Blast in northern Nigeria kills 10: police

KANO: An explosion in the red light district of northern Nigeria´s Bauchi city has killed 10 people and injured 14 others, police said Saturday. The cause of the late Friday blast was not immediately clear, but Boko Haram has attacked Bauchi repeatedly during their five-year uprising aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in the north. Bauchi state police spokesman Mohammed Haruna said the targeted building in the Bayan Gari neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city was widely known as a brothel.

"Ten people were confirmed dead, while 14 others sustained various degrees of injury," Haruna said, adding that the explosion went off at roughly 10:00 pm (2100 GMT). "The entire area has been cordoned off and (the) scene secured," Haruna said. Bomb attacks on targets which Boko Haram has branded sinful - including bars, churches and schools teaching a Western curriculum - have formed a major part of the insurgency.

Nigeria has estimated that more than 10,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2009. The violence has escalated in recent months, with more than 2,000 deaths recorded since the start of the year. The capital Abuja has been hit with three separate bomb attacks since mid-April, most recently on Wednesday when 24 people were killed in a blast at a popular shopping plaza in the heart of the city. Police had initially given a death toll of 21 for the attack, but the health ministry revised those figures upwards on Saturday. In Kano, the largest city in the mainly Muslim north, a bomb planted in the parking lot of a public health college killed eight people on Monday. The Islamist extremists have received unprecedented international attention in recent weeks following their April 14 abduction of more than 200 teenage girls from the town of Chibok in the northeast. The gruesome mass abduction has drawn condemnation from governments and prominent people worldwide and offers of military help from major world powers to boost Nigeria´s counter-insurgency effort.

Suicide bomber kills seven in Shiite area of Baghdad

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber killed seven people and wounded dozens at a market in the a north Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah on Thursday, security and medical officials said.

The blast struck at about 6:30 pm (1530 GMT) in the Bab al-Darwaza market in Kadhimiyah, which is home to the shrine of a revered Muslim figure.

 

Suicide bomber kills seven in Shiite area of Baghdad

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber killed seven people and wounded dozens at a market in the a north Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah on Thursday, security and medical officials said.

The blast struck at about 6:30 pm (1530 GMT) in the Bab al-Darwaza market in Kadhimiyah, which is home to the shrine of a revered Muslim figure.

Militant infighting kills 17 in Iraq’s Kirkuk

KIRKUK: Militants who fought together to capture swathes of Iraqi territory have turned their weapons on each other during clashes in Kirkuk province that cost 17 lives, sources said Saturday.

The fighting erupted on Friday evening between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandiyah Order (JRTN) in Hawija, in Kirkuk province, said the sources.

There were differing accounts as to what sparked the firefight, which is a potential sign of the fraying of the Sunni insurgent alliance that has overrun vast stretches of territory north of Baghdad in less than two weeks.

One security official said JRTN fighters had refused an ISIL demand to give up their weapons and pledge allegiance to the jihadist force.

Witnesses, however, told the two sides clashed over who would take over multiple fuel tankers in the area.

Analysts have noted that while the insurgents, who are led by ISIL but also include a litany of other groups including loyalists of now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein, have formed a wide alliance, it is unclear if the broader grouping can hold together given their disparate ideologies.

ISIL espouses an extremist interpretation of Islam and wants to establish an Islamic state, whereas other armed groups have political differences with the regime in Baghdad, suggesting the alliance could eventually break down.

"If history repeats itself, then ISIL, because it´s got a transnational goal of a caliphate, because it´s radical, because it´s got this ludicrously absurd... approach to Islam, they can´t help but break that coalition," said Toby Dodge, head of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics.

ISIL, which is seen as the most capable militant group in Iraq, has for months clashed with groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria, where it also operates and where it is seen as far more extremist than even Al-Qaeda´s front group in the country.

 

Car bomb kills at least 34 in Syria’s Hama

 

DAMASCUS: A car bomb claimed by rebels killed at least 34 people on Friday in a government-controlled village in the central Syrian province of Hama, state news agency SANA reported.

More than 50 people were wounded in the attack in Al-Horra, SANA said, blaming the attack on rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

The Islamic Front, a rebel coalition, claimed responsibility. It said on Twitter that a radio-controlled bomb had targeted a "gathering of Assad militia.

"The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 37 people were killed, including civilians as well as security personnel, and more than 40 wounded.

On Thursday, a car bomb exploded in the city of Homs, to the south of Hama, killing at least six people in a neighbourhood populated by Alawites, the Islamic sect to which Assad belongs.

No one claimed responsibility for what was the second attack in Homs -- Syria´s third largest city -- in less than a week, but state television blamed it on rebels.

Iraqi airstrike kills seven Kurdish security forces in Diyala

BAGHDAD: At least seven members of the Kurdish security forces were killed in an airstrike in Iraq´s northeastern province of Diyala on Saturday, police said.

The secretary general of the Kurdish security forces said however that only two people had died near the town of Jalawla in what he described as shelling, and that it was not yet clear whether Iraqi forces or militants were responsible.

The incident and divergent accounts show the potential for security in Iraq to deteriorate further, given the deployment of several heavily armed factions and shifting areas of control.

Both Iraqi and Kurdish sources said insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were also present in the area.

The rapid seizure of Mosul, one of Iraq´s largest cities, by insurgents led by ISIL, and the Kurds´ takeover of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk this week have raised concerns internationally about the split of the country, as government forces have abandoned their posts.

The Iraqi rapid response units said in a statement that some Kurdish peshmerga forces had behaved in a "strange way", confronting fellow Kurdish tribesmen who were assisting federal government forces in their fight against ISIL.

Jabbar Yawar, the secretary general of the peshmerga, said talks with Iraqi authorities were under way to ascertain what had happened. (Reuters)

 

Gas leak kills six at giant India steel plant

RAIPUR: A poisonous gas leak at one of India´s largest steel plants killed six people overnight and injured 31 others, a factory official said on Friday.

Deadly gas escaped from one of the blast furnaces at the flagship Bhilai Steel plant run by the Steel Authority of India in central Chhattisgarh state, the factory´s chief spokesman said.

"Six industrial workers have been killed and 31 others injured due to leakage of carbon monoxide gas from one of the blast furnaces," Vijay Mairal told.

Six of the injured were in a "severe condition" in hospital in the city of Bhilai, he said.

A statement from the company said the main water pump suddenly ruptured on Thursday night, resulting in a loss of pressure in the pipes supplying water to the blast furnace. As the workers were fixing the rupture, gas from the furnace entered the damaged pipes and leaked, the statement said.

Mairal said the incident will be investigated thoroughly but that the priority was to assist those affected.

The plant in Bhilai in Durg district, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of state capital Raipur, produces 3.15 million tonnes of saleable steel annually.

The plant is India´s sole producer of rails and heavy steel plates.

India

FC kills 10 BLA militants in operation

 

QUETTA: Ten militants, belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) were killed in an operation by the Frontier Corps (FC) in the Kandiari area, bordering Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, on Sunday. Three hideouts of miscreants have also been destroyed.
The security forces also recovered explosives, IEDs and landmines from the possession of the miscreants.According to the IG FC, the militants were involved in attacks on Sui-gas installations and the railway track. He vowed that the operation would continue against the culprits till its logical end.

According to another report, some armed persons gunned down a man in the Sariab area of Quetta on Sunday morning.Rescue sources said that unidentified armed motorbike riders targeted a man standing beside the road and opened fire at him grievously injuring him. The injured man succumbed to his injuries, while Edhi volunteers were shifting him to the hospital.

The motive behind this target killing could not immediately be known, as further investigations are in progress.Meanwhile, unidentified armed men attacked a Nato oil tanker near the Lal Shah area of Dera Murad Jamali on Sunday. However, no loss of life was reported.

According to reports, the Nato tanker was heading to Afghanistan from Karachi when armed men attacked it near Lal Shah with indiscriminate firing. Flames soon engulfed the tanker.When informed, security forces, police and rescue teams reached the spot. Fire fighters had to face difficulties in extinguishing the fire due to its intensity.Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Noor Muhammad said the police had cordoned off the area to go after the culprits. However, no arrest had been made so far, added the DSP.

Blast kills four Afghan policemen: officials

GHAZNI: An explosion killed four Afghan police including a district chief on Thursday as they attempted to defuse a roadside bomb in the restive south, officials said.

Afghanistan has seen a flare-up in violence ahead of the second-round presidential election on June 14, with Taliban insurgents threatening to disrupt the polls.

Thursday´s blast occurred as Mohammad Qasim and his team attempted to defuse one of two roadside bombs found in Waghiz district of Ghazni province.

"They defused the first bomb and while they were trying to defuse the second one nearby, it detonated and killed them," provincial spokesman Shafiq Nang told AFP.

One policeman was wounded in the attack and taken to a nearby hospital, deputy police chief of Ghazni, Assadullah Safi, said while confirming the incident.

The incident comes after 16 policemen were killed in a series of attacks in the space of 24 hours last month, as security forces gear up to guard the election.

Providing security for the vote is a key test for Afghan police and soldiers, with the bulk of 51,000 NATO combat troops due to pull out of the country by December after more than a decade fighting the Taliban.

No one has claimed responsibility for Thursday´s attack, but roadside bombs are the Taliban´s weapon of choice in their war against the foreign and Afghan forces. (AFP)

Bombing at northeast Nigeria football pitch kills at least 40: police

KANO: A bombing at a football pitch in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday in an area previously attacked by Boko Haram, a police officer and a nurse said.

