The New Nation - Internet Edition

Twin suicide bombings kill 35 in Iraq

AFP, Baquba

Twin suicide blasts ripped through a wedding party in Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 66, an Iraqi army officer said.

The suicide bombers blew themselves up at Balad Ruz, about 75 kilometres (45 miles) north of Baghdad in the restive province of Diyala in a street where guests were gathering on the traditional day for weddings.

The bombers detonated their explosive vests in quick succession, said Major General Abdel Karim al-Rubaie, head of the provincial military command. "The first bomber blew himself up amid a crowd of people. Minutes later another bomber blew himself up as people were trying to rescue the victims of the first attack."

Witness Ibrahim Hassan, 26, who was among the wounded, said he fell unconscious and later found himself in hospital in the provincial capital Baquba. "The first blast happened in front of an ice cream shop. A lot of people ran to help the wounded, but two minutes later another bomber blew himself up in the crowd," Hassan told AFP.

Confessionally mixed Diyala province is one of the most dangerous regions of Iraq where US and Iraqi forces are battling Al-Qaeda jihadists.

Earlier in the day, a car bomb blew up in central Baghdad as a US military patrol passed, killing at least nine people, including an American soldier, and wounding 21, security officials said. A US armoured car was badly damaged in the bombing, witnesses said.

The bombings came as Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr refused talks with Iraqi members of parliament visiting neighbouring Iran in a bid to end clashes between government troops and his militiamen.

"Moqtada al-Sadr did not permit his leaders to meet the Iraqi delegation," said Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, his spokesman in the central shrine city of Najaf.

"Sadr insists that the crisis can be solved only through a parliamentary initiative backed by President Jalal Talabani and speaker Mahmud Mashhadani." Obeidi did not elaborate, but Talabani has been holding talks with Sadr's supporters in a bid to resolve the crisis.

Earlier, Obeidi said that Iraqi Shiite MPs had travelled to Iran for talks with Sadr, in the first acknowledgement of longstanding US assertions that the cleric was in Iran. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirmed the delegation was in the country but declined to be drawn as to the whereabouts of Sadr.

"This delegation came to Tehran in the framework of efforts to settle the differences and end the clashes in Iraq," Hosseini told AFP. "The discussions are still under way."

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the visit by the Iraqi delegation was a "healthy" step and aimed at "in essence forcing them to make a choice: do they want to work with the government of Iraq or are they going to subvert the government of Iraq."

Russia sends extra troops to Georgian rebel region

Reuters, Moscow

Russia said on Thursday an extra contingent of its troops had begun arriving in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, a move Tbilisi said was an illegal act of military aggression.

Russia announced this week it was deploying hundreds of additional peacekeeping troops to the tiny sliver of land of the Black Sea to counter what it said were Georgian plans for an attack on Moscow-backed separatists in the region.

Georgia summoned Russia's ambassador to protest against the deployment and said it had raised tensions in the region, where separatists fought a war against Georgian forces in the 1990s. Russia's defense ministry said the contingent would remain within the 3,000 limit allowed under a United Nations-brokered ceasefire agreement signed in 1994.

Russian state television broadcast footage of a column of Russian army trucks and armored vehicles driving through Sukhumi, Abkhazia's main city. "The contingent is completing the concentration of units in their deployment locations," Russia's RIA news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying in a statement.

"The Russian peacekeepers have begun equipping arms stores, vehicle parks and field kitchens. Operations are under way to guard the deployment points and fit out command points and communications systems."

Diplomats have said Russia is sending about 1,200 extra troops to the region, though officials in Moscow have not given a figure for the scale of the re-enforcement. "We are extremely concerned with Russia's decision to increase its military presence in Abkhazia," David Bakradze, a Georgian presidential special envoy, told journalists in Tbilisi.

"Under international law, the deployment of any military force without the consent of the sovereign country is clearly defined as an act of aggression. Therefore what we face today is an act of Russian military aggression in Abkhazia."

Western diplomats say Moscow's recent steps have escalated tensions in the volatile region and say it would now take only a small spark to ignite a new round of fighting. The Caucasus region is a key transit route for energy supplies to the West.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States was "very concerned" about Russia's deployment and said she would raise the issue when she meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in London on Friday.

"It is extremely important that Russia respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are integral parts of Georgia. They are not lands that are somehow disconnected from the Georgian state," Rice told reporters as she flew to London.

"I have talked to both Georgians and Russians to say let's not let any of this get out of hand," she added.

