KABUL AFGANISTAN: Two suicide attackers dressed in burqas were shot dead Wednesday as they attempted to enter the compound of a US-linked aid organisation in a southern Afghan town, officials said.

The male bombers were wearing explosives-packed vests beneath traditional women’s all-covering dress and opened fire on guards at the gates of International Relief and Development (IRD) in Lashkar Gah, the officials said.

“The two suicide bombers were shot and killed by the IRD guards, luckily their explosives did not explode,” provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP.

Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, is 20 kilometres (12 miles) away from a major US-led offensive testing a new counter-insurgency strategy aimed at wiping out the Taliban and drug-trafficking cartels.

The interior ministry said no one else was killed or harmed in the thwarted attack, which happened around 9.45 am (0515 GMT).

But Ahmadi said two people employed by IRD were wounded.

The would-be suicide bombers had opened fire on police guarding the IRD gates, he said.

“In the exchange of fire, a woman and a man working for IRD were wounded,” he said.

There were no details on whether the wounded included foreigners.

The interior ministry said in a statement: “Two (male) suicide bombers… started firing on the police guards and in a return of fire by the national police within moments, both suicide attackers were killed.

“In this incident no harm was caused to anyone else and only the suicide attackers were killed,” it said, adding that police seized two assault rifles and two suicide vests filled with explosives.

IRD implements projects on behalf of the US Agency for International Development, Ahmadi said, including helping farmers market their products, improving food security and other agriculture-related projects.

Helmand is a hotbed for the Taliban, who have been waging an increasingly virulent insurgency since their regime was overthrown in the 2001 US-led invasion following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The United States and NATO are raising to 150,000 the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan by August under a strategy marrying military and civilian efforts to eradicate the militant presence and establish Afghan sovereignty.

The strategy is currently being tested in Helmand’s Marjah and Nad Ali districts, where poppy-production is controlled by Taliban and drug traffickers in areas that have long been outside government control.

Operation Mushtarak, “Together” in Dari, is regarded by military planners as an initial success, but a Western official told AFP that it will be many months yet before it is clear if the Taliban have receded for good.

NATO said two foreign soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan by a crude bomb on Tuesday, although it did not say where.

The bombs, known as IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, are the main weapon used by Taliban rebels, though suicide attacks are becoming more common.

On Saturday, 35 people were killed in the southern city of Kandahar in one of the biggest coordinated suicide assaults claimed by the Taliban since their insurgency began more than eight years ago.

The militia said the attack was a pre-emptive response to plans by Afghan and NATO forces to widen anti-insurgent operations in Kandahar.

CHANDIGARH INDIA : Chandigarh police on Wednesday busted a sex racket with the arrest of four women, including a post-graduate working for a slimming centre.

The others include a 45-year-old woman who supplied girls and charged Rs 2,000-20,000 from clients, police said.

“We sent a decoy customer who paid Rs 2,000 as advance to (the madam),” Deputy Superintendent of Police J.S. Khaira told reporters. “(The madam) showed the decoy customer three girls. We arrested them while taking the remaining amount.”

The transporters hold a protest demonstration against the alleged misbehavior of the traffic wardens, which turned agitational owing to police mismanagement at Lahore-Kasur Road.
However, the police rushed the site and resorted to baton-charge, gas shelling and aerial firing. Upon this, the protesters turned angry and set alight around seven buses and broke glasses of many others.
Smoke enveloped the whole area after the torching incident. Police also arrested many of the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, rejecting the allegations, the traffic wardens maintained that they never did anything outside their duty ambit.

MUMBAI: Police in Mumbai said on Sunday they have arrested two men they say were preparing to attack several targets in the financial hub, including the offices of energy firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

MUMBAI: Police in Mumbai said on Sunday they have arrested two men they say were preparing to attack several targets in the financial hub, including the offices of energy firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp.
“We believe they were taking instructions from across the border to attack three or four targets in Mumbai,” said Vinesh Agarwal, an inspector with Mumbai’s anti-terrorism squad
“They are being interrogated,” he said.
The men were identified as Abdul Lateef and Riyaz Ali, Agarwal said.
Security in Mumbai has been tight since a bombing in neighbouring Pune city last month that killed 16 people, the first major militant strike since the 2008 attacks on Mumbai.

