A summary of news from around the region.
Paris demonstration for journalists held hostage in Iraq
PARIS - The media rights group Reporters Without Borders called on the French press to mark the fourth month of detention of two French reporters in Iraq with a mass demonstration by journalists in Paris on Monday. The rally is to show support for Radio France Internationale reporter Christian Chesnot and Le Figaro correspondent Georges Malbrunot, who were taken hostage by Iraqi insurgents south of Baghdad on August 20. Reporters Without Borders said it would distribute postcards during the demonstration, which would take place in front of a large department store busy with Christmas shoppers.
Blair to meet with Palestinian leadership in Ramallah
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - British Prime Minister Tony Blair will hold talks on December 22 with PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority said on Friday. "He [Blair] will discuss with them the whole situation including the international conference which will take place in London in February," Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
Grenade fired into Baghdad building housing Australian soldiers
SYDNEY - A rocket-propelled grenade slammed into a Baghdad building housing an Australian security unit on December 17 but none of the soldiers were wounded, a defense department official said. It hit the side of the building shortly after 7:00 am local time and a second grenade fell 50 meters wide, a department spokeswoman said, adding that it was not clear if the Australian contingent had been a specific target of the attack. Australia has about 850 soldiers deployed in and around Iraq and has suffered no casualties yet in the conflict.
Thirty-one injured in mosque construction collapse
KUWAIT CITY - Thirty-one, mostly Egyptian, expatriate workers were injured, six of them seriously, when part of a mosque under construction southwest of Kuwait City collapsed December 16, witnesses said. Eighteen of the less seriously injured workers were hospitalized with fractures as a result of the collapse in the Jleeb Shuyoukh area. Workers at the site have called for an investigation.
Four guards, two inmates killed in Afghan jail violence
KABUL - Clashes erupted after an escape attempt at the main jail in the Afghan capital on December 17, leaving four guards and two prisoners dead, an official said. The two detainees, a Pakistani and an Iraqi, attacked a guard at Pul-e-Charki jail with a razor blade and then managed to steal his gun, the head of the prison department said. Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said: "What I can tell you is that the Kabul police department has surrounded the area and the jail will be under control soon."
Death toll from attack on Iraq shrine rises to 10
KARBALA, IRAQ - Ten people were killed and 40 wounded when a powerful bomb exploded near one of the holiest Shia shrines in Iraq, according to the latest toll from hospital officials on December 16. The blast occurred late on December 15 in Karbala, where people were gathered for a funeral, at a gate to the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Hospital director Hassan Nasrallah said that Sheikh Abdel Mehdi Karbalai, the local representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, was out of danger after being injured in the blast.
Iraqi telecoms company chief killed
BAGHDAD - The director of Iraq's state-run telecommunications company and his bodyguard were killed by armed men in Baghdad on December 16, the communications ministry said. Qassem Mihawi was attacked as he was leaving his home in the Jamiha district of western Baghdad, said ministry official Abbas Mohammed. A medical source at Baghdad's Yarmuk hospital said that it had received the bodies of both Mihawi and his bodyguard Areth Abdel Haq.
FSB finds Al Qaeda network in Russian Caucasus
MOSCOW - The Russian FSB (ex-KGB) domestic intelligence agency said on December 15 that it had discovered a cell of the Al Qaeda network in southern Russia that numbered a dozen. "A dozen Al Qaeda members are in the North Caucasus," FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev told Russian media bosses in televised remarks. The FSB "will take measures to neutralize their activities", he added.
Baby killed as woman lands on pram in Tel Aviv tragedy
TEL AVIV - A 10-month-old baby was killed on December 15 after being crushed in her pram by a woman who had fallen 13 floors to her death from an apartment building in Tel Aviv, police said. It was not clear whether the woman, who was in her 30s, fell by accident or whether she had committed suicide by leaping from the building in the suburb of Or Yehouda. The baby was rushed to hospital after the tragedy but later died of her injuries.
Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israelis executed
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - A Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel was executed by gunmen in the West Bank town of Ramallah on December 15, according to medical sources and witnesses. The 21-year-old victim, who had been kidnapped two days before, was gunned down by masked militants in the center of town where his body was dumped. An Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades spokesman, an armed offshoot of the mainstream Fatah movement, claimed responsibility, saying that the victim had supplied information to Israel that led to the killing of some of its members.
