The New Nation - Internet Edition

Iran mosque blast kills 11, wounds almost 200

AFP, Tehran

Eleven people were killed and at least 191 wounded when an explosion ripped through a mosque in Iran's southern city of Shiraz during evening prayers by a prominent cleric, officials said on Sunday. Mystery surrounded the cause of Saturday's blast, which some officials insisted had been triggered by an accident but others said could have been caused by a bomb.

The massive explosion in the men's section of the mosque took place at around 9:00 pm (1630 GMT) during an evening prayer sermon by prominent local cleric Mohammad Anjavinejad, Iranian media reported. Eleven people were killed and 191 wounded, local emergency services official Mohammad Javad Mouradian told the official IRNA news agency. "The incident could have happened as a result of negligence. A while ago at this site there was an exhibition commemorating the (1980-1988) Iran-Iraq war," Fars province police chief Commander Ali Moayeri told the Fars news agency.

"The munitions left at the site could have caused this explosion," he added. The agency said he ruled out an act of sabotage. Television pictures showed shards of glass and piles of debris at the site of the blast while huge crowds gathered to await news of loved ones.

"Last night's incidentt was definitely an accident. We are studying the cause but as of now but main reason is not clear," Deputy Interior Minister Abbas Mohtaj told the Mehr news agency. Other sources indicated that the possibility of a militant attack had not been ruled out, however. "A judicial probe has been launched to determine the cause of the explosion and the possibility of sabotage," Shiraz prosecutor Jaber Baneshi told IRNA.

"A final opinion will be given on the cause and the motives behind the blast after a full forensic and investigative report." Shiraz MP Mohammad Nabi Roodaki also mooted the possibility that the explosion had been caused by munitions used in the Iraq war exhibition.

But he told the student ISNA news agency that investigators were examining the theory that the munitions could have been set off deliberately by remote detonator or by another bomb. Fars said that the death toll was set to rise because many of the victims were in a critical condition. "Around 9:15 pm, after the sermon, the sound of an explosion resounded in the section reserved for men and a cloud of dust billowed up to the sky," witness Saideh Ghorbani, 20, told Fars.

"There was a huge blast and the whole place lit up. Everyone started shouting and screaming and tried to help each other," another witness, Marzian Mohammadnejad, told English language channel Press-TV.

There have been deadly attacks in Iran's border cities with ethnic minority populations in recent years, but a strike in a non-frontier city such as Shiraz would be unprecedented.

Deadly attacks in Iran have become extremely rare over the past two decades, although the first years after the 1979 Islamic revolution were marked by a succession of bombings in Tehran by outlawed opposition groups.

The last major attack was a February 2007 strike by suspected Sunni rebels in the city of Zahedan in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan border province that killed 13 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

According to the reports, before Saturday's blast Anjavinejad had been preaching against Wahhabism -- the ultra-conservative form of Sunni Islam practised in Saudi Arabia. He is reported to be a vehement critic of Wahhabis.

In his sermon he also attacked Bahais, a group who were once Iran's biggest non-Muslim minority by far and who believe in the unity of all religions, Fars reported.

But Bahais are deemed to be apostate by the Islamic republic, and their beliefs are not recognised by the constitution.

72 Tamil rebels, 8 soldiers killed in Sri Lanka fighting

Reuters, Colombo

Sri Lankan troops killed 72 Tamil Tiger rebels and eight soldiers also died in weekend fighting in the far north of the island, the military said on Sunday.

The rebels meanwhile claimed 31 soldiers and a policeman killed against three of their own dead.

The long-running civil war between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels has been escalating with near daily land, sea and air battles.

"There had been a confrontation in Mannar (district) on Saturday where our soldiers went ahead and attacked terrorists. Troops killed 60 LTTE (Tamil Tiger) terrorists and injured 51," said Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

He said seven soldiers were killed and 27 others wounded in that fighting, while clashes elsewhere on Saturday killed 12 Tamil Tiger rebels and one government solder.

