Pakistan: Karachi bomb blast kills 16 people

 

Police said that the high number of people in the rooms meant the death toll was particularly high

At least 16 people have been killed in a blast in one of the largest gambling dens in the volatile Pakistani city of Karachi, officials say.

Some 30 people are reported to have been wounded in the explosion.

Police say the blast was caused by a bomb which rocked an illegal gambling den run by a local crime gang.

Officials have told the BBC that the nature of the bomb suggests it was planted by Islamist militants.

One report said the den was known as the Rummy Club, and is located in a poorer part of the south of the city, where gambling is an illegal but popular activity.

Shrapnel

The attack took place in the Lyari neighbourhood, where a number of warring drug and arms gangs operate.

 

Police officials told the BBC the bomb was planted inside a room within the den and detonated by remote control.

Officials say the high number of casualties was due to such a large number of people being packed into the den's chambers.

Eyewitnesses described how shrapnel from the bomb ripped through victims, killing many instantly.

The city, Pakistan's commercial capital, has seen a series of political and ethnic attacks which claimed 775 lives last year.

Some are believed to be the responsibility of criminal gangs but the BBC's Shoaib Hasan, in Karachi, says that the level of sophistication used by the bombers suggest that it was not planted by rival criminal gangs but was rather the work of Islamist militants.

 

Misrata: Libya's city under siege

 

By Aidan Lewis 

 

A broken mirror is used on a corner to alert rebels to pro-Gaddafi snipers

Continue reading the main story

 

Libya Crisis

• Bowen: No easy exit for Nato
• Analysis: A new phase?
• Fearing massacre in Misrata
• Leaders' letter

While parts of Libya's northern coast have been changing hands from day to day, the conflict in Misrata has turned into a lethal stand-off.

Weeks of heavy bombardments by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have failed to break the deadlock.

This is explained partly by the size of Misrata, Libya's third-largest city.

It is the only significant western rebel holdout, and is strategically important because of its deep-sea port, so rebels have fought hard to defend it.

They have a large pool of potential manpower. Many among the 300,000 population have hardened in their opposition to Col Gaddafi during what Western leaders have compared to a "medieval siege", residents say.

The rebels have a lifeline through the port, which has been fired on but has continued to receive supplies of food, medicine and reportedly arms, while serving as an evacuation point for the injured and for trapped migrant workers.

And they have local knowledge - one reason Col Gaddafi's forces may have been unwilling or unable to engage in decisive open battles.

"The rebels know the entrances and exits to the city very well, they know how to take cover," a medic who lives in Misrata told the BBC.

"[Col Gaddafi's forces] know that if they got stuck inside the city, they would be surrounded and totally eliminated. So they just have some snipers who are protected by tanks."

Gaddafi's brigades

The medic, a supporter of the rebels whose account of recent developments in the city matched other reports, said that about 10 days ago, one sniper surrendered and told the rebels that he was one of up to 60 gunmen operating from within the Tameen (Insurance) building, the tallest building in the area.

Continue reading the main story

Misrata under siege

 

• See the whole interactive map of Misrata

That number is now thought to have dropped, and rebels have cut off the snipers' resupply routes by forming a roadblock made of lorries loaded with sand.

Rebels say snipers have evacuated a vegetable market down the road that had also been used by pro-Gaddafi forces as a garage and a prison.

A BBC journalist who visited Misrata last week was told that Col Gaddafi's forces were dug in on either side of the city centre, no more than a kilometre away.

Those forces are better equipped than their opponents, with access to heavy weapons, some basic military training, and none of the supply-line problems they face further east.

Continue reading the main story

MISRATA - REASONS FOR DEADLOCK

• Size of city and rebels' local knowledge
• Ability of both sides to get resupply
• Lack of coherent military strategies

Yet the professionalism of the troops has been widely questioned and their numbers are limited.

The Libyan leader has kept his army weak, and his campaign has been led by a handful of brigades commanded by his sons, perhaps 10,000-15,000 men in total.

These are split between Tripoli, Misrata and the east. But Col Gaddafi is said to be reluctant to let even these supposedly "crack troops" operate in numbers greater than a few hundred, in case they desert.

'Terrorising people'

Their approach has centred on a combination of long-distance bombardment and deploying snipers along Tripoli Street, Misrata's front line.

