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Anti-US Protests in Afghanistan
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Angry demonstrators protest against civilian deaths caused by US-led forces in Afghanistan.
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Thousands of demonstrators clashed with police in eastern Afghanistan in protest at the US killing of three civilians in an overnight raid.
At least two people were killed and seven others wounded in the protest.
The protestors had blocked a highway through Nangarhar province on Saturday linking the capital Kabul with Pakistan.
“Police tried to stop them as they threw stones at the police. Police then fired at the crowd. One person was killed and three others were injured,“ said a local physician, Darya Khan.
An AFP reporter was shown the body of a man whom protestors said was killed in the police action. Other demonstrators alleged three people were killed but this could not be confirmed.
A doctor in the nearby city of Jalalabad said six people were admitted to hospitals. “They were all wounded by gunshots but their wounds were not deep. They were treated and released,“ Baz Mohammad Sherzad said.
Provincial police chief Sayed Abdul Ghafar denied his men had caused any casualties, saying they had only fired into the air after being shot at from the crowd.
Ghafar, however, said that--contrary to US-led coalition claims--the men killed in an operation overnight in the Shinwar district were not militants or from the extremist Taliban movement.
“The coalition conducted independent operations in Shinwar and martyred three people. They were civilians,“ he told AFP.
Before the demonstration was dispersed, protestors chanted slogans against foreign troops, Bush and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
“The Americans killed three civilians,“ said demonstrator Pizwan Khan. “They were my neighbors and I knew they were not Taliban,“ he told AFP above shouts of “Death to America, death to Bush, death to Karzai.“
Others said the dead were an elderly man shot in a mosque and two other men, employed as drivers, shot in their homes.
But the US-led military coalition said it had only killed militants who had attacked troops searching for a “foreign fighter network.“
“During the operation, several militants were killed when they attacked coalition forces. Nine militants suspected of foreign fighter facilitation were detained,“ it said.
It is often difficult to verify events in Afghanistan, where thousands of Afghan and international soldiers are working against several rebel networks, some with Al-Qaeda backing.
International troops are often accused of mistaking civilians for rebels or being heavy-handed in their operations; the soldiers say they work on verified information and have the right to self-protection if attacked.
The issue of civilian casualties is deeply sensitive with many Afghans already wary of the presence of foreign troops seven years after they helped to drive out the extremist Taliban government.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Taliban are fighting to topple the US-supported government in Kabul and have demanded the removal of the international troops, most of them westerners, on which the country relies.
Unfulfilled Promises
Meanwhile, former Afghan interior minister said nothing has been improved in Afghanistan because other countries, including the United States, have failed to abide by their promises.
“We know what happened to the pledges of billions of dollars for Afghanistan. We see a rise in extremism in Afghanistan because the world did not honor their pledges,“ Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said on Saturday, the ’Daily Star’ reported.
Sherpao said “the US has pledged billions for Afghanistan but nothing has happened.“
He added that peace will not sustain if Afghanistan continues to look for military solutions to militancy.
“Military solutions will not sustain until Afghanistan finds a peaceful solution,“ he told reporters at his house.
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Power Blackouts Hit Gaza
The Gaza Strip faced new power blackouts on Sunday after its only electricity plant shut down after receiving no fuel from Israel in four days, senior Palestinian officials said.
“There is a very serious crisis with respect to electricity,“ Jamal Al-Dardasawi, spokesman for the Gaza electrical distribution company, told AFP.
“With the power station having shut down we are only receiving 120 megawatts from Israel and we need around 250 megawatts. There is a shortfall of around 50 percent,“ he said.
The Gaza plant provides 30 percent of the impoverished and densely populated territory’s electricity, with most of the rest directly supplied by Israel and a small amount coming from Egypt. Israel cut off fuel shipments to the Hamas-ruled territory after Palestinian militants attacked Gaza’s main Nahal Oz fuel terminal on April 9, killing two Israeli civilian employees.
It later resumed the supply of industrial-grade fuel for the power plant, which provides most of the electricity for Gaza City and surrounding areas, despite several subsequent attacks on Nahal Oz and other crossings.
