The New Nation - Internet Edition

Suicide bombings kill 12 in Iraq: US records lowest monthly death toll as Iraq unrest dips

AP, Baghdad

At least 12 people were killed in suicide bombings in Iraq.

The top official in a town west of Baghdad says 10 people have been killed when a suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint.

Authorities have announced a vehicle ban in the town of Hit to prevent more attacks following Saturday's bombing. Hit's top official Hikmat Jubeir says those killed included six policemen and four civilians. He says 12 other people have been wounded.

Hit is 85 miles west of Baghdad in the former insurgent stronghold of Anbar province.

Another report sdds: A police official says a car bomb exploded in Baghdad near the Iranian embassy, killing at least two civilians and wounding five people. The official says Sunday's blast occurred during morning rush hour in a parking lot across the street from the embassy.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. He says two civilians were killed and the wounded include three embassy guards.

Meanwhile, nineteen US soldiers were killed in Iraq in May, the lowest monthly death toll since the US-led invasion of 2003, the US military said on Sunday. The month which saw the highest US losses was November 2004, when 137 American troops were killed, according to the independent icasualties.org website. The previous low was in February 2004 when 20 soldiers were killed.

Since the invasion, a total of 4,084 US troops have been killed in Iraq. The US military said last week that the overall level of violence across the country had hit a four-year low.

"I can confirm 19 casualties (deaths) for the month of May in Iraq as reported by OSD (Office of Secretary of Defence)," a US military spokesman here said.

"The efforts of the Iraqi security forces and coalition forces are bringing stability to Iraq."

On Thursday, the US military announced the withdrawal of another 4,000 of the additional troops deployed to Iraq last year after reporting a sharp decline in violence.

It said the latest drawdown was to be completed by June. It is the fourth brigade to withdraw from Iraq out of five that deployed under the controversial surge in US troop numbers ordered in February 2007.

"The brigade played an integral role in establishing the conditions for long-term security in Iraq by reducing violence in the Diyala province by 70 percent," the military said in a statement.

Washington has said it wants to complete the withdrawal of the 30,000 surge troops by July and have a 45-day evaluation period before considering overall troop levels.

Iraq's defence, interior and health ministries said their figures for May showed that at least 563 Iraqis were killed during the month compared to at least 1,073 dead in April and 1,082 in March.

The number of insurgents or militiamen said to have been killed by security forces also showed a marked drop, totalling 170 in May against 355 in April.

According to figures made available to AFP by security officials, 504 civilians were killed last month along with 32 policemen and 27 soldiers.

The number of Iraqis wounded in May was less than half the April figure at 1,003 compared to 2,008.

Seven weeks of bitter street fighting in the Baghdad Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City died down by May 14 when a truce between the Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the government went into effect.

Hundreds of people in the impoverished slum neighbourhood had been killed or or wounded in the fighting.

Government forces, however, announced a new offensive against insurgents in the main northern city of Mosul, considered by US commanders to be Al-Qaeda's last urban bastion in Iraq.

Security forces have arrested over 1,030 suspects in Mosul, but warned that about 2,000 Al-Qaeda operatives have fled to neighbouring provinces as well as the capital.

The US military too has warned that although Al-Qaeda is on the run, the group still has the ability to stage spectacular bomb attacks against security forces as well as civilians.

A car bomb in central Baghdad killed two people and wounded five on Sunday just outside the heavily guarded Green Zone where the US embassy and Iraqi government buildings are located.

It followed a suicide bombing west of Baghdad on Saturday night in which nine policemen were killed, according to the local mayor.

China relief copter crashes as 'quake lake’ set to drain

AFP, Mianyang

A military helicopter crashed while evacuating injured survivors of China's earthquake, state media said Sunday, underlining the lingering risks of a disaster that has killed more than 69,000.

The chopper crashed Saturday amid fog and strong turbulence as its crew of four was evacuating 10 injured residents from devastated areas of southwestern Sichuan province, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

No information on casualties was given. The crash highlights the ongoing challenges China faces as it seeks to respond to a tragedy that has also left about 15 million people homeless and raised fears of disease outbreaks in affected areas.

The helicopter had ferried a team of military medical experts to Li county and was returning with the injured residents when it lost contact with ground command, Xinhua reported, later confirming the chopper had crashed.

