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  #241  
Old Thursday, February 14, 2008
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Benazir murder planned in 2007: CID


LAHORE: CID Additional Inspector General (Addl IG) Chaudhry Abdul Majeed said in a press conference on Wednesday that the plot to kill Benazir Bhutto was made in 2007, Geo News reported. He said two men charged with Benazir Bhutto’s assassination confessed to their involvement in the attack and were remanded in custody. Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat were cousins, he said, and had been class fellows at the Hazro seminary, where they also received militant training. The arrested men revealed that five people were involved in the attack, including two prepared for suicide attacks – Bilal, who shot at Benazir and blew himself up, and Ikramullah, who was prepared to attack Benazir if she left from the other gate. The fifth suspect was not identified because the Addl IG said it could affect the investigation. He said Gul had confessed to providing an explosives-laden jacket, a grenade, a 30-bore pistol and sunglasses to Bilal. Bilal, the attacker, visited Liaquat Bagh on December 27 twice between 8am and 9am in a taxi, the Addl IG told the press conference. Bilal was positioned on Gate 1 of the site and Ikramullah on Gate 2, he said. imran asghar/
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-2-2008_pg1_12
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‘Five involved in assassination’




By Mohammad Asghar


RAWALPINDI, Feb 13: A five-man group was involved in the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, but their link with militant commander Baitullah Mehsud has not been established, Chaudhry Abdul Majid, the Additional Inspector General of CID who is heading the government’s investigation into the assassination, told a press conference on Wednesday.

He said of the five, two had been captured, the man who fired shots later blew himself up and the fourth, another suicide bomber who was at the other end of Liaquat Bagh, escaped. He was waiting to strike if the first shooter failed. The “handler” is yet be traced.

It was the second press conference by Chaudhry Majid on Ms Bhutto’s assassination, but the question who was behind the plot remained unanswered.

“The planning of the Dec 27 assassination of Ms Bhutto was made by the group in Nov 2007,” he said, adding: “Their link with militant commander Baitullah Mehsud has not been established so far.”

Officials had on Feb 7 claimed to have arrested two important suspects -- Husnan Gul and Rafaqat -- who allegedly facilitated the suicide attack on Ms Bhutto.

The AIG said Husnan Gul got jihad training in Merit Shah. There he developed acquaintance with some people who gave him the task to target the armed forces and police in Rawalpindi.

“Former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was on their target list and they had made some attempts on him but did not succeed. Ahmedia Library at the Committee Chowk and Abu Huraira Masjid near the Transit Camp were among their targets,” Mr Majeed said.

He said that the same group was behind the September 4 suicide attack in RA Bazar. One army officer and 10 other people were killed and 12 injured in the blast.

The AIG identified the suicide attacker of RA Bazar as Usman, adding that a suicide attack in the Golf Course club had been carried out by Shahid and the same group was behind it. Eight people were killed and 13 others injured in that blast.

Mr Majeed said Saeed alias Bilal, who carried out the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto, and Ikramullah, who was covering the suicide attacker, had come to Rawalpindi on Dec 26. They were picked up by Rafaqat from the Pirwadhai bus stand. Rafaqat took them to Husnan Gul’s house in Quaid-i-Azam colony where they stayed.

He said Rafaqat and one of his accomplices had carried out a round of Liaquat Bagh.

“It was Husnan who provided a suicide vest and an optical device to Saeed, while suicide jacket, pistol and optical device were also given to Ikramullah,” the AIG added.

He said the group arrived at the Committee Chowk on a taxi and later went to Liaquat Bagh via Iqbal Road and College Road.

He said that one of their accomplices went inside the Bagh who informed the others outside about the arrival of Ms Bhutto. “They had attempted to bring Saeed alias Bilal inside Liaquat Bagh to carry out the suicide attack on the rally, but they could not do so due to security,” Mr Majeed said.

He said that there had been five people present in the vicinity of Liaquat Bagh and it was Saeed who fired shots and later blew himself up.Answering a question, Mr Majeed said the investigators had not been able to find Ms Bhutto’s “dupata” she was wearing at the time.