An Israeli army spokesman on Saturday said the last shipment of fuel for the plant entered the territory on Wednesday and that another was due to arrive on Sunday, but the terminal remain closed.
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Siniora Retreats, Army Takes Control
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Lebanese men wave national flags in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday, following fierce battles between rival clans.
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Lebanese Prime Minister Foaud Siniora’s government has decided to back the army commander Michel Suleiman’s recent proposal to end the crisis.
During a meeting, Siniora and his ministers decided to support Suleiman’s proposal for reestablishing security and ending the current crisis in the country, Al-Hayat daily reported.
A source close to the Lebanese government said that the government is ready to provide the necessary conditions for the implementation of Suleiman’s blueprint, which means opposition forces have succeeded in winning concessions from Siniora’s government.
Lebanese troops patrolled Beirut on Sunday after Hezbollah fighters pulled back from areas they had under control in gunbattles with supporters of the embattled government of Siniora.
But fighting broke out overnight in Tripoli between pro- and anti-government gunmen, Reuters said.
Security sources said at least two people were killed and five were wounded before the army deployed to end the clashes in Lebanon’s second largest city.
Police put the toll of five days of fighting in Beirut and elsewhere at 44 dead and 128 wounded.
There were no gunmen in sight but youths maintained barricades on some crucial roads, ensuring Beirut’s air and sea ports remained closed.
The Hezbollah-led opposition said it would maintain a campaign of “civil disobedience“ until all its demands were met.
Hezbollah announced on Saturday it was ending its armed presence in Beirut after the army overturned government decisions against it.
A security official said fierce battles erupted overnight in Tripoli between Sunni supporters of the western-backed government and members of an Alawite sect loyal to Hezbollah.
One woman was killed and at least five people were wounded as thousands fled the clashes. The fighting eased by mid-morning and the army was able to enter the affected areas.
While tension eased in Beirut, there was little progress in efforts to resolve the political disputes that have plunged Lebanon into its worst crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.
Hezbollah controlled much of west Beirut on Friday after its fighters routed supporters of the ruling coalition.
The fighting started on Wednesday after the government said it was taking action against Hezbollah’s communications network and sacked the head of security at Beirut airport, who was later reinstated by the army.
Arabs Meet
The Arab League held an emergency meeting in Cairo called by Saudi Arabia and Egypt to discuss the Lebanese crisis on Sunday.
Siniora, whose legitimacy is disputed by the opposition, on Saturday handed responsibility for the moves against Hezbollah to the army, seen as a neutral player which has sought to avoid conflict with either side.
The army said it would handle the issue of the communications network in a way “that would not harm public interest and the security of the resistance“. It also said it was reinstating the head of airport security.
Jumblatt Blamed
Hezbollah on Saturday accused supporters of Druze community leader Walid Jumblatt, a member of the ruling coalition, of kidnapping three of its members and killing two of them, AFP reported.
“They were shot and stabbed with knives and their bodies were thrown in front of the Iman Hospital in Aley,“ a Druze and Christian town east of Beirut, the group said in a statement, adding that the fate of the third was unknown.
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Attack on Al-Qaeda Kills 4 Iraqis
Four people, including a woman and a child, have been killed in an operation against Al-Qaeda near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the US military said Sunday.
The woman and child were riding in a vehicle targeted south of Mosul. Two armed men were also killed, AP reported.
In Sunday’s statement, the military regretted killing “civilians“ in the operation Saturday.
Iraq’s security forces on Saturday launched a new operation against Al-Qaeda. Mosul was considered the last important urban staging ground for Al-Qaeda in Iraq after losing its strongholds in Baghdad and other areas.
In other incident, an American soldier was killed in a vehicle accident near Al-Asad on Saturday.
The military said the soldier was killed when the vehicle he was traveling in rolled over near Al-Asad, home to the second largest air base in Iraq, AP reported.
The military has not released the name of the soldier, pending the notification of relatives.