Libya recovers $1bn in frozen US funds
TRIPOLI - Libya has recovered $1 billion in assets frozen in the United States and transferred the funds to other countries, the central bank said on December 15. "The funds frozen in the United States have been transferred from American banks to accounts in other countries," the bank's vice-president, Farhat Ben Kidara, told reporters. "The initial amount [frozen] was $400 million, but it reached $1 billion with interest," he said. The official stressed that the transfer did not signal a cut in ties with US banks.
Israeli chief rabbi faces probe into free hotel stay
JERUSALEM - Israeli authorities have opened an inquiry into allegations that Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and his family were put up for free in a five-star hotel, officials said on December 10. Attorney general Menachem Mazuz ordered the preliminary police investigation concerning the rabbi's stay at the hotel over the Passover and Sukkot holidays, a justice ministry statement said. Media reports have detailed how Metzger received free rooms and discounts on meals during their stay at the exclusive hotel in Jerusalem that he was not entitled to. Mazuz ordered the inquiry after Metzger failed to satisfy him with his own explanation.
Six killed in avalanche in Turkey
ANKARA - Six people from the same family were killed on December 14 when an avalanche of snow swept their house in northeast Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported. A local official had earlier put the death toll at four killed and two missing. Among the casualties was a 10-month-old baby, the agency said. Three people were also injured in the disaster in the town of Savsat, near Turkey's border with Georgia, Anatolia said.
Iraq says aide to Zarqawi killed, two arrested
BAGHDAD - An aide to Iraq's most-wanted man, Jordanian Islamist Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, was killed in Iraq and two others captured, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said on December 14. "I have been told that an individual by the name of Hassan Ibrahim Farhan Zyda from Zarqawi's group has been killed and that two of his deputies have been arrested," Allawi told the interim national assembly. The two detainees were suspected to have "beheaded innocents", he added, in a possible reference to the murders of hostages that have been claimed by Zarqawi's Al Qaeda linked group.
Death toll from Iran floods rises to 29
TEHRAN - The number of people who have died as a result of floods and heavy rain in Iran's southern province of Bushehr has risen to 29, student news agency ISNA reported on December 14. An Iranian Red Crescent official put the death toll at 29 since the heavy downpour began, but gave no further details, ISNA said. On December 10 state television reported that 17 people had been killed in auto accidents caused by floods and heavy rain in Bushehr.
Three Polish soldiers dead, four injured
WARSAW - Three Polish soldiers were killed and four others injured on December 15 in a helicopter accident near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, army officials said. "The helicopter made an emergency landing eight kilometers from Karbala. Three soldiers died and four were injured," army chief of staff Colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski told AFP. "We are awaiting information on the condition of the soldiers hospitalized in Baghdad and Karbala," he added. "The cause of the accident is still unknown but everything points to a technical failure of the helicopter which was on a routine patrol."
Nearly 80 cases of typhoid reported in Jordan
AMMAN - A Pakistani woman died of typhoid fever and 79 other people have contracted the infectious disease in Jordan since October, government spokeswoman Asma Khodr said in a statement on December 15. The disease has struck in a Jordan Valley region known locally as Aghwar, Khodr said after a weekly cabinet meeting. The health ministry is handing out free vaccines to residents of farmlands in the stricken area, she said, quoted by the state-run Petra news agency.
Saudis behead murderer
RIYADH - A Saudi murderer was beheaded on December 14 in the southwestern town of Abha. Abdullah Bin Awdah Al Dhabaan Al Ahmari had been found guilty of killing Turki Bin Saeed Al Modeith Al Ahmari. The execution takes to 25 the number of beheadings announced by Saudi authorities so far this year. The death penalty is meted out for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking. More than 50 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year.
Iraqi family wins UK court challenge
LONDON - The family of an Iraqi civilian who was allegedly beaten to death by British troops have successfully challenged the government's refusal to order an inquiry. The High Court in London on December 14 ruled in favor of the family of Baha Mousa, 26, who died while in British military custody. However, it rejected five other applications for reviews of allegedly unlawful killings by British troops.
Bullet in head for 14 Mosul, 6 Latifiyah victims
MOSUL, IRAQ - The bodies of 14 men killed with a single bullet to the head were found in a cemetery in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on December 14 and another six bodies, which had been killed in the same fashion, were found just outside Latifiyah on December 15.
Iran hangs murderer
TEHRAN - A 26-year-old Iranian man, Qadir Zamaemi-Fard, convicted of murdering a woman, was hanged on December 13. At least 95 people have been executed in Iran this year. Amnesty International has reported that at least 108 executions took place in 2003 and 113 in 2002. Murder, armed robbery, rape, apostasy and serious drug trafficking are all punishable by death in Iran.