He said that during the interrogation, the accused said that they were angry over Ms Bhutto’s pro-West attitude and they were afraid of strong action against them if she came to power.

Husnan Gul had been a madressah student in Hazro. Rafaqat is his cousin and his sister is married to Husnan and lives in Quaid-i-Azam colony.

Meanwhile, the two suspects arrested in connection with the killing of Ms Bhutto’s were produced before the court of Special Judicial Magistrate Chaudhry Taufiq Ahmed on Wednesday where their statements were recorded amid tight security.

Husnan Gul and Rafaqat were brought to the court in a police armoured vehicle. They remained in the court for about five hours and were later taken to Adiala jail.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/14/top2.htm
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Article published Feb 13, 2008


Russia, China propose arms ban in space



February 13, 2008

By John Zarocostas and Nicholas Kralev - GENEVA — Russia and China, in a direct challenge to the United States at a major U.N. conference on disarmament, yesterday officially proposed a global treaty to ban the use of weapons in space.

The United States, which just floated a proposal for an international pact banning the production of nuclear materials for weapons, argues that the Russian-Chinese proposal for a new space treaty is unrealistic.

Diplomats and private disarmament authorities, while not endorsing the space pact, warned that the Bush administration will have a hard time arguing against some sort of ban, given the widespread feeling that a weapons race in space would hurt the global arms-control regime.

"Weapons deployment in space by one state will inevitably result in a chain reaction," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told representatives of 65 countries attending the Geneva conference, in a clear reference to U.S. ambitions.

"This, in turn, is fraught with a new spiral in the arms race both in space and on Earth," he said.

Li Baodong, China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told The Washington Times, "We don't want to see the arms race in outer space. That's our intention. ... We want to see a peaceful use of the universe."

The United States opposed the idea of an international weapons treaty for space when Moscow first floated the idea in 2002, saying a 1967 treaty banning nuclear arms in space was sufficient.

U.S. officials argue that the Russian-Chinese idea would allow both countries to fire ground-based missiles into space or use satellites as weapons. China's military in January 2007 fired a ballistic missile that successfully destroyed one of its old weather satellites — an exercise that surprised and jolted Pentagon planners.

"Given the dual nature of space activities, trying to negotiate something with the idea that you can prohibit the deployment of weapons in outer space but not their development is ludicrous," one State Department official said, speaking on background.

Russia made its proposal after the Kremlin repeatedly criticized President Bush's plan for a new missile-defense program, and especially the U.S. intention to build part of the infrastructure in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Despite U.S. denials, the Kremlin sees the plan as a revival of the Reagan-era "Star Wars" idea, targeted again at Russia's vast nuclear arsenal.

"The plans to deploy a U.S. [anti-missile site] in Eastern Europe do not meet the demands of our time," Mr. Lavrov said in a lecture he delivered while attending the conference.

"We are being told that that is not directed against Russia. Yet [Otto von] Bismarck said that in military affairs, you have to judge capabilities, not intentions," he said.

Mr. Lavrov said in an interview that it would be up to the U.N. conferees to decide when formal talks on a space pact could begin. U.S. officials said their priority remains the nuclear-materials ban.

The timing of the talks "is for the conference to decide," Mr. Lavrov said.

He stressed that Moscow and Beijing for now are seeking only a "substantive discussion" of the space weapons ban — diplomatic jargon for something less than full-fledged treaty talks.

Senior diplomats from Western and developing countries said the high-profile Russian proposal is a sign that the Russians are back as players on the global arms-control stage.

"We're listening very carefully. There was a wider diplomatic overture and a new assertiveness in international politics and disarmament in the Kremlin," Austrian U.N. Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch said in an interview.

Senior arms-control analysts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Russia and China are concerned that the U.S. military will surge further ahead by dominating space with conventional weapons.

"It's the global strike capacity that worries Russia, China and others, as the U.S. Air Force would have the capability within 45 minutes to strike any surface on the globe," said one arms authority.

