Russian envoy warns on Syria chemical arms 'pretext'

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Russia's deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov news of chemical weapon use "must not be a pretext for an intervention in Syria." (AFP)

Claims that chemical weapons have been used in Syria should not become a pretext for a foreign military intervention in the country, Russia's deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Saturday.

"If there is serious evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, it should be presented immediately and not concealed," said Bogdanov, who is Russian President Vladmir Putin's Middle East envoy, during a visit to Beirut.

"We must check the information immediately and in conformity with international criteria and not use it to achieve other objectives. It must not be a pretext for an intervention in Syria," added Bogdanov, according to an Arabic translation of his remarks.

"We must know the truth and have proof and not rely on information reported in the media which is not supported by facts," Bogdanov said in Arabic on the Al-Manar television station of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, also allied to Assad.

On Thursday, U.S. officials said for the first time that there was evidence the Syrian regime had likely used chemical weapons in small quantities, emphasizing that additional investigation was necessary to confirm the suspicions.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday promised a "vigorous investigation" into the reports and renewed his warning that proof of their use would be a "game changer."

Obama is awaiting a "definitive judgment" on whether the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against rebel fighters before taking action, AFP reported the White House as saying on Friday.

He said the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would constitute a "red line," though it remains unclear if the American administration is willing to intervene militarily in the Syrian conflict.

Russia, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's staunchest allies, is firmly opposed to military intervention in Syria.

"We have the past experience of another violent intervention in Iraqi affairs under the pretext of the presence of nuclear weapons, and it turned out in the end that there was nothing," he added.

The experience of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 looms large over claims of chemical weapons use in Syria, with critics claiming the allegations are a pretext for international intervention in the conflict.

Bogdanov met Saturday with the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary group, Mohammed Raad, a meeting the envoy described as "very useful," without adding details.

Hezbollah, a long-standing ally of the Assad regime, has dispatched fighters to Syria to battle alongside government troops, raising tensions inside Lebanon.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/27/Russian-envoy-warns-on-Syria-chemical-arms-pretext-.html
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Prominent Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi to visit Gaza

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Al Qaradawi is widely-respected through the Muslim world, and underscores his support for the Islamic group Hamas.

The head of Gaza's Islamic affairs ministry says the prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi will visit the Hamas-ruled territory in May.

It's the first visit by the Qatar-based cleric who is widely-respected through the Muslim world, and underscores his support for the Islamic group Hamas.

It also shows how Hamas has slowly been breaking its diplomatic isolation after years of blockade.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to visit the Gaza Strip in May. The emir of Gulf state Qatar visited last year.

Gaza minister Ismail Ridwan didn't say how long al-Qaradawi would stay. Spokespeople for the cleric weren't immediately available.

The visit is also a boon to Hamas as they battle their Gaza rivals, hardline conservative Muslims who see the militant group as too moderate.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/Prominent-Muslim-cleric-Yusuf-al-Qaradawi-to-visit-Gaza-.html
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Sudan rebels widen offensive, move into major town

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Soldiers from Sudan's army rest in a file photo at the Blue Nile state capital al-Damazin. (Reuters)

Sudanese opposition forces have moved into a major town in North Kordofan state, residents said on Saturday, widening their anti-government offensive in one of their most audacious acts in years.

North Kordofan has been largely free from the rebel activity taking place in the Darfur region to its west, and South Kordofan to its south.

Residents of Umm Ruwaba, the second-largest town in North Kordofan, said an unidentified rebel group arrived Saturday morning on at least 20 vehicles.

They fired their weapons into the air, causing panic in the town but met no initial resistance from security forces, townspeople said.

"We just saw some drones in the air," one resident said.

"They started looting the market and are still here but we don't know which group they are from."

Other residents said the town's inhabitants cowered in their homes as the rebels shot up government buildings before withdrawing.

Sudan's main rebel movements from Darfur are grouped in the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) with insurgents from South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) claimed on Saturday that SRF forces were in control of the eastern part of North Kordofan and the government was responding with air strikes around Umm Rawaba.

The army spokesman could not be reached.
 

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/Sudan-rebels-widen-offensive-move-into-major-town-.html
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Gunmen kill 10 Iraq army intelligence soldiers

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Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on April 26, 2013. (AFP)

Gunmen killed five army intelligence soldiers in two attacks west of Baghdad while others shot dead five anti-Qaeda militiamen north of the Iraqi capital on Saturday, police and doctors said.