The death toll from the quake, China's worst disaster in a generation, rose to 69,016 on Sunday, with another 18,830 still missing, the government said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Chinese waited anxiously for the start of drainage work on a menacing lake created by the May 12 quake.

Army and police crews who had toiled for a week to dig a diversion channel for the Tangjiashan "quake lake" wrapped up late Saturday and authorities said the rising waters could begin spilling into the channel as early as Sunday.

The lake, formed when a huge landslide blocked the Jian River, has emerged as the most serious lingering threat to the region's traumatised citizens, as it poses a flood risk to areas populated by more than one million people.

State television had said earlier that plans to use explosives to breach the lake had been abandoned amid fears such a blast could destabilise the rubble.

Still, more than 197,000 people have been evacuated in case the controlled water drainage were to turn into a flood, officials told AFP, with more than a million others on standby.

"About 1.3 million people are prepared for evacuation," a disaster relief official in Mianyang city downstream from the lake, who gave only his surname Pu, told AFP on Saturday.

Two NATO soldiers, 100 rebels killed in Afghanistan

AFP, Kabul

Two NATO soldiers were killed Saturday in a Taliban suicide car bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan, while authorities said more than 100 rebels were slain in military operations in the southwest.

Four more International Security Assistance Force soldiers and five civilians were wounded in the blast in Jalalabad, a thriving city 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Pakistan border, the alliance and Afghan government said.

The 40-nation ISAF would not release the nationalities of its casualties, according to policy. Most foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan are US nationals. The new deaths bring to 67 the number of international soldiers who have died in Afghanistan this year, most of them in hostile action.

The insurgent Taliban-an Al-Qaeda-linked outfit waging a deadly campaign against the pro-democratic government-claimed responsibility for the blast, similar to scores of others carried out by the group.

An AFP reporter said a US Humvee was destroyed in the attack. "It's laying upside down in the middle of the road," he said. Two other ISAF soldiers were wounded in a roadside bombing on Saturday in Paktia province, a troubled region in the country's east bordering Pakistan, ISAF spokesman Carlos Branco said.

The interior ministry said meanwhile that Afghan security forces backed by foreign military allies killed more than 100 rebels to retake the remote district of Bakwa in the southwestern province of Farah.

The rebels had captured the district eight months ago. Authorities retook control on Friday, ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

"During two days of operations more than 100 enemies of peace and stability were killed," he said, adding that security forces were still chasing rebels in the district.

The Taliban have taken control of remote towns and districts but have been easily pushed back by Afghan and foreign security forces.

Farah, which borders Iran, has seen some of the bloodiest violence in a two-year insurgency, which has mainly taken place in the country's south and east.

About 18 other Taliban-linked militants were killed in other operations by Afghan and foreign troops in southern Kandahar province, a police commander said.

"In the past three days we've killed 16 Taliban including two commanders in Zhari and Panjwayi district. They were killed in an operation launched to clear the area of the enemy," said the Kandahar police chief, Sayed Agha Saqeb.

Two other rebels were killed in a gunfight with police elsewhere in Kandahar, he told AFP.

Aid workers still waiting to enter Myanmar's delta

AP, Bangkok

Myanmar needs more than food and shelter. It needs human expertise for everything from cleaning water to mental health counseling - and right now, those experts can't get to the hard-hit delta.

Dozens of aid workers from UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and other groups are still stuck in Yangon, the nation's largest city, without the required travel permits to leave for the delta region.

These workers include Red Cross water quality engineers, for example, to train their local counterparts to run major drinking water treatment plants. "The priority is drinking water," UNICEF spokeswoman Shantha Bloemen said Friday. For the first several weeks after Cyclone Nargis struck May 2-3, few of the more than 2 million survivors received any help. Myanmar's government only has about 15 transport planes that cannot carry tons of food and up to 40 aging helicopters, many not working, experts say.

Foreign aid agencies are now trying to get in not just trucks and helicopters, but also workers with experience from dealing with disasters like the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 Pakistani earthquake.

"It's not about extra pairs of hands; there are special skills that are required," said Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian effort that is trying, like other groups, to reach the country's flooded Irrawaddy delta.