"It's equivalent to a Death Star."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/...plate=printart
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Operation launched to recover envoy Tariq


* 12 tribesmen held, 8 vehicles seized in crackdown
* Tribesmen block Peshawar-Torkham road in protest


Staff Report

PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped three more people in Khyber Agency where the political administration began a crackdown against tribesmen to rescue Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin.

The envoy went missing on his way to Afghanistan on Monday, and television reports said local Taliban had abducted him to trade him for their arrested commander Mansoor Dadullah. An official told Daily Times that the political administration arrested 12 men from the Jandakhel sub-tribe in Jamrud subdivision and impounded eight vehicles.

Landi Kotal Assistant Political Agent (APA) Ahmad Khan Aurakzai told Daily Times there was no ‘operation’. Asked which part of the agency was being focused on, he said: “Search is underway all over the Khyber Agency.”

Sources told Daily Times that unidentified men carrying weapons abducted four Khasadar Force (tribal police) personnel and three other men in the Prang Sam area of Jamrud subdivision. They freed the Khasadar Force men after torturing them, sources said, and fled with the others.

The Khasadars were on their way to the Torkham border with two Afghans who were to be deported, and a local resident who had to be interrogated.

NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said Tariq Azizuddin had not been taken outside Khyber Agency and would soon be rescued because of “significant information” the government had received. He was talking to reporters after the convocation of the City University on Thursday.

Tribesmen protest: Meanwhile, tribesmen from the Jandakhel tribe blocked the Peshawar-Torkham road to protest against what they called unlawful arrests of men from their tribe under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR).

The tribesmen blocked the road at the Kata Pushta area near Prang Sam post. They warned of more protests if the administration did not release their men and stop the operation in their area. Tariq Azizuddin had gone missing on his way from Peshawar to the Torkham border crossing on Monday when he lost contact with authorities in the Khyber Agency. The Khyber Agency political administration had said it was not informed Azizuddin would travel on the route. Reports said his vehicle was found in Landi Kotal.

Geo television reported on Wednesday that local Taliban had claimed they had abducted him and would release him in return for Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema told reporters on Wednesday that the government had not received any formal information indicating that Taliban had claimed responsibility.
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February 15, 2008


Smaller Version of the Solar System Is Discovered

By DENNIS OVERBYE

Astronomers said Wednesday that they had found a miniature version of our own solar system 5,000 light-years across the galaxy — the first planetary system that really looks like our own, with outer giant planets and room for smaller inner planets.

“It looks like a scale model of our solar system,” said Scott Gaudi, an assistant professor of astronomy at Ohio State University. Dr. Gaudi led an international team of 69 professional and amateur astronomers who announced the discovery in a news conference with reporters.

Their results are being published Friday in the journal Science. The discovery, they said, means that our solar system may be more typical of planetary systems across the universe than had been thought.

In the newly discovered system, a planet about two-thirds of the mass of Jupiter and another about 90 percent of the mass of Saturn are orbiting a reddish star at about half the distances that Jupiter and Saturn circle our own Sun. The star is about half the mass of the Sun.

Neither of the two giant planets is a likely abode for life as we know it. But, Dr. Gaudi said, warm rocky planets — suitable for life — could exist undetected in the inner parts of the system.

“This could be a true solar system analogue,” he said.

Sara Seager, a theorist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not part of the team, said that “right now in exoplanets we are on an inexorable path to finding other Earths.” Dr. Seager praised the discovery as “a big step in finding out if our planetary system is alone.”

Since 1995, around 250 planets outside the solar system, or exoplanets, have been discovered. But few of them are in systems that even faintly resemble our own. In many cases, giant Jupiter-like planets are whizzing around in orbits smaller than that of Mercury. But are these typical of the universe?

Almost all of those planets were discovered by the so-called wobble method, in which astronomers measure the gravitational tug of planets on their parent star as they whir around it. This technique is most sensitive to massive planets close to their stars.

The new discovery was made by a different technique that favors planets more distant from their star. It is based on a trick of Einsteinian gravity called microlensing. If, in the ceaseless shifting of the stars, two of them should become almost perfectly aligned with Earth, the gravity of the nearer star can bend and magnify the light from the more distant one, causing it to get much brighter for a few days.

