2010-06-11
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a wedding party in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 40 people and injuring 87 others, officials said Thursday.
At least 86 people were injured Wednesday night when a suicide bomber targeted the celebration in the Arghandab district, Kandahar provincial governor Toryalai Wesa told a press conference.
The attack, which took place in Nagan village, some 15 km north of Kandahar city, sparked condemnation by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and members of the international community.
'Weddings are all over the world not only good occasions but occasions of sanctity that deserve protection and respect,' Karzai said at a joint press conference with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron.
'For suicide bombers to go and kill people (at a wedding) is not only against Islam, it is an act against the whole of humanity,' Karzai said.
Cameron, who was in Afghanistan on a surprise visit, also deplored the attack.
'I condemn this outrageous act,' top UN envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, said in a statement issued in Kabul. 'To specifically target people who were gathering at a moment of happiness to celebrate a wedding shows a total disregard for civilian life.'
The attack targeted up to 1,000 participants, including pro-government militiamen, during the wedding party of Mohammad Sharif's son, according to Wesa. Sharif is a middle-ranking official in Kandahar's provincial government.
Both Wesa and the interior ministry blamed 'enemies of Afghanistan', a term often used by officials to describe Taliban fighters, while the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that militants were responsible.
'This ruthless violence brought to the Afghan people at what should have been a time for celebration demonstrates the Taliban's sickening and indiscriminate tactics to try to intimidate the citizens of Afghanistan,' ISAF deputy commander General Nick Parker said.
'However, it only proves they have no regard for human life,' he said in a statement.
However, Qari Yousif Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said Taliban fighters were not involved in the attack. He claimed in a statement posted on the rebels' website that the US military hit the house with an airstrike.
Ahmadi said foreign forces were trying to defame the Taliban by conducing 'mysterious explosions that kill civilians'.
Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban and its leaders' headquarters until late 2001, is set to be the scene of a major operation by NATO-led troops this summer.
Thousands of extra US troops are expected to join other NATO forces in the region in the coming months. The military escalation is aimed at driving the militants out of Kandahar and stemming the rise of the militants in the volatile region.
2010-05-31 ::: Israeli commandos fire on flotilla aid activists
At least ten, and as many as 20, passengers on the Gaza aid flotilla have died from Israeli inflicted wounds.
In a bloody end to an enormous aid mission to deliver supplies to Gaza the people were killed when Israeli forces stormed a ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists 64 kilometres (forty miles) from the Gaza coast, in international waters.
The ships and boats had been bound for Gaza with materials which included cement and wheelchairs.
The Israeli Navy initially said ten of the activists had been killed. The Jerusalem Post is now saying the IDF has said fifteen people were killed, while other local media put the number as high as 20. Dozens more have been wounded and have been evacuated to Israeli hospitals. Around seven Israeli commandos are also said to be injured, two of them seriously, but most moderately.
Black-clad Israeli commandos descended from helicopters in the early hours of the morning Monday, in total darkness, to board the ships which were steaming toward Gaza port, before clashing with the aid-carrying passengers. As the commandos were landing on the ships they hoisted white flags.
The ships were carrying more than 700 passengers on the final stretch of a journey to break the blockade of Gaza, which had been imposed by Israel in 2007.
The boats had begun their journey toward Gaza from international waters off Cyprus on Sunday, with organisers saying they hoped to enter Gaza waters during the daylight hours.
Three Israeli warships left their naval base in the northern coastal city of Haifa on a mission to intercept the flotilla about six hours after the mission left Cyprus.
Israel had at the weekend claimed the aid mission was illegal, but had made assurances that the Israeli military would treat the convoy as a peaceful enterprise.
Officials said the boats would be intercepted before being towed to Ashdod port where the passengers would be detained and deported.
Palestinian sources described the attack as a "massacre," while Bahrain called it "barbaric."
The Israeli Navy said the activists on board were planning to "lynch" the commandos, and claimed weapons were taken from two of them. A navy spokesman said that when commandos were confronted with "this life-threatening and violent activity" they engaged in riot-dispersal means before opening fire.