Sunday’s announcement raises the number of the US military losses in Iraq to at least 4,075 since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
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Jumblatt an Accomplice
An ex-Israeli army commander says Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt had cooperated with Mossad in assassinating Hezbollah Commander Imad Mughniyah.
Gazans Warned
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday warned that Israel will use such force against Gaza that will lead to calm.
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Sudan Cuts Ties With Chad
Sudan has cut ties with neighboring Chad, following accusations that it supported rebels who attacked Khartoum.
Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir “announces the severing of relations with Chad“, the official news agency Suna said.
The announcement came after hundreds of Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality movement clashed with Sudanese security forces outside the capital Khartoum, thousands of miles from their usual area of operation in the far west of the country. Sudan accused Chad of being behind the rebel attack - an accusation Chad has denied.
Clashes With Darfur Rebels
Hundreds of rebels from war-ravaged Darfur clashed with Sudanese security forces on the doorstep of the capital Saturday in a dramatic widening of the five-year-old conflict.
It was the first foray into the seat of the Sudanese government by a rebel group once confined to the western region, which is deeply scarred by the struggle between the ethnic African rebels and the Arab-dominated central government, AP reported.
The country’s interior minister said government forces successfully “chased“ away the rebels by nightfall, about three hours after the first outbreak of violence, and killed a rebel leader and his aide. State television showed footage of the fighters in handcuffs and soldiers driving confiscated jeeps through empty streets, saluting colleagues standing at attention.
But a rebel leader denied his fighters suffered heavy casualties and said some took up positions inside Khartoum, while others remained in its twin city, Omdurman.
US Condemns Attacks
The United States on Saturday condemned the rebel attacks in Sudan and called for an immediate end to the fighting, Xinhua reported.
The United States condemns the recent attack by Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) forces in the area of Omdurman, near Khartoum,“ the State Department said in a statement.
“We call for an immediate end to fighting. These actions undermine the ongoing efforts of the international community to support resolution of the conflicts in Sudan,“ the statement said. The United States “implores both JEM and the Government of Sudan to guard against attacks on civilians in Omdurman and Darfur, and warns both sides against taking any retaliatory action based on ethnicity or tribe,“ the statement added.
The Sudanese government confirmed earlier fighting took place Saturday in the capital Khartoum between army troops and rebels coming from the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur. The infiltration attempt by the JEM rebels had been crushed by the Sudanese government troops.
The JEM, led by Khalil Ibrahim, is believed to have the most powerful rebel forces among some two dozens of rebel groups in Darfur, which has been plagued by an armed conflict for five years.
Turkish Warplanes Strike Rebel Targets
Warplanes and artillery units hit Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq in response to a rebel raid on a military outpost inside Turkey, the Turkish military said Sunday.
According to AP, targets in Saturday’s raids included an area just across the border where rebels had allegedly gathered after attacking the military station in Hakkari province, near the Iraq border, the military said in a statement posted on its website.
Six soldiers and 19 rebels were killed in the rebel attack and military airstrikes that followed, according to the military. The rebels denied suffering any losses.
The military said in the statement that artillery units and attack aircraft “intensely and effectively“ struck rebel targets in the Avasin-Basyan area in northern Iraq.
“All targets have been hit with accuracy and terrorists in the targeted facilities have been rendered ineffective,“ the military statement said. “Studies and evaluations are underway to determine final results.“
The military said its forces were careful to avoid affecting civilians or local Iraqi Kurdish forces in the attack.
“The Turkish Armed Forces will continue its struggle against terrorism with increasing power and determination,“ the military said. “Any heinous act against the Turkish Republic will be responded to immediately and heavily.“
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have died since then.
The PKK maintains bases in the north of neighboring Iraq that serve as a launch pad for attacks on targets inside Turkey.
Israeli Refuseniks Increasing
The Israeli army medical test had given N, an 18-year-old from Beit-ul-Muqaddas, a clean bill of health, making him eligible for a combat unit. But he did not want to fight. “So I went and cried to the mental health officer, told him I had some kind of problem.“ When he began his military service recently, he landed a desk job.
