Medvedev blames security lapse for Moscow blast

MOSCOW: President Dmitry Medvedev placed the blame on Tuesday on a lapse in security for allowing a suspected suicide bomber to kill at least 35 people and wound scores at Russia’s busiest airport.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s attack at Moscow”s Domodedovo airport, but the action bore hallmarks of militants fighting for state in the North Caucasus region on Russia”s southern frontier.

“It’s obviously a terrorist act that was planned well in advance in order to cause the deaths of as many people as possible,” said President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday.

“What happened shows that there were clear security violations,” he said. The attacker evaded security to carry the explosives into the airport’s arrival hall.

North Caucasus rebels have threatened attacks against cities and economic targets in the run-up to parliamentary elections this year and 2012 presidential polls. The choice of Domodedovo, resulting in the deaths of several foreigners, suggested the attackers sought to raise uncertainty beyond Russia”s borders.

Russia is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, on the edge of the Caucasus, which some rebels consider part of the territory they aim to include in separate state.

Medvedev, due to open the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, delayed his departure to the Swiss city of Davos and was due to hold a meeting with his security services on Tuesday. On Monday he vowed to track down and punish those behind the blast.

French ex-PM Villepin quizzed over Pakistan case

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.

Villepin, who was being questioned as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, said on Friday that he had “very strong suspicions” that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.

Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin was chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a

French ex-PM Villepin quizzed over Pakistan case

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.

Villepin, who was being questioned as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, said on Friday that he had “very strong suspicions” that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.

Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin was chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a

French ex-PM Villepin quizzed over Pakistan case

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.

Villepin, who was being questioned as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, said on Friday that he had “very strong suspicions” that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.

Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin was chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a

French ex-PM Villepin quizzed over Pakistan case

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.

Villepin, who was being questioned as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, said on Friday that he had “very strong suspicions” that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.

Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin was chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a

French ex-PM Villepin quizzed over Pakistan case

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.

Villepin, who was being questioned as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, said on Friday that he had “very strong suspicions” that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.

Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin was chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a

Three soldiers killed in South Waziristan

Militants attacked a Pakistani military convoy on Tuesday, killing three soldiers in the tribal badlands of Waziristan on the Afghan border, a security official said.
The attack took place in the Kalundar Keley area of South Waziristan, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of the district’s main town Wana.
Militants attacked a security force patrol on Tuesday in Kalundar Keley area, killing three troops and wounding two others, a senior security official in the area told.
The official said an earlier roadside bomb attack in the same area wounded two more soldiers. A second security official confirmed the deaths.

Taliban leader killed in NATO air strike

KABUL: NATO said Thursday that another Taliban leader had been killed in an air strike and ground operation in northern Afghanistan, along with seven of his associates.

The US-led force in Afghanistan named Maulawi Jawadullah as the Taliban leader of Yangi Qala district in Takhar province.

He was allegedly wanted in connection with the deaths of at least 10 Afghan police in an attack in the neighbouring province of Kunduz.

NATO said Jawadullah was “directly responsible” for kidnapping and holding hostage Afghan security personnel, and carried out bombings and ambushes.

NATO said an air strike targeted Jawadullah and a group of insurgents, killing five militants.

The military said that an Afghan and coalition ground force then killed three insurgents in hiding “after they threatened the security force”.

NATO announced separately that

Qureshi to meet NATO chief

BRUSSELS: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday, the alliance said, amid a row over a NATO helicopter strike inside Pakistan.

He will visit the transatlantic alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on the sidelines of a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

A NATO statement said today there would be no press briefing after the talks with Rasmussen.

Pakistan blocked a land route for NATO convoys carrying supplies to neighbouring Afghanistan on Thursday after officials blamed a cross-border NATO helicopter attack for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. AGENCIES

Qureshi to meet NATO chief

BRUSSELS: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday, the alliance said, amid a row over a NATO helicopter strike inside Pakistan.

He will visit the transatlantic alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on the sidelines of a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

A NATO statement said today there would be no press briefing after the talks with Rasmussen.

Pakistan blocked a land route for NATO convoys carrying supplies to neighbouring Afghanistan on Thursday after officials blamed a cross-border NATO helicopter attack for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. AGENCIES

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