One group of soldiers were driving near the site of a long-running anti-government protest when they were stopped by gunmen. They shot one of the gunmen, wounding him, and clashes broke out in which four of the soldiers were killed and another wounded, a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor told AFP news agency.

Gunmen also killed one soldier and wounded another in a similar incident involving a second vehicle in the same area, the same sources said.

And gunmen killed five Sahwa anti-Qaeda militiamen in an attack, on a checkpoint south of Tikrit, which lies north of the Iraqi capital, a second police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.

The incidents come amid a wave of violence that began on Tuesday when security forces moved in against anti-government protesters near the Sunni Arab northern town of Hawijah, sparking clashes that left 53 people dead.

Subsequent unrest, much but not all of it apparently linked to the Hawijah clashes, killed dozens more people and brought the death toll to over 200 by Saturday.

United Nations envoy Martin Kobler warned on Friday that Iraq is at a "crossroads," calling for restraint as a wave of violence has killed more than 190 people in four days.

"I call on the conscience of all religious and political leaders not to let anger win over peace, and to use their wisdom, because the country is at a crossroads," AFP reported Kobler as saying in a statement.
Kobler spoke a day after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned that the country was in danger of returning to "sectarian civil war."

Maliki, from Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, called on people "to take the initiative, and not be silent about those who want to take the country back to sectarian civil war."

Maliki's statement came as residents of a number of Sunni cities in Iraq have announced on Thursday the formation of "military forces" to counter attack the Iraqi army and its crackdown against protesters calling for Maliki – a Shiite – to step down, Al Arabiya's correspondent said.

The newly formed anti-government tribal army in the western Sunni province of Anbar was deployed in a protest square in Ramadi city after the withdrawal of the Iraqi army, Al Arabiya reported on Friday.

The country was torn by Sunni-Shiite fighting in 2007-2008 in which thousands of people were killed each month.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/Gunmen-kill-10-Iraq-army-intelligence-soldiers-.html
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Taliban declare ‘spring offensive’ across Afghanistan

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Afghanistan's fighting season traditionally begins in April or May as snow recedes from the mountains. (Reuters)

Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan on Saturday announced the start of their annual "spring offensive" against the U.S.-backed government, vowing a nationwide series of attacks as foreign troops withdraw.

The Islamist extremists said that multiple suicide bombings, "insider attacks" by Afghan soldiers and "special military tactics" would target international airbases and diplomatic buildings to inflict maximum casualties.

They warned Afghans working for President Hamid Karzai's "stooge" regime to distance themselves from the government to avoid being caught up in the promised violence, and called for young people not to join the police or army.

This year's "fighting season" is seen as crucial to Afghanistan's future as its much-criticized security forces pit themselves against the insurgents who have fought against the Kabul government since 2001.

NATO combat operations in Afghanistan are due to end next year, and coalition commanders say that the local army and police have made enough progress to provide security and keep the Taliban at bay.

Afghanistan's fighting season traditionally begins in April or May as snow recedes from the mountains, and in recent years the Taliban have marked the occasion with a public declaration of their intent to bring down Karzai.

The insurgents' latest statement celebrated the start of the NATO withdrawal, saying that "the enemy, with all its military might, has been overwhelmed and finally forced to flee from their military bases".

It added that this year's offensive, named after 7th-century general Khalid bin Waleed, would start on Sunday "in unison throughout the country... against the transgressing invaders and their degenerate backers".

Last week a study by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office found attacks by the Taliban and other insurgents rose 47 percent in January-March compared with the same period last year.

The United Nations has separately reported a rise of almost 30 percent in civilian casualties in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, with 475 civilians killed and 872 wounded.

But NATO insists that the war is being won, with U.S. General Joseph Dunford, head of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), saying on Thursday there was "indisputable" progress towards the goal of a stable nation.

Dawlat Waziri, a defense ministry spokesman, told AFP that Afghan forces were ready to take on the rebels alone.

"The Taliban are not able to fight face-to-face, so they heavily rely on roadside bombs and suicide attacks and their attacks inflict a heavy toll on Afghan civilians," he added.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2013/04/27/Taliban-declare-spring-offensive-across-Afghanistan-.html
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Blast hits police station in Libya’s Benghazi

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Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 uprising that ousted long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi, has been targeted by several bombings and a wave of assassinations in recent months. (AFP)

 An explosion hit a police station in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Saturday, causing extensive damage but no casualties, a security source said.

"The explosion damaged a large part of the building. An explosive device was probably thrown," the source said on condition of anonymity.

"Fortunately, the officers and police were in another part of the building. That is why there are no injuries."

