Violence killed at least 29 people Sunday, including three American soldiers, and mortar fire rumbled through the heart of Baghdad after sundown despite stringent security measures imposed after an explosion of sectarian violence. A ban on driving in Baghdad and its suburbs helped prevent major attacks during daylight Sunday, but after nightfall explosions thundered through the city as mortar shells slammed into a Shiite quarter in southwestern Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding 53, police said. Mortar fire also hit a Shiite area on the capital's east side, killing three people and injuring six, police reported. Nevertheless, officials announced they would let vehicles back on the streets at 6 a.m. Monday in part because shops were running out of food and other basics. Gasoline stations were closed, and people were unable to go to work Sunday, a work day in this Muslim country. ... http://abcnews.go.com censor News |
Editor - 21:15:00 02-26-06 |
Bush strides out to change the world with his new best friend |
BUSH arrives in Delhi for his first state visit this week, hoping to cement an increasingly close relationship between the United States and India that has the potential to alter the strategic balance in the world for the rest of the century. During the Cold War India was the only major democracy in the world that did not side with America in the struggle against communism. But in the past decade, driven by India’s rapid economic growth, a shift in American priorities in Asia and, latterly, the demands of the war on terrorism, the interests of the two countries have converged sharply. ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2060272,00.html
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Editor - 21:09:00 02-26-06 |
Afghan court orders death for ex-chief of spies |
A Kabul court on Saturday found a communist-era intelligence chief guilty of ordering hundreds of killings a quarter-century ago and sentenced him to death by shooting. Relatives of the dead cried out: "God is Great!" Asadullah Sarwari headed the government's feared intelligence department in 1978 after a Soviet-backed communist takeover, which was followed by a ruthless crackdown on its opponents. He later served as vice president. "The government at the time was like a machine and I was just a part of the machine," Sarwari, 64, wearing glasses and sporting a graying beard, told the court. The court heard testimony Saturday from more than 20 witnesses who claimed to have lost relatives, and saw video footage of documents, allegedly signed by Sarwari, in which he ordered killings. Ghalam Sakhi Abasy, the state prosecutor, told The Associated Press that he had documented evidence of more than 400 killings ordered by Sarwari. ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-02-26-formerspychief_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 11:54:00 02-26-06 |
Reprisals kill scores in Baghdad |
Bombs and gunfire killed about 60 persons as another daytime curfew yesterday failed to halt violence that has claimed nearly 200 lives since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine set off a wave of retribution against Sunnis and pushed Iraq toward civil war. In an unusual round of telephone diplomacy, President Bush spoke with seven leaders of Shi'ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political parties to try to defuse the sectarian crisis unleashed by the heavy damage to the Shi'ites' Askariya shrine in Samarra. Mr. Bush "encouraged them to continue to work together to thwart the efforts of the perpetrators of the violence to sow discord," said Frederick Jones, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council. Reprisal attacks that followed the Wednesday blast in Samarra derailed talks on forming a new Iraqi government and threaten Washington's goal of building up a self-sufficient Iraq free of U.S. military involvement. A second straight day of curfew in Baghdad and three surrounding ... http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060226-125010-8880r.htm
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Editor - 11:48:00 02-26-06 |
al-Qaida, Taliban Convicts Seize Wing of High-Security Afghan Prison; Several Deaths Reported |
Hundreds of inmates, some of them convicted al-Qaida and Taliban militants, used knives and clubs made from furniture to overpower guards and take control of parts of a high-security prison in Afghanistan's capital, officials said Sunday. Local media reported several people were killed and dozens injured. But it appeared security forces had yet to gain access to parts of the jail under prisoners' control, so officials could not confirm reports of casualties. One official said at least four inmates had been injured. The Afghan army said it had deployed 800 soldiers, some with rocket-propelled grenade launchers, to surround the Policharki Prison. With NATO peacekeepers, they parked at least 10 tanks and armored personnel carriers outside the gates. Government officials tried to negotiate through loudspeakers with the inmates. Their demands were not known. ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1664257
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Editor - 11:40:00 02-26-06 |
2 U.S. GIs among 21 dead in Iraq violence |
Bomb blasts and gunfire killed at least 21 people, including two U.S. soldiers, in Baghdad and nearby towns Sunday as an emergency daylight curfew was lifted in three provinces following the bombing of a Shiite shrine and a wave of retribution against Sunnis. Authorities reported no progress in the hunt for kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll, who reportedly was threatened with death at midnight if her abductors demands were not met."Our forces raided some suspected places, but she was not there," said Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi, an official at the Interior Ministry. "We are watching the situation closely."The 28-year-old freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad and last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb. 9 by the private Kuwaiti television station Al-Rai.... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-02-26-iraq_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 11:36:00 02-26-06 |
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