The attacks have not resulted in any military breakthrough, but they have shut the city's normal life down and caused shortages and mounting casualties.

Hospital records show that more than 300 people have been killed, with many more injured. Rebel accounts that more than 1,000 people have been killed cannot be verified.

 

Clinics in Misrata have been struggling to cope with civilian injuries

Among the armoury used by pro-Gaddafi forces in civilian areas are Russian-made Grad rockets and Spanish-made cluster bombs, according to Human Rights Watch and other reports.

The Grad rockets are fired in a dense and inaccurate pattern, while the cluster munitions - now banned by most countries - release high-velocity fragments and molten metal.

"I think that they are bombing at random and I think this is terrorising the people," said Paolo Grosso, an anaesthetist working at a clinic in Misrata for the Italian branch of the aid agency Emergency.

"They have no military target - they bomb anywhere to scare the population."

One woman who fled Misrata said Tripoli Street was a "war zone" and accused Col Gaddafi's troops of abuses.

"There were corpses in the gutter and in the vegetable market where I buy produce," she told the UN humanitarian news service Irin. "The militia raped women, slaughtered men and killed children."

'Bad image'

That is a picture the Libyan government challenges.

Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, told BBC's Hardtalk that the government was trying to protect civilians from rebels, and that doctors in the city were "trying to give a bad image of Misrata" to encourage Nato intervention.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The weapons [the rebels] have are just enough to defend the city”

End Quote
Misrata medic

Without more direct help from Nato, the Misrata rebels - said to be better organised than those further east - seem unlikely to seize the momentum themselves.

Rubbishing government claims that al-Qaeda inspired militants have been sent to help them, they describe the resistance as an improvised movement of civilians motivated by their anger at Col Gaddafi.

"Since the first days of this conflict, we [the rebels] are taking the defensive position and they are taking the attacking position - the weapons we have are just enough to defend the city," the Misrata medic said.

Coalition air strikes have been reported around the edges of Misrata, but Western officials say they are not willing to risk civilian casualties by directing these within the city, despite loud rebel calls for more muscular Nato action.

"This is a government and a regime that's opted to use the tops of hospitals, of mosques, parking their tanks beside schools and hiding themselves behind men and women to makes sure that we do not attack them," Lt Gen Charles Bouchard, the head of Nato operations in Libya, told the BBC World Service.

"So when we talk about action, one has to be mindful of all of these factors."

But even the possibility of further Western intervention may be a deterrent, with the Misrata medic saying on Monday that government forces had withdrawn some tanks and heavy artillery.

"Right now it looks like they are afraid," he said.

 

Tripoli witness: Tales of defiance and a mystery man

 

Life may appear to be normal on the surface in Tripoli, but it is anything but

Continue reading the main story

 

Libya Crisis

• Bowen: No easy exit for Nato
• Misrata: City under siege
• Analysis: A new phase?
• Fearing massacre in Misrata

Tales of fleeting acts of defiance and a mysterious hooded rebel momentarily lift the spirits in a city of fear, as one resident in the Libyan capital, Tripoli - who does not want his name to be used for security reasons - explains.

I have come across some interesting and amusing analogies for this conflict in the past week.

"The opposition is singing along to the tune of 'Hit the road, Jack', while the regime's ruling family rocks on to the tune of 'Should I stay or should I go'," one musical analogy goes.

Another is: "It's like a bad round of poker. The winning hand is bluffing until the last minute when he reveals his true cards, but his opponents around the table are well aware of the ruse throughout the game."

Realities are not as light-hearted, however.

Last Thursday afternoon, a friend of mine stopped by to tell me what he had seen and heard.

"There was a small anti-government demonstration by students just outside Nasr University. I heard the shooting because I was in the area, I walked over and got as near as I could and I saw a crowd and a scuffle," he explained.

"Then security forces moved in, sealed the area and pushed out onlookers. We all left quickly. Other people I know later told me they saw some blood being covered with sand. No one died, but someone was definitely injured in the shooting."

Dark threats

To a visitor - not that there are many these days - and to some looking from the outside, things may appear normal here. But the reality is far from it.

For example, every TV screen in cafes, clothing stores and mini-markets is tuned into the same state-run station that no-one really watched two months ago. In normal circumstances, they would be beaming out al-Jazeera Arabic or a music channel.

