Afghan insider attack results in casualties on both side sides

An Afghan National Army soldier keeps watch near the site of an attack in Kabul resulted in casualties on both sides. (Reuters)

A police officer opened fire on U.S. and Afghan forces inside a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, sparking a firefight that killed two U.S. troops and two other Afghan policemen. The attacker was also killed in the shootout, officials said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi says the victims in Monday's incident were employees of a company that repairs police vehicles.

U.S. forces' spokesman Jamie Graybeal says the vehicle failed to heed instructions to stop as it came close to the convoy outside of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the soldiers took "appropriate measures to protect themselves."

He confirms that two individuals were killed and says an assessment is under way.

A NATO spokesman said the two soldiers serving with the U.S. led forces in Afghanistan was the latest insider attack on the international military force in the country that threatened to undermine their alliance at a time when they need to work increasingly close side by side in order to hand over responsibility as planned for the upcoming year.

The attack also comes a day after the expiration of the Afghan president's deadline for U.S. Special Forces to withdraw from the province following accusations of abuse by those under their command.

U.S. officials have said that they are working with Afghan counterparts on coming up with a solution that will answer President Hamid Karzai's concerns and maintain security in Wardak. The majority of U.S. troops in Wardak are special operations forces.

In Monday's attack, an Afghan police officer stood up in the back of a police pickup truck, grabbed hold of a machine gun and started firing at the U.S. special operations forces and Afghan police in the police compound in Jalrez district, said the province's Deputy Police Chief Abdul Razaq Koraishi.

Karzai had ordered U.S. special operations forces to leave Wardak province, which lies just outside the capital, Kabul, because of allegations that Afghans working with the commandos were involved in abusive behavior. He gave them two weeks to leave, and the deadline expired at midnight Saturday.

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/11/Afghan-insider-attack-results-in-casualties-on-both-side-sides-.html
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Pakistan starts work on Iranian gas pipeline opposed by U.S.

Pakistan starts work on Iranian gas pipeline opposed by U.S.

"Pipeline construction to transfer gas from the Islamic Republic to Pakistan ... started at the zero point of the border in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Pakistani President Asef Ali Zardari," Iran's state news agency IRNA reported. (Reuters)

The presidents of Iran and Pakistan marked the start of Pakistani construction on a much-delayed gas pipeline on Monday, Iranian media reported, despite U.S. pressure on Islamabad to back out of the project.

Dubbed the "peace pipeline", the $7 billion project has faced repeated delays since it was conceived in the 1990s to connect Iran's giant South Pars gas field to India via Pakistan.

The United States has steadfastly opposed Pakistani and Indian involvement, saying the project could violate sanctions imposed on Iran over nuclear activities that Washington suspects are aimed at developing a weapons capability. Iran denies this.

India quit the project in 2009, citing costs and security issues, a year after it signed a nuclear deal with Washington.

Pakistan has pursued the pipeline scheme as a way of alleviating severe energy shortages that have sparked demonstrations and battered a weak government. At the same time, it badly needs the billions of dollars it receives in U.S. aid.

"Pipeline construction to transfer gas from the Islamic Republic to Pakistan ... started at the zero point of the border in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Asef Ali Zardari," Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.

Iranian state television showed footage of Ahmadinejad and Zardari shaking hands and offering prayers after unveiling a plaque to mark Pakistan's involvement.

Iran has completed 900 km (560 miles) of pipeline on its side of the border and Iranian contractors will also construct the pipeline in Pakistan, Iran's national broadcasting network IRIB reported.

Tehran has agreed to lend Islamabad $500 million, or a third of the estimated $1.5 billion cost of the 750 km Pakistani section of the pipeline, Fars news agency reported.

The two sides hope the pipeline will be complete in time to start delivery of 21.5 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan by December 2014.
 

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/2013/03/11/Pakistan-starts-work-on-Iranian-gas-pipeline-opposed-by-U-S-.html
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Bahraini court acquits leading rights activist

Bahraini court had acquitted a leading human rights activist on Monday. (Reuters)

A leading Bahraini human rights activist said on Monday a court had acquitted him of charges of spreading false news on Twitter after he had been arrested during a protest rally late last year.

Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda, from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was released on bail in January after being detained at a demonstration in Manama in December.

Unauthorized rallies and gatherings are banned in Bahrain, which has been in turmoil since pro-democracy protests led by its Shi'ite Muslim majority erupted in 2011.

"The court acquitted me today, but I had spent a month in jail," Muhafda told Reuters by telephone from Geneva.
"We call on the Bahraini government to stop targeting human rights activists and release the head of the center Nabeel Rajab."
 

A prominent opposition and human rights activist, Rajab was sentenced to three years in prison last August for taking part in unlicensed anti-government protests.
 

Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet is based, has stepped up efforts to stamp out the unrest in recent months and several activists have been arrested or jailed for organizing or taking part in unlicensed protests.
 

Earlier this month rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja was sentenced to three months in jail for insulting a public employee after an appeal court overturned her earlier acquittal.

Muhafda was detained in November for a week on charges of taking part in an illegal gathering and an unauthorized march.

Bahrain's ruling Al-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims, used martial law and help from Gulf neighbors to put down 2011's uprising, but unrest has since resumed.
The opposition says little progress has been made towards its demands for reforms including a parliament with full powers to legislate and form governments. Many Shi'ites complain of political and economic marginalization, a charge Bahrain denies.

11 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/11/Bahraini-court-acquits-leading-rights-activist.html
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