The disgusting and heartbreaking photos published last week in the German media, and more recently in Rolling Stone magazine, are finally bringing the grisly truth about the war in Afghanistan to a wider public. All the PR about this war being about democracy and human rights melts into thin air with the pictures of US soldiers posing with the dead and mutilated bodies of innocent Afghan civilians.

I must report that Afghans do not believe this to be a story of a few rogue soldiers. We believe that the brutal actions of these "kill teams" reveal the aggression and racism which is part and parcel of the entire military occupation. While these photos are new, the murder of innocents is not. Such crimes have sparked many protests in Afghanistan and have sharply raised anti-American sentiment among ordinary Afghans.

I am not surprised that the mainstream media in the US has been reluctant to publish these images of the soldiers who made sport out of murdering Afghans. General Petraeus, now in charge of the American-led occupation, is said to place great importance on the "information war" for public opinion – and there is a concerted effort to keep the reality of Afghanistan out of sight in the US.

Last week my initial application for a US entry visa was turned down, and so my book tour was delayed while supporters demanded my right to enter the country. The American government was pressed to relent and allow my visit to go ahead. Ultimately it too will be unable to block out the truth about the war in Afghanistan.

The "kill team" images will come as a shock to many outside Afghanistan but not to us. We have seen countless incidents of American and Nato forces killing innocent people like birds. For instance, they recently killed nine children in Kunar Province who were collecting firewood. In February this year they killed 65 innocent villagers, most of them women and children. In this case, as in many others, Nato claimed that they had only killed insurgents, even though local authorities acknowledged that the victims were civilians. To prevent the facts coming out they even arrested two journalists from al-Jazeera who attempted to visit and report from the site of the massacre.

Successive US officials have said that they will safeguard civilians and that they will be more careful, but in fact they are only more careful in their efforts to cover up their crimes and suppress reporting of them. The US and Nato, along with the office of the UN's assistance mission in Afghanistan, usually give statistics about civilian deaths that underestimate the numbers. The reality is that President Obama's so-called surge has only led to a surge of violence from all sides, and civilian deaths have increased.

The occupying armies have tried to buy off the families of their victims, offering $2,000 for each one killed. Afghans' lives are cheap for the US and Nato, but no matter how much they offer, we don't want their blood money.

Once you know all this, and once you have seen the "kill team" photos, you will understand more clearly why Afghans have turned against this occupation. The Karzai regime is more hated than ever: it only rules through intimidation, corruption, and with the help of the occupying armies. Afghans deserve much better than this.

The main reason for the delays, which see a third of the most urgent items taking more than the target five days to arrive, is because the goods are not ready for transport. The London-based NAO recommended the Ministry of Defense improve its planning and the management of its supply chain.

The NAO suggested that the department could save 15 million pounds ($24 million) a year by using surface transport rather than air, which accounted for 90 percent of transport costs.

“The department urgently needs better supply-chain information systems with the appropriate skills and processes to match,” Amyas Morse, the head of the NAO, said in an e-mailed statement today. “It currently keeps the armed forces supplied by either stockpiling more than necessary, sending too many routine items by air, or both. This ties up precious resources that could be better used to support troops.”

Twenty-five-year-old Mohamed Hersi was to board a flight to Africa on Tuesday evening, bringing his Canadian passport, a spotless record and his university-educated mind.

His boarding pass said he was bound for Egypt. But police never let him leave Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, arresting him on allegations that he was actually en route to becoming a terrorist in Somalia.

five diplomats – a third of the total staff – were part of the "political wing" of the embassy, often used as cover for spying. Diplomatic sources did not rule out the possibility that the individuals might have moved on to launch terrorist attacks against Britain, although there was no evidence to suggest they were involved in those activities at present.
The five are understood to have used their cover in the Knightsbridge embassy to intimidate opposition groups and students, making threats against their families in Libya. Key members of Libya's Interim Transitional National Council are based in London and others were visiting for the London Conference on Libya on Tuesday.
The expulsions are understood to have been under consideration for some weeks as the activities of the individuals were monitored. MI5 is thought to believe that Col Gaddafi would have to set up a terrorist infrastructure from a "standing start" but the expulsions make clear that he still has loyalists within the embassy.
The five individuals, who also include the military attache, were described by one source as the "strongest pro-Gaddafi supporters in the embassy" who were said to be "fervent" in their support for the Libyan leader in Tripoli. The source said that expelling them sent out a "strong political signal about the illegitimacy of the regime".
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, told the House of Commons that the move underlined the government's "grave concern at the regime's

seven terrorists were caught in the Damascus neighborhood of Mezzeh-86 on Tuesday night, after police authorities received a tip off on their whereabouts, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The terror elements, among them three non-Syrian Arabs, have been taken into police custody and a full-scale investigation is underway.

The arrests were made on the same day as millions of Syrians took to the streets across the country to stress the importance of preserving the national unity and stability and voice support for President Assad following some scattered protest rallies and armed disturbances against the government.

Syrian authorities say they have arrested foreign elements believed to be behind the recent unrest in the country.

Assad has been the president of Syria for the past 11 years. He took office in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who led the country for three decades.

The Leninsky District Court of Vladikavkaz authorized the arrest of the brothers Islam and Ilez Yandiyevs, who are suspected of being involved in a dreadful terrorist attack at the Moscow airport Domodedovo on January 24, a source in the court told Itar-Tass by phone on Wednesday.

