:50 PST Updated @ 22:30 PST)
11 Pakistani soldiers wounded in mine explosion QUETTA, Pakistan March 5, 2006 (AP) _ A land mine exploded under a military truck and assailants fired rockets at a security post in attacks Sunday that wounded a total of 11 soldiers in southwestern Pakistan, an official said. The truck was carrying troops on a security patrol when it hit the mine in Pathar Nala, a village in a tribal area southeast of Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, said Abdul Samad Lasi, a local government administrator. The mine injured nine soldiers, Lasi said. In the other attack, three soldiers were wounded when a rocket fired by suspected tribesmen hit their post in Sangsila, another village the Bugti tribal area, Lasi said.(Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Pakistan's Prime Minister arrives in Britain for conference, Blair LONDON, March 5, 2006 (AP) _ Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived in London on Sunday to address a conference on aid and Asian development and will hold talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday, Blair's Downing Street office said. Aziz, who flew into Heathrow airport from Islamabad on Sunday and did not speak to reporters, is also due to meet with Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown and foreign secretary Jack Straw. The prime minister is expected to discuss with Blair the deployment of an extra 3,300 British soldiers to Helmand, a southern Afghanistan province which borders Pakistan. Troops are arriving in the volatile province as part of an expanded NATO-led rebuilding and security mission. Aziz is also due to address the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a military think tank, on Tuesday, with a speech on regional stability. Blair and Aziz are due later on Monday to address the Asia 2015 conference, organized by Britain's Department of International Development.(Posted @ 20:15 PST)
Senate elections Monday ISLAMABAD, March 05 (PPI)The Election Commission of Pakistan has finalized all arrangements for first round of Senate elections being held Monday when the four Provincial Assemblies will elect 37-Senators. According to the Election Commission, polling will start at nine In the morning and continue till four in the evening. Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP Assemblies would elect eleven Senators each while Punjab Assembly will elect four Senators on seats reserved for Technocrats and Women as seven Senators on General Seats have already been elected unopposed. Members of National Assembly would elect one member for Senate from Islamabad and four from FATA on FATA seats.(Posted @ 23:20 PST)
Eight killed in Iraq as US forces say no plan to quit BAGHDAD, March 5, 2006 (AFP) - The US military strongly denied news reports that coalition forces had finalised plans to quit Iraq, while eight people were killed Sunday in bombings and clashes around the country. Three men guarding a Sunni mosque in Baghdad were shot dead overnight when gunmen dressed in police uniforms attacked the building, an interior ministry official said, adding six more mosque guards were wounded in the ensuing firefight. In a separate attack, gunmen killed a nephew and a cousin of Sheikh Hareth al-Dari, who heads Iraq's main Sunni religious group the Committee of Muslim Scholars, a source close to the family said. "Armed men in a car drew up alongside the car of the two, Jamal Mahmoud Suleiman and Ibrahim Talab Darah, and killed them," the source added.(Posted @ 22:00 PST)
Tens of thousands of people in cartoon protest KARACHI, March 5, 2006 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people rallied to protest against blasphemous cartoons on Sunday and many took the opportunity to criticize the government and the United States. Protesters also burnt an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush, who ended a 24-hour visit to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Saturday. "This movement for the protection of the sanctity of the Holy Prophet will lead to a revolution," Liaquat Baluch, a central leader of an alliance of Islamist parties told the rally. An intelligence official estimated 35,000 people took part in the rally. The protest was peaceful and there were no reports of violence. A large number of women wearing all-enveloping veil and girls with headbands inscribed with Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) also took part.(Posted @ 21:20 PST)
Iran vows to resume large scale uranium enrichment if referred to Security Council TEHRAN, Iran March 5, 2006 (AP) _ Iran warned Sunday that it will start large-scale uranium enrichment if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council. ``If Iran's nuclear dossier is referred to the U.N. Security Council, (large scale) uranium enrichment will be resumed,'' Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told a news conference. ``If they (the U.S. and its allies) want to use force, we will pursue our own path,'' he said. The International Atomic Energy Agency will meet in Vienna, Austria, Monday to discuss Iran's nuclear program and decide whether to refer the issue to the Security Council _ which could impose. Iran only has an experimental research program and it would need months to begin any large-scale enrichment. Larijani also said Iran would not give up nuclear research and warned that taking Iran to U.N. Security Council will not make the Islamic republic back down from pursuing a peaceful nuclear program.(Posted @ 21:10 PST)