"We can't change the channel," a shop-owner tells me. "The security people randomly check all our shops to make sure we don't put the 'enemy' channel on."

That is not the only tale from private businesses. Many tell me they were forced to open their stores and cafes, having shut down for two weeks following anti-government protests in Tripoli on 20 and 25 February.

"Remaining closed was our way of protesting, but they [government entities] told us we have to open or they would give our shops to someone else and they will continue our business," one said.

Others tell me of a darker threat by various security apparatuses. "They said: 'You open or we will destroy you and your family and your shop.' So what can we do?" another said.

All these measures are arguably adding pressure on many here who are already reeling from the state of limbo they find themselves in.

'Gone mad'

Most grown men and women are pestered by their families to return home before sundown - the unspoken civil curfew.

It is perhaps understandable, given the unwanted trouble that can be caused by the sporadic gunfire (not against Nato aircraft) that often envelops some parts of the city at night, as well as the countless checkpoints that emerge on every street.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

A stolen moment of 'freedom' here comes in different forms, in an attempt to let off steam from a city that has been likened to a sleeping volcano”

End Quote
Tripoli resident

But daylight is not necessarily a pleasant experience either.

A friend told me about his cousin who - last Monday - said she would go mad if she stayed at home for another day.

"She went out and took her mother with her. It was around one in the afternoon. As they drove up the main road in Gergaresh they were forced to slow down as three cars sped past them.

"There were two white Chevrolet cars chasing another car with a young man driving. They quickly cut him off and forced his car to pull over.

"The men in civilian clothes who jumped out of the two white cars were armed with Kalashnikovs. The two women saw the men dragging the young man out of his car by force; they beat him, tied his hands together and threw him into the back of one of their cars and drove away.

"My cousin made a quick U-turn and came back home terrified of what she saw."

My friend is visibly uncomfortable as he recounts the incident: "That was in broad daylight! They don't care who sees what any more, it's like they've gone mad and are constantly out for blood," he adds.

Hooded man

In the Souk-el-Joumha district, one of three large areas in the capital that are home to many of the uprising attempts, there is a "talking wall".

 

Merchandise featuring Colonel Gaddafi can be found on sale in Tripoli

In a fit of laughter my friend recounts a story his friend witnessed in four consecutive days because he lives close to the infamous wall.

"At first we saw an anti-government message painted on the wall: 'May the regime the toppled.' Then we saw it white-washed - [presumably by local neighbourhood government agents] - and written over in black: 'Allah, Muammar [Gaddafi] and Libya.' Then we saw that message white-washed and written over with an anti-regime slur. It went on back and forth like a conversation for three days until the last message we saw said: 'NO! We told you, No! - Muammar only!'"

Then we have a mysterious figure that has emerged on the streets recently.

There is a hooded man, I'm told, who runs around in public in Salaheddine district.

"Every time there's a Nato air strike in the capital, he runs around a street shouting: 'May the butcher [Colonel Gaddafi] fall! May the regime be toppled!' And then he flees. I don't think he's been caught by anyone yet. We still hear about him," a friend tells me with a thoughtful grin.

Meanwhile, there have been several sightings of the "opposition flag" in Tripoli, albeit for a fleeting moment.

A friend of mine who lives in Salaheddine district saw one flapping about in the wind early one morning last week. "It was on the roof of a small clinic next to the mosque," he amusingly recalls.

Another flag - quite surprisingly - was briefly raised on top of the Taqadom School in Ben Ashour district, some residents there tell me.

A stolen moment of "freedom" here comes in different forms, in an attempt to let off steam from a city that has been likened by many here to a sleeping volcano.

 

Tim Hetherington: 1970 – 2011

The sad news of the death of photographer and journalist Tim Hetherington in Libya began to filter out late yesterday afternoon, and was eventually confirmed by BBC correspondents and the Associated Press in the early evening.

Further details soon emerged and it became clear that Chris Hondros of Getty Images was also killed, Guy Martin of Panos Pictures seriously injured, though he is now said to be in a stable condition, and another photographer Michael Brown was also been treated for shrapnel injuries.

Though I only knew Tim through a couple of phone interviews and a number of e-mail exchanges, I can say that he was as dedicated a professional as you will ever find, not to mention a talented journalist, photographer and film maker.