“The detainees were put into custody,” the source said.

Islam and Ilez Yandiyevs were detained in a large-scale special operation in Ingushetia on Tuesday. They are about to be charged under five articles of the Russian Criminal Code with a terrorist act and banditry in particular.

Doku Umarov, who is listed alongside the world’s most dangerous terrorists by the UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee, has allegedly been killed in the Republic of Ingushetia. Russian Air Forces bombed a militant training camp on Monday.

At least 17 militants have been killed by two helicopter strikes at the camp, located in the mountains at the border of three southern Russian republics – Ingushetia, Chechnya and North Ossetia.

Among the dead, most likely, is Doku Umarov, the man believed to be behind a number of high-profile crimes, including the attempted assassination of Ingush President Yunus-Bek Evkurov in June 2009 and suicide bombings in Moscow in March 2010 and January 2011.


Russia
At the moment, security services and investigators are cautious about confirming reports that the Al-Qaeda-linked terror leader has been killed.

There have been eight reports in the past of Umarov’s death, which later proved false. Now, after Monday’s major anti-terror operation, DNA-tests are being carried out to verify the identities of the 17 bodies retrieved from the mountains.

Doku Umarov, Russia’s most-wanted man, is classed as a terrorist in the US and is listed alongside the world’s most dangerous terrorists by the UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee.

Umarov was believed to have been behind the blast at Domodedovo Airport on January 24 this year and the twin terror attacks in the Moscow Metro, on March 29, 2010 among dozens of other terror acts.

Many believe he could provide valuable information on terrorists’ latest moves.

A report released by the Associated Press on Tuesday, quoting anonymous intelligence sources, said Umar had been captured along with scores of other suspects allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, in an operation conducted by Pakistani authorities on March 2.

Previous reports said Umar had been shot dead by authorities in the Philippines in 2006, but were later found to be false.

Umar and his aide, Dulmatin, allegedly masterminded the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, most of whom were foreigners. Dulmatin was shot dead during a raid in Pamulang, Banten, by Indonesia’s antiterrorism unit last year.

Umar is wanted in Indonesia, the Philippines, the US and Australia, and has a US$1 million bounty on his head for playing a significant role in establishing a military-style training camp for terrorist groups in Aceh.

National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said on Wednesday that the National Police had formed a team to be dispatched immediately to Pakistan to confirm reports of Umar’s arrest.

“We received the information several days ago,” said Ito on the sidelines of the Bali Process IV conference, in Nusa Dua, Bali. “We have formed a team of officials from several institutions such as the immigration office and the Foreign Ministry, as this case involves another country’s authorities.”

The team will go to Pakistan immediately, pending approval from Pakistani authorities, he said.

Ito added that the police were not yet convinced of the legitimacy of the reports. “It is still raw information. Pakistani officials have yet to tell us officially,” said Ito. “We need to cross-check the information.”

If the arrested man is in fact Umar Patek, the police may not be able to bring him to Indonesia to be prosecuted in a local court, Ito said. “The report said he had been arrested for crimes he committed in Pakistan. It is likely he will face charges there.”

The spokesman for the directorate general of immigration at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, Bambang Catur Puspitowarno, said his office just started looking for records on Umar. “We are still checking our system for Umar Patek, including his aliases, Abu Syekh and Abdul Goni,” Bambang said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also not received official information on the arrest of Umar.

“The government is still waiting for an official report [on the arrest],” said Presidential spokesman for international affairs, Teuku Faizasyah.

When a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier pleaded guilty last week to murdering three Afghans, he couldn't say for sure if he'd actually killed anyone.

In fact, Spc. Jeremy Morlock said some of his platoon mates in the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division likely delivered the shots that took the civilians’ lives in southern Afghanistan last year. He said he was responsible because he joined in planning the combat-like scenarios.

Morlock’s descriptions of the murders will be important testimony to four of his platoon mates who await courts martial on charges that they participated in the killings. Morlock, 23, struck a plea deal that requires him to take the witness stand at their trials.

Some of his codefendants’ attorneys have been hammering the Army for months for not producing evidence showing which soldiers fired the fatal shots. They argue the soldiers can’t be convicted of murder if they didn’t kill someone.

“There is no physical evidence here,” attorney Dan Conway said at a pretrial hearing in November for one of Morlock’s codefendants, Pfc. Andrew Holmes, 20, of Boise, Idaho. “It’s absolutely breathtaking that this is a premeditated murder case.”

A January 2010 killing Morlock described in court Wednesday illustrated the uncertainty over whose weapons were responsible for which deaths.

That incident became the ugly face of the alleged war crimes committed by Morlock and his comrades when a German newsmagazine last week published photos of the victim. One image shows Morlock grinning as he holds up the Afghan’s head; another shows Holmes kneeling over the corpse.

Morlock said the killing played out when he spotted an Afghan in a field approaching him and Holmes. Morlock said he told the man to halt about 20 meters from them while he and Holmes agreed to kill him in a scenario they’d devised earlier with Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs. Gibbs was a squad leader in their platoon and is the main target of the Army’s war crimes investigation.

