 AT least 150 bodies have been recovered from wells following Muslim-Christian clashes in central Nigeria. The estimated death toll from the clashes already stands at more than 300, a village head and volunteers say. "So far we have picked 150 bodies from the wells. But 60 more people are still missing,'' Umar Baza, head of Kuru Karama village near the city of Jos, said today. "We took an inventory of the displaced people from this village, sheltering in three camps, and we realise that 60 people can still not be accounted for,'' he added. Head of the Muslim volunteer team in the village, Mohammed Shittu, said further searches would be carried out today. "Now we have 150 bodies in all, taken from the wells as from Thursday. We are still going back there today to comb the bush around the village to search for more bodies,'' he also said. "We believe there are more bodies in the wells but the degree of their decomposition makes it difficult to continue the retrieval operation. We have therefore decided to sand-fill all the wells,'' Baza said. The state government has given no official death toll for the violence, which broke out last Sunday in Jos, capital of Plateau State and later spread to nearby towns and villages. Religious leaders and medical workers said they had counted about 300 bodies by Wednesday. Global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) today urged Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to order "an immediate criminal investigation into credible reports of a massacre of at least 150 Muslim residents of a town in central Nigeria''. HRW said in a statement received in Lagos that witnesses said groups of armed men - believed to be Christians - attacked the largely Muslim population of Kuru Karama on Tuesday morning. "After surrounding the town, they hunted down and attacked Muslim residents, some of whom had sought refuge in homes and a local mosque, killing many as they tried to flee and burning many others alive,'' the statement said. The Australian
 Up to 18,000 people are homeless after days of fighting between Christians and Muslims in the Nigerian city of Jos. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that people have been sheltering in colleges, hospitals and schools since clashes began in the capital of the central Plateau state on Sunday. More than 460 people in and around Jos are thought to have been killed as of Thursday. Nigerian authorities relaxed a 24-hour curfew to allow thousands of residents whose houses have not been destroyed, to return home. The strong presence of troops and police helped restore a measure of calm in Jos on Thursday. But Andrew Simmons, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Abuja, said: "There has been a fresh outbreak of violence on the outskirts of Jos in a place called Bakuru. "Six people have been treated for gunshot wounds. And a Red Cross [ICRC] official has confirmed that a woman was attacked by a gang who snatched her baby, twisted the baby's nose and broke it. "We've had persistent reports saying gangs have been using police uniforms, knocking on door by door, masquerading as security forces and then killing people in their homes. It's a grim situation. "But in Jos itself, the focus [on Thursday] was on the funerals of the hundreds of people who have been killed." Earlier, Rob Waudo, from the ICRC in Kano, told Al Jazeera that since the military came in, the situation has been calm. "[The arrival of soldiers] has allowed us to survey what the needs are. Many people have been able to leave the camps and return home," he said. "There are so many people that need clothing, food and water. The Red Cross is focusing on those injured and referring some to hospital." Mosque officials have estimated the number of dead Muslims since Sunday to be about 400. US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday said at least 65 Christians had died. Official government figures were significantly lower at 75 dead, more than 200 injured and 200 arrested. HRW called for the Nigerian military to show restraint as additional soldiers were ordered onto the streets of Jos. "Nigeria should ensure that its security forces use restraint and comply with international standards on the use of force in responding to the latest deadly outbreak of inter-communal violence," HRW said. Charles Dokubo, from the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, told Al Jazeera: "There is more than the religious aspect of it. There are two communities - one that call themselves settlers and one that call themselves indigenous communities. "The crisis in the north started with the creation a local government." Dokubo said Muslim settlers wanted to manage the government, which was unacceptable to the indigenous Christian community who regard the former as non-citizens. "The main cause of the crisis is about administration and the place where people belong," he said. The fighting erupted on Sunday in a Christian area due to a dispute over the building of a mosque, residents said. Jos, which is home to 500,000 people, along with other central and northern areas in Nigeria have been plagued by religious violence in recent years. In November 2008, hundreds of people were killed in Jos in two days of fighting triggered by a rumour that the mainly Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party had lost a local election to the Christian-dominated People's Democratic Party. Al Jazeera 
 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi army has lost 113 troops since the kingdom launched a sweeping offensive against neighboring Yemen's Shiite rebels in early November, a military commander said in comments published Thursday. The kingdom's well-funded but largely untested military joined the fray after Shiite rebels from Yemen crossed the border into Saudi Arabia on Nov. 5, killing two Saudi border guards. The Al Riyadh newspaper quoted Maj. Gen. Ali Zaid al-Khawaji as saying the dead include a senior Saudi officer whose body was found with those of two soldiers after a battle last week to drive rebels out of a border village. The latest toll is a significant jump from last week, when assistant defense minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan said the Saudis had 82 dead and 470 wounded. The mounting toll underscores the ferocity of the fighting with the poorly armed Yemeni Hawthi rebels, who have been battling their own government since 2004 over neglect and discrimination. The rebels have gained a reputation for being wily adversaries, taking full advantage of the rugged mountainous terrain of their homes in northern Yemen. The Saudis have been relying on artillery and air power to defeat the rebels without risking manpower, but the casualties mostly come from mob-up operations in rebel stronghold villages. Saudi chief of staff Gen. Saleh ben Ali Al-Mohaya said the war "is close to a guerrilla war." Al-Khawaji, the commander of the southern Saudi region, identified the dead officer as Lt. Col. Saeed Ma'tuq al-Omari from Saudi parachutist units and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. "There are field units searching for more bodies," al-Khawaji told the paper. The world's largest oil supplier, Saudi Arabia has used its military only once before since the kingdom was established in 1932. Saudi troops played a token role in the U.S.-led effort to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait in 1991. Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, has been in the limelight since a Yemen-based wing of al-Qaida said it was behind a failed Dec. 25 plot to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner. FoxNews
