Afghan officials: attack on rebels in the east failed

Kabul - hundreds of insurgents attacked checkpoints Afghan police in a northeastern province remote Tuesday with AK-47s and rockets but failed to invade the positions of the Government, officials said.

The assault in Nuristan, a rugged and mountainous, zone Pakistan province, is the second attack Taliban significantly on the forces of the Government of Afghanistan in less than four days and is part of the spring offensive both expected insurgents.

The effectiveness of the campaign of the Taliban can influence the size of drawdown expected the President Barack Obama of US troops in July, the scale which military officials have said will depend on conditions on the ground.

The Nuristan province police chief GEN Shams-ul Rahman Zahid, said about 400 Taliban fighters have launched their assault at dawn, hitting the forefront of the Government security around reserve police units housing database some 11 miles (18 km) South of the Parun provincial capital.

Tapered Nigerians just before nightfall the night with police always in control of the four checkpoints, which had been reinforced by the police more Parun, said.

Zahid declined to say how many police had come under attack or size of the forces based in Nuristan, even if it is considered to be small. He acknowledged asking NATO and the Afghan army for help.

Spokesman for the Taliban Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Kabul, the Afghan army said that it would not send reinforcements, while NATO claimed to know nothing about these attacks. There are a few coalition or Afghan army troops in mountainous Nuristan, near the Pakistani border.

The Defence Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, said that the army was aware that "hundreds of insurgents" had attacked the police forces of Nuristan but had no intention to send troops in the immediate area. He said that did not have more details because there is no force in the region.

Asked why he did not send troops, Azimi said that at this stage the police was holding still their soil. He said that the Afghan army has no troops stationed in Nuristan because there no available staff to cover remote areas.

The American commander in charge of the region contested of the number of attacking the Taliban but said the United States sent a UAV unmanned in the area to verify the situation.

Speaking from Bagram Air Base, major-General John Campbell said a press conference in the Pentagon in the year, that he was there, "" we have never seen... mass 400 insurgents. ""

The Taliban launched the first major strike in its campaign of spring over the weekend in the city of Kandahar, birthplace of the movement and attack the economic pole in the South of the Afghanistan, hitting the city government buildings in a frontal. At least two dozen insurgents, two members of the Afghan security forces and a civilian were killed in two days of fighting in the city.

The Taliban and other rebel groups control large areas of Nuristan, Kunar and other provinces in the Northeast near the Pakistani border. Insurgents retain the sanctuary areas tribal lawless neighbouring Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan to attack the NATO troops.

Hizb-i-Islami, a militant group composed of loyalists of regional warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, also has a strong presence in the region. They are not designed to take part in attacks. The region also has smaller ultra-conservative Salafi groups.

Zahid said that he had intelligence that the strikes were conducted by Pakistanis and Arabs who have been crossing the border in Afghanistan.

The Taliban control also the tiny capital of the district Waygal rugged Nuristan, which they invaded with more than 300 fighters on March 29 and the white flag of the Emirate of Afghanistan - as the country was known when he was under the control of the Taliban before the invasion of 2001 us. Zahid said they also directly control half of the Kamdesh district.

"Unfortunately Waygal is still under control of the Taliban.". We look forward to the Ministry of the Interior to give us. We did not act to take back after it collapsed, "he says.

Violence also continued in other parts of the Afghanistan. NATO said Tuesday that three of its service members were killed by bombs, a Tuesday, in the East and two Monday in the South. France confirmed one of the soldiers was French, and the other two were Romanian, said their Government. Seven NATO soldiers died this month, and 158 had been killed since the beginning of the year.

In the southern province of Zabul, the Afghan Defence Ministry said one of its commando units killed five insurgents, including two Pakistani. He also said two foreign armed, a French and a Moroccan were held "with ammunition, weapons, military equipment and letters of propaganda."

He provided no other information on both foreigners.

In the East of the Paktika, Office of the provincial Governor said six insurgents were killed and another eight captured in the operation of the Afghan police.

In the attack on the Church of the Egypt toll rises to 9

 The Egypt military leaders responded quickly to attempts to burn down a pair of churches in a slum of Cairo in the sectarian riots that killed 10 people referring 190 people in the military trial.

