The New Nation - Internet Edition

Suicide attack on Pakistan army bus kills 6

AP, Rawalpindi

A suicide bomber on a motorbike rammed into a minibus carrying security personnel, detonating a blast Monday that killed at least six people and wounded more than 30, officials said - the latest in a series of attacks in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The bus was destroyed and several other people were wounded in the explosion on a road running through a bazaar near the offices of the army's National Logistics Cell, said Bisharat Abbasi, the local police chief.

The bus was carrying doctors and security personnel, said a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The blast, which occurred around 7:30 a.m., blew the roof off the bus and damaged several nearby vehicles.

Shaukat Khan, owner of a nearby tire-repair shop, said he was sweeping the sidewalk at the time. "It was very powerful," he said, adding that the bomb sent splinters that struck a wall beside him. Police and troops arrived at scene of the attack a few minutes later and transported the dead and injured to hospitals, he said.

In recent months there have been a series of suicide bombings in Rawalpindi, a city where the army has its headquarters, about seven miles from the capital, Islamabad. President Pervez Musharraf was in his office several miles from the scene at the time of the blast.

On Dec. 27, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and about 20 others died in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi.

Prior to that, attacks hit security forces and employees of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, including two suicide bombings against a bus of ISI employees and an army checkpoint on Nov. 24 that killed up to 35 people.

There have been no claims of responsibility for the attacks, but authorities have blamed Taliban militants based near the Afghan border who pose a growing security threat across Pakistan.

The latest attack came just a week after a U.S. missile strike killed a top al-Qaida commander, Abu Laith al-Libi, in a remote tribal village near the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan and Washington have yet to confirm the death of al-Libi. It was first reported Thursday on Islamic extremist Web sites and confirmed by an American official who said the veteran al-Qaida leader was hit by a missile from a U.S. Predator drone in a village in North Waziristan.

Although it has not confirmed the killing, Pakistan has since stepped up security, apparently to avoid possible retaliatory attacks by militants.

India, Pakistan sign security exchange accord

AFP, New Delhi

India and Pakistan on Monday signed an agreement to exchange security information, officials said, opening up a new channel of communication between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

The accord clears the way for regular contacts between India's military-funded Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) and Pakistan's state-run Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS).

"The purpose is to build channels of communication at the level of scholars, because exchanges of security studies had been limited because of the strained ties we have had," ISS director Shireen Mazari said at a signing ceremony in New Delhi.

IDSA head Narendra Sisodia, a former Indian defence secretary, said the accord was a landmark because "except for contacts at international forums, we never had open discussions on security issues."

The pact stipulates that the two mutually-suspicious think tanks will send experts to participate in state-sponsored workshops in India and Pakistan and later engage in joint military research projects.

The South Asian rivals, who have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947, set in motion a slow-moving peace process in 2004, five years after they came dangerously close to their fourth conflict. The dialogue has led to closer political contacts and greater transport links, but the two armies have shunned direct contacts except for annual discussions on unresolved disputes.

US accidentally kills 9 Iraqi civilians

AFP, Baghdad

The US military said on Monday that its forces accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians, including a child, during weekend raids against Al-Qaeda fighters south of Baghdad.

The raid, one of a number of incidents in recent months involving the killing of civilians, occurred on Saturday near the town of Iskandariyah in an area known as the Triangle of Death.

Three more civilians including two children were wounded "as coalition forces pursued Al-Qaeda," the military said in a statement.

Witnesses claimed as many as 20 people, including 17 members of a single family, were killed in a US air strike in the area, which is a stronghold of fiercely anti-American insurgents.

"Shortly after the incident, coalition forces leaders met with a sheikh representing the citizens of the local area," the US statement said.

"The incident is under investigation. We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life."

The military gave no further details. But a statement from a hardline group of Sunni clerics known as the Muslim Scholars' Association said US warplanes had bombarded an area known as Al-Khanassa, near Al-Madain, which lies to the northeast of Iskandariyah.

"Twenty people were killed in this major attack, including 17 members of the Imad Salim family," said the association, which is suspected of links to several insurgent groups including Al-Qaeda and now based in Amman.

ADB and AKDN sign agreement

The Aga Khan, the Spiritual Leader (Imam) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), met with Mr. Naruhiko Kuroda, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), for discussions on joint collaboration between the ADB and AKDN. The meeting preceded the signing of an agreement aimed at expanding the partnership between the two institutions, says an AKDN press release.

"A strengthened partnership between ADB and the Aga Khan Development Network provides an effective channel for supporting inclusive development in the region, especially for the benefit of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society," said Mr. Kuroda.

The Aga Khan's younger brother, Prince Amyn Aga Khan, who signed the agreement on the Aga Khan's behalf, thanked the ADB for its long-standing cooperation and lauded the Bank's efforts to adopt a new long-term strategy this year in the face of growing challenges and opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.

Prince Amyn Aga Khan expressed confidence that the agreement will enable an intensification of the collaboration between the two institutions, thereby helping to transform the lives of many.

He added that the agreement is "an expression of our shared commitment to ensure that marginalised and impoverished areas of South and Central Asia receive the attention and support needed to alleviate poverty and to create stability in cross border areas, by connecting isolated communities, developing markets, incomes, and employment, and fostering an enabling environment."

