Watches Afghanistan: Suicide blast kills top police commander

We are understand this Afghanistan: Suicide blast kills top police commande



General Daud was attending a meeting with other officials when the bomber struck, reports say

The police commander for northern Afghanistan has been killed in a suicide bomb attack on the provincial governor's compound in Takhar.

Gen Mohammad Daud Daud is one of at least six people killed in the attack, claimed by the Taliban.

Two German soldiers were killed and Gen Markus Kneip, commander of foreign troops in north Afghanistan, wounded.

Afghanistan has seen a series of attacks in recent months by militants on police and military targets.

Takhar provincial Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa is among those wounded, officials said.

Gen Daud was former military commander of the Northern Alliance, the Afghan forces who fought the Taliban.

Police uniform
The latest attack will be seen as significant because it has struck an area of the country's north which has been seen as relatively secure.

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Analysis


Lyse Doucet
BBC News
Powerful, charismatic, controversial - General Daud played a critical role as Afghan forces prepare to take over from Isaf in key cities this year.

When I last saw him in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in March, he was calm and confident as he organised a major security operation during Nawroz (New Year) celebrations.

Despite reports of suicide bombers in the city, there were no attacks. But he came under criticism weeks later when the UN compound was stormed by a violent mob.

There were persistent allegations he played a key role in the drugs trade he was meant to stop. But his charm and capabilities won him allies among foreign forces - although some expressed suspicion there was an "agenda" of greater autonomy for the North.

The attack will heighten concerns over the Taliban's campaign to assassinate key Afghan figures.

One intelligence official who survived the attack in Taloqan told the BBC's Bilal Sarwary that Gen Daud had left a meeting and was heading to the second floor of the building when there was a huge explosion.

"There was fire. Daud and the police chief of Takhar province were laying on the ground. There were shouts and crying. There was chaos all over the place," the official said.

Intelligence officials said Gen Daud had been warned about a threat to his life and that security was extremely tight.

However, the attacker was wearing a police uniform and passed several security checks.

Gen Daud was in charge of all interior ministry forces in northern Afghanistan and is the most senior figure to be killed so far in a Taliban "spring offensive".

coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13585242

Watch Colombia police claim anti-drugs success

Colombia police claim anti-drugs success


Colombian police say they have smashed a drug-trafficking network that was exporting several tonnes of cocaine to the US each month.

More than 30 suspects were arrested in co-ordinated raids across the country.

They are accused of belonging to the Urabenos, a powerful cartel founded by former right-wing paramilitaries.

Colombia's Defence Minister, Rodrigo Rivera, said the operation was a major success in the fight against cocaine trafficking.

"With this operation we have affected the entire structure of this organisation dedicated to producing and exporting drugs," he said.

The arrests were made with the help of the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

The Urabenos are one of dozens of violent drugs cartels that emerged in Colombia following the demobilisation of the paramilitary Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) in 1996.

It is led by two brothers who took over following the arrest last year of the drug lord Daniel Rendon Herrera, also known as Don Mario.

Based in the north-western region of Uraba, from where the group gets its name, the Urabenos have embarked on a national expansion with the apparent aim of becoming the biggest drug cartel in Colombia, says the BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota.

They now dominate trafficking routes along Colombia's Caribbean Coast, and this latest network was seeking to take over routes in the eastern plains and into Venezuela, our correspondent adds.
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11498478