A policeman at the scene said he was among officers who fled the building after the blast, and that there were no apparent casualties.

An AFP photographer at the site said the explosion could be heard at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and that it destroyed more than half of the police station.

Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 uprising that ousted long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi, has been targeted by several bombings and a wave of assassinations in recent months.

The attacks are usually attributed to Islamic extremists, including one on the US consulate that killed ambassador Chris Stevens on September 11.

On Tuesday, the French embassy in Tripoli was struck by a car bomb that wounded two French guards and caused significant damage.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/Blast-hits-police-station-in-Libya-s-Benghazi.html
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Egypt’s oppositional ‘Black Bloc’ rally demanding release of members

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The Black Bloc members present themselves as the defenders of protesters opposed to President Mohamed Mursi's rule. (AFP)

A large number of Egypt's Black Bloc members flowed to Mohamed Mahmoud Street on Saturday demanding the release of group members detained earlier in April, an Egyptian daily reported.

The bloc said in a statement on its official Facebook page that they can no longer stand still towards the government's "campaigns against the revolution's youth."

Egyptian public prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim ordered on April 17 the detention of 22 suspected Black Bloc members accused of funding the mysterious group.

The group of masked young protesters has been linked to violent attacks on public and private properties. The Bloc members present themselves as the defenders of protesters opposed to President Mohamed Mursi's rule.

Prosecutor's office spokesman Mahmoud al-Hefnawy said back then that the 22 Black Bloc suspects were summoned based on investigative reports presented by the country's National Security apparatus.

The Bloc however slammed in its recent Facebook statement the way authorities captured the suspects. The statement said police raided the suspects' areas of residence in a brutal way and attacked their families.

The prosecutor's office says that the Bloc committed a crime by establishing a violent group to conduct acts of terrorism, robberies, murder, destroy public and private enterprises, in addition to terrifying innocent people, reported Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/Egypt-s-oppositional-Black-Bloc-rally-demanding-release-of-members-.html
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School’s Out: Freak rain in Saudi Arabia suspends classes

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Possible heavy rainfall and floods kept the kingdom on high alert levels over the past few days. (Al Arabiya)

While slippery snow and glassy ice may force schools to shut in more wintry countries, Saudi Arabia's rainy downpour on Saturday has been enough reason for classes to be suspended.

Schools in five different Saudi provinces will be shut, the Ministry of Education said on Saturday, due to rainy weather conditions.

Ministry of Education Spokesman Mohammed Al-Dakheeni said the suspension will affect the provinces of Quwaiyiah, Dawadmi, Hota, Hariq and Kharj, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

"The suspension's decision was taken due to a continuation of rains in these provinces," said the ministry's statement carried by SPA.

Heavy rains in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday prompted people to remain home, reported Arab news, a Saudi-based news website.

Al Arabiya's correspondent said the decision is a precautionary measure taken to cope with poor weather conditions that had hit the Kingdom since Thursday.

Possible heavy rainfall and floods kept the kingdom on high alert levels over the past few days in preparation for the expected weather changes.
 

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/School-s-Out-Freak-rain-in-Saudi-Arabia-suspends-classes.html
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80-year-old Moroccan woman on hunger strike protests low pension

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An elderly woman in Morocco entered her tenth hunger-striking day on Saturday to protest her pension, which she believes is a meager monthly allowance.

Fatoom Jazouli, 80, receives 176 Moroccan dirhams a month (about $20), and is one of many elderly Moroccans who are unhappy with their pensions.

Jazouli, from the city of Fez, is now in hospital after her son told local press that his mother is now in poor health.

"I decided to go on hunger strike, and demand dignity and fairness," Jazouli said, according to her son, Benaissa.

Benaissa explained that his mother had inherited the pension from his father, who worked 20 years in the Royal Armed Forces.

Jazouli's granddaughter meanwhile, said her grandmother had "made several complaints to the responsible authorities, including the Hassan II Foundation for Solidarity in Casablanca in charge of widows and people with rights as well as the Ministry of Justice, but to no avail," Reuters news agency reported.

In January, Morocco announced plans to structurally reform its state pension system during the five-year term of the current government, including an increase in the retirement age, Prime Minister Abdelillah Benkirane said.

"Our pension systems are at stake. No one wants to reach a situation like in Greece," Benkirane said in a speech to parliament.
"Of course we will negotiate with unions, but raising the retirement age is an obligation to avoid collapse."

This year, the deficit of the Moroccan Pension Fund is expected to dip into its reserves, and the reserves of all of Morocco's pension funds will be drained by 2050 if there is no reform, the government's High Planning Authority said in a report published last December.
 