The crowds of Muslims ultra-conservative religious trend Salafist converged on a church in the slums of Cairo of Imbaba end Interfaith Saturday after rumors of a romance.

Firefighters fight a fire in a church surrounded by angry Muslims in the District of Imbaba to Cairo late Saturday, may 7, 2011. Christians and Muslims fought in the streets of Cairo West in violence triggered by a mixed romance Word, the Egypt official news agency reported. (AP photo) Close

Christians barricaded inside and around the Church and the protests became violent. Witnesses said people on rooftops fired at the crowd.

The military said the mass arrests to deter threats to the security of the nation. Military trials are well known for their speed.

At least six dead were Muslims.

Assad Syria attack leaders, hoping the Strategic Importance of his regime he purchased a Pass (Time.com)

Everything is in place, in real estate and in policy sometimes. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lives in a very different geopolitical neighbourhood of yesteryear, but now-ousted counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt, and the leaders of Libya and Yemen teetering. It is a turbulent patch in the Middle East, inhabited by a mixture of ethnic and religious groups uncomfortable, often in the turmoil. Fear of the chaos and his eviction could free the instability is greatest advantage of Assad as he races to brutally crush an uprising by seven weeks before the rapid count mounted body of the forces of global leaders to act with force against him.(See pictures of the bloody protests Syrian).

Despite widely shared on the consequences of the change of regime in Syria, the international community is slowly hardening its position against the decision of the Ba'athist regime. The United States focused on new penalties to three senior figures, including brother Maher al-Assad the President, who heads 4 units of Division and the Republican Guard of the army to submit events in the city of the South of Dara' haswhere the current uprising began in mid-March. The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on 13 senior Syrian officials, but remain divided on whether Bashar al-Assad himself should be censored.

The ambivalence of targeting Assad himself could be a product of the image of "Good cop" the young President has grown over its 11 years in power. According to this account, Al-Assad is good, humble and close to his people, but it is surrounded by the black sheep, special senior intelligence officers and chores of the regime that he inherited from his father, Hafez Al-Assad. This version of reality, Bashar has wanted for a long time implement reforms, but he had been hampered by the consequences of such developments as the terrorist attacks of September 11, the war in Iraq and the war of the Lebanon in 2006. Even if he sent tanks in cities and presided over the murder of nearly 600 protesters and arresting nearly 8,000 others, the history of the "good Bashar" emphasizes the fact that the leaders might cajole him again to curb the bain of blood. It suffices to Muammar al-Gaddafi the Libya choke his chai. (See what the Syria inmates can expect of the plan).

While the measures of the Syrian regime against pro-democracy demonstrators are quickly approaching brutality unleashed by the forces of Gaddafi, when protests broke out in Libya, nobody expects NATO to scramble its jets to protect the Syrianssays Shadi Hamid, Director of research at the Centre of the Brookings Doha. Western leaders still have a hope that "the traditional tools of diplomacy" will sway Assad, said Hamid. "I think there is awareness that when Gaddafi was delirious and not open to compromise, I still think there is a hope that pressure can operate on Assad.".

However, some - including the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a friend of Assad and ally - seem to lose patience. The Turkish leader this week published a critique scathing actions Assad, he guard against "another Hama", a reference to the Syrian town bombarded to rubble in 1982 by Hafez Al-Assad after an Islamist insurgency there. At least 10,000 people were killed in the uprising, although the exact figure is not known. Ammar Qurabi, head of the national organization for the rights of man in Syria, says that the Turkish about-face came because "The Turks realized that the presence of this regime is a factor for the creation of instability in the region, the opposite of what the West think." (See how graffiti stirred the uprising).

Immediate problem Assad, however, is that brute force is not having the desired effect. Friday, tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated once again through the Syria after the prayers in the afternoon, despite the regime, having repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to open fire on them. All 21 people were killed in the city of Homs, in the Centre of the Syria, said of activists, and more than a dozen injured in what has become a regular cycle of protests, deaths and other events.

Both sides seem themselves were framed.

