Bold attack on Kashmir minister leaves guard dead

SRINAGAR: Suspected rebels opened fire on the law minister in India-controlled Kashmir, killing one of his police guards and wounding three others, police said on Monday. Law Minister Ali Mohammed Sagar ducked and crawled into his house to escape the attack Sunday night unharmed, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with media. Sagar had been greeting guests arriving for his niece’s engagement party at his home in Srinagar, the main city of Indian Kashmir, when gunmen sprayed the area with bullets before fleeing the scene, police said in a statement. One of Sagar’s police guards was killed at the scene. Two other guards as well as Sagar’s driver were being treated Monday for gunshot wounds...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Al-Qaeda group claims kidnap of five Westerners in Mali

WASHINGTON: A statement from a group identifying itself as al-Qaeda in the Magreb has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of five Europeans in Mali in two separate incidents, the SITE monitoring group said on Sunday. The message posted along with pictures of the victims on Jihadi forums identified two French nationals and “identified three others as Europeans but didn’t indicate their nationality,” said SITE in a statement. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) said the kidnappings were a revenge act for the “repeated aggression” of France in the region and the “continuous foolish policies” of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. They meanwhile denied involvement in the abduction of three Europeans in Algeria that was claimed...

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Obama meets Maliki as US exits Iraq

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama meets Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday, marking America’s exit from a war launched in a aerial “shock and awe” assault that went on to deeply wound both nations. Obama will hold talks with Maliki at the White House, have a press conference and join his visitor at nearby Arlington National Cemetery where many of the nearly 4,500 US war dead lie buried following the 2003 US invasion. Tens of thousands of Iraqis also died in a war, insurgency and civil dislocation that left Iraq with the stirrings of a democratic, yet troubled political system and facing territorial challenges from neighbor Iran. The meeting will be an important full circle moment in Obama’s presidency, as his initial...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL