World Scene
March 1, 2008
PAKISTAN
Suicide bombing kills 35 at funeral
PESHAWAR — A suicide attacker blew himself up at a funeral yesterday for a slain policeman in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley, killing at least 35 persons, including the officer's 16-year-old son.
It was the deadliest attack in the country since the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. And it was the bloodiest in the Swat Valley since militant followers of a pro-Taliban cleric grabbed control of large parts of the scenic corner of Pakistan's restive northwest.
President Pervez Musharraf sent in thousands of troops in November to reassert government control over the valley. The army says it has retaken most of Swat, but attacks persist and the leader of the uprising, Mullah Fazlullah, remains at large.
Javed Iqbal, the deputy police chief of the Lakki Marwat district, and his driver were killed in a roadside bomb yesterday morning. The explosion occurred just as the pallbearers lifted the coffin to carry it toward the grave. One of the pallbearers was Mr. Iqbal's 16-year-old son Ghazan, who was killed.
IRAQ
Chaldean archbishop kidnapped in Mosul
MOSUL — Gunmen kidnapped the Chaldean Catholic archbishop as he left a church in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday and killed his driver and two guards, police said.
In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI deplored the kidnapping of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho and urged the gunmen to free the prelate. A former archbishop of Mosul, Basile Georges Casmoussa, was kidnapped at gunpoint in 2005 but was released after one day.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said Ali Hassan al-Majid, or "Chemical Ali," Saddam Hussein's cousin and once one of the most feared men in Iraq, will be hanged within days after the presidency council has given the go-ahead.
CHINA
Access allowed to MIAs record
SHANGHAI — A window has opened for families of the 8,100 American servicemen missing since the Korean War, with China agreeing yesterday to allow access to sensitive military records — but only to Chinese researchers at first.
In another sign of warming U.S.-China military relations, the two countries also agreed to set up a military hot line for communicating in emergencies, a step long sought by the U.S. to build trust and transparency in their relations.
The agreement came at the end of annual defense talks between the two nations in Shanghai.
JAPAN
Rape case dropped against Marine
TOKYO — A U.S. Marine who was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in southern Japan has been released after prosecutors dropped the charges at the teenager's request, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was arrested on Feb. 10 on suspicion of raping the girl on the southern island of Okinawa, fueling nationwide furor over crimes involving U.S. troops in Japan.
Japanese police earlier said Sgt. Hadnott admitted that he forced the girl down and kissed her but that he denied raping her.
SERBIA
80 charged in embassy attacks
BELGRADE — Police yesterday filed criminal charges against 80 persons in connection with attacks on the U.S. and other embassies last week.
Nationalist demonstrators angry about Washington's recognition of an independent Kosovo broke into the U.S. compound last week and set an empty office on fire. One protester died. Rioters also targeted the embassies of Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Belgium, Germany and Bosnia.
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