Oil Truck Explosion Kills at Least 15 in Pakistan

The tanker was damaged when a bomb went off near a boys’ college in Landi Kotal in the tribal region of Khyber Agency. Abdul Nabi, a local government official, said that the people died when they gathered around the truck to siphon fuel and it exploded.

Two survivors were being treated for burns at the Landi Kotal Hospital.

Fuel prices in Pakistan, which are controlled by the government, have increased sharply in recent months, setting off protests and demonstrations across the country.

In a separate attack, 16 oil tankers were damaged Friday night in the nearby town of Torkham, at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, when a remote-controlled bomb exploded, Mr. Nabi said. No one was hurt. The tankers were idling at a parking lot, waiting for their turn to enter Afghanistan.

Also on Friday, a bomb aimed at a two-car convoy carrying American consular officials exploded in Peshawar. A Pakistani motorcyclist was killed, but no Americans died or were seriously wounded. Officials have been bracing for attacks on Americans or United States assets since Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan.

On Friday, American officials said files belonging to Bin Laden and captured in the Seal raid had discussed the idea of hijacking oil tankers and blowing them up at sea in the hopes of sending oil prices skyrocketing and rattling the world’s economy.

The bombings of the trucks follow a pattern in Pakistan, where Taliban insurgents and criminals attack vehicles carrying supplies for American and NATO troops. The supplies typically arrive in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi and travel overland to neighboring Afghanistan.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for both the Friday and Saturday attacks.

On Saturday, the opposition politician Imran Khan was also hoping to disrupt the shipment of supplies to NATO troops by organizing a sit-in in Karachi. Mr. Khan, a former cricket player turned politician, said he was staging the sit-in to protest continuing drone attacks by the United States. He said he hoped to hold up the trucks until Sunday afternoon.

Mr. Khan has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the of the drone strikes, which he calls violations of the country’s sovereignty. The United States has used the strikes to kill militants, including those who use Pakistan as a base to attack NATO troops in Afghanistan. The drone campaign has become increasingly unpopular among Pakistan’s politicians.

An earlier sit-in organized by Mr. Khan’s political party Tehreek-e-Insaaf , or Justice Party, in Peshawar in April, drew only a few thousand people, contrary to the expectations of the organizers.

Jamal Siddqui, a spokesperson for the party in Karachi, said that by Saturday evening at least 10,000 people had gathered for the protest.?Mr. Siddqui said the local authorities had suspended the movement of NATO trucks from the city as a result.

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At Least 18 Killed in Clashes at Iraqi Detention Center

An attempted mutiny by inmates turned into a gun battle inside a high security prison in Baghdad on Sunday, leaving at least 18 people dead, including six guards and Interior Ministry officers, news agencies reported.

There was no immediate indication that the prison revolt was a response to the killing of Osama bin Laden last week, although one of the inmates reported killed on Sunday was a senior commander of a terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

Maj. Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for security forces in Baghdad, was quoted by Reuters as saying that the fighting began when a prisoner grabbed a weapon from a guard and began shooting guards and ministry officers. Other prisoners then seized weapons and joined the fight, the general said.

The battle lasted more than three hours, agencies reported, but prison officials said no inmates had escaped.

Eight police officers and six detainees were wounded, The Associated Press reported.

About two dozen prisoners were being moved inside the prison when the revolt started, according to a source quoted by The A.P., and it was not clear that the detainees were shackled or in restraints at the time.

General Moussawi identified the dead insurgent commander as Huthaifa al-Batawi, known as the Emir of Baghdad. He has been described by Iraqi authorities as the organizer of an attack on a Baghdad church on Oct. 31 that killed nearly 60 people, including two priests.

The massacre at Our Lady of Salvation, a Syrian Catholic church, was the worst attack on Iraqi Christians since the American-led invasion in 2003. Gunmen wearing explosive vests stormed the church during a Sunday Mass and took more than 100 worshipers hostage.

The attackers identified themselves as members of the Islamic State of Iraq, a Qaeda-linked terrorist group. And General Moussawi said on Sunday that Mr. Batawi had been “in charge of planning the church attack.”

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Nigerian Human Rights Group: At Least 500 Killed in Post-Election Violence

。 Scott Stearns | Dakar ?April 24, 2011

A soldier searches a car in Kaduna, Nigeria, April 21, 2011

A Nigerian human rights group announced Sunday that at least 500 people were killed in violence that followed last week's election of President Goodluck Jonathan. Relief officials say more than 65,000 people have been displaced.

The Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria says most of the deaths occurred in northern states where Muslim supporters of defeated presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari attacked churches, homes and police stations, sparking reprisal attacks by Christians.

Nigerian authorities are refusing to release details of the violence, fearing that it could lead to more rioting ahead of gubernatorial elections this week.

Nigeria's Emergency Management Agency says Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Adamawa, Niger and Katsina states were the hardest hit.? Director General Mohammed Sani Sidi says his agency is helping more than 21,000 displaced civilians in Kano and nearly 10,000 displaced civilians in Zaria as well as people at more than 100 camps for displaced civilians in Kaduna.

"The intervention is continuing.? We are not going to stop until we get this relief material across to all the victims that have been affected.? We are doing everything possible in collaboration with the Nigerian army who have been very, very active and supportive in providing us with security cover," he said.

Sidi says the distribution of relief supplies has been slowed by the difficulty of finding drivers who are willing to enter areas where there has been violence.

In addition to displaced civilians in the north, Sidi says there are people who are originally from the north and are now living in the south who have taken refugee with security forces following the violence. "Most especially in Anambra and Imo, we have people from northern origin who, out of panic, on their own have decided to move to either military barracks or police barracks for safety for fear of reprisal attacks.? Those people also we have been able to reach out to them and provide some kind of relief material to them," he said.

With more than 65,000 civilians displaced nationwide, Sidi says the only real answer is finishing this series of elections with peaceful state-wide voting to restore order. "What we are trying to achieve is to make sure that peace is maintained and restored in all these places so that people can go back to their various houses and the continue with their normal lives," he said.

Twenty-six of Nigeria's 36 states are scheduled to hold state-wide elections on Tuesday.? Voting in Kaduna and Bauchi has been delayed until Thursday.? Electoral commission chief Attahiru Jega says he hopes that will allow for the "further cooling of tempers and for the security situation in those states to continue to improve."

 

At Least 55 Killed in South Sudan Fighting

 VOA News ?April 24, 2011

Officials in south Sudan say the army has killed at least 55 rebel fighters during a clash in volatile Jonglei state.
Hundreds have died in fighting between the southern army and various rebel groups since January, when southern Sudan voted to split from the north.? Southern leaders accused the north of supporting the rebellions to destabilize the region ahead of independence in July.

The latest fighting raged for several hours Saturday, as soldiers battled gunmen led by Gabriel Tanginya, who led a pro-Khartoum militia during Sudan's long north-south civil war.

Tanginya agreed late last year to integrate his fighters into the southern army.? Media reports say Saturday's fighting began after the militiamen refused to report to the southern capital of Juba.

Southern officials say five of Tanginya's generals were killed in the clash. ?

The French news agency quotes an official in south Sudan's Upper Nile state, Peter Lam Both, as saying 34 government soldiers and 43 civilians were wounded.