The joint ADB/AKDN agreement stresses the need "to find ways to undertake investments to connect the poor to the opportunities of growth and to connect services to the poor emanating from national and regional growth benefits."

Eleven killed in gun battle at Nigerian pipeline

Reuters, Lagos

Three soldiers and eight militants were killed in a gun battle at an oil pipeline hub operated by Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria's southern state of Bayelsa, the navy said on Sunday.

Shell said the Tora manifold, which sends oil to the Bonny export terminal, was not damaged in the attack late on Saturday and oil production in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter, was unaffected.

"Some militants attacked the Tora manifold where we had some men. There was an exchange of fire and they killed three of our men. The militants lost eight," navy spokesman Henry Babalola said.

Shell is pumping about 400,000 barrels per day below its full capacity because of rebel attacks and kidnappings since 2006 that have contributed to a rise in world oil prices.

Rebels are demanding regional control over the Niger delta's oil wealth, as well as jobs, public services and compensation for pollution.

Sabotage and abductions have subsided since the inauguration of President Umaru Yar'Adua last April. Shell has begun to restore its lost output and militants have begun preliminary peace talks with the government.

The situation is confused by lawlessness and corruption in the vast region of mangrove-lined creeks, where many armed groups have links to corrupt politicians and syndicates that steal oil from pipelines.

The Tora manifold, in a remote area of the delta, is a known location for illegal siphoning of crude oil into barges, Babalola added.

McCain says he's nervous but looks ahead

Reuters, Fairfield

Republican front-runner John McCain admitted on Sunday to nervousness about his chances on Super Tuesday, when almost half of the United States votes, but he was also thinking ahead to a general election battle against the Democratic nominee. Before Republican nominating contests in 21 states on Tuesday, McCain has a sizable lead in many of those states and could emerge as the presumptive Republican nominee. After an up-and-down year, a superstitious McCain could not help rapping his knuckles on the table in his campaign bus, for good luck. "I'm very nervous about it because, you know, I've seen this movie before," he told reporters. "My job is to keep our expectation levels down and frankly not raise expectations to a degree that we could suffer some setback." It has been a long road to the high ground for the Arizona senator, who at 71 would be the oldest person ever elected to a first presidential term.

Sri Lanka 'winning war' against Tamil Tigers: President

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka's president insisted Monday his government was winning the war against Tamil Tiger rebels as the island marked its 60th anniversary of independence after a bloody weekend of violence.

Kicking off a display of military hardware along Colombo's sea front promenade ringed by stiff security, President Mahinda Rajapakse also brushed off threats of foreign aid cuts due to the worsening ethnic conflict and human rights situation. Monday's celebrations went ahead despite threats from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and following two weekend bomb attacks that killed 34 civilians and wounded nearly 200. The president said the "challenge bestowed upon us by history is the defeat of terrorism," and asserted government forces had cornered the rebels in the northern part of the island.

Iran launches rocket, opens space center

AP, Tehran

Iran launched a research rocket Monday and unveiled its first major space center, which will be used to launch research satellites, state-run television reported.

The report said the rocket was the first launched by Iran "into space." But analysts have expressed doubts about similar technological achievements announced by the country in the past. Iran launched its first domestically built rocket last February, which did not reach orbit level. "The first Iranian rocket Explorer-1 was fired into space," reported state TV, which showed live images of the event at the space center, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issuing the launch order. "With the launch, Iran has joined the world's top 11 countries possessing space technology to build satellites, and launch rockets into space."

Pro-West Tadic wins pivotal Serbian election

AFP, Belgrade

Serbia's pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, won a narrow re-election victory Sunday over nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in a run-off poll shadowed by concerns over Kosovo's looming independence.

In a result likely to nudge Serbia closer to integration with the European Union, despite widespread public anger with EU support for Kosovo's breakaway stance, the electoral commission gave Tadic 50.6 percent of the vote against 47.8 percent for Nikolic, who favours tighter links with Russia. Conceding defeat, Nikolic, a former ally of late nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic, called on Europe to "stop blackmailing" Belgrade. "We are ready to be within the EU, but there are some conditions we cannot fulfill," he said, referring to pressure on Serbia to accept an expected announcement of unilateral independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.

1,000 evacuated after Sydney explosion

AFP, Sydney

A powerful explosion tore through a building in inner-city Sydney on Monday, injuring two men and forcing the evacuation of 1,000 others, Australian officials said. Police said they were investigating the blast at the Quadrant Building in Ultimo which left a ground floor chicken shop ablaze and damaged some offices and residential apartments. "It was really scary," one resident told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "I was awake and felt something and it was that loud, I jumped on the floor." Acting Commander of City Central Police, Superintendent Chris Keen, said an injured man was found near a lift with severe burns, while another man suffered smoke inhalation. New South Wales Fire Brigades said residents in several suburbs away heard the explosion after 1:00 am (1400 GMT Sunday) which authorities fear could have caused structural damage to the building. "About a thousand residents in residential units above this building have been evacuated as a precaution," Superintendent Ian Krimmer told Macquarie Radio.