The New Nation - Internet Edition

Twin blasts in Baghdad shopping district kill 68

AP, Baghdad

The death toll from the twin bomb attack in a Baghad commercial district a day ago surged to 68, a security source in the interior ministry told AFP on Friday.

On Thursday, a roadside bomb followed by a suicide attack ripped through Al-Atar Street in central Baghdad's Karada neighbourhood, also wounding 154 people, according to the latest figures from security and medical sources.

The US military said the attack took place at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT).

"Iraqi security forces and emergency responders were first on the scene. Coalition forces arrived after and are coordinating with them on how many Iraqi citizens were killed and wounded in the attack," the military said in a statement.

"This terrorist attack was a senseless act of violence directed against the Iraqi people," said US chief of staff Colonel Allen Batschelet.

The bombings come after Iraq witnessed a sharp rise in the number of people killed in violence, following a six month period in which the death toll fell.

In February the number of Iraqis killed rose by 33 percent over the previous month, reversing a six-month trend of fewer casualties, ministerial figures obtained by AFP showed on March 1.

Meanwhile, Some 2,000 U.S. soldiers are being withdrawn from Baghdad as part of a planned reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, was part of the extra 30,000 soldiers sent last year to stop savage sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims that had threatened to tip the country into a civil war.

"I can state that (they) are leaving and there is no replacement brigade combat team coming in," U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Stover told Reuters.

Since the 30,000 troops became fully deployed in mid-2007, violence has dropped by 60 percent, prompting General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, to announce that five of 20 brigades would be pulled out by July 2008.

There are more than 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, with about 34,500 deployed in the Iraqi capital. The drawdown is expected to cut the overall total by about 20,000.

43 rebels, 4 soldiers killed in Sri Lankan fighting

AFP, Colombo

At least 42 Tiger rebels and five government troops were killed in fresh fighting across Sri Lanka's embattled north, where a lawmaker was also killed in a blast, the defence ministry said on Friday.

Heavy fighting along the de facto border separating territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) saw fierce clashes on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving a total of 47 combatants killed, the ministry said. It said security forces had captured key locations from the Tigers in the coastal district of Mannar over the past two days. In a bomb attack inside rebel-held territory on Thursday, a pro-rebel Tamil lawmaker and his driver were killed, officials said. The Tigers accused the security forces of carrying out the attack.

So far this year, the defence ministry has reported that security forces have killed at least 1,882 rebels with the loss of 112 government soldiers. The government numbers cannot be independently confirmed as Colombo allows no access by journalists or rights groups to the embattled areas.

Gunman kills 8 in Jerusalem Jewish college

Reuters, Jerusalem

A Palestinian gunman killed eight people in a Jewish religious college in Jerusalem on Thursday, most of them students, and wounded about 10 others in the most lethal attack in Israel in two years.

The attacker was shot dead by an off-duty Israeli soldier.

"It was a slaughterhouse," said Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, head of the Zaka emergency service, after surveying the scene following five minutes of bloodshed at the Merkaz Harav seminary, one of the most prominent Jewish educational centers in the holy city.

Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco said the lone gunman was killed by an off-duty army officer who lives nearby and ran to the school after hearing gunfire. A city official said the assailant carried documents identifying him as a resident of Arab East Jerusalem.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but it was greeted with celebrations in the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli offensive in recent days killed more than 120 Palestinians, about half of whom were identified as civilians.

Outside the seminary, young Orthodox Jews in traditional black costume chanted periodically "Death to Arabs!"

Shortly before the shooting, Egyptian officials ended inconclusive talks with leaders of Gaza's ruling Hamas Islamist movement, part of a U.S.-backed push for a truce between Gaza militants and Israel to halt a surge in violence.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli soldier was killed in a bomb attack in Gaza and four Gaza militants died in an air strike.

The United Nations, Washington, France, Britain and Germany all condemned the school shooting in the heart of Jewish West Jerusalem.

UN rights council condemns Israel

AP, Geneva

The U.N. Human Rights Council has condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza and called on Palestinians to stop rocket fire into Israel.

The resolution passed Thursday said Israeli incursions into the Palestinian territory inflicted collective punishment on the civilian population.

Israel launched the offensive last week in response to Palestinian militants barraging southern Israel with rockets. More than 120 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza officials say. Four Israeli have also been killed. The 47-member rights body approved the resolution 33-1 after a debate on the situation in Gaza. Thirteen countries abstained. The resolution was sponsored by Pakistan and Muslim countries. Russia, China and India support it, European countries abstained, and Canada voted against it.

India's communists warn government against nuclear deal

AFP, New Delhi

The communist allies of India's ruling Congress-led coalition are warning they will bring down the government if it goes ahead with a controversial nuclear accord with the United States.

The communists issued the threat in the latest issue of party mouthpiece "People's Democracy," ratcheting up pressure on the government not to go ahead with the pact in the face of mounting US calls for India to speedily conclude the deal before November's presidential polls.

Commander warns of al-Qaida threat to US

AP, Washington

Al-Qaida terrorists may be plotting more urgently to attack the United States to maintain their credibility and ability to recruit followers, the U.S. military commander in charge of domestic defense said.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, also told reporters Thursday he has not seen any direct threats tied to the U.S. presidential elections. But he said it would be rash to think that such threats are not there.

Musharraf will back new government 'if peace maintained'

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday he would support an incoming coalition government that could seek his resignation, so long as peace was maintained.

Musharraf, who came to power as a general in a 1999 coup, will face a hostile parliament after the crushing defeat of his allies in an election on February 18. The incoming government could try to drive him from power, though the leader of the party that will lead the next coalition has not made his intentions clear.

"Durable, stable governments should be formed in the centre and provinces for five years, and if peace is maintained, I assure that I will fully support the coalition that is being formed," Musharraf said while inaugurating a water supply project in southern Sindh province.

Pariah states press for re-vote as Democrats brawl

AFP, Washington

Democrats groped for ways to avert civil war at their presidential convention in August, as Barack Obama obliterated fundraising records in his corrosive fight against Hillary Clinton. The Republicans' new standard-bearer, Senator John McCain, capitalized on the Democratic infighting to portray himself as the only candidate with the mettle and experience to be commander-in-chief.

Obama, regrouping after his bruising defeats by Clinton in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday, admitted to "mistakes" over the long campaign, but said Democratic voters clearly did not want the race over yet.

"They want me to earn this thing and not feel as if I'm just sliding into it," he told ABC News late Thursday, while signaling a tougher riposte to a barrage of attacks from Clinton over his readiness to lead. "We're going to have to make sure that we're not just letting a bunch of charges go unanswered," he said.