The New Nation - Internet Edition

Foreigners flee as Chad rebels seized most of capital

AFP, Ndjamena

Chad's president was Sunday holed up in his palace cornered by rebels who seized most of the capital as foreigners fled the country, military and rebel sources said.

organisations reported looting in the capital and bodies littering the streets, a French military plane took 74 French and other nationalities out of Ndjamena late Saturday.

They arrived early Sunday in the Gabon capital Libreville, saying they were exhausted but happy to flee the encroaching fighting.

The French military said 900 foreigners had gathered at three assembly points around the city. The United Nations said it planned to evacuate its personnel to Cameroon.

No death toll from the fighting has been given but a UN security official said there were a lot of bodies in the streets, "some burned, some just hacked" to death. France sent an extra 150 troops to help with the evacuations and French President Nicolas Sarkozy broke off from celebrating his wedding to twice telephone the west African nation's President Idriss Deby Itno.

The Libyan news agency, Jana, said that Mahamat Nouri, the main rebel leader, had accepted a ceasefire proposed by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who was part of African Union efforts to halt the fighting.

But rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah told AFP that the acceptance was conditional on the two other rebel chiefs giving their blessing. "Colonel Kadhafi has not yet asked for their opinions," he said.

The rebel force in about 300 pickup trucks started moving across the desert from a base near the eastern border with Sudan on Monday but major fighting only erupted Friday as they neared the capital.

Rebels took over large sections of Ndjamena on Saturday, military and rebel sources said, having already seized outlying neighbourhoods and much of the city centre in intense fighting with government forces.

As dusk fell, only sporadic gunfire could be heard, but rebel spokesman Abakar Tollimi said before the ceasefire reports that there were plans to attack the presidential palace.

"We suppose that Deby is inside. If he wants to leave we have no problem," Tollimi told AFP by satellite telephone. "We control the situation, we control the city, there are some pockets of resistance."

A military source told AFP however that government forces were trying "to push the rebels back in the east of the city and take back some territory in the city centre."

Ten dead, nearly 100 hurt in Sri Lanka suicide blast

AFP, Colombo

At least ten people died and 97 others were injured on Sunday in a suicide bomb attack onboard a train at the main railway station in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, police and hospital sources said.

"We received 97 patients," said a spokeswoman for Colombo's main hospital, Pushpa Soysa. "Ten people were dead on admission."

A police spokesman said the attack was carried out by a suspected rebel Tamil Tiger woman suicide bomber as a suburban train pulled into the station in the heart of Colombo.

"Train services have been stopped and the injured have been rushed to the main hospital with six critically hurt," said the spokesman, N. Illangakoon.

Earlier Sunday, at least six visitors to a zoo on the outskirts of the capital were wounded in a hand grenade attack, despite tight security ahead of Sri Lanka's independence day celebrations on Monday.

Sri Lanka marks its 60th independence day Monday amid bomb attacks against civilians, ferocious fighting with Tamil rebels and growing international concern over the island's human rights record.

Freedom Day events in heavily-guarded Colombo will be held despite mourning for 20 passengers killed by a bus bomb Saturday in north-central Sri Lanka and six people injured Sunday in a hand grenade attack at Sri Lanka's main zoo near the capital, authorities said.

Gaza border with Egypt sealed after mass exodus

AFP, Rafah

Egyptian and Hamas forces sealed off the border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday after reportedly agreeing to control the frontier, blown open nearly two weeks ago amid an Israeli blockade.

Metal barriers and barbed wire had been strung across all gaps in the breached border at the divided town of Rafah through which hundreds of thousands of people have swarmed since January 23.

"Security forces have starting closing the border," an Egyptian security source told AFP. "No more Palestinians are being allowed in."

One gate remained open to allow Palestinians and Egyptians to return home, but otherwise no pedestrians or vehicles were being allowed to cross, AFP correspondents witnessed.

Dozens of armed and helmeted Hamas men wielded batons at a crowd of a few dozen people at the main Salaheddin crossing, yelling and pushing them back further into Gaza.

A handful of angry Palestinians threw stones at Egyptian security forces after the border was closed, an AFP correspondent said. Hamas forces fired in the air but no injuries were reported.

Up to half the Gaza population swarmed into Egypt through the breached border at Rafah, the only door to the outside world that bypasses Israel, after the Jewish state tightened its siege by halting fuel and aid supplies.

"We have started to implement the measure to close the border between Egypt and Gaza," a spokesman for the Hamas-run interior ministry, Ihad Hussein, told AFP in Gaza.

The closure of "will last until we have a new agreement to open the Rafah crossing," he said.

3 dead in Baghdad violence

AP, Baghdad

A senior Interior Ministry official and his bodyguard were wounded and his driver was killed Sunday by a bomb planted on his car, police said.

Lt. Col. Mohammed Ibrahim, director of Iraq's police commandos, an elite special forces group, was heading to work when the bomb exploded around 10 a.m. in the Mansour neighborhood, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Ibrahim and his bodyguard both survived but his driver was killed, the officer said.

Meanwhile, a mortar round slammed into a street in a northeastern section of the capital, killing an Iraqi soldier on foot patrol, another police officer said.

The attack occurred at 9 a.m. Sunday in the Sulaikh area, police said. Three civilians and another soldier were also wounded in the attack, an officer said on the same anonymity condition.

South of Baghdad, an Iraqi policeman was killed in a drive-by shooting Sunday near Kut, 100 miles southeast of the capital, police said.