Initially the Israeli Navy said the activists on board the flotilla ships had brought weapons with them. It later clarified in a statement that the weapons were "stolen" from the Israeli commandos.
"IDF naval personnel encountered severe violence, including use of weaponry prepared in advance in order to attack them, as well as having their weapons stolen by protesters and used against them. The forces operated in adherence with operational commands and took all necessary actions in order to avoid violence, but to no avail," the Israeli Navy statement said.
While the bloody clash has been given a different slant by both sides, journalists in the region are being hampered and frustrated by media bans which operate in Israel and Gaza.
With news of the botched military raid now coming forth, Israeli security forces have been put on high alert to ensure there is no retaliation from the country's Arab population.
The Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza has urged Arabs and Muslims to rise up in protest against the Israeli action.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has slammed the killings, while Arab League chief Amr Mussa said the raid was a crime against what was to have been a peaceful humanitarian mission.
Israel now finds itself immersed in another diplomatic scandal as its long-time Middle Eastern ally, Turkey, demands a full explanation for why ships carrying its flag were stormed by Israeli soldiers in international waters.
The European Union has also condemned the clashes and called on Israel to allow humanitarian supplies into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
2010-05-31 ::: Palestinian children held in Israeli custody in danger of sexual abuse
An international children's rights group has said it has evidence that Palestinian children held in Israeli custody have been subjected to sexual abuse.
The Geneva-based Defence for Children International has collected affadavits from over one hundred Palestinian children to say that efforts to extract confessions from them came with threats of rape and other abuses.
The mistreatment has been condemned by DCI officials who have said previous complaints about the alleged abuse to Israeli authorities have not been heeded or dismissed as untrue.
The organisation has now submitted its evidence to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to try to get Israel to stamp out the alleged abuse.
Al Jazeera has managed to interview some of the children, who have confirmed mistreatment by their Israeli captors.
Some of the children who were interviewed said they had been sexually abused or threatened with sexual assault to pressure them into confessions.
All Palestinians, minors and adults, are tried in Israeli military courts.
Palestinian children between the ages of 12 and 16 are tried as children but from 16 years onwards, they are tried as adults.
There are currently 340 Palestinian children in Israeli jails, mostly convicted of throwing stones, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 20 years.
2010-05-18 ::: Marine general says troops can expect more 'tough fighting' in Afghanistan
American and other foreign troops that are doing duty in war-ravaged Afghanistan, can expect more "tough fighting" in the days to come, warned Marine Major General Richard Mills during a teleconference with reporters at Camp Pendleton.
"I think we have some sacrifices we're going to have to make," the Los Angeles Times quoted Major General Mills, as saying on Friday.
Marines from Camp Pendleton and other bases are making progress in defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan, but there is more "tough fighting" ahead as the war enters a critical year, the top Marine general in Afghanistan told local reporters.
Nine Marines have been killed this month in southern Helmand province, on the Pakistani border. A helicopter was downed by enemy fire, a rarity in the nine-year conflict. Buried roadside bombs continue to take their toll on Marines and Afghan civilians.
Maj. Gen. Mills said he believed advances were being made in routing the Taliban, winning the allegiance of Afghan civilians, and training the Afghan army and police force. But there will be ore combat, he said. (ANI)
2010-05-13 ::: Afghanistan wants to be designated a significant U.S. ally
Visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his advisors are pressing the Obama administration to designate Afghanistan as a significant U.S. ally.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Afghan team is also pressing hard for a new security agreement.
The paper quoted a senior Afghan official as saying that both objectives reflect Karzai's desire to use his visit to Washington to lay the groundwork for a closer, long-term security relationship with Washington.
Afghan officials are particularly interested in the "major non- NATO ally" designation, a status enjoyed by Japan, Australia, South Korea, Israel and other strategically important countries outside Europe.
The designation brings with it access to U.S. military technology and other benefits.
These issues are being discussed this week, but U.S. officials are cautious about the steps needed to significantly expand future U.S. security commitments.
No new agreements are considered likely as part of this week's visit.
The senior Afghan official predicted a new agreement could be reached by the end of this year. (ANI)
