Sri Lanka could halt fighting

The Sri Lankan government says it is considering a humanitarian pause in the offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in the north-east of the country.

The pause would allow civilians caught up in the fighting time to escape.

A senior foreign ministry official told the BBC that the details for a halt would be worked out shortly.

Earlier, the Sri Lankan military said more than 50 Tamil Tiger guerrillas were killed in land and sea battles in the north-eastern region.

“The government is considering a humanitarian pause and the modalities will be worked out shortly,” Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohona told the BBC, without elaborating further.

Filed under: Asia, Australia, Canada, Chennai, Colombo, Elephant Pass, Guerrilla Group, Guerrilla war, India, Jafna, London, LTTE, Madras, Mahindra Rajapaksa, Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka, Tamil, Tamil Nadu, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Toronto, UK, Velupillai Prabhakaran, War

12 killed as gunmen storm police school in Pakistan

The attackers hopped over a crumbling brick wall, wearing backpacks and belts with dangling grenades. They were young and wore beards, and by 7:30 a.m. on Monday, they were firing machine guns into an unarmed crowd of young police recruits.

Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, came under attack for the second time this month. This time, militants hit several hundred police cadets caught off guard during a morning drill at their academy in this village near Lahore, Punjab’s capital.

The attackers issued no demands but went on a rampage, killing at least eight recruits and instructors. One attacker was killed in the siege that followed and, in a gory finale, three detonated suicide belts, killing themselves. More than 100 people were wounded.

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Suicide Bomber in Kandahar Kills 8

A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up in a government building on the southern outskirts of the city of Kandahar on Monday, killing at least eight people, including five police officers and three civilians, and wounding six others, officials said.

The attack took place a few minutes before noon on the second floor of the building, in an area where Afghan identification cards are issued, said Gen. Ghulam Ali Wahdat, the regional head of police. The district police chief was among the wounded, he said.

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Yemen’s three terror fronts

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took credit in an internet statement Friday for a pair of suicide attacks that targeted South Koreans in Yemen.

A teen-aged suicide bomber killed four South Korean tourists in Shibam, Hadramout on March 15. A second terror attack three days later in Sana’a targeted a convoy of family members and South Korean investigators. The motorcade had left a military camp and was traveling along a highway when a suicide bomber detonated his device between two of the cars. There were no injuries to the passengers.

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Sri Lanka navy kills 26 rebels in ocean gunfight

Sri Lanka’s navy killed 26 Tamil Tigers and destroyed four boats during a six-hour sea battle on Monday on the coast just off the sliver of land where the separatists are fighting a final stand, the navy said.

One sailor was killed and three others were injured in the gun duel off of Chalai, north of the military-declared no-fire zone where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are dug in among tens of thousands of civilians.

There, the military expects to soon end a 25-year separatist conflict that saw the Tigers at one point controlling 15,000 square km (5,792 sq miles) of the Indian Ocean nation that is now just 25 square km (10 sq miles).

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Bomb kills 3 Afghan Army commandos

A roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday killed three Afghan army commandos, the U.S. military said.

The blast struck their vehicle in the Gardez district of Paktia province during a combat reconnaissance patrol.

Four other commandos were wounded. Authorities detained six people in connection with the attack.

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Pakistan army raid kills rebels

Pakistan’s army says troops backed by artillery and helicopter gunships have killed 26 militants in an attack near the Afghan border.

The army said the battle took place in Mohmand, North-West Frontier Province, said to be a hub for Taleban militants.

Earlier, Pakistan’s president said his country would not allow use of its soil for terrorist activity.

It came after the US said elements in Pakistan’s ISI military intelligence were still supporting the Taleban.

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Iraq battle after militia arrest

Two passers-by have died in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, after clashes between security forces and one of the militias which are backed by US forces.

The gun battle in the Fadil district of the city erupted shortly after the leader of the local Awakening group, Adil Mashadani, was arrested.

One account says US troops helped with the arrest alongside the Iraqi army.

Fadil was run by al-Qaeda in Iraq for most of 2006 and 2007, but they were driven out by the Awakening movement.

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Sri Lanka army kills 15 rebels

The Sri Lankan armed forces say they have killed at least 15 Tamil Tiger rebels in intense battles in the north of the country.

The government says it has now restricted the rebels to an area of less than 25 sq km.

But pro-rebel websites say that the guerrillas have been offering stiff resistance to the army’s offensive.

There is no independent confirmation of the events as journalists cannot report from the conflict zone.

Filed under: Asia, Australia, Canada, Chennai, Colombo, Elephant Pass, Guerrilla Group, Guerrilla war, India, Jafna, London, LTTE, Madras, Mahindra Rajapaksa, Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka, Tamil, Tamil Nadu, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Toronto, UK, Velupillai Prabhakaran, War

US to consult Pakistan on strikes

US President Barack Obama has said he will consult Pakistan’s leaders before targeting militants in that country.

“If we have a high-value target within our sights, after consulting with Pakistan, we’re going after them,” Mr Obama told CBS television.

But Mr Obama ruled out deploying US ground troops inside Pakistan.

On Friday, the US leader announced a major policy review on Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying the situation on their border was “increasingly perilous”.

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