The blast hit the town of Mubi in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as Nigeria's military has tried to crush Boko Haram's five-year extremist uprising.

"There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed," said the officer in Mubi who requested anonymity.

The policeman's account was confirmed by a nurse at the Mubi General Hospital, who also requested anonymity, as the health worker was not authorised to discuss the attack with the media.

Adamawa has been hit by far fewer Boko Haram attacks than other parts of the northeast, but the town was the site of a gruesome October 2012 massacre at a post-secondary technical college.

Scores of students were killed in their dorms, including many whose throats were slit.

Mubi is just a few kilometres from Nigeria's border with Cameroon and near the area where two Italian priests and a Canadian nun were seized by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in April.

The three were released earlier on Sunday and flown out on board a military aircraft from the town of Maroua, heading for the Cameroon's capital.

The policeman in Mubi said the bomb exploded at roughly 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) at the pitch in Mubi's Kabang area and targeted fans who were trying to leave the field after watching a local club match.

It was not immediately clear if players were among the casualties, but the officer and the nurse said it appeared most of the victims were fans.

Muhammad Hassan, a Mubi resident who was at the match, said the blast appeared to come from within the crowd of people who were walking across the pitch and heading home after the final whistle.

"Women and children were caught up in the blast," he said. Boko Haram has carried out scores of attacks on targets it says are a product of Western influence, including sports venues and schools teaching a secular curriculum.

The group has killed thousands during its battle against the government since 2009, but the conflict has received unprecedented global attention over the last six weeks following the group’s mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls.

The girls were seized on April 14 from Chibok in Borno state, which shares a border with Adamawa.

Nigeria's response to the kidnapping has been fiercely criticised as inept and the crisis has piled intense pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan's government to do more to end the uprising.

Car bomb kills at least 10 in central Syria

BEIRUT: A car bomb struck a pro-government neighborhood in the central Syrian city of Homs on Sunday, killing at least 10 people, setting cars on fire and sending thick plumes of black smoke into the sky, activists and a government official said.

The blast in the Zahra district, sent tremors through Homs, where rebels and the government have struck two cease-fire deals this month that have restored at least a semblance of peace to the shattered city.

The provincial governor, Talal Barazi, said the attack targeted such reconciliation efforts.

An official in the Homs governor´s office said 10 people were killed in Sunday´s explosion and more than 40 were wounded.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group, Rami Abdurrahman, put the death toll at 12. He also said more than 40 were wounded.

Casualty figures frequently vary in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Syria. (AP)

Army kills 37 Qaeda suspects in south Yemen: ministry

ADEN: Yemen’s army killed 37 Al-Qaeda suspects and wounded dozens on Sunday as part of an offensive launched in the south of the country last week, the defence ministry said.

The "terrorists" were killed in an operation that took place in the Maifaa region of Shabwa province in southern Yemen, the ministry said in text messages sent to journalists. (AFP)

Residents protest after death from toxic material kills 9 DI Khan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Residents protested against the local administration after nine people were killed from toxic material at a Sugar Mill here.

On Friday, nine people were killed after they inhaled toxic fumes from a water canal flowing from the sugar mill. After the funeral prayers of the deceased, residents protested outside the sugar mill and broke the main gate. Protesters entered the mill and set fire to a tractor. Police used tear gas and baton charged the protestors to disperse them.

Assistant Commissioner Irfanullah Mehsud said compensation would be announced for the families of the deceased. Police have lodged a case and arrested seven people including the General Manager of the sugar mill.

Militant attack in Afghanistan kills 4 policemen

KABUL: Officials say a militant attack on a security post in eastern Afghanistan has killed four policemen.

The Khost provincial government says in a statement Thursday that two members of the national police and two border police died in the attack the previous night in Ali Shir district.

It says three militants were killed in the battle and one was captured.

The deputy police chief for Khost, Yaquob Khan, says the battle for the post lasted two hours. He says the attackers were from the Haqqani network. (AFP)

Car bomb kills 2 soldiers in Libya's Benghazi

BENGHAZI: A car bomb targeting a Libyan special forces barracks in the restive eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday killed two soldiers and wounded another two, medical and military officials said.

The attack, which took place at the entrance to the barracks on road to the airport, appeared to have been carried out by a suicide car bomber, an army officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 uprising that ended Moamer Kadhafi´s four-decade rule and has since been plagued by violence that has killed dozens of members of the security forces, judges and foreigners.

According to the army officer, the blast killed two soldiers and wounded two more. An official at Benghazi´s Al-Jala hospital confirmed a death toll of two.

The government has struggled to consolidate control in the vast and mostly desert country, which is effectively ruled by a patchwork of local militias and awash in heavy weapons looted from Kadhafi´s arsenals.

