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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Suicide car bomb rattles Somali capital


According to a report, at least 15 people were killed in the blast even as Somali and Kenyan leaders met and agreed to cooperate on military action against insurgents. The blast rattled central Mogadishu and killed at least 14 passers-by and the suicide bomber, said police official Ali Hassan. Six people were wounded and taken to the hospital, he said. The explosion did not damage the ministry building but did tear down a stone wall in front of it. Hundreds of on-lookers gathered to see the demolished car scattered across the road. Several body parts littered the street. "The car bomb blew up among people and cars passing down the street. I don t know if his target was the civilians, but thanks the loss was not so big," said Mohamed Nor Siyaed, an eyewitness. African Union and Somali troops battling al-Shabab militants have mostly pushed the insurgents out of Mogadishu, but al-Shabab has vowed to carry out attacks in the capital. Earlier this month al-Shabab unleashed a suicide blast that killed more than 100 people, many of them students. It was the deadliest bombing in Somalia by al-Shabab. Tuesday s blast came as Kenya s ministers of foreign affairs and defense traveled to Mogadishu to meet with Somalia s president following Kenya s launch of military operations in southern Somalia against al-Shabab militants. The explosion occurred several miles (kilometers) from where those meetings are believed to have taken place.

US troops start operation along border with NWA


Hundreds of US soldiers have been deployed on the Afghan side along the N Waziristan border. Equipped with sophisticated arms and weaponry, including helicopters, they completely sealed off the border and are carrying out a search operation. Apart from this, curfew has been imposed in Garbaz area of Khost province and home-to-home search operation is being conducted. The main road of Khost has also been sealed off for every kind of traffic. The US has moved hundreds of new troops to the Afghan area bordering Pakistan's insurgent-infested North Waziristan tribal region along with heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and sealed movement on the The troops occupied nearby vantage heights on hilltops, setting up observation posts, The News International said quoting Pakistani security officials and tribal elders.The NATO fighter jets are having low flights in the border areas, terrorizing villagers on both sides of the border.  On the other hand, certain officials say that the issue is being blown out of proportion.   Geo television reported that tribesmen living in the border areas said Afghan and US authorities had clamped a curfew in parts of Afghanistan's eastern Khost province and started house-to-house search. The villagers in Ghulam Khan said NATO warplanes were also seen flying over the border region several times during the day. The News reported that the abrupt deployment of US forces near the border area with Pakistan has escalated tension in the militancy-plagued North Waziristan tribal region as US forces immediately sealed the main road connecting Pakistan border town of Ghulam Khan and Khost for traffic. Pakistani security officials in North Waziristan confirmed the latest development and said they were monitoring the situation on the border with Afghanistan, The News reported. There is no word from the US and NATO forces on the Pakistani media reports. The American troop movement has been reported as US unmanned spy planes have stepped up strikes in the Waziristan tribal belt over the past few days. Washington has said that North Waziristan is a haven for members of the Haqqani network. Washington Post quoting US officials has said that US has opened a new more aggressive approach towards the dreaded Haqqani network. The post quoted officials as saying that the new operation may include intensified drone strikes on Miranshah, centre of North Waziristan and was made "at a National Security Council meeting chaired by President Obama two weeks ago." "The Obama administration has launched the opening salvos of a new, more aggressive approach towards an Afghan insurgent group it asserts is supported by Pakistan's government," the report said. Military options debated at the September 29 meeting were set aside for now, including the possibility of a ground operation against Haqqani leaders similar to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May. It is intended to 'send a signal' that the United States would no longer tolerate a safe haven for the most lethal enemy of US forces in Afghanistan, or Pakistan' s backing for it, the paper said. Although the administration has left the raid option on the table, the potential negatives of such an operation --including the possible collapse of Pakistan's military leadership and civilian government -- are seen as far outweighing its benefits. The massing of US troops and the sealing of the border, Pakistani media claimed had stranded more than 900 loaded trucks, including those carrying NATO consignments, and passenger vehicles the whole day. Tribal elders of the Gurbaz tribe inhabiting both sides of the Durand Line said US forces had clamped a curfew in Tarkhobi area and asked villagers to stay at home.