A semi-tropical strip of land on the Black Sea coast, Abkhazia used to be the playground of the Soviet elite. It was left devastated by the fighting between separatist forces and Georgian troops during the 1990s.

Sri Lanka’s military seizes rebel base; 51 killed

AP, Colombo

Sri Lankan troops overran a key Tamil Tiger rebel base in the island's embattled north Wednesday and fought for hours in surrounding villages, killing at least 51 insurgents, the military said.

The fighting began at dawn when soldiers backed by artillery and mortar fire advanced into Tamil Tiger territory and attacked rebel positions in two villages in Mannar district, killing 11 rebels, a Defense Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because of government restrictions.

Fighting spread to adjoining villages, and by evening the soldiers had seized the rebels' "18 Base" and killed at least another 40 guerrillas, the official said. A military statement said six soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not immediately available to comment on the military's claims.

However, a pro-rebel Web site reported that seven soldiers were killed in the fighting. The Web site did not mention the base that the military claimed to have seized or any rebel casualties. It was not possible to verify the details independently because the war zone is restricted to reporters.

Both sides commonly exaggerate their enemy's casualties while underreporting their own. Fighting has escalated along the northern front lines after the government withdrew from a long-ignored cease-fire in January.

The rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for minority ethnic Tamils, who have been marginalized by successive governments controlled by Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Iran complains to UN over Hillary’s attack threat

AFP, United Nations

Iran's UN mission has complained to the Security Council over US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's threat to "totally obliterate" the Islamic Republic if it were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its deep concern over, and strong condemnation of such a provocative, unwarranted and irresponsible statement against the Iranian nation and civilization," Iran's deputy ambassador to the UN Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi said in a letter to the council released here Thursday.

He said Senator Clinton "unwarrantedly and under erroneous and false pretexts threatened to use force" against Iran.

In an April 22 interview with ABC television, Clinton was asked what she would do as president if Iran were to launch a nuclear strike on Israel.

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," she replied.

"In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," she added.

"Such a statement is a flagrant violation of the most fundamental provisions of the UN Charter and the basic principles of international law," Danesh-Yazdi retorted.

He reiterated Tehran's position that Iran "has no intention to attack any other nations."

But he said that "in accordance with its inherent right under article 51 of the UN Charter, Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself."

Clinton is locked in a tight race with rival Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Amnesty urges India to abolish capital punishment

AFP, New Delhi

Rights group Amnesty International appealed on Friday to India to declare a "moratorium" on executions as an interim step towards abolishing the death penalty.

The London-based rights groups said there was a worldwide trend towards abolition and urged "India to declare an immediate moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty."

As an emerging power, "India has an opportunity to exercise regional leadership and to send a strong signal of its determination to fully uphold human rights" by rejecting the death sentence. The appeal comes as President Pratibha Patel has 60 mercy petitions under review for people on death row including the high-profile case of a Muslim man, Afzal Guru, sentenced to hang for plotting a 2001 attack on India's parliament.

The petition is Guru's last hope after the Supreme Court in 2006 upheld his death sentence for conspiracy in the attack that nearly brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to war in 2002. He has claimed innocence in the attack, blamed on Islamic militants fighting New Delhi's rule in Kashmir, that left 14 dead, including the five attackers. Many opponents of his execution say he did not get a fair trial.

The rights watchdog which has condemned Guru's sentence said it feared India's leaders lacked the political courage and human rights leadership to abolish the death penalty with the public "erroneously" believing it deters violent crime.

The Amnesty report called "The Death penalty in India: A Lethal Lottery" highlighted "the essential unfairness" of the use of the death penalty in India.

After studying 56 years of evidence used to hand down death sentences, Amnesty said it had found "abuse of law and procedure and arbitrariness and inconsistencies in the investigation process."

The last execution in India was in 2004 when a 41-year-old former security guard, Dhananjoy Chatterjee, was hanged for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in the eastern city of Kolkata-the first execution since 1995.

India's Supreme Court ruled in 1980 the death penalty was to be imposed only in the "rarest of rare" cases. But Amnesty said some people were handed death sentences for crimes for which others received lesser punishment.

Brown suffers major defeats in local polls

AFP, London

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party suffered its worst results since the 1960s in local elections, forecasts said Friday, while a high-profile contest for London mayor hung in the balance.

As results poured in, Labour-with Brown leading them into elections for the first time since taking office last year-was set to finish in third place behind the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the BBC said.