The fighting came a week after a suspected rebel suicide bomber killed the country's highways minister and 13 others attending a marathon race near the capital.

The Tigers, fighting for an independent state in the north and east, said in an email statement sent overnight that heavy fighting erupted when troops attempted to move into rebel-held areas in Mannar.

"The SLA (Sri Lanka Army) suffered at least 30 KIA and more than 75 others were injured in clashes in the west of Giant Tank," said Tamil Tiger rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan, adding that three rebels were also killed.

The Tamil Tigers also said that a rebel ambush in northern Jaffna peninsula killed one solder and a confrontation in an eastern district on Thursday killed an elite police commando.

The Military denied the rebel claims.

Both the government and rebels make death toll claims that are rarely possible to verify independently.

Kenyan leaders clinch coalition cabinet agreement

AFP, Nairobi

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and would-be prime minister Raila Odinga agreed on a new coalition cabinet to be unveiled Sunday, Kenyan and diplomatic sources said, ending weeks of delay that threatened to explode into new violence.

"The two leaders held talks today and agreed on a new coalition cabinet that will be unveiled tomorrow around lunch time," a top Kenyan political source, close to one of the leaders, told AFP on Saturday. A Western diplomat, whose government has been pressing for a quick deal, confirmed that an accord had been clinched. Both officials refused to disclose details.

"We have been informed that a cabinet deal has been reached and we expect it to be announced tomorrow.

The two leaders are keen to have a cabinet before parliament resumes on Tuesday," added the diplomat.

The agreement was struck after Kibaki and Odinga held closed-door talks in Sagana State Lodge in central Kenya, they said, a day after Odinga dropped his pre-conditions of demanding dissolution of the current 17-member cabinet and to get an equal share in top diplomatic and civil service posts.

The much-delayed cabinet was scheduled to be unveiled on April 6 but was put off after the two leaders failed to agree on a 50-50 sharing of key infrastructural and administrative portfolios.

The new government is a key step in implementing a February 28 power-sharing deal that quelled violence that broke out following Kenya's disputed December polls, killing at least 1,500 people and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Hillary fights to keep White House quest alive

AP, Washington

Hillary Clinton on Sunday battled to keep her White House hopes alive going into a tense 10-day stretch which could define the end game of her enthralling Democratic tussle with Barack Obama. Anything less than a big win in the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 would severely dampen her hopes of taking the race to the end of the nominating calendar in June, in her long-odds bid to outdo Obama. But remarks by Obama -- labelling working class voters as "bitter" -- could give Clinton the wedge she needs to pick up ground in the race, and she took off with the issue Saturday by suggesting her rival was condescending toward a large segment of US voters. "Senator Obama's remarks are elitist and are out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans. Certainly not the Americans that I know," she said at an Indiana rally.

After six weeks of long distance sparring, Clinton and Obama will clash in a face-to-face debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Clinton, 60, trails Obama, 46, in total nominating victories, the popular vote and elected delegates going into the Pennsylvania contest, and badly needs a convincing win to quell questions about why she is still in the race.

"Perception right now is crucial to her being able to continue," said Julian Zelizer, an elections analyst and history professor at Princeton University.

"The perception that she has the right to continue, the perception that she has the possibility of winning," Zelizer said.

Clinton meanwhile must also target the still-undecided "super-delegates" -- top party officials now crucial to deciding the nomination.

Taiwan-China meeting seen as major ice-breaker

Reuters, Taipei

A landmark meeting on Saturday between China's president and Taiwan's vice president-elect broke 60 years of ice and paved the way for trade and transit links such as regular direct flights, local media and analysts said. "This meeting means that the two sides are going to enter an era of negotiations," said Chao Chien-min, a political analyst at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. "Yesterday's encounter should pose no problem, because it did not touch on any political topics," he said. "This had to do with Taiwan people's actual interests, so how could anyone oppose it?" China, which has about 170 allies including the world's most powerful nations, has claimed self-ruled Taiwan as its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and pledged to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.