Relief officials say they are poised to: Set up dozens of drinking water treatment plants in the delta and operate hand pumps and other equipment to desalinate wells and fields contaminated by the saltwater tidal surge.

· Send in health and nutrition experts to track disease and to identify acute cases of malnutrition, particularly in children, and mental health counselors.

· Join local teams to conduct emergency assessments of just what help is most needed, including food, water, shelter and medicine, and how many schools and other public facilities are required. UNICEF said Friday that more than 4,000 schools serving 1 million children were either damaged or destroyed.

Some people in Myanmar are already trained to deal with similar problems but not on such a large scale, said John Sparrow, Red Cross spokesman for the Asia-Pacific region.

"The kind of expertise you need doesn't come overnight, and that's why we need the expatriates in there," he said. Those who have handled multiple disasters will be able to reach more people and work more efficiently and quickly, he said.

On Saturday, a U.N. official warned Myanmar against prematurely resettling cyclone refugees, saying those who leave relief camps may not receive the aid they need and will become even more vulnerable to disease and the elements.

Human rights groups have lambasted Myanmar's military rulers, accusing them of kicking homeless cyclone survivors out of shelters. The U.S. defense secretary said the junta's blockage of international help has cost "tens of thousands of lives."

Iran FM calls on Muslims to 'erase’ Israel

AFP, Tehran

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called on the world's Muslims on Sunday to work to "erase" Israel, in the latest verbal attack by Tehran against the Jewish state.

"As the Imam Khomeini said, if each Muslim throws a bucket of water on Israel, Israel will be erased," Mottaki told a conference in Tehran, recalling a saying by Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked international outrage for his repeated attacks against Israel, which he has predicted is doomed to disappear and described as a "stinking corpse" and a "dead rat".

His most notorious attack was in 2005 when he repeated another saying from Khomeini calling for Israel to be "wiped from the map". Mottaki added: "More than ever, the Zionist regime is disintegrating from within. Today, the Islamic resistance in this region has shattered the regime's legend of invincibility."

While Ahmadinejad and top military commanders reguarly predict the demise of Israel, such virulent attacks from the foreign ministry are relatively unusual.

Iran vehemently denies charges of anti-Semitism, pointing to the continued existence in the country of the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel and saying it is only against Zionism. Tensions between Iran and Israel have also intensified in the past year over the Iranian nuclear drive.

Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared atomic arms power, accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon and, along with its chief ally the United States, has never explicitly ruled out a military attack against the Islamic republic.

But Iran, which does not recognise Israel, insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and aimed solely at generating energy for a growing population.

Iran accuses IAEA of ceding to Western pressure

AFP, Tehran

Iran accused the UN nuclear watchdog on Sunday of giving in to Western pressure in its latest report on the Iranian nuclear drive which struck a tougher tone.

"We were expecting more than this from the agency," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters.

"If it was not for the pressure from one or two countries, the agency could have made a better report which would not have given any opportunity for some countries who are seeking pretexts to put pressure on us."

In its report, the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed "serious concern" that Iran was hiding information about alleged studies into making nuclear warheads as well as defying UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.

Hosseini's remarks underline Iran's growing frustration with the IAEA after Western countries seized on the report to repeat their concerns about the contested nuclear programme.

The new speaker of parliament Ali Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator, has condemned the agency's attitude as "regrettable" and warned that Tehran will consider revising its cooperation should this continue.

Hosseini also protested the IAEA was "not acting on its commitments" by continuing to investigate a document which shows how to machine uranium metal into two hemispheres of the kind used in nuclear warheads.

Iran in November handed over the document to the agency, which had been demanding it for two years.

13 killed in Sri Lanka clashes

AP, Colombo

Nine Tamil Tiger rebels and four soldiers were killed in new clashes in Sri Lanka's restive north, the military said Sunday.

Fighting broke out Saturday in Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya and Welioya regions, a military official said on condition of anonymity citing government orders.

Authorities have vowed to defeat the rebels and dismantle their de facto state in the north by the end of this year.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment. It was not possible to independently verify the military's claim because reporters are not allowed in the war zone.