Secret talks herald January poll
JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian officials met secretly in Jerusalem last week to discuss the election for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, an Israeli TV station has claimed. Two close aides of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon discussed with Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat and Hassan Abu Libdeh, the head of Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's office, a withdrawal by the Israeli army from Palestinian towns on election day and the arming of Palestinian police during the poll.
Iraq turns to Poland for rearmament
WARSAW - Iraq will purchase military equipment worth $131 million from Poland, Iraqi deputy defense minister Ziad Catan said on December 13. He said that Iraq would buy helicopters, troop transport vehicles, tanks and handguns, adding that he hoped Poland would become Iraq's main arms supplier.
Four arrested over suicide attack
JERUSALEM - Four members of the radical Palestinian group Hamas were arrested by Israeli security services on December 12 over their alleged involvement in a suicide attack on a cafe. The group, from Arab east Jerusalem, has been accused of supplying an explosives belt to the bomber who killed himself and seven Israelis in an attack on the cafe in the German Colony neighborhood of Jerusalem in September last year.
Israel keeps hold of Islamic Jihad activist
JERUSALEM - Israeli security forces are holding a Palestinian recruited by Islamic Jihad in Syria and trained by the radical organization in Lebanon. Ahmed Jaber, 25, from Ramallah, was recruited three years ago while studying in Aleppo and underwent weapons and explosives training. Jaber was arrested two months ago but news of his detention was only made public on December 12 when an Israeli military court extended his detention.
Iran customs officers arrested for smuggling
TEHRAN - Eighteen people have been arrested for involvement in a smuggling racket that brought a flood of TV sets, DVD players and hi-fi systems into the country. The head of Iran's economic crimes unit, Hamid Reza Movahedi, said 10 of those arrested were customs officials who took bribes to let in some $11-million worth of appliances. At the top of the list of those accused is a 36-year-old man said to have bribed 152 customs staff over five years.
Gunmen abduct Iraqi oil executive
SAMARRA, IRAQ - A 10-strong gang of armed men on December 11 abducted Fahmi Saber, who is in charge of security for the Northern Oil Company's pipelines in the Baiji area. The kidnappers told Saber's driver that they were abducting the executive because he was helping Prime Minister Ayad Allawi "to steal public goods". It is believed that insurgents are hoping to disrupt the planned January elections by sabotaging oil wells to drive up fuel prices.
Defiant Israelis help Iraq to rebuild
JERUSALEM - Eight Israeli businessmen have defied government warnings to travel to Iraq to assist with reconstruction projects. The group's arrival several days ago was coordinated with the interim Iraqi government after an invitation from US military authorities. Israel's counter-terrorism chief, General Danny Arditi, told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper that "it is both against the law and also very dangerous" for Israelis to travel to Iraq.
Israeli school attack wounds nine
GAZA CITY - Eight Palestinian schoolboys, aged between seven and nine, and one of their teachers were wounded on December 12 after Israeli troops opened fire on their school in the southern Gaza Strip. An Israeli military spokesman said that troops had fired at the source of a mortar attack on a nearby settlement.
Ten die in Turkish road crash
ANKARA - Ten people were killed in northwestern Turkey on December 12 when a minibus and a truck crashed head-on. The accident allegedly occurred after the truck made an attempt to overtake. All the victims of the crash were passengers in the minibus. Police detained the driver of the truck, who was unhurt.
Fifteen killed in Iran road pile-up
TEHRAN - A crash involving four cars in southeastern Iran killed 15 people at the weekend. The accident occurred between Zahedan and Khash in Sistan-Baluchestan province. Iran has some of the most dangerous roads in the world, with at least 25,000 people losing their lives in traffic accidents every year.
Palestinian militant killed in Gaza blast
GAZA CITY - Majed Abu Salem, a member of the radical Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad, was killed on December 13 in an unexplained explosion in his house in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip.
Hamas chief killed in shoot-out
NABLUS - Ihssan Shawahneh, 28, a leader of Hamas' armed wing, was killed and three Israeli soldiers injured in a shoot-out in Nablus on December 13. The Islamist movement said that the "martyred" Shawahneh had led its Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigade in the northern West Bank. An Israeli military source said that Shawahneh was wanted for organizing suicide attacks against Israeli targets. He was killed after opening fire on troops who had come to arrest him.
Regional Roundups
TOOLBAR
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.