On December 22, a suicide car bomb targeting a security post 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Benghazi left 13 people dead.

Militants have also attacked foreign missions in Benghazi, including a September 2012 assault on the US consulate in the Mediterranean city that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.

Afghan helicopter crash kills 5 NATO troops: NATO

KABUL: Five members of the US-led NATO force in Afghanistan died in a helicopter crash in the south of the country on Saturday, NATO officials said, adding the cause of the incident was being investigated.

In line with NATO policy, the coalition deferred casualty identification to national authorities. "Five International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members died as a result of a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan," the force said.

"ISAF is still in the process of reviewing the circumstances to determine more facts. "The statement made no reference to whether any Taliban insurgents were active in the area when the helicopter came down.

Six US troops were killed when a Blackhawk chopper went down in the southern province of Zabul in December. In the hours after the crash, US officers suggested the helicopter crashed due to a mechanical failure but that the crew may have come under fire once the chopper was on the ground.

Officials later backed away from that account, saying in January that Taliban insurgents brought down the aircraft. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the insurgents after Saturday´s crash.

IoK fighting kills 2 soldiers, 3 rebels

SRINAGAR: A fierce gunbattle in Indian-occupied Kashmir left three suspected rebels and two Indian army soldiers dead, officials said Saturday.

The fighting began late Friday after Indian troops and police surrounded Karewa Malino, a village about 55 kilometers (35 miles) south of Indian Kashmir´s main city of Srinagar, and launched a search for suspected militants there, said paramilitary officer Nalin Prabhat.

Prabhat said the exchange of fire stopped during the night after two militants and two soldiers, including an Indian army officer, were killed.

However, fighting re-erupted Saturday morning, and a third militant was killed. A residential house in which the militants were trapped was destroyed in the fighting.

A police officer, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the army officer and another soldier were killed after a militant rose from the debris of the destroyed house and fired on the advancing troops.

There was no statement immediately from any of the rebel groups fighting against Indian rule. There are frequent bouts of violence during the warmer months as anti-India rebels step up demands for independence or merger with Pakistan.

About 68,000 people have been killed since 1989 in the conflict. While the armed rebellion has largely been suppressed, anti-India resentment still runs deep.

Car bomb outside Nairobi police station kills 4

NAIROBI: Police in Kenya´s capital intercepted a suspicious car at a traffic light Wednesday and were taking the occupants in for questioning when the car exploded, killing four people, including two police officers, officials said.

The car exploded just outside a police station´s main gate in central Nairobi, turning the car into an unrecognizable heap of twisted metal.

David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of police, said two officers were killed, along with two other people.

Terror warnings have been a constant in Kenya in recent months, particularly after September´s attack on Westgate Mall killed at least 67 people. Most of the small-scale attacks and explosions are blamed on al-Shabab, the militant group in Somalia that has vowed revenge attacks in Kenya because Kenyan troops moved into southern Somalia in 2011.

Patrick Kimiti was close to the car when it exploded. "I was just tossed up immediately and when I landed, I lay on the ground. There was so much dust. People were screaming. Cars were skidding and making U-turns," he said.

Kenyan authorities this month have been carrying out an extensive sweep of Nairobi´s ethnic Somali neighborhoods, making thousands of arrests and deporting more than 100 people to Somalia.

Somali Kenyans say they know that further police clamp-downs will follow attacks such as Wednesday´s car bomb blast. (AP)

Car bomb kills eight in central Iraq

HILLA: A car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing eight people, as Iraq struggles with daily violence ahead of an election next week.

The blast five kilometres (three miles) north of the city of Hilla also wounded 20 people, a police captain and a doctor said.

Iraq is suffering a protracted surge in bloodshed that has killed more than 2,750 people this year, and the April 30 parliamentary vote -- the first since American troops departed in 2011 -- will be a major test for security forces.

They were able to keep violence to a minimum during provincial elections last year, but security forces have failed to halt a subsequent year-long surge in unrest.

The heightened violence has been principally driven by widespread anger among the Sunni Arab minority, who say they are mistreated by the Shiite-led government and security forces.

It has also been fuelled by the bloody civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has bolstered militant groups.

30 held as blast kills 24 in Islamabad Fruit Market

ISLAMABAD: Police have arrested as many as 30 suspects during a search operation following blast at the Fruit Mandi which killed at least 24 people and injured many others on Wednesday.

According to reports, four investigations team have been sent to Multan, Kabirwala, Burewala and Arifwala while police have also arrested five suspects from Kabirwala, Pakpatan and Arif Wala.

During the search operation, which was carried out in I-11, I-10 and slum areas, Afghan nationals were also arrested.


The United Baloch Army (UBA), an obscure militant group, has claimed responsibility for the attack and termed it a revenge for the security forces’ operation against militants in parts of Balochistan. However, the interior ministry has rejected the claim of the UBA.