LAHORE: The death toll in two blasts at R A Bazaar in Lahore cantonment area on Friday has reached to 13, while 40 others were injured.

The relief teams and ambulances reached to the spot of the blasts and started relief operations after the twin explosions.

Police and security agencies personnel have cordoned off the area.

According to state television two blasts occurred in the area. The sounds of fire were heard after the first blast and than another blast occurred.

The injured were being transferred to hospitals. Several passersby were hit by the bullets in firing after the first explosion, reports said.

According to eyewitness account that the first blast was occurred in a car and another in a motorcycle.

The injured also included women and children, reports said. The authorities have declared emergency in Lahore hospitals.

The roads leading to the cantonment areas have been closed.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have condemned the bomb attack in Lahore.

Six security personnel among 20 persons were killed while 25 others got severely injured as two suicide bombers struck main bus stand at north Cantonment area, RA Bazaar, Lahore.
The blasts took place while the faithful were going to offer the Jumma prayers. Windowpanes of nearby building shattered in wake of the explosion. Rescue efforts are underway and the injured are being shifted to nearby hospitals.Sources added that the injured include two army majors also. Rise in toll is also feared.
Police and law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. The President and Prime Minister condemned the incident in strong terms.

Angry public and private sector workers in Greece walked off the job on Thursday, grounding flights, shutting schools and freezing public transport in the second nationwide strike in as many weeks against austerity plans.
Police estimate some 20,000 demonstrators joined a protest march through Athens as opinion polls showed increasing opposition to many of the measures. But the 24-hour strike is unlikely to halt government plans to slash spending and hike taxes to rein in a yawning deficit that has shaken the euro.
Greeks largely see the plan as unfair and not hitting the right people, in a country where corruption and tax evasion are widespread.
The major public and private sector unions – representing about half of the country’s five million workforce – organised the march and say the EU-backed austerity plan will only hurt the poor and aggravate the recession-hit country’s economic problems.

The Forgotten Cancelled, ABC has decided to prematurely end the forgotten’s freshman season. Is the Christian Slater TV show being cancelled?
The forgotten follows a group of talented civilians who work together to find missing persons once the police have reached a dead end. The series features the talents of Slater, Michelle Borth, Heather Stephens, Bob Stephenson, Rochelle Aytes, Anthony Carrigan, Judith Hoag, and Lily Rains.

The show debuted on September 22nd and attracted a 2.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 9.54 million viewers. It lost a large percentage of its lead-in and 12% tuned out before the episode was over. The second installment of the forgotten fell significantly and the rest of the season has been averaging just a 1.7 rating 6.49 million viewers.

Last week, ABC announced that they were preempting the March 16th installment of the forgotten in favor of a FlashForward recap show. Now, they’re pulling the March 23rd episode as well and are calling next week’s the season finale.

PANAJI INDIA: Goa police is planning to file an FIR against five policemen who were placed under suspension for their alleged nexus with drug peddlers in the state.

High level sources in the department said that the Crime Branch, which is investigating the nexus, is likely to file the FIR, soon.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Ravindra Yadav has already given his consent to file the report against all five policemen including police inspector Ashish Shirodkar.

An inspector, a head constable and three constables were placed under suspension last week after an alleged drug dealer, Yaniv Benahim alias Atala, was caught on camera confessing to be close to Shirodkar.

Atala had claimed that Shirodkar was supplying him drugs stolen from the Anti Narcotic Cell custody.

Similarly, interrogation of arrested drug dealer David Griham alias Dudu by police had also revealed few names of policemen providing him protection. While Dudu is currently in judicial custody under Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Atala was arrested on Tuesday under section 41 of CrPC.

DIG Yadav told reporters that Atala’s statement was required to probe the police drug-peddler nexus claimed in the video tape shot on spy cam, which exposed the links.

Al-Qaeda is threatening to kill Iraqis, who vote in Sunday’s (March 7, 2010) elections.
The threat message was posted on Al-Qadea’s website, the warning message proclaimed a 6am-to-6pm curfew “throughout Iraq and especially in Sunni areas.” Sunnis boycotted the 2005 elections but are expected to turn out in large number for this year’s vote, which has already begun for Iraqis living overseas. Anyone who violates the ban will “expose himself to the anger of Allah,” the terror group claimed.