 Sporadic violence has countinued around the central Nigerian city of Jos after four days of fighting between groups of Christians and Muslims. A 24-hour curfew was in place in the city on Wednesday but gunfire could be heard in neighbouring areas in Plateau state. "The fighting has stopped in Jos, but we can hear gunshots in other communities in the outskirts of the city," Muhammad Tanko Shittu, a senior mosque official organising mass burials, said. More than 150 citizens have died in the fighting, according to a mosque official, and streets have been left deserted and businesses closed. "We are expecting more corpses to be brought in from surrounding communities later today," Shittu said. The government said that only 20 people had been killed in the fighting, with 40 more injured, while leaders of both sides said nearly 300 people have died. Human Rights Watch (HRW), the international rights watchdog, called for the Nigerian military to show restraint as the government ordered additional soldiers onto the streets of Jos, the state capital, to keep control. "Nigeria should ensure that its security forces use restraint and comply with international standards on the use of force in responding to the latest deadly outbreak of inter-communal violence," HRW said. Charles Dokubo, from the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, told Al Jazeera: "There is more than the religious aspect of it. There are two communities - one that call themselves settlers and one that call themselves indigenous communities. "The crisis in the north started with the creation a local government." Dokubo said that Muslim settlers were to manage the government, which was unacceptable to the indigenous Christian community who consider them non-citizens. "The main cause of the crisis is about administration and the place where people belong." Dokubo said that disputes over jobs may also be contributing to tensions between the two groups, with indigenous peoples' fears that settlers in government would give jobs only to other settlers. The fighting erupted on Sunday in a Christian area due to a dispute over the building of a mosque, residents said. Jos, which is home to 500,000 people, along with other central and northern areas in Nigeria have been plagued by religious violence in recent years. In November 2008, hundreds of people were killed in Jos in two days of fighting triggered by a rumour that the mainly Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party had lost a local election to the Christian dominated Peoples Democratic Party. Nigeria has roughly equal numbers of Christians and Muslims, although traditional animist beliefs underpin many people's faiths. More than 200 ethnic groups generally live peacefully side by side in the West African country, although one million people were killed in a civil war between 1967 and 1970 and there have been outbreaks of religious unrest since then. Al Jazeera
 AT least four people were killed overnight during intense fighting between rival Somali pirates in the town of Harardhere arguing over a record ransom, elders and pirates say. The tension has been high in the central Somali pirate lair ever since an estimated $US7 million ($7.56 million) were dropped by a small plane for the release of the VLCC Maran Centaurus, a Greek-flagged supertanker a third of a kilometre long and carrying two million barrels of crude oil. "The situation is calm this morning but there is still tension between the pirates. Three of them, including a senior pirate leader, were killed so far and three others were injured,'' local elder Moalim Abdalla Hasan said today. "We are trying to mediate between them because they are disturbing our peace. A civilian was killed in the crossfire and the residents are very concerned about this feud,'' he said. "I think there will not be trust between them any more since they killed each other. Three pirates have died already since yesterday and if there's no swift mediation, more will die, including civilians,'' Mr Nile said. According to other sources in Harardhere, two pirates died when a dispute flared on Sunday, immediately after the Maran Centaurus' ransom was delivered. Somalia's pirates treat every successful hijacking like a private venture in which businessmen from all over the country can invest by offering financial or material assistance, buying and selling shares. The bigger the captured vessel, the more complex the shareholder structure. Squabbling over a ransom is not uncommon but yesterday night's clashes are some of the most violent recorded in Somalia's otherwise relatively united piratehood. The operators of the Maran Centaurus, the second largest vessel ever captured by pirates, confirmed the supertanker and its crew of 28 were freed yesterday and were heading for the South African port of Durban. The Australian
 Troops are patrolling the northern Nigerian city of Jos after clashes between Christians and Muslims left at least 26 people dead and injured around 100 more, officials said. Violence erupted on Sunday over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in 2008 clashes between the two religious groups, residents said, although reports as to why the latest round of fighting broke out varied. According to the Associated Press, Muslim youths set fire to a church filled with worshippers, starting a riot that saw mosques and homes burnt. But the AFP news agency said the unrest was sparked by youths protesting the building of a mosque in a predominantly Christian area. Police said on Monday that the situation was under control and an evening curfew was in place. "Security personnel have succeeded in quelling the unrest and restoring calm in the affected area of the city," Mohammed Lerema, Plateau State police spokesman, told AFP. "We have cordoned the Nassarawa Gwom district as a strategy to prevent the violence from spilling over to other parts of the city," he said. Jos, capital of Plateau state and home to 500,000 people, along with other central and northern areas in Nigeria have been plagued by religious violence in recent years. In November 2008, hundreds of people were killed in Jos in two days of fighting triggered by a rumour that the mainly Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party had lost a local election to the Christian dominated Peoples Democratic Party. State officials put the death toll at about 200 but other sources gave a toll twice that figure. Last month, at least 40 people were killed in clashes between security forces and members of an Islamist sect in the northern Bauchi State. Nigeria has roughly the same number of Christians and Muslims, although traditional animist beliefs underpin many people's faiths. Al Jazeera