Excited At least 53 dead as car bombs target Iraq police

At least 53 dead as car bombs target Iraq police


AFP – An injured child is carried by her mother following a car bomb in a residential neighbourhood in the
BAGHDAD (AFP) – More than a dozen apparently coordinated car bombs targeting Iraqi police and other attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda killed 53 people on Wednesday, just days before the US military ends its combat mission.
The trail of bloodshed started in the capital Baghdad before stretching to the north and south of the country, hitting 10 cities and towns in quick succession in tactics that bore the hallmark of the jihadist network.
Some 250 people were also wounded, security officials said, as a total of 14 car bombs wrought havoc for police and soldiers whose ability to protect the country is under close scrutiny as US forces have drawn down.
In the deadliest attack, a car bomb at a passport office in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, killed 20 people, including 15 police, and wounded 90 others, most of them police, Lieutenant Ali Hussein told AFP.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a police station in the northeastern suburb of Qahira, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more, security and medical officials said.
The attack in the mixed Sunni-Shiite neighbourhood took place at around 8 am (0500 GMT), according to an interior ministry official who gave the toll. "The victims included policemen and civilians," he said.
A doctor at Medical City Hospital said they had received the bodies of two women, two children and two police officers, and that 44 other people were receiving treatment.
A spike in unrest over the past two months has triggered concern that Iraqi forces are not yet ready to handle security on their own, especially with no new government formed in Baghdad since a March 7 general election.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Wednesday's attacks on Al-Qaeda and remnants of the Baath party of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein, who he said wanted "to shake people's confidence in the security forces."
"They (the security forces) are ready to bear the responsibility after US (combat) forces withdraw at the end of August," Maliki said in a statement.
The US army announced on Tuesday that troop levels were below 50,000 in line with President Barack Obama's directives as part of a "responsible drawdown" of troops, seven years on from the invasion which ousted Saddam.
The reduction has raised fears that Qaeda-linked insurgents will step up their attacks.
A separate car bomb in Baghdad killed two police and wounded seven civilians in the city centre, while two other police were shot dead in Al-Amel, a southern district, the interior ministry official said.
In the north of the country, a car bomb in the ethnically divided, oil hub of Kirkuk killed one person and wounded 11, said Colonel Adel Zain al-Abideen, the city's acting chief of police.
In Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, a car bomb killed four civilians and gunmen killed a lieutenant colonel at a police checkpoint.
In Muqdadiya, northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded as a police patrol passed, killing three civilians. When troops arrived to investigate, a second bomb exploded, wounding six soldiers.
In western Iraq, three people, two of them police, were killed and 16 wounded in two car bombs, one of them at a police checkpoint in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a security official said.

coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100825/wl_afp/iraqunrestpolice

Watch and enjoy 35 taken hostage during gunfight in Rio

35 taken hostage during gunfight in Rio



TOM HENNIGAN in Manaus, Brazil

TERRIFIED HOLIDAYMAKERS were caught up in an intense gunfight between a Rio de Janeiro drugs gang and police on Saturday, during which gang members invaded a luxury hotel and took 35 people hostage before releasing them after a three-hour standoff.

The violence started when police tried to intercept a convoy of vans and motorbikes containing up to 50 members of the Friends of Friends gang who were returning from an all-night party in the Vidigal favela to their base in the neighbouring favela of Rocinha, Brazil’s biggest slum.

The gang fought off police with machine guns and rifles as it sought to make its way back to Rocinha, with several gang members fleeing on foot or forcing passing motorists to drive them away.

The shootout lasted about 40 minutes leaving the surrounding streets littered with bullet casings. “I felt like I was in Iraq,” local resident José Oliveira e Silva told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.

Most of the gang made it back to the slum which police did not enter.

But a group of 10 fled into the nearby Intercontinental Hotel, taking 35 hostages, among them five guests. Local media showed guests fleeing the five-star hotel whose management said had about 800 guests at the time, half of them foreigners, many in town for Rio’s half marathon which was run yesterday.

After three hours of negotiations the group in the hotel released their hostages and surrendered to police.

The O Globo newspaper said the police operation was an unauthorised attempt by officers to capture Antônio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, o Nem, the head of drug-trafficking in Vidigal and Rocinha. He evaded capture but police detained his second in command. One person died during the shootout, a suspected gang member who was wanted by police on drugs related offences. Four police officers were injured in the operation.

Saturday’s violence has highlighted the insecurity in Brazil’s second largest city which will host the football World Cup finals in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.
coppied by http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0823/1224277380181.html

West Midlands Police given 'sensible underwear' advice

Watches West Midlands Police given 'sensible underwear' advice

West Midlands Police officers believe they have been given a bum deal by being asked to wear sensible underwear.

They were advised to choose pants of an "appropriate colour" on duty which were "inconspicuous" under uniforms.

Some staff have described the suggestions, which appeared on the police "message of the day" section on the force intranet, as "nannying".

The force said there was no new policy on underwear but officers had to take a "commonsense approach".

'Not scouts'
The brief was issued to staff to ensure officers "present a professional appearance to the public," West Midlands Police said.

It includes other sartorial advice, such as the suggestion that baseball caps should only be worn by officers in certain units.

A police spokesman said: "There's no new force policy on underwear, but all officers and staff coming into contact with the public are asked to adopt a commonsense approach when choosing what underwear is worn so they remain smart."

Some officers criticised the move in the force magazine, Police Review, with one saying "we are not a scouting organisation".
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-11029782