Turkey sacks 25 more police chiefs
Ankara: Turkey has sacked another 25 police chiefs as part of a fast-moving inquiry into an alleged bribery scandal that has ensnared Cabinet ministers and businessmen, local media reported on Sunday. Scores of people have been detained in connection with the probe, prompting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to respond with a deep purge of the police, a force he once bolstered to counter the Army’s influence.
‘Blast on Israel bus ‘Terrorist attack’’
Jerusalem: An explosion aboard an empty Israeli bus near Tel Aviv on Sunday that did not kill or wound anyone was a “terrorist attack,” police said. “After examining the explosives retrieved from the scene, we have concluded that this was a terrorist attack,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. “Our forces have been deployed in the area,” he added.
Hindu woman allegedly kidnapped in Peshawar
Peshawar: A 25-year-old Hindu woman was allegedly kidnapped by unidentified persons in this northwestern Pakistani city, her relatives said on Sunday. Sapna Rani, a teacher, was reportedly abducted yesterday afternoon while on her way home from the school where she worked. Police officials said they they had launched an investigation but claimed she had eloped.
‘Mozambique plane crash intentional’
Mozambique: Preliminary investigations into a November plane crash that killed 33 people aboard show that the pilot intentionally brought the Mozambican plane down, an aviation official said. The Mozambican Airlines plane was bound for Angola with six crewmembers and 27 passengers, including 10 Mozambican, nine Angolans, five Portuguese, and one citizen each from France, Brazil and China, according to the airline.
CIA helps Colombia kill rebel leaders
Washington: A covert CIA programme has helped Colombia’s Government kill at least two dozen leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the rebel insurgency also known as FARC, according to a media report.
Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch claims hospital attack
Cairo: The military leader of al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has admitted that one of its fighters attacked a hospital attached to the Defence Ministry in Sanaa early this month. Qassim al-Rimi, commander of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, said in a video posted on militant websites late yesterday that the attackers were warned in advance not to enter the hospital within the complex, nor a place for prayer there.
But he said one fighter did. Al-Rimi later said: “We accept full responsibility for what happened in the hospital and will pay blood money for the victims’ families.”