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INTERNATIONAL TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015 Eight troopers dead in rebel attack in northeast India GUWAHATI: Heavily armed separatist chief said. “Militants first resorted to firing Kohima, an official said on condition of New Delhi was not serious about meeting militants’ side,” Doungel said. “A massive rebels have ambushed a paramilitary con- and then triggered an improvised explo- anonymity. Police suspect the attack was the movement’s demands. operation has since been launched in the voy in India’s remote northeast, killing sive device, killing eight troopers on the carried out by the outlawed National The troopers in two vehicles came thickly forested area,” he said. India’s seven eight soldiers and injuring six, officials spot and seriously injuring six more,” Socialist Council of Nagaland, which has under attack as they returned to their northeastern states have long been said yesterday. The militants opened fire Nagaland police chief L.L. Doungel told been campaigning for decades for a camp from collecting drinking water near- plagued by insurgent violence. They are on the troops before exploding a small AFP by phone. Another four Assam Rifles homeland for indigenous Naga tribes to by, the police chief said. home to dozens of tribal groups and small bomb during the attack on Sunday in troopers were missing, with a search be carved out of India’s northeast states. “There was heavy firing with the troop- guerrilla armies that resist rule from New underdeveloped Nagaland close to the underway in the area, about 200 kilome- Last month a faction of the council ers retaliating but it was not immediately Delhi and often compete against each border with Myanmar, the state’s police tres (124 miles) north of the state capital called off a longstanding ceasefire, saying known if there were any casualties on the other. — AFP Taleban ‘welcome’ peace efforts after Qatar talks ‘Won’t allow anyone to use Afghan soil against others’ KABUL: Taleban militants who have been wag- and welcomes the efforts of anyone in bringing In referring repeatedly to the Taleban as ing war on the Afghan government for more peace to Afghanistan.” “political opponents,” Ghani has signaled his than a decade yesterday expressed a willing- The Taleban launched their annual warm- own willingness to accommodate their “politi- ness to soften their position on a range of weather offensive on April 24 with an attack on cal, economic, cultural and social viewpoints, issues, an apparent shift that could eventually the northern city of Kunduz, which took the making it possible to come to direct negotia- lead to peace talks. government and military by surprise. tions,” said the Afghan official familiar with the The statement follows two days of informal The Taleban also claimed responsibility for Doha discussions. discussions with Afghan government represen- the suicide attack early Monday in Kabul, which The Taleban statement referred to “ground tatives in Qatar, at which both sides empha- killed at least one person and wounded 13. realities” - that after more than 10 years of sized that peace talks were not on the agenda. insurgency, they have not been defeated It also came as a Taleban suicide bomber struck Good starting point despite having fought Afghan and internation- a bus carrying government workers, killing one Nevertheless, an Afghan official familiar with al forces to a stalemate.With the departure of person. The Taleban have ignored calls from both sides in the discussions, said that “in spite international combat troops at the end of 2014, President Ashraf Ghani for the group to join the of the fierce fighting and very bad situation Afghan forces are now fighting alone on fronts government. here, the tone from both sides is positive.” across the country and taking huge casualties. The latest Taleban statement, however, indi- “It is a good starting point. We will ask them Direct negotiations are still some years off, cates flexibility on previously intractable issues to go ahead prudently and wisely to find a analysts have said. Basic logistical issues - such such as the presence of the foreigners in political solution rather than intensify military as removal of Taleban names from international Afghanistan and acceptance of a constitution. activity, which is causing the loss of innocent travel black lists and the establishment of an “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan once again life,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymi- office - still need to be addressed, the Taleban’s as a policy clearly states that it does not want ty because details of the discussions have not spokesman in Qatar, Muhammad Naeem, said. to harm others and also won’t allow anyone to been made public. But the Afghan official said that the “Qatar use Afghan soil against others,” it said, using the Ghani has made peace a priority since tak- meeting was beneficial for the crisis in group’s