Morlock said he tossed a grenade over a wall near them to make it appear as if the Afghan attacked him and Holmes. He ordered Holmes to shoot the man with a burst of gunfire from the squad automatic weapon he carried. That gun fires more rapidly than the rifles most infantrymen carry, and it can shoot as many as 1,000 rounds per minute.

After the grenade exploded, Morlock said he shot the Afghan, too.

“He was laying on the ground, dead presumably” when he shot, Morlock said in court.

Other infantrymen in his platoon gathered at the shooting scene. Capt. Patrick Mitchell asked the soldiers to make sure the Afghan was dead, according to sworn statements and court testimony. Staff Sgt. Kris Sprague interpreted that order as a directive to shoot the Afghan twice more, Morlock said.

Sprague was not charged with a crime for shooting the Afghan, and no one else alleged that he knew the killing was staged.

Morlock told the Army judge, Lt. Col. Kwasi Hawks, that he believed Holmes’ weapon killed the Afghan.

“I could only assume that a burst from an automatic weapon and a relatively close position of a fragmentary grenade going off, that that would be the end result,” Morlock told the judge.

Holmes has denied he knowingly participated in a staged killing, and his attorney has said Morlock’s or Sprague’s weapons killed the Afghan.

Conway says the photos of the victim – including the ones published last week – are proof that the Afghan was not hit with Holmes’ weapon. If it had been Holmes’ gun, the body would have shown many more wounds, the attorney said. Instead, it appears to show just one or two bullet wounds.

“When you look at the photo ... there’s only one bullet hole – where Sprague shot,” Conway said in court last fall when he submitted another image of the victim to an Army officer.

Conway unsuccessfully pushed the Army to release the images before the end of Holmes’ pretrial hearing in November. The Army denied his request and the photos reached the public when Der Spiegel magazine obtained them from a source.

Similar to the January incident, Morlock’s account of a May 2010 murder left room for attorneys to argue which of three soldiers killed another Afghan.

Morlock said Gibbs set up the victim on one end of a compound in a village. Gibbs was supposed to throw a grenade while Morlock and Spc. Adam Winfield were supposed to shoot the Afghan. Then Gibbs would plant a Russian-made grenade on the victim to make it appear as if he was attacking Americans.

Instead, Morlock said Gibbs threw the grenade too close to the victim and likely killed him. He and Winfield fired their rifles, but Morlock wasn’t sure if their bullets hit the victim. Morlock said Gibbs shot the Afghan twice more after the explosion.

Gibbs maintains that all three killings were legitimate combat incidents. He’s expected to face a court martial this summer.

Another 21 people were injured, said Ejaz Ali Khan, the police chief of Swabi district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The explosion took place at a public gathering for a political party in the province.
Abdullah Khan, a senior police official in the district, said the gathering was organized by Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam party. The party head, Fazal Ur Rehman, was scheduled to speak at the rally.
Party spokesman, Moulana Amjad Khan, said Rehman was the target of the attack but was unharmed.
Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam was a former coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.
Security forces have been battling an insurgency led by the Pakistani Taliban in the province, formerly known as the North West Frontier Province.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to punish those behind Tuesday's attack in Tikrit where gunmen stormed into the building and seized hostages. At least 98 people were wounded.

Maliki did not say who was behind the attack and there has been no claim of responsibility yet. But Iraqi and U.S. officials pointed fingers at al Qaeda.

"...The tactics use mirror closely and in fact reflect what al Qaeda and what al Qaeda-associated groups have used in the past," the main U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, told Reuters.

"Both in the use of car bombs, in the use of suicide bombers or attackers wearing suicide vests and their ... execution of hostages. So, it bears all the signatures of an al Qaeda attack ... But we have not seen specific claims by al Qaeda."

Ali al-Moussawi, a media adviser to Maliki, said Iraqi security forces may have been infiltrated by militants. The gunmen wore the uniforms of security forces.

"All initial indications show that it is al Qaeda, but maybe there are also other elements cooperating with them," he said.

Tuesday's attack in Tikrit, a former stronghold of al Qaeda, was the deadliest in Iraq this year.

Pakistan police have arrested six more suspects alleged of attacking the Sri Lanka national cricket team during their tour in Lahore in March 2009.

An AFP report citing Lahore city police chief, Aslam Tareen said the latest arrests were made in different swoops in central Punjab province, but gave no precise dates.

"We have arrested six people, they were actively involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan team. They belonged to the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan)," AFP quoted Tareen.

The visiting Sri Lankan team came under a terrorist attack in Lahore when they were on the way to the Gaddafi Stadium to play the third day of the second Test match on March 03, 2009.

A total of seven players and team's British assistant coach, Paul Farbrace were injured in the attack, which also left eight Pakistani security officers dead.

The attack isolated Pakistan as a host country to play the sport and Pakistan lost rights to host the 2011 ICC World cup due to the attack.

Pakistan authorities have two other suspects in custody over the attack and the recent arrests have followed the interrogation of the two suspects.

The Pakistani Security forces in October 2009 last year arrested a terrorist commander, Aqeel alias Dr.Usman, who had worked in the Army Medical Corps, for allegedly masterminding the attack.

Another suspect identified as Qari Omar Arbab who belongs to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been arrested in November 2010.