His work in Afghanistan and subsequent film Restrepo, plus his picture of an American soldier in a bunker in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley during fierce fighting with the Taleban which won the World Press Photo Award in 2007, are well known, yet it is his work in Liberia that I will remember him for most.

I can remember seeing his early multi-media pieces from Liberia, many years ago, before the term multi-media had been coined. It was a revelation and a sign of what was to come. His book Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold, is arguably the best long form photojournalistic project for a decade or more.

It was a conflict that was rarely in the headlines, out of our consciousness, yet he dedicated five years to uncovering and collecting evidence, photographic evidence. He was the only photographer to live behind rebels lines during the conflict in 2003 and later was an investigator on the Panel of Experts for the UN Security Council's Liberia Sanctions Committee. As this interview with the New York Times shows, Tim Hetherington did not take on projects half-heartedly; he gave his all and produced fully rounded pieces of journalism. He committed himself to those he was reporting on.

If there is such as thing as truth, then Tim got as close as anyone could.

So Tim, no one can change the world, but there are those who would have met you in years to come who will be worse off for not doing so. Our thoughts are with your family and close friends.

 

 

Libyan government 'sad' about photographer deaths

 

Tim Hetherington and a colleague, US photographer Chris Hondros, were killed in a grenade attack

Continue reading the main story

 

Libya Crisis

• Bowen: No easy exit for Nato
• Misrata: City under siege
• Analysis: A new phase?
• Fearing massacre in Misrata

The Libyan government has expressed "sadness" over the deaths of two award-winning photographers killed while covering the conflict in Misrata.

But spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said there were always casualties in war, saying: "People die from our side, from their side, people get caught in the middle."

Briton Tim Hetherington and US photographer Chris Hondros were killed in a grenade attack on Wednesday.

Tributes have poured in for the widely respected photo-journalists.

Two other jounalists were injured in the attack, including Briton Guy Martin, a Cornish photographer who was working with Panos Pictures agency. He was hit by shrapnel and is being treated at a hospital in the city.

A survivor told the BBC that a group of journalists had been pulling back from near the front line during a lull in the fighting in Misrata when they were attacked.

The BBC's Orla Guerin, in Misrata, said there appeared to have been "a direct hit on the group".

Mr Ibrahim said the Libyan government did not want people to die and called for an end to the fighting.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Tim was a very cautious war reporter. He knew the risks but he decided to take them in order to cover the story”

End Quote
James Brabazon
Friend of Tim Hetherington

• Obituary: Tim Hetherington
• In pictures: Tim Hetherington
• The making of Restrepo
• Two photographers killed in Libya

"We are sorry for the loss of any human life, of course. We have said this before, we are sorry for the loss of the rebels' lives, and we said we want people to stop fighting, so no one dies," he said.

He also said: "We do not kill anyone that does not fight us. We need to check the circumstances in which [these] journalists died.

"And it's war of course. People die from our side, from their side, people get caught in the middle. We need to check the circumstances. But of course we are very sad that someone died."

Mr Hetherington, 40, co-directed the Oscar-nominated war documentary Restrepo. Mr Hondros, 41, won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for war photography.

Mr Hetherington's friend James Brabazon, who worked with him on Restrepo, said: "He was extremely talented, experienced and dedicated."

He explained why Mr Hetherington was working for Vanity Fair magazine in Libya: "He went there for humanitarian reasons. He went there to shed light on a very confusing situation."

In a statement on the magazine's website, his family said he would be "forever missed".

Vanity Fair magazine said Mr Hetherington - who was killed outright by a rocket-propelled grenade - was "widely respected by his peers for his bravery and camaraderie" .

In a recent entry on Twitter, Mr Hetherington described "indiscriminate shelling" by pro-Gaddafi forces, who have been battling rebels trying to end the rule of long-time leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Mr Brabazon said: "Although it's an oxymoron to say it, Tim was a very cautious war reporter. He knew the risks but he decided to take them in order to cover the story."

Mr Hondros was based in New York for Getty Images.

The company's director of photography, Pancho Bernasconi, said Mr Hondros had covered conflict zones since the late 1990s, including Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House issued a statement expressing its "deep sadness" at Mr Hondros's death and said it underscored "the need to protect journalists as they cover conflicts".

 

The White House said it was deeply saddened about the death of US photographer Chris Hondros

New York-based photographer Michael Christopher Brown was also treated for shrapnel injuries.