 A suspected US drone attack has killed at least 18 people and injured 14 others in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, near the Afghan border, security officials say. The attack took place in Pasalkot village in North Waziristan, a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked fighters. Two missiles were fired at a compound on Thursday, where Hakimullah Mehsud, (pictured), the Pakistani Taliban chief, was believed to have been. "We had information that he was around there. We're checking on whether he was killed," a Pakistani security official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters news agency. However, a Taliban spokesman told Pakistan's Dawn TV that Mehsud was safe and had left minutes before the assault. Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Pakistan, said the US were likely to view the operations as a "huge success". "The use of drone strikes in Pakistan is highly controversial but there's no sign of the Americans stopping them any time soon," he said. "They will regard this latest operation as a huge success - targeting and killing what they say were a number of militants." Mehsud took over as leader of the Pakistani Taliban five months ago, after Baitullah Mehsud, his predecessor, was killed in a similar US drone attack. The US has increased drone attacks in Waziristan since a suicide bomber crossed over Pakistan's border and killed seven CIA employees in an attack in eastern Afghanistan on December 30. A video was later released showing Hakimullah Mehsud sitting beside the CIA bomber, a Jordanian double agent, creating the impression that his group played a major role in the second biggest attack on the CIA in its history. The attack was the seventh suspected US missile assault in the tribal district this month. North Waziristan houses Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters as well as members of the Haqqani network, a powerful group known for staging attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan. The US government has called on Islamabad to step up its efforts against Taliban- and al-Qaeda-linked fighters who cross over into Afghanistan. The Pakistani army recently completed an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, which borders North Waziristan. Al Jazeera
 Six people were killed Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, where protesters claiming that international troops destroyed copies of the Koran clashed with Afghan and foreign security forces, Afghan officials said. Also in the south, 13 insurgents were killed by a missile that international forces fired from an unmanned drone, NATO said. A protest of about 2,000 people in Helmand province's Garmsir district turned violent as demonstrators fought with security forces, leaving six civilians dead, according to the top official in the province, Abdullah Barak. Provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi confirmed six dead but did not say if they were civilians. NATO said only one person was killed during the protest — an insurgent sniper who allegedly shot at an Afghan official and was killed by NATO troops. A NATO spokesman denied that the foreign troops desecrated any copies of Islam's holy book in Sunday's operation with Afghan forces in Garmsir. Lt. Nico Melendez said no shots were fired, and no property was damaged. "We take such allegations very seriously and would support a combined investigation with local Afghan authorities," he said. Afghanistan is a Muslim nation where blasphemy of Muhammad and the Koran is considered a serious crime that is punishable by death. Similar allegations that U.S. troops desecrated the Koran during an operation in October in Wardak province also sparked protests. U.S. and Afghan authorities denied the allegation, insisting that the Taliban are spreading the rumor to stir up public anger. Tensions have intensified in southern Afghanistan as U.S. and other foreign troops step up their efforts to rout the Taliban. Coalition troops saw a group of insurgents near a safe house preparing ammunition as well as insurgent mortar teams moving equipment in the Naw Zad area of Helmand province, NATO said. The international force launched one missile, killing the 13 militants. On Monday, another missile fired from an unmanned aircraft killed three insurgents farther south in the Nad Ali district of Helmand, according to NATO. Drone attacks are widely associated with the fight against al-Qaida and its allies in neighboring Pakistan, where the unmanned aircraft are used to go after militants in areas where U.S. troops are banned from entering. But a NATO spokesman said the aircraft are also regularly used in Afghanistan. "The use of drones is routine and drone strikes are something that we're able to rely upon when we need them," Lt. Nico Melendez said, adding that their use has not increased or decreased in recent months. Melendez said drones are used in Afghanistan for reconnaissance, aerial monitoring and for attacks. In the south-central part of the country, a member of the Afghan National Police was killed and two others were wounded in a suicide attack Monday evening at a police station in Uruzgan province, police chief Juma Gul Hamit said. The suicide bomber detonated his cache of explosives near the gate of the police chief's office in Dihrawud district. Hamit said the attacker tried to enter the office where a meeting was under way. Although wounded by police, the bomber detonated his explosive vest, killing the one policeman and injuring the two others who kept him from going inside. In Paris, meanwhile, the French military said an army captain died Tuesday of wounds suffered a day before during an insurgent ambush in the Alasay valley east of Kabul. Another French soldier was killed instantly in the same ambush. Both casualties were with a joint Afghan and French army patrol that was attacked by small arms fire in a village market place. France has some 3,500 troops with NATO in Afghanistan. It has lost 38 men in Afghanistan since 2001. FoxNews
 At least six police officers have died and another 16 wounded in Dagestan, in Russia's North Caucasus, after being targeted by a suicide car bomber, according to local police. The attack occurred at the traffic police station on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the republic's capital, just as officers were lining up outside for roll call. Shamil Guseinov, the city's police chief, said the bomber detonated his explosives at the gates to the police station after police stopped him from driving through. All those killed were at the gates and their actions in stopping the car prevented much wider devastation, he said. A similar bombing in a neighbouring republic in August killed 24 people and injured more than 200. In that attack, a man succeeded in crashing a bomb-laden van through the gates of the police station in Nazran, Ingushetia. Russia's predominantly Muslim republics in the North Caucasus have seen a sharp rise in violence in the past year, with many of the attacks targeting police and other officials. Some describe the violence as a civil war between Kremlin-supported local governments and Islamist fighters. Al Jazeera
 PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A former provincial minister and seven others have died in the latest violence in Pakistan, as authorities face growing anger and criticism after a suicide strike on a volleyball match killed 101 people. Authorities rounded up dozens of suspects after Friday's volleyball attack and opened an investigation into poor medical care, while doctors in the remote northwest tried to treat casualties on hospital floors without enough medicine. The attacker rammed a car bomb into a crowd of men, women and children watching the tournament in Shah Hasan Khan village, a pro-government area in the district of Lakki Marwat, reducing the sporting event to carnage. Police said 101 people were killed, making it the third most deadly attack in a nearly three-year extremist campaign in the nuclear-armed Muslim country. "An injured man died in Lakki Marwat and a girl in Bannu hospital. Both were buried this evening. The death toll with us is 101. Some 69 injured are still in hospital," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan said on Sunday. Survivors searched for body parts under the rubble of around 20 collapsed homes, as mourners at the cemetery wept over freshly dug graves. "There was nowhere in the whole district to treat the injured.... The provincial health department is responsible for all this," Mannawar Khan, a member of parliament from the district, said. The health minister for North West Frontier Province said that only one doctor out of 10 at the hospital in Lakki Marwat had been on duty, conceding limited health care had "caused more human losses". "After the blast, several hours passed but the other doctors didn't come. I don't know why they were missing. We have opened an inquiry and a committee has been constituted," Syed Zahir Ali Shah said. There was chaos at the hospital in the town of Lakki Marwat, which was short of medicine and beds and overwhelmed with casualties. More at Brisbane Times
 A SUICIDE car bomber has killed at least 88 people in a crowd attending a volleyball game in a northwest Pakistan village in the deadliest strike in more than two months. A man detonated his vehicle, which was packed with explosives, as fans gathered at a field to watch two local teams face off at a volleyball tournament in the village of Shah Hasan Khan, in Bannu district, which borders the Taliban stronghold South Waziristan. Britain immediately condemned the attack as "horrific" and vowed to work with Islamabad to tackle the threat posed by violent extremism. The latest bombing marked a bloody start to 2010 for Pakistan, which has seen a surge in attacks blamed on the Taliban in recent months as Islamist fighters avenge military operations aimed at crushing their northwest strongholds. "The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber rashly drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP. Six children and five paramilitary soldiers were among the dead, he added. Khan said that more than 20 houses on both sides of the open ground where the match was being played had collapsed, some with families inside. The tournament was organised by the local peace committee, who had supported a government operation to expel militants from the area, Khan said. It was the highest death toll from a suspected militant strike since a massive car bomb on October 28 killed 125 people in a crowded market in the northwestern provincial capital Peshawar. Ramzan Bittani, a 33-year-old driver, told AFP by telephone from a local hospital that he had left the match to take a call. "As I was listening, I saw a huge blue and white spark followed by an ear-piercing blast. When I was able to figure out what had happened, I saw bodies and smoke all around. My hand was fractured," he said. Anwer Khan, 18, a student, said that he had just stepped out of his house and he saw a black pick-up speeding up towards the spectators. "A giant flame leaped towards the sky. There was bright light everywhere, just like a flash, and then a very huge blast shook everything. Two pellets hit my forehead and blood started flowing," Khan said. District police chief Khan blamed the bomb on Islamist extremists who were the target of a military operation in Bannu district last year. Security has plummeted over the last two-and-a-half years in Pakistan, where militant violence has killed more than 2,800 people since July 2007. The northwest has suffered the brunt of the militant campaign, with suicide bombings increasingly targeting civilians. The military is now locked in its most ambitious assault yet on Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, sending 30,000 troops into battle in the district on the Afghan border on October 17. Washington, however, is urging Pakistan to do more to also stamp out al-Qaeda sanctuaries and dismantle havens of militants who cross the border and attack US and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan. On Friday in North Waziristan district, missiles fired from a US drone air craft killed three suspected militants 15 kilometres east of Miranshah, the main district town close to the Afghan border. "A US drone fired two missiles, targeting a vehicle and killing three militants," a senior security official in the area told AFP. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the US strikes in Pakistan, which have killed at least 662 people since August 2008 and greatly inflame anti-American sentiment in the Muslim nation. A separate, earlier US drone attack killed four militants in Machikhel village, about 25 kilometres east of Miranshah. Also on Friday, an anti-Taliban tribal leader and four others were killed in a roadside bomb in Bajaur tribal district, the latest in a wave of attacks against respected elders allied with the government against the extremists. The Australian
 A SUSPECTED suicide blast today killed three people and injured 11 others at a volleyball match in a small northwestern Pakistani town, police said. The blast struck in Banu district in the North West Frontier Province, which is plagued by attacks and bombings by Taliban rebels. "The blast took place during a volleyball match and according to initial reports it appears to be a suicide attack," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP. "Three people were killed and 11 others were injured." Police spokesman Shahid Hameed confirmed it was a suicide attack, while another police official said early reports suggested a man drove a car packed with explosives onto the field as people gathered to watch the match. The Australian
 By Bill Roggio Pakistani commandos killed four al Qaeda operatives and detained 27 suspects during a raid on a hospital in a region in South Waziristan under the control of a Taliban leader considered friendly to the government. Pakistani troops surrounded the Hafiz Hospital in Wana, the administrative center of South Waziristan, and killed three “Arabs” and a Sudanese al Qaeda operative.