A group of U.S. Army soldiers accused of killing unarmed Afghan civilians in cold blood did not act clandestinely as the Pentagon has implied but in plain view of their combat unit, Rolling Stone magazine reported on Monday.

The magazine said a review of Army investigative files showed the civilian killings were common knowledge among the soldiers' unit of the 5th Stryker Brigade, contrary to the impression left by the Army's criminal case that they were operating without the awareness of their commanders.

The article said questions were raised about the unit's behavior within days of the first killing in January 2010, but the issue was dropped after the soldiers were interviewed again about the incident and told consistent stories.

"It was cut and dry to us at the time," the magazine quoted Lieutenant Colonel David Abrahams, the battalion's second in command, as saying.

The article appeared with a pair of photos previously published by the German magazine Der Spiegel showing two soldiers charged in the January killing posed separately with the bloodied corpse of their young Afghan victim, whose head they are holding up by the hair.

One of those soldiers, Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, was sentenced last week to 24 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of premeditated murder and apologized in court, saying, "I lost my moral compass."

Rolling Stone published several additional gruesome photos of unidentified casualties but said it was not known whether the bodies shown were of civilians or Taliban fighters, or whether they were killed by members of the same Army unit.

The magazine also posted online a video clip showing U.S. soldiers on foot patrol gunning down two Afghan men they encountered riding a motorbike, although it was unclear whether the two men were armed as the troops claim in the footage.

A second video, titled "Death Zone," consists of thermal imaging surveillance footage, set to rock music, of a nighttime air strike on two Afghan men suspected of planting an improvised explosive device.



The Army issued a statement apologizing for the distress cause by publication of the latest images, calling them "disturbing and in striking contrast to the standards and values of the United States Army."

"Accountability remains the Army's paramount concern in these alleged crimes," the statement said, adding the matter was being pursued in court.

Morlock was the first of five soldiers charged with murder last year in connection with three random killings of Afghan villagers allegedly staged to look like combat casualties.

The case represents the most serious prosecution of alleged U.S. military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Seven other members of the unit were charged with lesser crimes during the investigation, which grew out of a probe into rampant hashish use by some American soldiers.

Civilian attorneys for Morlock and other defendants have suggested the Stryker Brigade suffered from a breakdown in leadership and that commanders bore some responsibility for the misbehavior of their troops. Only enlisted men have thus far been charged in the criminal probe.

al-Qaeda among Libya rebels, Nato chief fears
Libyan rebel forces may have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda fighters, a senior American military commander has warned.
Rebel fighters move under fire from forces loyal to Col Gaddafi near Bin Jawad Photo: REUTERS
By Robert Winnett, and Duncan Gardham 9:00PM BST 29 Mar 2011
Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, said that American intelligence had picked up "flickers" of terrorist activity among the rebel groups. Senior British government figures described the comment as "very alarming".
The admission came as the American, Qatari and British Governments indicated that they were considering arming rebel groups, who yesterday suffered a series of setbacks in their advance along the Libyan coast towards Tripoli.
The plan is likely to spark further splits in the international coalition, with Nato and Italian sources indicating the move would require another United Nations resolution.
On Tuesday more than 40 ministers from around the world met at a conference in London to discuss the situation in Libya.
They agreed to establish formal links with opposition groups in the rebel-stronghold of Benghazi with several countries sending official envoys to the area. Libyan opposition leaders yesterday also travelled to Britain for talks with David Cameron and Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State.Gaddafi's snipers spread panic in rebels' western stronghold 29 Mar 2011
Britain and America signalled they would allow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to seek exile – rather than face a war crimes trial – if he agrees to step aside immediately.
However, the emerging plan being discussed for the political future of Libya was undermined by the growing military doubts over the make-up of the rebel groups.
"We are examining very closely the content, composition, the personalities, who are the leaders of these opposition forces," Admiral Stavridis said in testimony yesterday to the US Senate.
While the opposition's leadership appeared to be "responsible men and women" fighting the Gaddafi regime, Admiral Stavridis said, "we have seen flickers in the intelligence of potential al Qaeda, Hizbollah, we've seen different things."
"But at this point I don't have detail sufficient to say there is a significant al-Qaeda presence or any other terrorist presence," he added.
The remarks are likely to be seized on by Col Gaddafi who has repeatedly claimed that the uprising is being driven by terrorists.
Last night a series of powerful explosions rocked Tripoli and state television said several targets in the Libyan capital had come under attack from "crusader aggressors". Tripoli residents said the latest explosions took place in the east of the capital but their exact location was not clear. Aircraft were heard above Tripoli earlier in the day.

53 people were killed and almost 100 wounded when a group of gunmen stormed a provincial council building in Iraq, taking scores of hostages.

Security officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the council building in Tikrit, the home town of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Officials said the assailants then stormed into the building, setting off car bombs, explosive belts and hand grenades, and grabbing hostages.

As security forces closed in, the gunmen began executing their hostages.

A car bomb also exploded outside the building as police arrived, killing two police and a journalist.

The attack lasted for more than four hours.

It is still unclear how many people were inside the building or taken hostage.

But witnesses say some managed to escape as the drama unfolded.

Hospital sources said they had received the bodies of six attackers. They said two showed they had died after detonating their suicide vests, and four were killed by shots fired by security forces.

"Police cannot approach because the gunmen are shooting from inside," a police official said during the stand-off.