Our correspondent added that Misrata's hospital had received more than 100 casualties on Wednesday, the vast majority of them civilians. The hospital said five civilians had been killed.

Libyan government forces have been battling rebels in Misrata, which is in western Libya, since late February. An estimated 300 civilians have died.

Mr Hetherington, who had dual UK and US nationality, studied Literature at Oxford University.

The New York-based journalist was best known for his work in Afghanistan, and the film Restrepo followed US troops on an outpost in the country. He won the World Press Photo of the Year Award in 2007.

Another of Mr Hetherington's friends, Peter Bouckaert from the campaign group Human Rights Watch, said the journalist had been planning to "slow down" and start a family with his partner.

The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) said two other journalists had been killed this year in the Libyan conflict.

Cameraman Ali Hassan al-Jaber was shot when his Al-Jazeera crew was ambushed near Benghazi on March 13. Mohammed al-Nabbous, founder of the online Libya Al-Hurra TV, was killed as he was streaming live audio from a battle in Benghazi on March 19.

 

Libya: US drones to carry out missions

Predator drones have been used to target militants on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan

Continue reading the main story

Libya Crisis

• Bowen: No easy exit for Nato
• Misrata: City under siege
• Analysis: A new phase?
• Fearing massacre in Misrata

Armed US Predator drones are set to carry out missions in Libya, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said.

Mr Gates said their use had been authorised by President Barack Obama and would give "precision capability" to the military operation.

US drones are already used to target militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Libyan rebels have been battling Col Gaddafi's troops since February but have recently made little headway.

"President Obama has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those," Mr Gates told a news conference.

He said two armed, unmanned Predators were being made available to Nato as needed.

Mr Gates denied that the drone deployment was evidence of "mission creep" in Libya and that there was no plan to put US "boots on the ground" in Libya.

He said they marked a "modest contribution" to the military operations.

Gen James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first mission had taken place on Thursday but turned back due to bad weather.

He said the drones - which can fly at a lower altitude than conventional fighter jets - were "uniquely suited for urban areas", providing improved visibility of tanks and other potential targets.

Post captured

Earlier on Thursday, Libyan rebels seized control of a border post on the Tunisian border after government soldiers fled, say reports.

The move marks a rare advance against government troops in the west of the country and followed intense fighting in the western mountain region.

Fierce fighting is also continuing in the western city of Misrata, where medics say more than 1,000 people have died.

Rebels in Misrata claim to have found remnants of cluster bombs but the Libyan government has so far denied the charge.

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Misrata says she has seen the bombs herself and that doctors have told her they are causing increasingly horrific injuries, with some civilians losing limbs.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Libyan authorities to "stop fighting and stop killing people".

He said the UN's priority was to bring about "a verifiable and effective ceasefire" to enable humanitarian work and political dialogue to take place.

Are you in Libya? Have you been affected by the unrest? You can tell us your experiences using the form below.

 

 

DUP leader Peter Robinson: 'first everyday NI election'

 

DUP leader Peter Robinson was speaking at the launch of his party's assembly election campaign

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Assembly dissolved for election

Northern Ireland is facing its first election where the main issues are everyday ones, DUP leader Peter Robinson has said.

Mr Robinson said he wanted to see a new society "where the divisions of the past are being eroded and our new society is taking root".

Launching the DUP's election campaign, he said he wanted everyone to be able to say they were proud to be from Northern Ireland, regardless of political outlook.

The DUP leader criticised the UUP over cuts, the SDLP over 50/50 police recruitment, the Alliance Party about water charges and Sinn Fein over education.

However, he added that he would not "promise the earth" and would be prepared in the future to support other parties' ideas if he decided they were good.

"We have created more jobs in the last four years than any time in Northern Ireland's history; there is more to be done because we're losing more jobs at the other end because of the recession," he said.

"We want to see more jobs; we're out to see tougher sentences particularly for those who attack the elderly; we're looking at issues such as how we can fix education and get a better health service; we're looking at how we can get a shared society with people working together in the assembly, and of course we want to ensure that we strengthen unionism as well."

TUV leader Jim Allister said the DUP offered "four more years of Sinn Fein veto, of whatever it takes to keep their disruptive partner happy, because power, any power, is the overriding imperative".