Sindh ministers stopped outside Quaid’s mausoleum

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Saturday ordered an inquiry into alleged highhandedness of security personnel with some members of his cabinet at the gate of Quaide-e-Azam mausoleum.

According to media reports, some provincial ministers had to face an embarrassing situation after they were not allowed by security guards to enter the mausoleum for about 15 minutes over security reasons.

Although the ministers produced their identity cards, however, adamant security staff refused to give any concession.

Taking notice of the incident, Chief Minister Shah asked Karachi police chief to submit a report. TrendPK

Bomb Blast in Istanbul leaves 15 injured

ISTANBUL, News Trends: A suspected suicide bomber injured at least 15 people in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on Sunday. The bomber had targeted a police vehicle and police suspected a suicide bomber was responsible.

The explosion occurred Sunday morning on Taksim square, close to a spot where police are stationed. According to ?stanbul Police Chief Hüseyin Çapk?n, 6 citizens and 9 police officers were injured.

Witnesses say ambulances have arrived on the scene and medics are attending to the injured.

Two hurt in attack on Japanese consulate car in Karachi

KARACHI: Two Pakistani employees of Japan’s consulate in Karachi were wounded Thursday when gunmen opened fire on their diplomatic car in an apparent robbery attempt, police and a consulate official said.

The wounded men were a guard and an administrative officer, senior Japanese diplomat Toshikazu Isomura told AFP.

“They were local employees, no Japanese diplomat was there in the car,” he said. “It appears to be a burglary attempt.”

City police chief Fayyaz Leghari said the unidentified gunmen opened fire when the two Pakistani consulate staffers stopped outside a restaurant after withdrawing cash from a bank.

The attackers fled on a motorbike, and the wounded men were taken to hospital, he said, adding that police were checking to see if the cash had been taken.

Karachi, a teeming port city of 16 million, is Pakistan’s economic hub. It has

Suicide bombers attack Afghan U.N. building

HEART: Two suicide bombers attacked a U.N. compound in the western Afghan province of Herat and several insurgents were now inside the building, local police said on Saturday.

Afghan troops were surrounding the U.N. building in Heart city, an area that Taliban and other Islamist militants are not very active in.

There were no immediate details on any casualties.

Mohammad Salem Ehsas, police chief of Herat, said two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the building while several other attackers managed to get inside. He did not know how many fighters there were but said it could be up to three insurgents.

A U.N. spokesman in Kabul, Dan McNorton, said he “was aware of an incident affecting a U.N. office in Herat” and said it was ongoing. He did not confirm that an attack had taken place.

Militants attacked a U.N. guesthouse in Kabul

Taliban kill 7 Afghan security forces in north

KUNDUZ: A Taliban attack near a polling station in Afghanistan’s north killed one Afghan soldier and six pro-government militiamen on Saturday, police said.

“One national army and six Arbaki (militiamen) were killed in the attack,” Baghlan’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told reporters by phone. Five others were wounded in the attack in Baghlan province, which took place near a polling station and an adjacent security outpost. AGENCIES

Taliban kill 7 Afghan security forces in north

KUNDUZ: A Taliban attack near a polling station in Afghanistan’s north killed one Afghan soldier and six pro-government militiamen on Saturday, police said.

“One national army and six Arbaki (militiamen) were killed in the attack,” Baghlan’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told reporters by phone. Five others were wounded in the attack in Baghlan province, which took place near a polling station and an adjacent security outpost. AGENCIES

North Korea threatens nuclear ‘holy war’ if attacked

BEIJING: North Korea would answer any attack on it with a nuclear ‘holy war,’ the country’s ambassador to Cuba said, according to official Chinese media, while the North’s leader Kim Jong-il appeared to be visiting China.

The ambassador Kwon Sung-chol made the remarks on Friday at a ceremony marking 50 years of diplomatic ties between North Korea and Cuba, the same day that Pyongyang said it was open to returning to nuclear disarmament negotiations.

“If Washington and Seoul try to create a conflict on the Korean peninsula, we will respond with a holy war on the basis of our nuclear deterrent forces,” Kwon said, according to China’s Xinhua news agency on Saturday, in a story datelined Havana.

“Our government will strive for the denuclearization of the peninsula and the establishment of a lasting peace as the beginning of the reunification process of the two

Taliban ‘attack NATO base’ in eastern Afghanistan

KABUL: A NATO base in volatile eastern Afghanistan came under attack early Saturday from possible Taliban militants, police in the region said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was unable to confirm reports that a US-run base in Khost province had come under attack but said it was investigating the reports.

“From what I understand it is still ongoing, we are getting details,” a spokeswoman told AFP.

Local police chief Adbul Hakim Is’haqzai told AFP that Taliban militants had first attacked Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno before retreating to occupy a secondary school in Khost city, the provincial capital.

The school was near a smaller US-run base, FOB Chapman, he said.

Seven CIA agents were killed in a Taliban attack on FOB Chapman in December, in what was the worst attack on US intelligence officials since 1983,

Sialkot brothers killing: Mob attacks Rescue 1122 Station

Staff Report

SIALKOT: The angry mob of Sialkot has begun attacking government properties, including Rescue 1122 Station, to protest the brutal killings of two young brothers, in front of the police and politicians who have reached the victims’ house to show solidarity, Samaa reported on Sunday.

Eight days ago, two young brothers- Hafiz Mughees, 21, and his brother Hafiz Muneeb, 16-were killed in a ruthless manner by severe torture and constant baton strikes by some men.

Sialkot district Police Chief Waqar Chauhan, eight other policemen and hundreds of people watched the lynching.

The video aired by news channels showed that the youths were hit repeatedly by some men. The mob later hung the bodies of the brothers upside down in a square.

Eight staffers, including the head of the concerned Rescue 1122 Station, have been suspended for alleged

Five rockets fired towards Israel’s Eilat

JERUSALEM: At least five rockets fell in and around the southern Israeli resort of Eilat at about 7:45 am (0445 GMT) on Monday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, Israel police said.

At about the same time, a Grad-type rocket slammed into the Jordanian port of Aqaba, less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from Eilat, injuring four people, one of them seriously, Jordan”s interior minister said.

“About four or five explosions were heard in and around Eilat it seems they were caused by rockets,” police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told foreign news agency. “We are still searching to find the rockets,” he said, saying that no one had been hurt in the attack.

Eilat police chief Moshe Cohen said one or two of the rockets had apparently landed in Jordan while another two landed in the sea.

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