More and more people are finding ways to evade tough duty, or duty altogether. Medical, psychological and religious exemptions are on the rise.
Israeli army sources estimate that around half of those who obtain a medical certificate to avoid or cut short their service are actually shirkers. The statistics for the 2006 war on Lebanon show that religious Zionists and soldiers from kibbutzim, the crucibles of secular socialist Zionism, were over-represented among the dead.
It has always been these, the most ideological, who were the readiest to die for their regime. But with the ultra-Orthodox (who get religious exemptions) and Arab populations swelling, and qualms growing among the secular center, the institution that has traditionally been Israel’s melting pot is slowly becoming less and less so. Major General Elazar Stern, the army’s head of personnel and a skullcap-wearing religious Zionist himself, is a living testament to it; in the past people like him were few and far between in the top ranks. Religious Zionists tend to be pro-settlements, and there is concern that the army is becoming more sympathetic to the settlers.
Not that it is hostile now. Military collusion was crucial to the establishment of many West Bank settlements that were built without permission. There are also over 100 small settlement “outposts“, unauthorized but nonetheless enjoying mains water, electricity and army protection. The army’s defiance of the law can be shocking, as when it waited nearly a year before heeding an order by the Supreme Court to take down a barrier that cut Palestinians off from their own land in the West Bank.
General Stern, who came under attack from fellow religious Zionists for taking part in the Gaza disengagement, believes such refusals will remain rare. For him the changes in conscription patterns carry other dangers. “They contribute to the atomization of Israel and leave it short of good soldiers. His recipe for restoring the “people’s army“ includes more sparing use of exemptions, dishonorable discharges for suspected shirkers and preferential treatment at universities for ex-combat troops.
Most controversially of all, he complained publicly that the army’s ethos of self-sacrifice had deteriorated to the point where it valued soldiers’ lives too highly to get the job done. He was roundly criticized. But later the Winograd commission investigating the second Lebanon war reached the same conclusion.
The Economist
Bush to Visit Middle East Amid Dark Omens
US President George W. Bush heads back to the Middle East on Wednesday, where his efforts to forge Israeli-Palestinian peace face growing skepticism with barely nine months left in his term.
The five-day trip is anchored on the 60th anniversary of the illegitimate formation of the Israeli regime, a stop in Saudi Arabia to mark 75 years of US relations with the kingdom, and talks in Egypt with a broad range of regional leaders.
The visit is Bush’s second in four months, Khaleej Times reported.
Bush is due to meet on Wednesday with embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who faces mounting calls to resign over a criminal probe into allegations he took bribes from a millionaire US financier.
According to Reuters, Bush appears set to offer Israel a powerful radar system that could greatly boost Israeli defenses against enemy ballistic missiles while tying them directly into a growing US missile shield.
3 Die in Pak Shooting
Gunmen killed three Muslims in a drive-by shooting in Pakistan’s northwest on Saturday in what appeared to be a sectarian attack, officials said.
The assailants, riding on a motorbike, opened fire on Mazhar Zaidi and two of his friends in the town of Dera Ismail Khan as they sat in a shop, killing all the three on the spot.
“All the three victims are Shiites,“ Abdul Ghafoor, head of the police station in the area, told Reuters.
He said they had lodged a complaint against activists of a banned Sunni Muslim militant group, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, and were conducting raids to arrest them.
The latest killings came amid a resurgence of violence in the northwest after the collapse of peace talks with a key Taliban commander in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.
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TUESDAY, MAY 13
WEST VIRGINIA/NEBRASKA - Presidential primaries.
HANOI - United Nations Day of Vesak. An international gathering of Buddhist leaders, scholars and state dignitaries to be held for the first time in Vietnam (till May 17).
NEW YORK - Christie’s will sell a major work by British painter Lucian Freud “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping“, painted in 1995, a life-size depiction of rotund London benefits supervisor Sue Tilley lying asleep on a dilapidated sofa, which the company expects to become the most expensive work sold at auction by a living artist.
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