Gunman opens fire at busy open-air market near Belgrade; 2 wounded BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, March 5, 2006 (AP) _ A gunman opened fire Sunday at a busy marketplace near Belgrade, wounding two people, police said. The suspect, armed with an automatic rifle, randomly shot at people and nearby vehicles at the crowded open-air market in Pancevo, 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of the capital, police spokeswoman Tatjana Dakic said. One man was seriously injured and a woman lightly wounded before the attacker was subdued by a security guard and arrested, she said.(Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Thousands rally against US air base in Japan TOKYO, March 5, 2006 (AFP) - Thousands of protesters gathered Sunday on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to rally against plans to relocate a US air base there, with reports saying the protesters numbered as many as 35,000. Despite pressure to move the Futenma Air Base off Okinawa, Japan and the United States agreed last October on a revised plan to transfer the facilities to an existing base at Camp Schwab, also on the island. Holding placards demanding the immediate closure of the base and its relocation off the island, about 35,000 people took part in the rally in Ginowan, Kyodo News and public broadcaster NHK reported.(Posted @ 17:48 PST)
Ambush, grenade attack kill two, injure 26 in Occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Occupied Kashmir, March 5, 2006 (AFP) - Suspected militants Sunday killed two soldiers in an ambush and separately injured 24 civilians and two policemen in a grenade attack in Occupied Kashmir, police said. The grenade attack happened in the town of Pulwama, 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Srinagar. "Militants hurled a grenade at a police patrol party, causing splinter injuries to 24 civilians and two policemen," a police spokesman said. The explosion near the main bus terminal caused panic and allowed the militants to escape, the spokesman said. An Indian army major and a soldier were killed in an ambush by heavily-armed militants in the southern district of Rajouri, a police spokesman said. He said the soldiers were on a search operation when militants ambushed them with grenades and AK rifle fire near the mountain village of Dariralyot. "The army had no time to retaliate," he said, adding militants fled the area after carrying out the attack.(Posted @ 17:30 PST)
Three killed in mosque attack, Interior Ministry denies involvment BAGHDAD, Iraq March 5, 2006 (AP) _ Gunmen stormed a Sunni mosque in west Baghdad early Sunday, killing three people in a 25 minute gunbattle, police said. Seven people were wounded. U.S. forces blocked off the area after the exchange of fire, said police Lt. Maitham Abdul Rezzaq. Rezzaq initially reported the mosque imam had been killed. The imam was not hurt. Rezzaq said the attackers hit the al-Nour mosque in Baghdad's Jihad neighborhood shortly after midnight and fought with mosque guards until about 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning, several masked gunmen were guarding the mosque. Windows were broken, the exterior walls were pockmarked where they had been hit with bullets and dozens of spent casings lay in the road, where there were at least two unexploded hand grenades. The imam, Sheik Shaker Mahmoud, told reporters that ``a gang using ten cars stormed the mosque. The cars used by the attackers are the same as those used by the Interior Ministry. The attackers were wearing military uniforms.'' ``They launched an attack on our mosque. They broke windows and stormed the courtyard,'' the cleric said.(First Posted @ 10:15 PST Updated @ 17:20 PST)
Bush returns to US after South Asian tour WASHINGTON, March 5, 2006 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush returned to the US capital early Sunday after wrapping up a landmark tour of South Asia, during which he visited Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Air Force One carrying the president, First Lady Laura Bush and members of the US delegaton landed at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland at 4:50 am (0950 GMT). On Saturday, Bush reassured Americans that broader ties with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan would strengthen US national security. "By working with these leaders and the people of these three nations, we're seizing the opportunities this new century offers and helping to lay the foundations of peace and prosperity for generations to come," the president said in his weekly radio address. Before leaving Islamabad, the US president reaffirmed what he called a broad and lasting strategic partnership between the United States and Pakistan forged after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.(Posted @ 17:05 PST)
One dead, three rescued in U.S. power plant fire MOUNDSVILLE, West Virginia 05 March (AP) One worker died and three others were trapped for a couple of hours when a fire broke out in a 1,000-foot-tall (300-meters-tall) smokestack under construction at a coal-fired power plant, officials said Sunday. Three men working at the top of the stack were plucked off the structure by a Maryland State Police helicopter Saturday night. They had been trapped for more than two hours above the flames. (Posted @ 12:25 PST)
Second Canadian dies of Afghan injuries KABUL, March 5 (Reuters) A second Canadian soldier has died of injuries received when an armoured vehicle overturned in southern Afghanistan and another remained in serious condition after an axe attack during a meeting with tribal elders. Master Corporal Timothy Wilson died early on Sunday at a U.S. military hospital at Landstuhl in Germany, three days after the vehicle incident in Kandahar province, a Canadian military spokesman said. Another Canadian, Lieutenant Trevor Greene from British Columbia, who was hit in the head with an axe during a meeting with tribal elders in Kandahar on Saturday, remained in serious condition and would be evacuated to Landstuhl on Sunday. The Canadian spokesman, Lieutenant Mark MacIntyre, said Canadian soldiers opened fire and killed the axe attacker, whose identity was unknown. He said a grenade was also thrown at the gathering but caused no casualties. (Posted @ 12:20 PST)