"The attackers are all wearing suicide belts."

He added that at least one had detonated his payload inside. He said all were dressed in military uniforms.

Tikrit, north of Baghdad, is capital of a majority Sunni Muslim province, where insurgent groups have long had a presence.

The US military said some of its forces had initially assisted Iraqi security forces in response to the attack.

"As additional Iraqi forces arrived on the scene, US forces were not needed to take a direct role in securing the area and monitored the situation to help determine what additional assistance might be required," it said in a statement.

British army medic awarded a Military Cross in Afghanistan has said she "didn't believe in a million years I'd get something like that".

L/Cpl Kylie Watson, from Ballymena, County Antrim, put herself in "mortal danger" to treat a soldier under heavy Taliban fire in Helmand last year.

She said when her commanding officer called her in to tell her of the award she thought she was in trouble.

"It's still a bit of a shock to the system," she said.

L/Cpl Watson gave medical care in exposed open ground for 20 minutes.

She had previously ran 100 metres in full view of the enemy under sustained fire to give life-saving first aid to an Afghan soldier who had been shot twice in the pelvis.

"We were under heavy fire and whenever you've got a casualty and it's your job to treat them you just go and treat them - I don't really think about it much at the time," L/Cpl Watson said.

"Then after it happened you think 'Oh my God, what have I just done, do you realise how dangerous that actually was'."

She said she was very proud of her award, but was only doing her job.

"Everyone does it, it's not just me, anyone would have done just exactly the same thing as I did in that situation. I just did my job," she said

Taliban on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in eastern Paktika province Sunday night that killed at least 24 people. The attack appeared motivated to show the insurgent group’s strength as the springtime fighting season begins.



The Taliban took responsibility a day earlier for kidnapping 50 men in Kunar province, also in the east.

NATO commanders say they anticipate the Taliban will step up high-profile attacks this spring to show that an aggressive drive by foreign troops over the winter to clear insurgent strongholds didn’t weaken it.

Three suicide bombers slammed a truck packed with explosives into a building that housed a construction company Sunday about 8 p.m. in the Barmal district of Paktika province, said Mokhlis Afghan, a spokesman for the governor.

The bombing, which occurred as the workers were having dinner, wounded at least 59 people, the spokesman said.


A statement posted on the Taliban’s Web site said the attack targeted a “base of joint forces,” suggesting the insurgents might have mistaken the compound for a military installation.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying in a statement that it would not “weaken our commitment to build Afghanistan.”

Construction workers have been targeted in previous attacks, apparently because insurgent leaders see them as agents of the West. The international community funds many construction projects here.

NATO officials said in a statement that the apparent intended target of the attack was a religious school. It was unclear which version was accurate.

“The loss of innocent civilian life in this hateful, un-Islamic insurgent attack is heart-wrenching,” U.S. Rear Adm. Vic Beck, a NATO spokesman, said in a statement.

The attack came hours after the Taliban kidnapped 50 men in the Kandi district of Kunar province. The Taliban said the men were police officers, although local officials described them as recruits.

The attacks come days after Karzai announced that Afghan authorities will start taking the lead for security in a few districts and cities starting in July, when U.S. troops are to start drawing down.

The Taliban has mocked the government’s readiness, calling it a “puppet” state run by the United States and its allies.

The Customs Department, now Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) has been blamed for laxity in verifying the authenticity of the registration of imported cars, contributing to the laundering of the cars in Southern Africa.

A report of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) found that such money laundering is also used to finance terrorist activities driven by the Al-Qaeda.

The report titled Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks in Botswana was compiled after a study was conducted in 2009.

It states that used motor vehicles imported from Asia are first taken to Botswana, where they are issued with forged registration before being driven to Lesotho and Swaziland to be re-registered.

"Since the authorities in the two countries have neither time nor the capacity to verify the authenticity of the registration documents produced, the vehicles are thus easily laundered," the report states.

The report further states, "No duty would have been paid on the vehicles in Botswana as they would not be in the official registration database. At the same time, the vehicles would not attract duty in Lesotho or Swaziland on the assumption that such duty would have been in Botswana as part of the registration process there. A significant number of the vehicles are smuggled into South Africa despite the country having stringent laws on the imp-ortation of second-hand vehicles."

The report states that the boom in imported used cars, which dates back to 2000, opened a window to the unmonitored crime. In Swaziland there are several sellers of used imported cars whose operations are currently being scrutinised by the newly launched Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA.)

About a month ago, the authority ordered all import car dealers to close their bonded warehouses while investigations were ongoing.

This was after revelation that government had been cheated of over E28 million by the dealers who under-declare the cars.

In Botswana, it was said that a number of terrorists linked to the Al-Qaeda had been detained by security agents.

They were under investigation for money laundering and attempting to establish various forms of terrorist structures.

"A number of suspects are foreigners involved in second-hand car dealerships, an area already identified by the ISS research as a money-laundering vulnerability."

It states that Al-Qaeda agents in Botswana are believed to have used the country’s boom in imported second hand cars as a cover for their activities.

"They rarely use banks in their business transactions.

Investigations have linked com-pany directorships to Kenya, where terrorism-related activities are understood to be taking place. "There are suspicions that the stock of some car dealerships is purchased using proceeds from pirate activities near the horn of Africa." The report concludes that there is need to review the risks of money laundering and the financing of terrorism on a regular and ongoing basis.

Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) Public Relations Manager Vusi Dlamini said the parastatal would respond after familiarising itself with the contents of the report.

A Gurkha soldier who single-handedly fought off an attack on his base by up to 30 Taliban insurgents has been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.

Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun, 31, exhausted all his ammunition and at one point had to use the tripod of his machine gun to beat away a militant climbing the walls of the compound.

The soldier fired more than 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine to thwart the Taliban assault on his checkpoint near Babaji in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan.

Acting Sgt Pun was on sentry duty on the evening of September 17 last year when he heard a clinking noise outside the small base.

At first he thought it might be a donkey or a cow, but when he went to investigate he found two insurgents digging a trench to lay an improvised explosive device (IED) at the checkpoint's front gate.

He realised that he was completely surrounded and that the Taliban were about to launch a well-planned attempt to overrun the compound.

The enemy opened fire from all sides, destroying the sentry position where Acting Sgt Pun had been on duty minutes before.

Defending the base from the roof, the Gurkha remained under continuous attack from rocket-propelled grenades and AK47s for over quarter of an hour.

Most of the militants were about 50ft away from him, but at one point he turned around to see a 'huge' Taliban fighter looming over him.

Acting Sgt Pun picked up his machine gun and fired a long burst at the man until he fell off the roof.

When another insurgent tried to climb up to his position, the Gurkha attempted to shoot him with his SA80 rifle.


But it did not work, either because it had jammed or because the magazine was empty.

Acting Sgt Pun first grabbed a sandbag but it had not been tied up and the contents fell to the floor.

Then he seized the metal tripod of his machine gun and threw it at the approaching Taliban militant, shouting in Nepali 'Marchu talai' ('I will kill you') and knocking him down.

Two insurgents were still attacking by the time the heroic Gurkha had used up all his ammunition, but he set off a Claymore mine to repel them.

At this point his company commander, Major Shaun Chandler, arrived at the checkpoint, slapped him on the back and asked if he was OK.

Four suspected Islamic militants are due to go on trial Thursday afternoon in Madrid for allegedly aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings of 2004, a National Court spokesman told CNN.
Prosecutor Miguel Angel Carballo, at Spain's National Court, seeks sentences of eight to 13 years in prison against the four male suspects, who include a Moroccan, an Algerian, a Tunisian, and a fourth man whose nationality was not immediately disclosed, said the spokesman, who by custom is not identified.
The prosecutor alleges the suspects provided clandestine lodging in Madrid and in a Barcelona suburb, as well as other aid to various fugitives who "were directly implicated" in the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800, the spokesman said.
Spanish courts already have convicted 14 Islamic militants for their roles in the train bombings, along with four Spaniards, the latter for trafficking in explosives used in the attacks.
First responders remember Madrid bombing

Additionally, seven other prime Islamic suspects in the attacks blew themselves up three weeks after the train bombings as police closed in on their hideout in a Madrid suburb. That explosion also killed a police officer and wounded various others.
The seventh anniversary of the train bombings was two weeks ago on March 11.
Last February, Spain's Supreme Court overturned a lower court's conviction of five other men for Islamic terrorist activities that included aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings and planning other attacks, according to the court order made public March 2.
The National Court in January 2010 had convicted the five other men --- three Moroccans, an Algerian and a Turk --- for collaborating or belonging to an Islamic terrorist group and sentenced them to prison terms from five to nine years.
But the Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that telephone wiretaps used to gain crucial evidence against those five suspects lacked the proper protections under Spain's constitution, and there was "insufficient evidence, beyond all reasonable doubt," to prove the crimes that prosecutors alleged.
Those five men were in a group based in a Barcelona suburb, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, before police made arrests in June 2005. Some of the suspects to go on trial Thursday also allegedly operated their network to aid fugitives from the same Barcelona suburb.
The trial is expected to last several days.

Jerusalemites reacted with a mixture of anger and resignation after a bomb exploded at a crowded bus stop yesterday afternoon, killing one Israeli, in a grim reminder of the days of the Second Intifada.

The blast, the first of its kind in Jerusalem for seven years, tore a hole in the side of a bus, killing a 59-year-old woman and injuring more than 30, some critically, as they waited to board.

Within moments of the explosion, ambulances and police, their sirens wailing, were racing to the scene, where shattered glass and debris were strewn over blood-stained pavements. Medics treated dozens for blast injuries, including shrapnel and glass wounds.

Missiles landed near rebel positions Wednesday and shelling in previous days has killed a small number of rebel fighters. Ali pointed out a freshly dug grave on the roadside outside Ajdabiyah with a revolutionary flag planted in it.

He despaired of what he saw as inertia by the rebel leadership in Benghazi and called for more help from the West.

"The National Libyan Council aren't the people to ask for anything to be frank. We want help from the West. If it weren't for them, Gaddafi's forces would be in Benghazi," Ali said.

Retaking Ajdabiyah would be a morale boost for the rebels and would suggest that air strikes by Western jets are giving them an edge over Gaddafi's better-armed forces.

The air strikes decimated some of Gaddafi's forces, including at least 20 tanks, near Benghazi Sunday, after the United Nations agreed to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya and other measures to protect civilians.