If the alignment is perfect, any big planets attending the nearer star will get into the act, adding their own little boosts to the more distant starlight.

That is exactly what started happening on March 28, 2006, when a star 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius began to pass in front of one 21,000 light-years more distant, causing it to flash. That was picked up by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, or Ogle, a worldwide collaboration of observers who keep watch for such events.

Ogle in turn immediately issued a worldwide call for continuous observations of what is now officially known as OGLE-2006-BLG-109. The next 10 days, as Andrew P. Gould, a professor of mathematical and physical sciences at Ohio State said, were “extremely frenetic.”

Among those who provided crucial data and appeared as lead authors of the paper in Science were a pair of amateur astronomers from Auckland, New Zealand, Jennie McCormick and Grant Christie, both members of a group called the Microlensing Follow-Up Network, or MicroFUN.

Somewhat to the experimenters’ surprise, by clever manipulation they were able to dig out of the data not just the masses of the interloper star and its two planets, but also rough approximations of their orbits, confirming the similarity to our own system. David P. Bennett, an assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame, said, “This event has taught us that we were able to learn more about these planets than we thought possible.”

As a result, microlensing is poised to become a major new tool in the planet hunter’s arsenal, “a new flavor of the month,” Dr. Seager said.

Only six planets, including the new ones, have been discovered by microlensing so far, and the Scorpius event being reported Friday is the first in which the alignment of the stars was close enough for astronomers to detect more than one planet at once. Their success at doing just that on their first try bodes well for the future, astronomers say.

Alan Boss, a theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, said, “The fact that these are hard to detect by microlensing means there must be a good number of them — solar system analogues are not rare.”
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February 15, 2008


U.S. to Attempt to Shoot Down Faulty Satellite


By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON — The military will try to shoot down a crippled spy satellite in the next two weeks, senior officials said Thursday. The officials laid out a high-tech plan to intercept the satellite over the Pacific just before it tumbles uncontrollably to Earth carrying toxic fuel.

President Bush ordered the action to prevent any possible contamination from the hazardous rocket fuel on board, and not out of any concern that parts of the spacecraft might survive and reveal its secrets, the officials said.

The challenging mission to demolish the satellite on the fringes of space will rely on an unforeseen use of ship-based weapons developed to defend against ballistic missile attacks.

The effort will be a real-world test of the nation’s antiballistic missile systems and its antisatellite abilities, even though the Pentagon said it was not using the effort to test its most exotic weapons or send a message to any adversaries.

The ramifications of the operation are diplomatic, as well as military and scientific, in part because the United States criticized China last year when Beijing tested an antisatellite system with an old weather satellite as a target.

The three-ship convoy assigned to the new task will stalk the satellite’s orbital path across the northern Pacific, tracking the satellite as it circles the globe 16 times a day. The sensors and weapons in the operation, modified from antiaircraft defenses for use as a shield against incoming missiles and installed on Navy cruisers, have been used just in carefully controlled tests.

This time, the target is not an incoming warhead or a dummy test target, but a doomed experimental satellite the size of a school bus and weighing 5,000 pounds. It died shortly after being launched in December 2006 and contains a half-ton of hydrazine, a fuel that officials said could burn the lungs and even be deadly in extended doses.

The tank is believed to be sturdy enough to survive re-entry, based on studies of the tank that fell to Earth after the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003.

The military and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have calculated that the best opportunity to shoot down the satellite with an interceptor missile is just before it re-enters the atmosphere and starts to tumble and break apart on a random path toward the surface, an opportunity that begins in three to four days and continues for eight days. At that point, the debris would be quickly dragged out of orbit.

In many ways, the task resembles shooting down an intercontinental nuclear missile, although this target is larger, its path is better known and, if a first shot misses, it will continue to circle the Earth for long enough to allow a second or even a third try.

The weapon of choice, after modifications that are under way, is the Standard Missile 3 on Aegis cruisers. The defensive missiles and supporting radar were being modified and tested to shoot down enemy warheads. So the software is being reprogrammed to home in on the radar and other signatures of a large satellite instead of a ballistic missile, officials said.

