A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Pakistani troops secure mosque
ISLAMABAD:Pakistani security forces secured a mosque and school complex in Islamabad yesterday, snuffing out the last pockets of resistance a day after an assault that killed a rebel cleric and more than 70 supporters.
Many questions were unanswered including the final death toll and whether any women or children had been killed at the radical Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.
Soldiers finished securing a headquarters and residential complex where hardline cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi lived. No militants, or other followers of Ghazi, were left inside, said military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad.
"The first phase is over . . the special services troops given the task of flushing out the militants and taking out the civilians, that is over," he said. - (Reuters)
US fears al-Qaeda strike in Pakistan
WASHINGTON:Al-Qaeda has become entrenched in a remote corner of Pakistan, and the United States fears a military strike could spawn new militant activity in the country, US officials said.
Top intelligence analysts, appearing before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said the militant network led by Osama bin Laden had become increasingly active in ungoverned sections of Pakistan near the Afghanistan border, where bin Laden himself is believed to be protected by local tribal leaders. - (Reuters)
Court rules out Fujimori expulsion
SANTIAGO:Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori should not be extradited from Chile to Peru because prosecutors have failed to prove their case against him, a Chilean judge ruled yesterday.
Supreme Court Judge Orlando Alvarez said Peruvian prosecutors had failed to demonstrate Fujimori was involved in human rights abuses including two massacres during Peru's battle with the Shining Path Maoist rebel group in the 1990s.
Peru said it would appeal the verdict, which came as a surprise since Chilean prosecutors had recommended extradition.- (Reuters)
Turkey warns of action in Iraq
WASHINGTON:The United States has failed to stop Kurdish militants inside Iraq from launching strikes against Turkey, and Ankara is nearly out of patience, Turkey's ambassador in Washington warned yesterday.
Ambassador Nabi Sensoy said Turkey would not rule out military action inside Iraq, reiterating statements from other senior Turkish officials. - (Reuters)
Friends to fund Wilson treatment
MANCHESTER:Showbusiness friends of music mogul Anthony Wilson are helping to pay for his kidney cancer treatment after the NHS refused to fund it.
Wilson (56), who managed Manchester bands Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, underwent emergency surgery in January to remove a kidney.
Following a course of chemotherapy which failed, doctors advised him to use the drug Sutent which has not yet been approved for the NHS. - (PA)
Rebels kill two Colombian officials
BOGOTÁ: Colombian rebels fighting to control cocaine-producing territory shot and killed two local politicians late on Tuesday, part of an increasingly violent campaign against public officials, police said.
The country's defence minister flew to the southern jungle town of Doncello to evaluate security after local council members Argemiro Medina and Ofelia Betancur were slain in their homes.
Betancur's sister also died in the attack. - (Reuters)