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/80-year-old-Moroccan-woman-on-hunger-strike-protests-low-pension.html
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Boston bomb suspects’ mother in CIA terror database since 2011

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Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, mother of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - the two men suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings - says she has never been linked to crime or terrorism. (Reuters)

U.S. intelligence agencies had added the mother of the Boston bombing suspects to a government terrorism database 18 months before the bombings, U.S. officials told the Associated Press late Friday.

The CIA had asked for the older suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev - now dead - and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, to be added to a terrorist database in the fall of 2011.

The request came after the Russian government contacted the agency with concerns that both had become religious militants, according to officials briefed on the investigation.

The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the ongoing case.
The mother called the information "lies and hypocrisy" and said she has never been linked to crimes or terrorism.

An aerial photo in Friday's Boston Globe showed a line of more than 20 investigators, all dressed in white overalls and yellow boots, picking over the garbage with shovels or rakes.

The revelation that the FBI had also investigated Zubeidat Tsarnaeva and the CIA arranged for her to be added to the terrorism database deepened the mystery around the family.

The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who immigrated to the Boston area in the past 11 years. Tsarnaeva, a naturalized U.S. citizen who has appeared on television interviews since the attacks and reversed her decision to return to the U.S. after the bombings, has said her sons could never have been behind the deadly attacks and believes they were framed.

Dzhohkar Tsarnaev is charged with joining with his older brother in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. He could face the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the father of the Boston bombing suspects has accused the FBI of "setting up" his sons.

"They just wanted to set up Tamerlan, and Dzhokhar just turned out to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Anzor Tsarnaev told the Russian Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.

"Tamerlan was driving him to school when they started shooting at them," he said. "This is a set-up, a political order, a Hollywood show."

In an earlier interview with the U.S. media, Anzor described Dzhokhar as a "true angel."

Dzhokhar was captured late Friday after a police hunt following last week's Boston Marathon bombings, which left three people dead and 180 injured.

Anzor denied that Tamerlan held radical Islamist views.

"Tamerlan did get religious after getting married. He went to the mosque every Friday. He prayed five times a day. He was a righteous Muslim, and could not have done what he is accused of."
Dzhokhar "was an A-grade student at Cambridge. He worked as a lifesaver at a pool. He had big plans: to become a doctor, to open a business, to come over here," Anzor said.

"He said: 'Dad, don't worry. I'll finish studying and come over, I'll help you.'"
 

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/27/Boston-bomb-suspects-mother-in-CIA-terror-database-since-2011.html
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Syrian oppositions call on world to put words to action

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The Syrian opposition accused regime forces of firing chemical agents on at least four occasions since December. (AFP)

Syrian opposition groups called for international action on Friday after United States said its intelligence indicates President Bashar Assad's regime has used chemical weapons.

The American government likened the accusation to false U.S. claims of weapons of mass destruction used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Washington's declaration was its strongest so far, a report by the Associated Press said, although the administration said it was still working to pin down definitive proof - holding back from saying Damascus had outright crossed what President Barack Obama has said would be a "red line" prompting tougher action.

The rebels accused regime forces of firing chemical agents on at least four occasions since December, killing 31 people in the worst of the attacks, and warned that world inaction would only encourage Assad to use them on a larger scale.

The Obama administration said Thursday that intelligence indicates government forces used the nerve gas sarin in two attacks.

The regime countered that it was the rebels who fired chemical weapons - pointing to their capture of a chemical factory last year as proof of their ability to do so. On Friday, government officials repeated denials the military had used the weapons.

Both sides have used the issue to try to sway world opinion.

"The red line has been crossed, and this has now been documented by the international community. We hope the U.S. will abide by the red line set by Mr. Obama himself," Loay al-Mikdad, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, the umbrella group for rebel fighters, told The Associated Press.

"We need urgent action, otherwise Bashar Assad will not hesitate to use his entire chemical and unconventional weapons stockpile against the Syrian people," he said.

Most Assad opponents say the U.S. and its allies should now arm the rebels in response to regime use of chemical weapons, a step Washington has been reluctant to take for fear the weapons will end up in the hands of Islamic hard-liners.

Some have urged international airstrikes against regime warplanes and rocket launchers that have wreaked havoc on rebel forces. Few, however, advocate direct international intervention on the ground.

At the White House, Obama said Friday that any use of chemical weapons by Syria would be a "game changer," though he cautioned the United States needs more evidence that Assad has used the deadly agents against his people.