The ruling party could face further humiliation in the London mayoral race, which pitched the current mayor, Labour's Ken Livingstone, against the Conservatives' maverick Boris Johnson.

Voting in the capital took place Thursday, the same day as in the nationwide local polls, but counting starts at 0730 GMT and the results are expected to be announced sometime after 1600 GMT.

The Conservatives have 44 percent of the vote, the Liberal Democrats 25 percent and Labour 24 percent, according to BBC projections, which added that this result would be its worst since the late 1960s.

With results from 100 out of 159 local councils officially announced, the Conservatives had won 45 local councils, Labour 14 and the Liberal Democrats six.

The remainder were not controlled by any single party.

Labour lost six councils and 162 councillors and the Conservatives gained eight councils and 147 councillors.

Senior government figures pinned the blame on the global economic downturn and insisted Brown-who succeeded Tony Blair in Downing Street last June-was still the best man for the job.

Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, told BBC television: "We all think these are disappointing results and we recognise the economic context with people feeling the pincht

"But we are determined to listen and confident to take the country forward."

Some commentators suggested that the results could represent a tipping point for the Conservatives' hopes at the next general election, which must be held before the middle of 2010.

More than 100 hurt in western Iran quake

AP, Tehran

An earthquake hit western Iran Thursday, causing minor injuries to more than 100 people, state TV reported.

The report said the magnitude 4.7 quake jolted three towns in Lorestan province at 4:45 a.m., but no one was seriously hurt or required hospitalization. The head of Lorestan's emergency department, Reza Ariai, was quoted as saying that at least 70 of the wounded lived in Boroujerd, about 200 miles southwest of Tehran.

The official IRNA news agency said the quake sent panic-stricken Boroujerd residents into the streets. Two aftershocks followed the quake and shattered windows in several city buildings, but there were no reports of serious damage.

Iran is located on several seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, experiencing on average at least one quake per day.

In March 2006, three earthquakes and nine aftershocks hit the same region, killing at least 70 people and injuring about 1,200.

Pakistan’s leaders announce progress on reinstating judges

AP, Dubai

Pakistani leaders reported progress Thursday in talks on how to restore judges ousted by President Pervez Musharraf, signaling they had fended off a crisis that threatened to break up their month-old coalition government.

However, they did not announce a final accord on the matter, though details of the talks were promised by Friday.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower and political successor of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrapped up two days of marathon talks Thursday at a Dubai hotel. Sharif said there had been "substantive progress" and that the judges would be restored through a parliamentary resolution. He said judicial reforms demanded by Zardari were a "separate issue" but that he would announce details on Friday after a party meeting in his home city of Lahore.

"You will be satisfied with the progress we made," said Sharif, who praised Zardari for making the dialogue "fruitful."

A smiling Zardari batted away reporters' questions as he stepped into a limousine outside the hotel. However, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, a party colleague, said: "We will not disappoint people, as the leaders said that the judges will be restored and the coalition will remain intact."

The parties in the coalition came to power after defeating allies of the U.S.-backed Musharraf in February elections, returning Pakistan to democracy after eight years of military rule. A break in the coalition could bring dangerous instability to a country key to U.S. goals in the war on terrorist groups.

Some analysts say Musharraf might have to quit if the judges are restored and they begin re-examining complaints that he was ineligible for another five-year term.

Russia will keep ties with Hamas

AFP, Moscow

Russia will continue to maintain ties with Islamist group Hamas to foster Palestinian peace despite its designation in the West as a terrorist organisation, Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday.

Speaking after talks with Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi in Moscow, Sergei Lavrov said relations with both Hamas and its more moderate rival Fatah were essential to push the Middle East peace process forward.

"Russia has very good relations with Fatah, and its leader Mahmud Abbas as the overall Palestinian leader," Lavrov said.

"Russia has relations with Hamas and we use these, and we will actively use these, to help move towards the Yemeni initiative" to foster Palestinian peace, he said.

"It is impossible to resolve all of the problems without the unification of the Palestinians as a single people and as a single political-legal space," he said.

He said those taking part in the peace process should not try to "drive a wedge" between the two groups.

Fatah and Hamas penned a deal in Yemen last month to open their first direct talks since Hamas drove Fatah forces from the Gaza Strip in June.

However, the two factions started bickering about the meaning of the agreement within hours of signing it.

Russia has carved out a unique position in Middle East diplomacy by maintaining contacts with both Fatah and Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the European Union, the United States and Israel.