formal name. ing office in September, though previous Afghanistan to be ended. All sides expressed The statement said that “for the happiness of efforts to start a dialogue stalled, largely due their views very widely and clearly. These view- MINDANAO: This recent undated handout photo released yesterday by the Public the nation” the group wants “cooperation in all the lack of trust and confidence between the points can encourage us toward formal meet- Affairs Office (PAO) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines shows the body of Abdul sectors with all countries, including neighbors, two sides. ings in the future.” — AP Basit Usman, a Filipino on the US list of most wanted “terrorists”, after he was killed on May 3, 2015 in a village in Maguindanao province, in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Abdul Basit Usman was killed in a remote mountainous area while being escorted by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the nation’s biggest rebel group, the group’s vice chairman said. — AFP Filipino on US most wanted list killed MANILA: A Filipino on the United States’ “There was a firefight along the way. list of most wanted “terrorists” has been Usman could have sensed that he was killed in a firefight in the southern being double-crossed,” Jaafar said. Philippines, Muslim rebel leaders and the However he refused to give any more military said yesterday. details as to who killed Usman, saying only Abdul Basit Usman was killed in a that the circumstances of the firefight were remote mountainous area while being under investigation. escorted by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation’s biggest Double crossed rebel group, its vice chairman Ghazali Military chief General Gregorio Jaafar said. Catapang said Usman had been killed, but “We can confirm that Usman is dead and that it remained unclear as to who killed his body was buried in accordance with him. Muslim tradition,” Jaafar told AFP, but he “Basit Usman is dead, as to the circum- refused to say who killed him. The MILF is stances of what happened during that seeking to finalise an accord, signed last encounter, it’s up to (the investigation),” year, with the government to end four Catapang told reporters. decades of fighting in which about 120,000 The military said five of Usman’s follow- people have died. ers had also died in the battle, and that Security forces had been hunting some of his own men may have double Usman since he escaped from a January crossed him. police raid that killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Security forces accuse of Usman of car- Hir, an alleged bomb maker who was the rying out at least nine bombing incidents subject of a $5-million US government in the south, including an attack in the port bounty. city of General Santos in 2002 that killed 15 Usman, accused of repeated bomb people and wounded 60 others. attacks in the southern Philippines, was the The US State Department’s website subject of a $1-million US bounty. describes him as “a bomb-making expert KABUL: An Afghan securityman looks at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday. An Afghan official says a icidesu bomber The January raid, conducted in MILF ter- with links to the Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu struck a minibus carrying government employees in Kabul, killing at least one person and wounding more than a dozen. Interior Ministry ritory, also led to the death of 44 police Sayyaf Group terrorist organisations” lead- spokesman Sediq Sediqqi says the minibus was carrying employees of the attorney general’s office when it was attacked early yesterday. — AP commandoes as rebels fought back, setting ing him to be considered a threat to back efforts to finalise the peace deal. American and Filipino citizens and inter- The MILF has since then been under ests. As part of the peace pact, the MILF, intense political pressure to show it is a reli- which has about 10,000 fighters, agreed to able peace partner. give up its independence ambitions in Suicide attack on Kabul Jaafar said Usman was killed as MILF exchange for an autonomous homeland. rebels were escorting him to the group’s The government and the MILF are rac- leaders to surrender, adding that he proba- ing to finalise the accord by the middle of bly did not know he was being taken back next year, when President Benigno Aquino bus kills one, wounds 15 to the MILF leaders. has to stand down. —AFP KABUL: A Taleban suicide bomber struck a gov- This year’s Taleban offensive marks the first targets and inflicting a heavy toll on civilians and ernment bus in Kabul yesterday, killing one civil- fighting season in which Afghan forces will bat- Afghan security forces. British grandmother ian and wounding 15 others, officials said, as tle the insurgents without the full support of US- The number of civilians killed and wounded insurgent representatives hold talks with an led foreign combat troops.

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