Although White House, military and NASA officials described the president’s decision as motivated solely by wanting to avoid a spread of toxic fuel in an inhabited area, the effort has implications for missile defense and antisatellite weapons.

“This is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings,” said James F. Jeffrey, deputy national security adviser.

The United States has opposed calls for a treaty limiting antisatellite or other weapons in space. On Thursday, officials promised that the United States would remain wholly compliant with treaties requiring the notification to other nations before launching a missile at the disabled satellite.

The American military shot down a satellite in September 1985 in a test of an antisatellite system under development. In that experiment, an F-15 Eagle fighter fired a missile.

Gen. James E. Cartwright of the Marines, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that if the first missile failed to strike the satellite, an assessment would be made within days and that two more missiles were ready. General Cartwright described little downside in trying to destroy the satellite.

“If we fire at the satellite,” he said, “the worst is that we miss. And then we have a known situation, which is where we are today. If we graze the satellite, we’re still better off, because likely we’ll still bring it down sooner, and therefore more predictably. If we hit the hydrazine tank, then we’ve improved our potential to mitigate that threat. So the regret factor of not acting clearly outweighed the regret factors of acting.”

Officials said the space shuttle mission that is under way will have ended before the launching order is given. Although the International Space Station remains staffed, its orbit is higher than that of the dead satellite.

“We looked very carefully at increased risks to shuttle and station, and broadly speaking, they are negligible,” said Michael D. Griffin, the NASA administrator.

Representative Ellen O. Tauscher of California, considered a Democratic Party expert on missile defense, agreed that the United States had to take responsibility for any threat posed by the satellite, but warned that the nation needed to be open in the effort, because it would be a precedent for other countries.

“Just like our partners in space, we need to be responsible for the risks we create,” said Ms. Tauscher, chairwoman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. “This can’t be a demonstration of an offensive capability.”

Jeffrey G. Lewis, an arms control specialist at the New America Foundation, warned that China would cite the intercept to justify its antisatellite test last year.

“The politics are terrible,” Mr. Lewis said. “It will be used by the Chinese to excuse their hit-to-kill test. And it really strengthens the perceived link between antisatellite systems and missile defenses. We will be using a missile defense system to shoot down a satellite.”

In January 2007, the Chinese fired an SC-19 missile at a target satellite orbiting 475 miles overhead. About 1,600 pieces of debris, its remnants, were detected soon after that test.

On Thursday, American officials said there was no comparison between that test and their plans. The test was at a far higher altitude than the near Earth orbit of the failing satellite.

Debris from the Chinese test, officials said, may orbit and pose a threat to space vehicles for decades, and debris from the American satellite, if hit by the missile, should fall within weeks.

David C. Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists said the American satellite was far larger than the one that China destroyed. Mr. Wright predicted the missile strike could produce 100,000 pieces of debris, some smaller than a marble but still dangerous to vehicles in space.

He agreed with Pentagon projections that most of the debris would fall into the atmosphere within weeks. But, he said, a risk remained that some debris could be kicked into a higher orbit. Specialists in spy satellites have speculated that the problem satellite, managed by the National Reconnaissance Office, is an experimental imagery device built by Lockheed Martin and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Delta II rocket.

Michael R. Gordon and David Stout contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/us...gewanted=print
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Serbia plans action to stop Kosovo independence



BELGRADE, Feb 14: Serbia’s government on Thursday denounced any unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence -- expected within days -- as “invalid and void”.

Serbia issued the defiant declaration hours before the UN Security Council met at Belgrade’s request to discuss Kosovo.

“Such a (move) would represent a flagrant and unilateral act of secession of a part of the territory of the Republic of Serbia, and is therefore invalid and void,” the Serbian government said.

A secret “action plan” to be implemented when Kosovo declares independence is believed to include retaliatory steps to encourage the province’s 100,000-strong Serb minority to shun the declaration and formally keep their territories under Belgrade’s control -- a de facto partitioning of the province of two million people.