The Hafiz Hospital is run by a former member of Pakistan’s national assembly. "Commandos and security forces raided the hospital,” a Pakistani security official told Dawn. “Militants fired on the troops and in the gunfight, which lasted more than four hours, four militants and a woman were killed, while 27 others were arrested. One soldier was also injured. The three dead militants appear to be Arabs and one of Sudanese origin.” Pakistani troops raided the hospital after receiving intelligence that the fighters sought treatment from wounds suffered during fighting in the Sherwangi region in the Mehsud tribal areas, where the military is conducting an operation against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The Wana region is run by Taliban commander Mullah Nazir. Nazir is not a member of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan; he and other Taliban commanders operate independently of that group. Pakistan's military and intelligence services consider Nazir and his followers "good Taliban" as they do not openly seek the overthrow of the Pakistani state.
However, Nazir openly supports Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, and wages jihad in Afghanistan. More senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed in Nazir's tribal areas during the US air campaign than in those of any other Taliban leader in Pakistan. Nazir’s forces continue to operate across the border in Afghanistan. On Dec. 6, his fighters crossed the border and destroyed an Afghan Army outpost. Earlier this year, just prior to launching a military operation against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Mehsud tribal areas in South Waziristan, the military agreed to a peace deal with Nazir as well as with North Waziristan Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar. Nazir and Bahadar are not members of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Bahadar and the Haqqani Network, which is also based in North Waziristan, are also considered "good" Taliban by the Pakistani government and military. The peace agreement calls for the Pakistani military to be able to move through Nazir and Bahadar's tribal areas without being attacked. Another condition of the agreement prohibits Bahadar and Nazir from providing shelter to fleeing members of the Mehsud branch of the Taliban. But Taliban fighters from the Mehsud tribal areas have sought shelter with Mullah Nazir in the Wazir tribal areas, and the rearguard fighters still opposing the Army's advance are receiving support from Nazir's forces, US military and intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal. Bahadar and the Haqqanis are also providing shelter to fleeing Taliban fighters and covert support to the Mehsud Taliban, and they also shelter al Qaeda leaders and fighters.
 They reject "any literature except the Koran," recalling the immortal phrase attributed to the Caliph Umar (but probably apocryphal), on the occasion of the burning of the library of Alexandria: "If the book agree with the Koran, they are superfluous. If they disagree with the Koran, they are heretical." "70 dead in clashes in northern Nigeria: Morgue," from AFP, December 30 (thanks to Pamela): BAUCHI: Dozens more bodies were recovered after violent clashes between security forces and Islamists in northern Nigeria, bringing the death toll to around 70, a count at a hospital morgue showed on Wednesday. An AFP reporter listed 42 bodies on the floor of the morgue in the city of Bauchi, all with bullet or machete wounds. Another 25 bodies, mostly young people including minors, had been placed in cold storage rooms. A morgue employee told AFP "the bodies were brought in on Monday" after clashes erupted in Bauchi between suspected members of a radical Islamist sect and security forces. Police late Monday said 38 people died in the fighting, including three members of the security forces. Police forces across Africa's most populous country have been placed on high alert in the aftermath of the clashes as part of a bid to forestall further violence. The Kala-Kato sect, also known as Maitatsine, has been present in several Muslim-dominated states in northern Nigeria for decades. It led religious uprisings in 1980 and 1992 which claimed thousands of lives in the northern cities of Kano and Yola. The number of its followers is not known but estimated to run into several thousands.... The Kala-Kato sect rejects modernity, including Western-style education and medicine. It bans television and radio in its members' homes and rejects any literature except the Koran.... With thanks to JihadWatch
 Kidnappings of foreigners is on the rise in North Africa as criminal cells seek financial and political gain. Four Saudis were killed and three seriously wounded in the latest of a series of kidnapping attempts as they were ambushed in the western Tillaberi region of Niger on Monday. According to a report in the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat the assailants were attempting to kidnap the Saudis with the intention of passing them on to Al-Qa'ida for profit. "By any standard the kidnappings are lucrative," Geoff Porter, Director in Eurasia Group's Middle East and Africa division told The Media Line. "By local standards of the Sahara, the kidnappings are astoundingly lucrative." Ransoms are rumored to reach millions of dollars. "Most Nigerians and a large number of Malian live on less than a dollar a day. Obviously, the kidnappings have their associated expenses, so ransoms are not pure profit, but the profit margin has to be higher than many other legal activities in the Sahara." Monday's incident went afoul when one of the Saudis opened fire in self-defense and triggered an exchange of fire, the report claimed. The kidnappers' cell numbers some 30 people and operates mostly on the border