Hundreds homeless after deadly battles in Lebanon

Monday, July 28, 2008TRIPOLI: Hundreds of people were still homeless on Sunday after the latest bout of deadly sectarian fighting in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli. “The army has barred residents from returning to some areas because there are unexploded grenades from the fighting and the troops are defusing them one by one,” a security official told AFP. Army reinforcements were sent to Tripoli on Saturday after militants from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite (Shia) communities agreed to halt clashes that erupted early Friday, killing nine people and wounding dozens more. Fighters battled with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons causing massive damage to property and sending hundreds of people fleeing for cover from the neighbouring districts of Bab al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen. On Sunday, the army shot and wounded a suspect during a shootout in Bab el-Tebbaneh, the security official said, adding that the gunman had been wanted for opening fire on troops on Saturday and was now in their custody.But he said the situation had been calm up throughout the day until then. A source from the Future Movement of Sunni leader Saad Hariri said almost 2,200 families fled their homes in mainly Sunni district of Bab al-Tebbaneh and the mostly Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen. Tripoli municipality chief Mohammed Rashid Jamali told AFP that 1,500 people were holed up in eight schools across the city waiting to return home. “We expect half of those displaced by the fighting to return to their homes in the next few days but for those whose homes have been destroyed or badly damaged it will take much longer,” Jamali said. One of those who lost “everything” is Zoheir Moslemani. “I worked hard for nine years in Nigeria to set up my house and now it has gone up in smoke,” the father of four told AFP as he viewed the mangled debris of his home in the Bakkar district of Jabal Mohsen. Fatima al-Kawwas and her four children also fled after her apartment was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, vowing not to return “until I am sure 100 per cent that fighting will not resume.” The security official stressed that calm had been restored in Tripoli, where recurring sectarian clashes have now killed a total of 23 people and wounded more than 100 since June. “No gunfire or firing of rockets has been recorded since 5 pm (1400 GMT) on Saturday,” he said. Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May that led to the election of Michel Sleiman as president and the creation of a unity cabinet (THE NEWS PAKISTAN).

Up to 100 Taliban killed

THENEWS KABUL: Up to 100 Taliban were killed in Afghanistan early Sunday when helicopter gunships and ground fighting retaliated an attack by about 100 rebels.The Taliban fighters had tried to capture the Spera district centre, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the border with Pakistan, opening fire on police at about 2:00 am with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the NATO force said.Police and soldiers from NATO's International Security Assistance Force surrounded the attackers and called air strikes consisting of heavy machinegun fire from helicopters, an ISAF statement said."Some insurgents attempted to take cover in a nearby building that helicopters then struck with missiles. "ANP (Afghan National Police) and ISAF continued to engage the insurgents in a firefight from the ground and air until the early morning hours," it said.The number of insurgents killed was in the "double-digit figures," ISAF said.The provincial governor of Khost, which includes Spera, put the attackers' death toll at between 50 and 70."They had killed one policeman in the initial attack and had captured another officer who was later beheaded," governor Arsala Jamal said."As they retreated, international military air forces came in and bombed them. Fifty to 70 Taliban have been killed," Jamal said.The rebels were able to get "very close" to the district headquarters in Spera before the air forces arrived, the governor said.The air strikes were later halted to avoid civilian casualties after the militants moved into villages, he said."We could have killed more Taliban if they had not entered the villages. Those of them killed were targeted while massing in an area outside the villages," he said ( THENEWS PAKISTAN)