The action plan contains no provisions for military action against Kosovo, now monitored by 16,000 Nato troops.

“Kosovo remains an inalienable part of Serbia,” Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told reporters, adding that Serbian authorities will “expand, strengthen and beef up” their presence in Kosovo.

The government statement said all Serbs living in Kosovo remain “citizens of Serbia and have the full right not to recognise any illegal declaration of unilateral independence” by Kosovo’s Albanians.

The government also demanded that the UN Security Council “immediately annul” any Kosovo declaration of independence.

In Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, a lawmaker said the Serbian resolution would have no bearing on Kosovo’s intention to declare independence.

“What Serbia does is irrelevant,” legislator Vlora Citaku said. “Serbia can only invalidate decisions of its own assembly. Kosovo has its own path and one that is internationally supported.”

Kosovo, where 90 per cent of the population is ethnic Albanian, has been administered by the United Nations with backing from NATO troops since 1999, when NATO waged an air war to stop a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

In April of last year, UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended that Kosovo be granted internationally supervised independence.

But the internationally mediated talks that followed failed to yield an agreement between the ethnic Albanian leadership, who sought full statehood, and Serbia, which refuses to give up a province it considers its historic heartland. Kosovo is expected to declare independence unilaterally on Sunday or Monday.

—Agencies
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India calls for naval alliance



NEW DELHI, Feb 14: India called for an alliance of navies to boost security at sea at its first naval summit on Thursday with nations that have a stake in the busy maritime lanes of the Indian Ocean.

Twenty-six representatives of navies from countries including Australia, Egypt, France and Sri Lanka are attending the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, seen by experts as an effort by New Delhi to assert its strategic presence.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, launching the two-day event, said regional cooperation would help combat piracy and terrorism. “Recent years have seen a rise in crimes such as terrorism, smuggling, including of narcotics, arms and weapons, and piracy and robbery,” he said.—AFP
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EU mission not to visit Waziristan constituencies



By Our Reporter


KARACHI, Feb 14: Leader of European Union election observers Michael Gahler said on Thursday that the mission had decided not to visit about a dozen constituencies in Waziristan and the NWFP because of security reasons.

He said there was no restriction by the government on the observers’ movement and the decision had been taken by the mission.

He said it was the political will of the European Union to see Pakistan back on the democratic path, of which elections were one part and indication of addressing issues. He made it clear that the mission was not here to set a political agenda.

The mission reached its full strength of 112 by deploying 31 short-term observers on Thursday.

“This helps us to ensure more consistent election observation,” Mr Gahler said. He said the observers would stay in the field beyond the election day to observe consolidation of results.

The short-term observers are from 20 European Union countries as well as Norway and Canada. They will be deployed for eight days in the four provinces and the capital. EU observers have been in Pakistan since Dec 8, 2007.

Mr Gahler also referred to his meetings with Muttahida Qaumi Movement deputy convener Dr Farooq Sattar, leader of the opposition in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani and presidential candidate Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad.


http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/15/top12.htm
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Twin Suicide Bombings at Iraqi Mosque Kill Four


MOSUL, Iraq — A double attack yesterday by two suicide bombers outside a crowded Shiite mosque in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar killed at least four people and wounded 17, police said. Tal Afar police chief Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Al-Juburi said security forces shot both bombers but that the men still managed to detonate their suicide vests.

The attacks came during Friday prayers when the Sheikh Jawad Al-Sadiq mosque was crowded with worshippers. Juburi told AFP that one suicide bomber approached the mosque but was intercepted by guards, who shot him in the legs as he threw a grenade and detonated his vest, injuring some guards.

“As people came running out of the mosque to see what was happening, a second suicide bomber rushed into the crowd. The guards shot him but he managed to detonate his vest,” he said. “Because he was close to the crowd he managed to kill four people. In all 17 people were wounded.” Tal Afar is near the Syrian border in the northern province of Nineveh, one of the provinces where Iraqi and US officials say Al-Qaeda in Iraq has regrouped after being chased out of Baghdad and surrounding belts.


http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&sect...=16&m=2&y=2008
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