between Mali and Niger, and in holiday resorts. Tourists, especially Westerners, are reportedly targeted and handed over to Al-Qa'ida for a cut of the ransom money subsequently paid by governments. Algerian sources said a cell of Arab Nigerians headed by a weapons smuggler identified by the initials M.I. planned Monday's ambush with the intention of selling them to senior Al-Qa'ida member, Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Belmokhtar is associated with Al-Qa'ida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an Algerian terrorist group aligned with the global Al-Qa'ida. "In the majority of instances the kidnappers' motives seem to be purely financial," Porter said. "There is one active AQIM member in the Sahara, Abdel Hamid Abu Zaid, who seems to be driven by genuine Salafi-Jihadi hostility toward non-Muslims and Europeans. He seems, however, to be in the distinct minority and even other AQIM members, for example Mokhtar Belmokhtar, seem to be motivated by profit rather than ideology." AQIM has claimed the majority of kidnappings that have plagued North Africa for the past year. The organization has also claimed responsibility for the abduction of an Italian couple earlier this month in Mauritania and the kidnapping of three Spanish nationals in Mauritania in late November. A spokesman for the organization told Al-Arabiyya satellite channel that the abduction of the Italians was tied to what he called Italy's crime in Iraq and Afghanistan. Italy says it will not negotiate with the terror organization and that it will not change its policies in Afghanistan. "The number of kidnappings has risen since December 2008," said Louis Caprioli, Director of the Department of International Security at GEOS, a risk management company. "There are several reasons for this," he told The Media Line. "First, AQIM has intensified its presence in Mauritania, Algeria and in the whole Sahel region." "Second, they are taking advantage of people from Mali and Mauritania to support them and lead their actions in those countries. They're benefiting from the many cells in those countries." "Another reason is that the security services in Mauritania, Mali and Niger do not have the equipment or the ability to fight these organizations," Caprioli added. "There's a huge difficulty in controlling this desert region of the Sahel." "Historically the Sahel is a region where a lot of illegal trafficking takes place," he explained. "Cigarettes, drugs, stolen cars and weapons - all this illegal trafficking has increased the criminality rate in this region. The illegal weapons trafficking benefited from the civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Ivory Coast." Governments very rarely admit they have paid ransom to secure the release of their nationals, Caprioli said. "I think that when a hostage is liberated it's not because of the kindness of the kidnappers," Caprioli said. "It's not a good solution but the governments don't have other solutions. The public opinion is also pressuring the governments to pay, so it's their only solution. One of the difficulties in the region is that the liberation of hostages by military means is really difficult. The problem is that the armies in Niger, Mauritania and Mali do not have the material means to lead operations to release hostages. Add to this the problem that usually the hostages are held in regions like north Mali, which are very difficult to access. They're held in no-man's land." Governments in the region are often prevented from accepting military assistance from foreign governments due to sovereignty considerations. "While states may oppose paying ransoms, many companies and some individuals buy Kidnap-and-Ransom insurance," Porter said. "These pay out a ransom in the event of being taken hostage." "Foreign firms that operate in kidnap-vulnerable areas include the cost of K&R insurance in their operating budgets," he added. "Obviously if ransoms were no longer being paid that would remove a huge incentive for the kidnappers, but when someone you know has been kidnapped, you are no longer looking at patterns and trends. Instead, you're focusing on resolving one particular situation and you pay the ransom." "The payment of ransoms has demonstrated that money can be made taking hostages," Porter explained. "Eventually the pace of kidnappings will level out, and then decline as the number of foreigners traveling to the region decreases. Travelers will become more and more aware of the risk and will no longer visit or pass through areas with a high likelihood of being kidnapped." Kidnappings that have taken place in North Africa over the past year: - December 2008. Two Canadian diplomats working for the United Nations are kidnapped in Niger. AQIM claims responsibility. They were released in April. Canada said no ransom was paid. JPost
 EIGHT Americans possibly working for the CIA were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up after sneaking into the gym on a US base in Afghanistan yesterday. And four Canadian soldiers and a woman journalist were also killed when a bomb exploded as their armoured vehicle passed by on Tuesday, in one of the deadliest 24 hours for foreigners in the war-torn country. The attacks come as the number of US and NATO-led foreign troops is set to soar to 150,000 to try to halt an increasingly virulent insurgency by the Taliban militia that has made 2009 the bloodiest year for international forces since the 2001 invasion. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt Col Almarah Belk said the eight Americans died when an attacker detonated a vest packed with explosives on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province - a key Taliban stronghold. “Eight Americans have been killed in an attack on RC-East,” a US embassy official said, using the military term for a region of eastern Afghanistan. But the Washington Post newspaper said that most of the eight probably worked for the CIA, which it said was using the Chapman base. A suicide bomber managed to penetrate the base's defences, detonating an explosive belt in a room described as a base gym. The Post said US sources confirmed that all the dead and injured were civilians, and that most were probably CIA employees or contractors. It said the attack appears to have killed more US intelligence personnel than have died since the US-led invasion in 2001, adding that the agency has acknowledged the deaths of four CIA officers in Afghanistan since then. Suicide attacks are a hallmark of the hardline Taliban militia, who are waging a major insurgency to topple the Western-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and oust the foreign troops. The US said last month it had doubled the number of civilian experts working in Afghanistan and was “on track” to meet its goal of nearly 1000 by the new year. Many are to work in provincial military bases alongside military reconstruction teams. The New York Times said an unidentified NATO official described Chapman as “not a regular base,” suggesting it was used by US intelligence agencies. The five Canadians were killed in a roadside bombing in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southeastern Afghanistan, said General Daniel Menard, the head of Canadian forces in the country. “Yesterday Canada lost five citizens,” General Menard said on Canadian television, adding that a Canadian civilian official was also wounded. “Four soldiers and one journalist were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device attack on their armoured vehicle during a community patrol in Kandahar City.” Public television station CBC identified the journalist as Michelle Lang, a reporter with the Calgary Herald. The deaths raised to 138 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Canada has some 2800 troops deployed in the Kandahar region, who are supposed to return home in 2011. The Australian
 KARACHI, Pakistan — Authorities appealed for calm Tuesday after a bombing against a Shiite Muslim procession killed 43 in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, setting off riots and igniting fears of sectarian unrest. Security was tight as thousands of people gathered in central Karachi for funerals of some of those killed in Monday's bombing of a Shiite procession marking the key holy day of Ashoura. The attack sparked riots as people rampaged through the city, setting fire to markets and stores. Firefighters were still battling the flames Tuesday, with authorities calling for reinforcements from the city of Hyderabad, 105 miles north of Karachi, Pakistan's main commercial hub. Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said the city's largest wholesale market was on fire, and that hundreds of shops had been destroyed, with damages estimated to run into millions of dollars. Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who visited Karachi on Tuesday, said authorities were still trying to determine whether the attack had been carried out by a suicide bomber, as he had said Monday. "The investigation is still going on to determine whether it was a suicide attack or some improvised explosive device was used," said Malik, who appealed for calm and said he had ordered an investigation into who was behind the rioting. "If anyone is trying to cripple Karachi, then he is also trying to cripple Pakistan," the minister said. Senior health official Hashim Malik said the death toll increased to 43 on Tuesday. Many among the dozens wounded were critically hurt, and several died overnight and on Tuesday morning. Karachi has largely been spared the Taliban-linked violence that has struck much of the rest of the country, a fact that analysts believe is driven by the group's tendency to use the teeming metropolis as a place to rest and raise money. But the city has been the scene of frequent sectarian, ethnic and political violence. It was unclear who was behind Monday's bombing. Pakistani authorities say sectarian groups have teamed up with Taliban and al-Qaida militants waging war against the government in a joint effort to destabilize Pakistan. More than 500 people have been killed in attacks since mid-October when the army launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in the country's northwest. "A deliberate attempt seems to be afoot by the extremists to turn the fight against militants into a sectarian clash and make the people fight against one another," said President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement Monday. Monday's bombing struck at the start of a procession of Shiites marking Ashoura, the most important day of a monthlong mourning period for the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. Minority Shiites have suffered frequent attacks by Sunni extremist groups who regard them as heretical. "I fell down when the bomb went off with a big bang," said Naseem Raza, a 26-year-old who was marching in the procession. "I saw walls stained with blood and splashed with human flesh." Residents in apartments near the blast site tossed down body parts that had been cast into their homes from the explosion, while birds dove down to pick at the flesh amid damaged vehicles and motorbikes. More at FoxNews
 Iran's regime has struck back at the resurgent opposition, arresting more than 1500 people and confiscating the corpse of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi's nephew after violent protests rocked cities across the Islamic republic. The government moved to shore up its position a day after its security forces killed at least 15 protesters and wounded scores more in the worst clashes since the disputed presidential election in June.
