Toll in Karachi violence rises to six

KARACHI: Five persons lost their lives in an hour in various violent incidents across the metropolis, raising the toll to six on Saturday, Geo News reported.

Details have it that four bodies were found from two different areas of the city. Rescue sources told that two bodies bearing torture marks were recovered from Quaidabad area of Madina Colony.

Two more bodies were found from Yaro Goth area of Surjani Town that were dumped in a Suzuki.

Rescue sources told that the deceased were aged between 25 and 30 years.

Moreover, two persons were killed when unknown persons opened fire in Orangi Town no.14 and Rais Amrohi Colony areas.

In another incident, two persons were injured when unidentified persons opened fire in New Karachi sector 5 area. The injured were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.

Death toll hits 32 in India rebel violence: police

GUWAHATI: Police found nine more bodies Saturday after a deadly rampage by tribal separatists in India´s remote northeastern Assam state, taking the death toll to 32 following two days of violence.

The nine bodies, including those of women and children, were recovered from Narayanguri village in Baksa district, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Assam´s main city of Guwahati.

"The death toll has gone up to 32," police inspector general S. N. Singh told. "Security has been further tightened with police and paramilitary troopers deployed in strength.

"Fresh violence erupted Friday night when tribal rebels killed 12 Muslims, a day after they had killed three villagers in the same district and eight more in neighbouring Kokrajhar, opening fire on the victims as they slept in their homes.

The attacks have prompted security forces to launch a massive hunt for the guerillas and have spurred some 5,000 people to flee from their homes, Singh said.

He added that an indefinite curfew has also been imposed in the violence-torn districts, with police given shoot-on-sight orders.

The victims of the attacks were Muslim migrants who have been locked in land disputes with indigenous Bodo tribes in the tea-growing state that borders Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The attacks come as India votes in a multi-phased general election that began on April 7. Polling winds up on May 12, with results to be announced four days later.

Voting in Assam has ended, with April 24 the last day of polling.

Police blamed the attacks on the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which has been demanding a separate homeland for decades.

Seventeen people were killed in clashes in the same region in January and thousands of others fled their homes for fear of further attacks.

In 2012, ethnic clashes in the same area claimed about 100 lives and displaced more than 400,000 people.

Dozens die in Odessa blaze as Ukraine violence spreads

SLAVYANSK: More than 30 people were killed in a "criminal" blaze in Ukraine´s southern city of Odessa, as violence spread across the country during the bloodiest day since Kiev´s Western-backed government took power.

Ukraine´s interior ministry said at least 31 people had died in the fire Friday, with local media reporting that pro-Russian militants were believed to have been in the burning building at the time.

Most of those who were killed died from smoke inhalation, while others perished trying to escape by jumping out of windows. Russia said it was "outraged" as the scenic port city became a new front in an escalating months-long crisis that has sparked fears of a Russian invasion.

The foreign ministry in Moscow called on Ukraine and its "Western backers to end the anarchy and take responsibility before the Ukrainian people", blaming Kiev´s "criminal irresponsibility" for the sinister turn of events.

It capped a day of violent clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian militants, with reports of renewed fighting in Slavyansk leading to the deaths of two more Ukrainian soldiers, meaning at least nine people had been killed in violence in the flashpoint eastern town throughout the day.

Already the most serious rupture in West-Moscow relations since the Cold War, the diplomatic war of words intensified as the United States threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions within three weeks over what Washington called its continued "destabilisation" of Ukraine.

President Barack Obama threatened to expand punitive sanctions to broad sections of the Russian economy if Moscow continued to foment chaos in the former Soviet republic ahead of planned May 25 presidential elections.

"If in fact we see the disruptions and the destabilisation continuing so severely that it impedes elections on May 25, we will not have a choice but to move forward with additional... severe sanctions," Obama said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel."If Russia continues on its current course, we have a range of tools at our disposal, including sanctions that would target certain sectors of the Russian economy."

Previously, the administration had said such measures would only come into force if Russia sent its estimated 40,000 troops over the border.

"Today, the international community must stand together in support of the Ukrainian people as they cope with this tragedy," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement mourning the "heartbreaking" loss of life in Odessa.

"The violence and mayhem that led to so many senseless deaths and injuries is unacceptable."

Harf also renewed US calls for "immediate implementation" of a peace deal clinched in Geneva last month.

The unrest in Ukraine started with peaceful demonstrations in Kiev in November against then president Viktor Yanukovych but has rapidly degenerated into a full-blown global crisis.

After a deadly crackdown on protesters, Yanukovych was forced out in February and replaced with the Western-backed administration. That sparked fury in Moscow, which responded with a blitz annexation of Crimea.

Death toll hits 32 in India rebel violence: police

GUWAHATI: Police found nine more bodies Saturday after a deadly rampage by tribal separatists in India´s remote northeastern Assam state, taking the death toll to 32 following two days of violence.

The nine bodies, including those of women and children, were recovered from Narayanguri village in Baksa district, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Assam´s main city of Guwahati.

"The death toll has gone up to 32," police inspector general S. N. Singh told. "Security has been further tightened with police and paramilitary troopers deployed in strength.

"Fresh violence erupted Friday night when tribal rebels killed 12 Muslims, a day after they had killed three villagers in the same district and eight more in neighbouring Kokrajhar, opening fire on the victims as they slept in their homes.

The attacks have prompted security forces to launch a massive hunt for the guerillas and have spurred some 5,000 people to flee from their homes, Singh said.

He added that an indefinite curfew has also been imposed in the violence-torn districts, with police given shoot-on-sight orders.

The victims of the attacks were Muslim migrants who have been locked in land disputes with indigenous Bodo tribes in the tea-growing state that borders Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The attacks come as India votes in a multi-phased general election that began on April 7. Polling winds up on May 12, with results to be announced four days later.

Voting in Assam has ended, with April 24 the last day of polling.

Police blamed the attacks on the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which has been demanding a separate homeland for decades.

Seventeen people were killed in clashes in the same region in January and thousands of others fled their homes for fear of further attacks.

In 2012, ethnic clashes in the same area claimed about 100 lives and displaced more than 400,000 people.

CJ deplores apathy over violence in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani lamented that there was nobody to prevent target killing in Karachi and assassins shot dead people whenever they wanted.

The CJ said that terrorism in the commercial hub of the nation was not acceptable. He said usurping the freedom of people could not be allowed in the war against terrorism on the pretext of national security and preservation of democracy.

Addressing a full court reference in honour of Justice Khilji Arif, Chief Justice Jillani said human rights could not be ignored at any cost.

The chief justice added that Pakistan was plagued by several wars besides terrorism and sectarianism. He said the country was also waging a war against the abuse of minorities, women and children.

The country’s top judge further said it was our responsibility to stand united for Pakistan.