ISLAMABAD BOMB BLAST

ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber on Sunday killed 19 people in an attack targeting policemen deployed at a rally observing the first year anniversary of an army raid on the capital’s Lal Masjid. Dozens of dead and injured policemen lay on the ground in pools of blood after the blast — which occurred at 7.50pm at Melody Market, about one-and-a-half kilometres from the Lal Masjid — their blue uniforms ripped to shreds by the force of the explosion, an AFP photographer at the scene said. “The whole event at the mosque went smoothly but then the suicide bomber targeted the security,” Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik told reporters at the scene of the latest apparent revenge attack for the storming of the building. He said it was not a security lapse, as the blast occurred after the culmination of the rally. Of the 19 dead, 15 have been identified as policemen. According to AFP, the blast targeted a group of over 50 policemen and over 20 cops were wounded in addition to the dead.d.A policeman at the Aabpara Police Station told Daily Times that the explosion occurred after one an inspector had finished a count of the cops inside the compound. The police station is only a few yards from the blast site.“A young man walked into the police contingent and apparently blew himself up,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The blast happened 15 minutes after the protest rally dispersed. A heavy contingent of police was at a main crossing several hundred metres from the mosque and they were targeted in the attack,” he added. After the blast, a traffic intersection in the area was splattered with blood. Body parts were scattered as far as 50 metres from the scene. Shattered glass also covered the area, Reuters reported. Television footage showed bearded students running towards the scene and ambulances bringing the wounded to hospitals.“We were playing cricket in a nearby park when we heard a blast. There were several policemen on the ground,” witness Shaqeel Ahmed told AFP.Attacker age: Rehman Malik said that based on eyewitness accounts, the attacker was a man appearing to be “35-37-years-old”. He said police have found the “upper part” of the bomber’s body but did not give more specifics. He said the nation has to think on “who is destabilising our country” and take action, AP reported. “We have to take them out from our ranks,” he said. “We have to combat them.”Malik also said that a joint investigation team had been constituted to probe into the attack. Condemning the blast, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered an inquiry, state media said. “Such incidents are against the teachings of Islam and do not serve any purpose,” it quoted him as saying.Imtiaz Khan, the casualty medical officer at Federal Government Services Hospital, said at least 36 injured people were admitted there, nearly all security officials. He said two had died, while 12 were in critical condition.Denounced: Meanwhile, Muhammad Amir Siddiq, a spokesman for the Lal Masjid, denounced the suicide attack and said he was not aware if any of those at the anniversary gathering were wounded. However, a member of the committee that organised the protest told AFP that none of the Islamic leaders involved in the protest was killed or injured.“This is a very tragic and condemnable incident,” Siddiq told AP. He said the mosque held prayers for victims of the bombing after regular evening prayers. Interior Ministry Secretary Kamal Shah denied that the bombing was a result of poor security at the rally, during which many attendees called for the imposition of Shariah law in the country. Security arrangements made for the anniversary ceremony were “absolutely comprehensive,” Shah said, adding, “Nothing happened to the participants of the gathering.”Additional Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Rana Akbar Hayat confirmed to journalists that initial evidence suggested that the police had been targeted. He said that over 4,000 security personnel had been deployed for the occasion. The explosion followed recent threats of revenge from militants in FATA angered by a paramilitary operation against insurgents in the Khyber Agency, AP reported. It occurred just over a month after a suicide attack outside the Danish embassy that resulted in eight deaths.Government forces besieged the Lal Masjid on July 3, 2007, after its administration launched an vigilante campaign in the capital and kidnapped several Chinese nationals. The storming of the mosque came on July 10, 2008 and sparked a wave of suicide attacks across the country, blamed on Al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Earlier on Sunday, madrassa students from across the country thronged outside the Lal Masjid amid tight security by thousands of police who erected barbed wire barricades and spot-searched individuals (Dailytimespakistan).

Karachi bomb Blasts

KARACHI: One person was killed and 50 others injured in a series of 7 blasts that ripped through different areas of the busiest city of country on Monday.Two explosions occurred here in Banaras area. One of the blasts happened in a pile of garbage while the other one at a footpath near Banaras chowk, injuring 16 people. They were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, sources said.Enraged people took the streets and started pelting stones at moving vehicles.The third explosion ripped through a mini truck in North Nazimabad area of Shahra-e-Noor Jehan near Sohail mosque. Five persons were injured, police sources said. However, Chhipa sources said 8 persons were taken to hospital.There are reports of the fourth blast in Hyderi area near a children’s school.Police mobiles have reached the blasts’s sites while ambulances are shifting the injured to local hospitals.The fifth blast occurred here in a motor cycle in Qasba colony area, killing one person.A policeman was injured in the sixth blast in a bicycle in Manghopir. Two blasts also occurred in Pak colony in which 7 persons are reported injured.Police has not come up with any statement confirming the above blasts. Police and Rangers have been put on high alert in the city following the series of blasts.Emergency has been declared in local hospitals. (The NEWS Pakistan)