The opposition said 1500 people had been arrested nationwide since the violence flared, including 1110 in Tehran and 400 in the central city of Isfahan. The brutality on the Shia holiday of Ashura was condemned around the world. The US administration cast aside its reticence and denounced the crackdown. US President Barack Obama condemned the Tehran regime's "iron fist of brutality" and the "violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens". During the turmoil after Iran's controversial presidential elections in June, Mr Obama - then in the midst of a diplomatic outreach to Iran - was criticised for his relative silence on the protests. France deplored the "arbitrary arrests and violence carried out against ordinary protester". Germany, Italy, Austria, Britain, Canada and Norway issued similar statements. Even Russia, one of Iran's main trading partners, called for restraint. Those killed included the opposition leader's nephew, Seyed Ali Mousavi, who was shot in the chest. Tehran was rife with speculation that he had been assassinated to send a message to his uncle, and the government moved rapidly to prevent his death becoming another rallying point for the opposition. Security forces ringed the hospital where his body was taken and used teargas to disperse protesters outside. It later emerged they had removed his body and taken it to an undisclosed location. "My brother's body was taken away from the hospital and we cannot find it," Seyed Reza Mousavi, his brother, told the reformist website Parlemannews. "Nobody accepts responsibility for taking away the body . . . We cannot have a funeral before we find the body." Iranian authorities said they were holding the bodies of five slain anti-government protesters, including the nephew of the opposition leader, in what appeared to be an attempt to prevent activists from using their funerals as a platform for more demonstrations. The violence came just days before a year-end deadline imposed by the Obama administration for Tehran to show good faith in its negotiations with the West over its nuclear program, or face new sanctions. Senior US officials said the Obama administration recogniseds that it was now at a "pivot point" in its strategy on Iran. Tehran's crackdown on protests may be fanning fresh anger at the regime in Iran. But a significant weakening of public support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could be a mixed blessing for US and Western officials now trying to determine how the domestic unrest could affect negotiations with Iran. A weakened regime could be less inclined to make concessions over its nuclear program, a source of pride for many Iranians, they say.
Sanctions, meanwhile, could help shore up Mr Ahmadinejad's support by whipping up nationalistic anger at foreign meddling. The Australian
 AT least 15 anti-government protesters, including a nephew of Iran opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, have been shot dead by security forces in Tehran as the smouldering confrontation between the regime and the so-called Green Movement finally erupted. Analysts heralded the start of what could be a bloody end game, as hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters poured on to the streets of Tehran and other cities and fought running battles with the security forces. Opposition websites claimed some policemen had refused to fire on demonstrators. Foreign journalists have been banned from Iran but Western newsrooms were inundated with mobile phone film of astonishing scenes as demonstrators fought riot police and the Republican Guard's feared Basiji militia. A leading opposition activist claimed: "The entire country is beginning to rise." The violence came a week after the death of dissident cleric Hussein Ali Montazeri, an inspiration to Iran reformists and a fierce critic of the clerical regime he helped to create. The violence flared on a major religious holiday, Ashura. An Iranian opposition leader condemned the killing of protesters during Shia Islam's most important observance. Mahdi Karroubi, a candidate who lost in June's disputed presidential election won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said even the former shah's regime respected the holy day of Ashura. Ashura is the culmination of a 10-day commemoration of a revered seventh-century Shia saint, Imam Hossein, who was killed fighting injustice. The deaths could become heavy with symbolism in Iran, given that Islam bans fighting during this season. During its war with Iraq, Iran halted its attacks during this time and during Iran's 1970s Islamic revolution, protesters came out en masse against the shah on that day, assuming correctly that he wouldn't attack. "Killing people on Ashura takes this crisis to a whole other level," said Roozbeh Mir Ebrahimi, a political analyst and journalist. Analysts yesterday said that if public outrage over the violence aligns the so-far dormant religious class against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the crackdown could prove to be a milestone. Opposition websites said that demonstrators broke through cordons, blocked streets to thwart squads of baton-wielding motorbike police, hurled stones, stripped captured police officers of their uniforms and weapons and burned state-owned banks. Mobile telephone footage showed them holding aloft captured Basiji crash helmets as onlookers cheered. Film clips showed demonstrators trying to tear down Ayatollah Khamenei's portrait and trampling on a street sign bearing his name. The protester deaths were the first shootings of demonstrators since June 20, eight days after the disputed election. The opposition website Rahesabz said security forces opened fire on a crowd near Enghelab Square in Tehran after failing to disperse it with teargas, baton charges and warning shots. It was reported that Seyed Ali Mousavi, 35, the opposition leader's nephew, was shot near Enghelab Square. Reports last night said he appeared to have been assassinated in a political gesture aimed at his uncle. Mr Mousavi was said to have been run over by a 4WD vehicle outside his home, then shot. Government officials took the body and warned the family not to hold a funeral. His family said last night the body had been transferred without its knowledge to an unknown location. "We cannot find it," said Seyed Reza Mousavi. "Nobody accepts responsibility for taking away the body . . . We cannot have a funeral before we find the body." The White House strongly condemned what it called the suppression of civilians in Iran. The Australian
 THE death toll from a suicide attack outside a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Pakistani-administered Kashmir rose to seven after two people died overnight, officials say. The attack in Muzaffarabad came as Pakistan put tens of thousands of security forces on alert, fearing sectarian clashes and militant attacks as millions of Shi'ites mark the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein.
Officials said the bomber tried to enter the mosque, which was crowded with Shi'ites gathering to pray on the eve of Ashura in Pakistan.
"The death toll has reached seven in the suicide blast. Two people died overnight in hospital," said deputy Muzaffarabad commissioner Chaudhry Imtiaz.
Rashid Shah, a police official, confirmed the toll, saying: "There are three policemen and four civilians among the dead."
During Ashura, worshippers clad in black march through the streets, flailing themselves with chains to commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680.
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AT least 150 bodies have been recovered from wells following Muslim-Christian clashes in central Nigeria. 
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