Although Assad spoke of reforms and abolished the 48 years old emergency law, his regime has continued to kill and arrest the demonstrators. Even if it amends the Constitution to allow multi-party and other concessions, many Syrians will want to pay for the blood, that he has made in recent weeks. Protesters are quickly approaching the point where they believe that their ceasing their actions offers no plu hope of physical survival than fighting. "The regime has turned in the crowd, protests have become the largest." "It's a lose-lose situation," said Hamid. "More law enforcement, even if it works, delete shreds last of regime legitimacy." Less repression may embolden the opposition and lead to a change of regime. (See the photos of the current crisis in Syria).

Which brings us to geography: the Syria is a pivotal State, which may be too strategically important to fail, because of ethnic and sectarian conflicts, collapse of the regime could precipitate in the tinderbox States, next door. The Syria is torn apart by war Iraq; to its west, low and unstable Lebanon. In the North, Kurdish regions rough of the contiguous long marginalized Syria and politically disqualify Kurdish Turkey. Southwestern lurk Islamists the Jordan, while Israel, occupying the heights of the Syrian Golan since the 1967 war, remains a hostile State. Damascus is also at the Centre of the so-called anti-American, anti-Israeli "resistance axis" Iran grouping, activist of the Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in the Lebanon groups, with the Syria.

The possible consequences of the Syria political measure are blurred, but potentially very dangerous. Decades of repression Ba'athist prevented the emergence of an organized democratic opposition. Assad opponents are a disparate group of aging intellectuals exiled Islamist and largely wary of figures of the former regime as Abdel Halim Khaddam, a Vice-President of long-standing service who has also held several positions in father Bashar. (Can Assad reform Government without causing its own downfall?)

Still, militants of rights say the fear of the unknown and geopolitical calculations are wrong reasons to maintain a tyrant in power. "If anything, the Syria is a source of instability in Iraq, Lebanon, in Palestine and said Qurabi." A weakening of the regime in Syria and its modification or reform so that it represents Syrian society, I think that will lead to positive change in the region. "Sometimes it takes a dramatic change to improve a difficult district.

Number of deaths in the attack of the Morocco rises to 16

 Charming snakes Ghali Nouiti was hanging his pet around the neck of a European tourist are suspicious for a photo session, you still plu type fear: terror bombing that authorities now say Moroccan has the characteristics of an attack by al-Qaeda.

Explosion Thursday at a popular café overlooking the famous Djemaa el - Fna square in Marrakech blew fragments, parts of the body and the debris on the vast plaza covered with tiles, killing at least 16 people - including 14 foreign tourists - and shattering image of the Morocco as a place peaceful getaway.

"The way reminds us the style generally used by al-Qaeda," the Minister of the Interior Taieb Cherqaoui said Friday, "and this leads us to think that there is a possibility more dangers to come."

He stopped short to confirm a link with the Group of terror, including affiliate in North Africa was mainly active in neighbouring Algeria and South more.

The number of dead rose to 16 after a French woman has succumbed to his injuries, he said. In total, seven French, two Canadians, a Dutch and a Briton were among those killed. Experts were continuing to try to identify the other three through DNA tests, but he said that they were too raw to be foreign.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadly attack of the Morocco five terrorist attacks caused nearly simultaneous bombings killed 45 people - including a dozen attackers - the capital of the economic country, Casablanca, in 2003.

Cherqaoui said that initial results suggested the bomb was packed with nails and was triggered remotely. Earlier, Interpol, the international police force, had said that it appeared to be a suicide attack.

With an asp page head pinched between fingers, Nouiti, a charming of snakes aged 30 years and third generation, this theory confirmed: he said one of his colleagues was hospitalized after being hit by a nail in the nose.

He and many others in Marrakech fear for economic benefits if tourists are scare - and for a country of 30 million which have attracted about 10 million tourists last year, the effect is potentially disastrous.

Ahmed El Gharbi, the co-owner of café Glacier, another restaurant offering a view of majestic on Djemaa el - Fna square, said tourists Friday evening declined by 70% of an ordinary day.

"The attackers have destroyed us," said Nouiti, wearing a traditional Cape Tagia and Djellabah dress. The explosion hit, his legs and fastened, and even if he wanted to rush to help, he simply could not move.

"Yesterday, the plaza was complete, and we had passed right in front of the cafe..." We have seen a large plume of smoke, and many objects goes up in the air, said Stephane Le Pretre, a tourist Rouen in Northwest, old France of 46 years traveling with his children. They were watching on the dead leaves.