Hundreds of rebel fighters have been stationed a few kilometers outside Ajdabiyah since Sunday. They are prevented from going in by tank fire from Gaddafi's forces stationed at the town's entrance.

Investigating Magistrate Santiago Pedraz cited a lack of evidence against Mohamed Omar Dehbi, who used to live in Texas but now resides near Barcelona. Dehbi was arrested then released in September 2010, but Pedraz took away the suspect's passport and kept the probe open.

The judge finally cleared Dehbi in an order dated March 8 and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Dehbi had been arrested after police alleged he financed al-Qaida by sending money to an associate in Algeria who is wanted in Spain on terror-related charges.

Dehbi could not immediately be reached for comment.

Germany's Der Spiegel magazine published photos on Monday of American soldiers posed over the bloodied corpse of an Afghan civilian whose slaying it said is being prosecuted by the U.S. military as premeditated murder.

Disclosure of the images, among dozens seized as evidence in the prosecutions but kept sealed from public view by the military, prompted the U.S. Army to issue an apology "for the distress these photos cause" and condemning actions depicted in them as "repugnant."

One photo shows a soldier identified as Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, of Wasilla, Alaska, broadly smiling in sunglasses as he crouches beside the bloodied, prone body of a man whose head he is holding up for the camera by the hair.

A second soldier, Private First Class Andrew Holmes, 20, is seen in a separate photo kneeling over the same corpse, also raising the victim's head by the hair.

President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday announced details of the first stage of a plan to give Afghan forces more authority, saying his countrymen “don’t want foreigners to take responsibility for security anymore.”
Under the plan, Afghan forces will assume the nominal lead for security of two relatively secure provinces and five cities in July.

The beginning of the handover will coincide with the scheduled start of the U.S. military pullout, which commanders have said will be slow and gradual.

The Afghan government and NATO officials hope the transition will be complete by the end of 2014, when the Obama administration hopes the United States will end its combat mission in Afghanistan.

The transition is happening at a time of deepening concern about the toll the 10-year war is taking on civilians and amid uncertainty about the prospect of reaching a negotiated truce with the Taliban and other armed groups.

The first provinces the government intends to assume formal control over are Panjshir, north of Kabul and Bamyan, northwest of the capital. Both have remained relatively safe in recent years, even as security has deteriorated sharply in other parts of the country.

Italy repeated its demand on Tuesday that military operations against Libya be placed under a joint NATO command, underlining the growing differences in the anti-Gaddafi coalition.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that in the very first phase of the operation it had been necessary to move quickly and individual forces had been left under national command to stop the immediate attacks on rebel forces.

"But now this action, which everyone judged unacceptable, has been stopped, it's time to get back to the rules," he told RAI radio.

"The rules say there should be a single coordination, shared responsibility, each member of the coalition has to share in the choices that are made and pay the political price," he said.

Italy, the former colonial power in Libya and previously Gaddafi's closest friend in Europe, has joined the anti-Gaddafi alliance but has appeared more cautious about the scope of the operation than others such as Britain and France.

Forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have shelled Misurata, pressing their siege of the embattled western city.

Four children were killed in the shelling on Tuesday, a resident named Mohammed Ahmed told the Reuters news agency. The children were killed while trying to flee their home, a rebel spokesman told Al Jazeera.

Gaddafi's regime has encircled Misurata for days, bringing in tanks and stationing snipers on rooftops, in an attempt to choke off one of the only cities in the west where a strong rebel presence remains. Shelling there killed at least 40 people on Monday, Ahmed said.

Misurata lies around 200km east of Tripoli, the capital, and is home to a major oil refinery.

Libyan government spokesman Ibrahim said Misurata, Libya's third-largest city, was "liberated three days ago" and that Gaddafi's forces were hunting "terrorist elements".

But a spokesman for opposition fighters in the city told the AFP news agency that the opposition remained in control despite an onslaught by Gaddafi loyalists, who he said opened fire with tanks and set snipers on roofs to gun down people in the streets.

"Casualties fell in their dozens," after snipers and a tank "fired on demonstrators", the spokesman said.

U.S. military says an Air Force fighter jet has crashed in Libya, amid an international military campaign to cripple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses and protect civilians from his forces.

A spokesman for the U.S. Africa Command Vince Crawley said the crash likely was caused by a mechanical problem and not gunfire. Crawley said one crew member has been recovered and the other is "in the process" of being recovered.

Coalition forces pounded Libya for a third straight night Monday.

U.S. General Carter Ham said Monday that the coalition will expand the United Nations-authorized no-fly zone it is enforcing over Libya. But he said the allied bombing attacks are likely to become less frequent unless something unexpected happens.

The arrival at the newly-established Patrol Base Shamal Storrai (Pashto for “North Star”) in late August 2009 of Serjeant Tom Potter and Rifleman Mark Osmond marked the start of an astonishing episode in the history of British Army sniping.
Within 40 days, the two marksmen from 4 Rifles, part of the Welsh Guards Battle group, had achieved 75 confirmed kills with 31 attributed to Potter and 44 to Osmond. Each kill was chalked up as a little stick man on the beam above the firing position in their camouflaged sangar beside the base gate – a stick man with no head denoting a target eliminated with a shot to the skull.
Osmond, 25, was an engaging, fast-talking enthusiast, eager to display his encyclopedic knowledge of every specification and capability of his equipment. He had stubbornly remained a rifleman because he feared that being promoted might lead to his being taken away from sniping, a job he loved and lived for. Potter, 30, was more laid back, projecting a calm professionalism and quiet confidence in the value of what he did.
Potter had notched up seven confirmed kills in Bara in 2007 and 2008 while Osmond’s total was 23. Both were members of the Green Jackets team that won the 2006 British Army Sniper Championships.
On one occasion they killed eight Taliban in two hours, ‘I wasn’t comfortable with it at first,’ said Osmond, ‘you start wondering is it really necessary?’ But the reaction of the locals soon persuaded him. ‘We had people coming up to us afterwards, not scared to talk to us. They felt they were being protected’.

President Sarkozy has polarised debate over military action with a "strategic plan" that includes "striking an extremely limited number of points which are the source of the most deadly operations" by Gaddafi's forces.
French officials on Thursday briefed that Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizia command headquarters in Tripoli, an important airbase in Sirte and the key Sebha military complex in the south had been targeted.
"We are not there yet. We are first going to ask for legal authorisation to prevent the use of force by Gaddafi," said a French official.
British officials said the Government was extremely sceptical of any suggestion about air strikes. Privately, British ministers believe that the suggestion is a theatrical gesture by Mr Sarkozy which has little support across Europe.
"There is a lot of scepticism about it," said one British source.
Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, publicly rejected suggestions that a no-fly operation would have to start with air strikes on Libyan air defences and other targets.
"In Iraq that was not the way that we carried out the no-fly zone – there are alternatives," Dr Fox said.
"Rather than taking out air defences, you can say that 'if your air defence radar locks on to any of our aircraft, we regard that as a hostile act and we would take subsequent action'."
Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, led EU and Nato opposition to a no-fly zone adds military intervention.
Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph on Thursday night showed that the Prime Minister was fighting to win EU support for "possible contingencies as the situation evolves, including a no-fly zone".
Negotiations in the UN Security Council over a British and French resolution for a no-fly zone are thought to focus on a call for a ceasefire as a move to overcome Russian and Chinese opposition to any military action.
An EU summit call today for Gaddafi to "relinquish power immediately" is seen as vital for helping to win support from Arab League meeting of foreign ministers on Saturday.
Britain was also cautious about French suggestions that the anti-Gaddafi Interim National Council should be recognised as the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people.
William Hague, the foreign secretary said that Britain was happy to talk to the council, but stopped well short of recognition. A letter written by Mr Hague yesterday urged the EU to strip Gaddafi of diplomatic recognition.
"The EU and its member states will not work or co-operate with Gaddafi [and should] support the suspension of Gaddafi's sovereign immunity, removing from him the protection enjoyed by heads of state," he wrote.

As Colonel Gaddafi’s jets and tanks continued to gain ground against rebels in the east of the country, ministers from the 22-nation League agreed to call for action after emergency talks in Cairo. Officials said the body had already been in touch with the rebels about the situation on the ground.
Before the meeting, Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League and one of its most influential diplomats, had thrown his weight behind the air exclusion zone, saying it was the only way to protect Libyans from Gaddafi’s “disdainful” regime.
In a statement after a six-hour long meeting, he added: “The Arab League has officially requested the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone against any military action against the Libyan people.”
His comments came as the Gaddafi regime declared victory in the battle for the oil port of Ras Lanuf in eastern Libya, where it had fought with artillery, tanks, ships and planes to eject rebels for most of the last week
His comments came as the Gaddafi regime declared victory in the battle for the oil port of Ras Lanuf in eastern Libya, where it had fought with artillery, tanks, ships and planes to eject rebels for most of the last week.

A grisly trail of toys and blood led paramedics to the first three bodies: a mother, father and their 4-month-old infant, stabbed to death in their bed. In the next room, medics say they found the body of an 11-year-old sibling.

Finally, with growing dread, they reached the last bedroom, where a 4-year-old boy with knife wounds and a faint pulse was fighting for his life, ambulance workers said Saturday on Israel Radio. The medics worked frantically, but unsuccessfully, to resuscitate the toddler. One called it a scene of "incomprehensible horror."

The brutal killings Friday night of five Jewish settlers in the tightly guarded compound of Itamar, southeast of the West Bank city of Nablus, sent shockwaves through Israel, sparking worries of renewed violence in the Palestinian territories and heightening fears of retaliation from the Israel Defense Forces or angry settlers.

Israeli authorities suspect that the killings, the deadliest attack inside a settlement in several years, were either a strike by Palestinian militants or a revenge attack by residents of the West Bank village of Awarta, where two Palestinian teenagers were shot to death a year ago as they collected garbage near Itamar.

Israeli leaders condemned the attack on Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their children and launched a massive manhunt throughout the region, setting up checkpoints, sealing off Palestinian villages, imposing curfews and conducting house-to-house searches, Palestinians said.

"Israel will not stand by idly after such a despicable murder and will act vigorously to safeguard the lives of the citizens of Israel and punish the murderers," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday.

Gunmen brazenly shot up a police station and later swarmed inside a public hospital to rob doctors and nurses in a gritty city just outside the Caribbean island's capital, authorities said Friday.

Libya Bedouin on Horses Rally for Gaddafi