Meanwhile, a top U.S. commander said Saturday that two bombings carried out by women wrapped in bombs that killed nearly 100 people in Baghdad underscored that al-Qaida in Iraq remains a serious threat, but he vowed the military would "not give back any terrain" to the terror network.

Iraqis in Baghdad demanded more protection for markets, saying one of the bombers wasn't searched because she was known as local beggar and the male guards were reluctant to search women because of Islamic sensitivities. U.S. and Iraqi officials said Saturday that pictures showed the bombers had Down syndrome and likely did not know they were being used in Friday's attacks. Ali Nassir, a 30-year-old day laborer whose hobby is raising birds, said people with disabilities often beg for food and money at the weekly al-Ghazl pet bazaar on Fridays.

"I saw the suicide bomber and she was begging," Nassir said, adding the woman was known to the vendors.

5 shot dead at suburban Chicago store

AP, Tinley Park, Ill

A gunman fatally shot five women in a robbery at a store in a suburban Chicago strip mall before fleeing Saturday, leading police to sweep through neighboring shops as terrified customers watched.

The victims, including at least one employee, were killed at a Lane Bryant clothing store at the Brookside Marketplace, police Chief Mike O'Connell said.

Officers found the victims at the back of the store after getting a 911 call around 10:45 a.m. Police said a bystander told them that a man came out of the store and gave them a description.

Authorities said robbery was believed to be the motive. Police searched for the gunman using dogs and a helicopter equipped with infrared sensors but concluded he left the stores off Interstate 80 southwest of downtown Chicago. "We do not want to compromise any evidence that may be out there t I ask we keep family of the victims in our thoughts and prayers," O'Connell said.

In a Target store across the parking lot from Lane Bryant, terrified customers were herded to the front as police with pistols and rifles drawn went up and down the aisles and into storerooms searching for the gunman.

"I was so scared I couldn't think," said Selena Kujawa, who had just entered the store with her 5-year-old son when it was locked down. After about an hour, customers were told to leave.

Prominent Pak lawyer re-arrested

AP, Lahore

Pakistan authorities put a prominent lawyer back under house arrest Saturday after he tried to visit the grave of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, his spokesman said. Aitzaz Ahsan's detention came just two days after he had been released from three months of house arrest. Ahsan, the president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, was first arrested during President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown under a state of emergency last year. Police stopped Ahsan at the airport in the eastern city of Lahore and told him he could not fly to Sindh province where he planned to visit Bhutto's grave. Bhutto was assassinated Dec. 27 while leaving an election campaign rally. Sindh Home Minister Akhtar Zamin said Ahsan had been banned from the province. "We are in an election process, and we don't want anybody to come into the province and disrupt the election process," Zamin said.

China winter chaos sparks deadly railway stampede

Reuters, Guangzhou

A stampede at Guangzhou railway station killed one person when frustrated passengers rushed to board trains after days of cancellations because of fierce cold and snow, police confirmed on Sunday. Officials warned people to stay away from railway stations because service was recovering only slowly and was further strained as trains were commandeered to deliver emergency supplies to areas of the country battered by the worst winter weather in 50 years. The crush at Guangzhou station, which had been besieged by 260,000 people, killed a migrant worker hoping to get home to celebrate the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, the Lunar New Year. Authorities said it was the first stampede death of the weather crisis that has killed more than 60, mainly in road accidents.

Iran slams French plans for Gulf base

AFP, Tehran

Iran lashed out on Sunday at French plans to set up a military base in the United Arab Emirates, saying it would only cause instability in the Gulf region.

"We are against military expansion in the region and we think the presence of foreign forces will not contribute to stability but on the contrary, will be a factor of insecurity and instability," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a press conference. France announced during a January visit to the UAE by President Nicolas Sarkozy that it would set up a military base in the capital Abu Dhabi to become operational in 2009. Iran has been a vocal critic of the presence of foreign forces in the Gulf region, notably the US military, which has bases in several countries including Iraq.

Indonesian floods displace thousands, cause chaos

Reuters, Jakarta

Heavy rains and high tides have caused chaos in Indonesia's capital for three days, highlighting its ailing infrastructure as roads to the airport became impassable and thousands had to abandon their homes or cars. The flooding also led to flight delays elsewhere in Southeast Asia and served as a reminder to many travelers, including the investors and bankers that Indonesia most needs to attract, of the country's widespread structural problems. Indonesia requires billions of dollars of investment to build or modernize its airports, roads, railways, and power plants. Its economic growth has lagged far behind that of China and India, in part because of ailing infrastructure, and the government wants to privatize a raft of state companies, from steel plants to palm oil plantations, to raise much-needed funds. But following the chaos on Friday, when the capital was brought to a standstill and thousands of people were trapped in traffic jams for over 12 hours due to flooding, some of the very financiers that Indonesia needs to help fund new infrastructure have vowed to avoid the place.

Kenya killings overshadow peace hopes

AFP, Nairobi

Dozens died in clashes in western Kenya, police said Saturday, shattering hopes for an accord by political rivals to make efforts to end weeks of violence. Police reported at least 47 new deaths while more accusations flew between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who claims he was robbed of the presidency in a disputed December 27 election. The latest victims were killed with machetes and poisoned arrows in Nyanza province, many in Ainamoi, the home village of a slain opposition MP. Police fear more bodies will be found. Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan oversaw the signing on Friday of a joint document by Kibaki and Odinga representatives. The deal marked out a joint roadmap aiming to end, within two weeks, unrest that has claimed nearly 1,000 lives since the election. Current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the two sides to "look beyond the party lines" and warned Kenya's image and its economy had already suffered major damage when he made a one day visit on Friday.