In a calm and peaceful Vigil, hundreds of the industry of the city of crucial home inhabited the site Friday, variously white flowers of lifting, raising up to two fingers in a "C" or bearing stickers reading: "I (heart) Marrakech.".

The names of some of the hotels in the high-level city decorate wreaths laid along steel barriers outside the café, such as forensic teams of police of the Morocco and France and Spain flavour indoors to inspect the damage.

Terrorist attack strikes cafe at Morocco, 14 dead (AP)

MARRAKECH, Morocco - a bomb attack tore through tourist coffee in the lively heart of Marrakech to massive terrorist from the old quarter, killing at least 11 foreign nationals and three Moroccans in deadly attack in the country in eight years.

At least 23 people were injured in Thursday's explosion, strongly tourism a few minutes before noon to Djemma el - Fna square, one of the main attractions in a country which depends on, said Taib Chergaoui Moroccan Interior Minister.

The Government spokesman Khalid Naciri said the PA, it was too early to lay the blame for what he called a terrorist attack, but stressed that the Morocco regularly dismantle cells linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and said that he has disrupted several parcels.

At least eight French citizens have been treated at the hospital Tofail main Marrakech, with a Canadian, a British citizen and three Moroccans, head of the emergency room Hicham Nejmi said. Others were treated at the military hospital and a handful in private clinics.

April marks the start of the tourist of the Morocco season, when visitors gather to watch snake charmers, storytellers, jugglers and local musicians, cafes which the edges of the iconic place on the road to the city of grand souk outdoor, or fill cycle market.

"There was a huge bang, and lots of smoke has increased." There is debris raining down from the sky, "honeymooner Andy Birnie, who lives North of London, told Associated Press by telephone." "Hundreds of people were running in panic.

The explosion made a large part of the facade off the coast coffee Agana two-storey terracotta color, leaving awnings dangling. Panicked bystanders dragged away body and attempted to extinguish the flames with fire extinguishers, said witnesses Associated Press.

"I think that the injured were mainly tourists, judging by what they wore," Alexandre Carvalho, 34-year-old worker call center, South of the Portugal, told the AP by telephone.

At least two French nationals were among the victims, although it was not immediately clear if they were dead or injured, judicial officials in the French capital said. President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed that the victims were citizens French.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs of William Hague Britain, said the British Ambassador was travelling in Marrakech, although he gave no immediate confirmation of British victims.

This former French colony enjoys relative stability and political plurality over some of its neighbours, but King Mohamed VI has the final word in all policies, and most important movement of Islamists in the country is prohibited from political life.

The King has promised constitutional reforms in response to several peaceful demonstrations in large part in the two months that were inspired by popular uprisings that pushed the autocrats in nearby Tunisia and Egypt.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that "the United States condemned in the strongest terms terrorists today address innocent people killed and injured in a cafe in Marrakech at the Morocco." Extend us our most sincere condolences for the victims of this cowardly attack and with the people of the Morocco at this difficult time. ?

The United Nations Security Council condemned the attack "in the strongest terms" and expressed his condolences, while that the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon said he was "appalled by the bombings of today" and extended his "deepest sympathies"., according to the statements.

In Germany, who said that none of its citizens had been affected, urged that the attack "should not lead to the reform process which was launched at the Morocco being undermined."

Subsidiary of Al-Qaida in North Africa stage regular attacks and abductions in the neighbouring countries of Algeria. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb organizes four French hostages, after their removal to Niger last year, recently published new pictures and audio recordings of their voice.

Morocco, however, was mainly peaceful since it was hit by five simultaneous terrorist attacks in Casablanca in 2003 that killed 33 people and a dozen bombers linked to the Moroccan combatant group Islamic, a local militant group also involved in the attacks murderers transit in Madrid in March 2004.

In April 2007, two suicide bombers were killed in attacks by the Consulate of the United States, in Casablanca the economic capital.

The Moroccan authorities have rounded up thousands of people suspected of terrorism alleged in recent years and while they "regularly discover terrorist cells... nothing has led us to an act of this magnitude," Naciri said.

"Morocco has its international image of the home, hospitality and tourism," he told the AP. "an act of this magnitude will leave its mark."