Obama promised a "vigorous investigation" into the reports, adding that he awaits a "definitive judgment" on whether the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against rebel fighters before taking action, AFP reported the White House as saying.

"We're working to establish credible and corroborated facts," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. "The president wants the facts," he added, saying there was no timeline for further action by the United States.

Carney also said that options for dealing with Syria's use of chemical weapons "include" but are "not exclusive" to military force.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2013/04/27/Syrian-rebels-call-on-world-to-put-words-to-action.html
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NYPD: Part of 9/11 plane’s landing gear discovered

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On September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes slammed into the nearby World Trade Center towers, killing thousands of people. (Reuters)

A piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the planes destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks has been discovered wedged between a New York City mosque site and another building.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said Friday the part includes a Boeing identification number. Police haven't said how big the part is.

Browne says the piece was discovered Wednesday by surveyors inspecting the lower Manhattan site of a planned Islamic community center on behalf of the building's owner. He says the inspectors called police who secured the scene, documenting it with photos.

Police say the medical examiner's office will complete a health and safety evaluation to determine whether to sift the soil around the buildings for possible human remains.

Two hijacked planes slammed into the nearby World Trade Center towers in 2001, killing thousands of people.

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/27/NYPD-Part-of-9-11-plane-s-landing-gear-discovered.html
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Boston bomb suspect transferred to prison hospital

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The Federal Medical Center (FMC) Devens in Fort Devens, Massachusetts, is seen in this September 20, 2010 satellite image courtesy of Google Earth.

The teenaged Boston bombing suspect has been moved to a prison medical facility, officials said Friday, as a Chinese immigrant carjacked by the Tsarnaev brothers offered gripping details of how he helped foil their escape.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old wounded in a wild escape attempt, was sent to the Federal Medical Center Devens near Boston, US Marshals Service spokesman Drew Wade said in a brief statement. It gave no reason for the transfer or details on his condition.

The facility is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of the Boston-area hospital where Tsarnaev had been convalescing since he was found seriously wounded in a boat after a citywide manhunt, days after the twin blasts that killed three and wounded 264.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons describes Devens as a facility housing male offenders requiring "specialized or long-term medical or mental health care."

Tsarnaev's 26-year-old brother Tamerlan, the other suspect in the attack, died in a shootout with police last week as the pair tried to flee Boston in a hijacked car -- reportedly with plans to drive to New York and set off more bombs in Times Square.

The owner of that car, a Chinese immigrant identifying himself only as Danny, also 26, recounted how the elder Tsarnaev carjacked him three nights after the bombing, knocking on the window of his Mercedes SUV, climbing in with a handgun and claiming responsibility for the marathon attack.

Fearing for his life, Danny drove Tsarnaev through suburban Boston followed by a sedan driven by 19-year-old Dzhokhar.

Eventually they were joined by the younger brother. The Tsarnaevs, who are ethnic Chechen Muslims, loaded what appeared to be luggage in the back and the trio set off.

New York police say they had at least six bombs with them. Officials say the younger Tsarnaev confessed to this under interrogation after his capture.

The brothers were apparently bent on driving to New York but found that the Mercedes was low on gas. Danny's chance for escape came at a Shell gas station.

When the younger Tsarnaev went inside to pay with a $50 bank note, and the older one shoved his handgun in a door pocket to fiddle with a GPS device, Danny fled.

"I was thinking I must do two things: unfasten my seat belt and open the door and jump out as quick as I can. If I didn't make it, he would kill me right out, he would kill me right away," he told the Boston Globe.

"I just did it. I did it very fast, using my left hand and right hand simultaneously to open the door, unfasten my seat belt, jump out ... and go," sprinting to an adjacent Mobil gas station, never looking back.

The brothers fled in the Mercedes with Danny's iPhone still inside the vehicle -- emitting signals that enabled police to track their whereabouts.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and could face the death penalty if convicted in US federal court.

There have been mounting questions in the United States about whether the US authorities missed crucial signals, about Tamerlan in particular, that should have raised suspicions about the brothers before the bombings.

US lawmakers said Friday the Tsarnaevs' mother was being treated as a "person of interest" to determine whether she radicalized Tamerlan.

Zubeidat Tsarnaev has made impassioned critiques of US authorities in the wake of her eldest son's death.

"She is a person of interest that we're looking at to see if she helped radicalize her son, or had contacts with other people or other terrorist groups," congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters.

 

27 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/27/Boston-bomb-suspect-transferred-to-prison-hospital-.html
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