Tamil Tiger rebels have fought since 1983 to carve out an independent homeland in the island's north and east for ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced decades of marginalization by successive governments controlled by majority ethnic Sinhalese.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Iran not seeking to build nuclear weapons: Putin

AFP, Paris

Iran is not trying to acquire nuclear weapons but Tehran should avoid "irritating" its neighbours, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde.

Putin, who was in Paris for two days of meetings with President Nicolas Sarkozy and other French leaders, said there was no indication Iran was building its own nuclear arsenal.

But he admitted that Iran's compliance with investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was still a "point to be resolved."

Asked if Iran was trying to acquire nuclear weapons, Putin replied: "I don't believe so. Nothing indicates it." "The Iranians are a proud people," he went on. "They want to enjoy their independence and exercise their legitimate right to civil nuclear power.

"I am serious. On a legal level, Iran has infringed nothing at the moment. They have the same right to enrichment (of uranium). The paperwork says so. Iran is accused of not displaying all its programmes to the IAEA. This point remains to be resolvedt."

Putin stressed that Russia was opposed to Iran achieving a nuclear-power status.

"That is our principled position," he said. "Using nuclear weapons in a region as small as the Middle East would be synonymous with suicide. Whose interests would it serve? The Palestinians? Hardly, the Palestinians would cease to existt."

Iran is accused by Western powers, including the US and France, of seeking to possess nuclear weapons under the cover of a civil nuclear energy programme.

Earlier this week, the IAEA expressed "serious concern" that Iran is still hiding information about alleged studies into making nuclear warheads and defying UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.

Putin underlined that he had repeatedly told the Tehran government that it "doesn't find itself in an antiseptic zone, but in a volatile region."

"We ask them to take that into account, and not irritate their neighbours or the international community, and prove they have no ulterior motives."

Discovery heads to space station with Japanese lab

AFP, Cape Canaveral

The US shuttle Discovery carrying a Japanese research laboratory raced toward the International Space Station Sunday after a successful launch from Florida.

"A huge day for the space station partnership, for the Japanese space agency, for NASA and, really, for the people who hoped to see the space station do what it was designed to do, to be a place in orbit where we can learn to live and work in space," said NASA administrator Mike Griffin after Saturday's spectacular liftoff. While the launch at Kennedy Space Center here was marred by video evidence of several chunks of foam shedding off Discovery's external fuel tank, a top official of the US space agency said it did not endanger Discovery.

"We saw maybe five pieces of foam break awayt We don't consider this a big thing," said Bill Gerstenmeier, NASA associate administrator for space operations.

He brushed off worries that the foam could have caused the kind of damage that led to the Columbia disaster in 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated upon reentry due to launch-damaged insulation tiles, killing all seven aboard.

"They were late in the ascent," he said of the foam chunks that came off during the Discovery launch Saturday.

"They can't build up enough velocity that they can hit the orbiter" and cause any significant damage, he said.

Discovery carried one Japanese and six American astronauts to deliver the massive pressurized module (JPM) and a robotic arm for the Japanese Aerospace exploration Agency's (JAXA) Kibo science research unit.

"Liftoff of space shuttle Discovery. Gambattei kudasai-best of luck to the International Space Station's newest laboratory," National Aeronautics and Space Administration announcer Allard Beutel said at the launch, encouraging the crew in Japanese.

"Discovery flying true, speeding toward a date with the International Space Station Monday," he added, describing the launch as "a man-made rising sun on behalf of Japan."

Minutes later, Discovery reached orbit, NASA officials said.

Also aboard were plumbing parts for the ISS toilet, which malfunctioned earlier this week forcing the three ISS astronauts to rig up a still-troublesome bypass for liquid waste.

NASA officials were happy about the trouble-free progress of the launch countdown, especially since nagging problems with sensors on the external fuel tank delayed several launches in 2006.

The centerpiece of the 14-day mission is to deliver and install the 11.2-meter (36.7-foot), 14.8-tonne (32,600-pound) pressurized module of Kibo, which means Hope in Japanese.

When in place, it will be the single largest room on the ISS, with space for four scientists to work.

Israel to build 884 new houses in east Jerusalem

AFP, Jerusalem

Israel will build 884 more houses in east Jerusalem, the housing ministry said on Sunday, in a move that enraged Palestinians who have demanded it as the capital of their promised state.