Putin calls Bush to discuss Hamas, Iran nuclear crisis MOSCOW, March 5 (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday to discuss Russia's talks with Hamas and negotiations on Iran's disputed nuclear program, the Kremlin said ``Putin and Bush agreed to continue coordination on this and other vital issues on the international agenda including the forthcoming visit of the Russian foreign minister to Washington,'' the Kremlin press service said in a brief statement. It said that Putin had initiated the call. (Posted @ 10:20 PST)
Two die in New Zealand helicopter crash: police WELLINGTON, New Zealand, March 5 (AP) Two men died Sunday when their helicopter crashed in steep terrain in Mount Aspiring National Park on New Zealand's South Island, police said. The helicopter was on a private flight when it crashed at an altitude of about 1,500 meters (5,000 feet), sparking a fire at the crash scene. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Thousands rally demanding U.S. pull out of Iraq, Afghanistan JAKARTA, March 5(AP) Several thousand people rallied Sunday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta to protest the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 2,000 policemen kept the protesters well away from the U.S. Embassy compound which is ringed by two concrete walls and barbed wire. ``U.S.A. out of Iraq,'' chanted the demonstrators. They also carried placards condemning Israel and the U.S. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
Arab ministers say respect Palestinian Hamas choice CAIRO, March 5 (Reuters) Arab foreign ministers meeting on Saturday ahead of the summit in Sudan on March 28 called on the international community to respect the Palestinian people's choice in electing Hamas to lead them. "The ministers called on the international community and the Quartet in particular, to respect the will of the Palestinian people. (to respect) their freedom to choose their leadership in a democratic way," an Arab League official said. They also called on the world to "desist from taking prejudiced positions and imposing biased conditions when dealing with the elected leadership." (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Al Qaeda's Zawahri calls for strikes against West DUBAI, March 5 (Reuters) Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to attack the West in an audio tape posted on the Internet on Saturday, urging similar strikes as those against New York, London and Madrid in recent years. In a video of his remarks aired by Al Jazeera television, Zawahri also urged Hamas not to recognise peace deals signed by the Palestinian Authority with Israel. He also called on Muslims to boycott countries where blasphemous cartoons had been published, including Denmark, Norway, France and Germany, and said that Muslims should prevent the West from "stealing Muslims' oil". (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Three injured in Bangladesh bomb attack on Islamic shrine DHAKA, March 5 (AFP) Three men were injured in a bomb attack at a shrine in Habiganj in northeast Bangladesh late Saturday, police said. A large number of Muslims had gathered at the shrine to mark the death anniversary of the sufi saint, police said. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Canadian soldier attacked by machete-wielding Afghan villager OTTAWA, March 5(AFP) A Canadian soldier was seriously wounded in Shinkay, 70 kilometers north of Kandahar, Thursday when he was struck in the head with a machete during a meeting with tribal chiefs, Canada's defence ministry said. Lieutenant Trevor Greene was attacked by a villager after he respectfully took off his helmet as he met with tribal leaders, a ministry spokeswoman said. Canadian soldiers immediately killed the assailant. After the incident, another Afghan villager tossed a grenade at the Canadian soldiers. No one was wounded in that attack and the soldiers detained the villager. (Posted @ 09:15 PST)
China's Wen outlines modest economic growth target BEIJING, March 5, 2006 (AFP) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Sunday outlined a cautious economic growth target of around eight percent for this year, and 7.5 percent until 2010, while urging consumers to spend more. The objectives, looking modest against average expansion of 9.4 percent over the past quarter century, underlined a plea by Wen to do more to correct imbalances that have resulted from years of breakneck growth. "We need to... refrain from taking on more than we can handle, and achieve concrete results," Wen told nearly 3,000 lawmakers assembled for the annual full session of the National People's Congress, or parliament. China posted growth of 9.9 percent in 2005, maintaining its status as the world's fastest growing major economy. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
Six Russian soldiers, two policemen die in Chechnya VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia, March 5, 2006 (AFP) Clashes in the war-torn region of Chechnya left six Russian soldiers and two policemen dead and another 10 soldiers wounded over 24 hours, a source in the Chechen pro-Russian local government said late Saturday.The official, who asked not to be identified, said that two soldiers were killed and five wounded as Russian positions came under fire in ten different locations throughout Chechnya. In a separate incident, three soldiers were killed in an ambush in the eastern village of Niki Khita. Five more soldiers were wounded. Another soldier was killed in a shootout in Chechnya's southern Itum Kale region. And two policemen were killed in two separate incidents near the Chechen capital Grozny, as their cars came under fire. Russian news agencies and the defense ministry reported none of those losses. Tens of thousands of civilians and about 10,000 soldiers have been killed in the more than decade-old guerrilla war between Russian forces and Chechen freedom fighters. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
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