"After the weekly cabinet session (on Sunday) we will invite tenders for the construction of 121 housing units in Har Homa and 763 others in Pisgat Zeev," ministry spokesman Eran Sidis told AFP. The two neighbourhoods lie in Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed after the 1967 war but which the Palestinians have demanded as their capital in recently revived US-backed peace talks. "These offers are being published for the occasion of Jerusalem Day, celebrating the 41st anniversary of the reunification of the city," Sidis said, referring to Israel's occupation of east Jerusalem in the Six Day War.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski defended the move, telling public radio it was necessary to address the "urgent need for housing for the Jewish population."

Palestinians slammed the decision, saying it undermined peace efforts and reflected mounting Israeli doubts over the political future of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is facing new corruption allegations.

"We strongly condemn this decision, which is a continuation of similar decisions to expand settlements that have never stopped," Palestinian senior negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

"This decision will affect all the efforts to continue the peace process. The situation is very difficult," he added.

Har Homa, which lies on the outskirts of the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem, has been a flashpoint in the dispute over the city since its construction in the late 1990s.

The controversy over Har Homa was reignited when, less than a week after the two sides formally relaunched peace talks in the US city of Annapolis in November, Israel unveiled plans to build more than 300 new housing units there.

The latest planned expansions come on the eve of the next scheduled meeting between Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who have pledged to try to strike a full peace deal by January 2009.

500 Australian troops pull out of Iraq

Reuters, Nassiriya

About 500 Australian combat troops pulled out of their base in southern Iraq on Sunday, fulfilling an election promise by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to bring the soldiers home this year.

A British military spokesman in the southern city of Basra said the pullout from Talil base in Nassiriya was under way, but a spokesman for the governor of Dhi Qar province said it had been completed, with U.S. forces replacing the Australians. "The Australian battle group is pulling out," the British military spokesman said.

Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, was one of the first countries to commit troops to the Iraq war. In addition to the combat troops, it also deployed aircraft and warships to the Gulf to protect Iraq's offshore oil platforms.

Since handing over security of Dhi Qar province to the Iraqis, the main role of the Australian battle group, numbering about 515 soldiers, has been to train and support Iraqi forces.

Rudd, who won elections last November, had promised to bring home frontline troops this year. Polls show 80 percent of Australians oppose the war.

Australia's top military commander, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said in February that after the troops pulled out, Australia would leave behind two maritime surveillance aircraft and a warship helping patrol the oil platforms, as well as a small force of security and headquarters liaison troops.

The British military spokesman said Australian civilians training the police and advising the Iraqi government would also stay behin

Mahathir outlines plan to oust PM without losing power

AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad urged disgruntled ruling party lawmakers not to defect to the opposition to oust the embattled prime minister, but to become independents. In a de facto masterplan for toppling Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi without losing power, Mahathir said becoming independent lawmakers meant they could avoid opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim having a shot at the job.

Abdullah has come under intense pressure to step down since a humiliating setback for his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)-led coalition in March 8 general elections.

A three-party opposition alliance, unofficially led by 60-year-old Anwar, seized control of five states and a third of parliamentary seats. Abdullah, however, insists he still has a mandate and will only discuss a transition of power to his deputy Najib Razak after party polls in December. Mahathir urged UMNO lawmakers not to join opposition ranks in order to push Abdullah out but to become independent candidates instead.

"Say 35 of them come out (of UMNO), the government will collapse, the prime minister will have to resign and if Anwar tries to become the PM you don't give your votes to him," Mahathir said.

"If say Najib, if he has the guts, decides to step in and be the candidate for prime ministership, you can then give your 35 votes to him and he becomes the PM, no loss to anyone, except to Abdullah."

Mahathir, an 82-year-old veteran who resigned from UMNO two weeks ago, said he would not rejoin the party until Abdullah stepped down as party president and premier.

He has been campaigning to oust Abdullah, his hand-picked successor, after the coalition's poor electoral results earlier this year.

Anwar, for his part, has said he is confident of attracting enough defecting government lawmakers to topple Abdullah's administration, but Mahathir brushed aside that claim.

"I think it's a pipe dream," he said.

"He has the money but he is not likely to get the support for crossing over. Crossing over is very painful."