Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

World in brief

Islamic Jihad declares halt to rocket attacks

By wire services
Published August 4, 2005

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A major Palestinian militant group promised Wednesday it would fire no more rockets at Israelis with the approach of Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this month, after a barrage accidentally killed a 5-year-old Palestinian boy.

The promise by Islamic Jihad came as international mediator James Wolfensohn called on Israel and the Palestinians to finish their coordination talks on issues like border crossings. The American had a series of meetings Wednesday with officials on both sides, but no agreements were reached.

Officials said Israel's Cabinet will approve the removal of three isolated Gaza settlements in a vote Sunday. The settlements are Netzarim, southwest of Gaza City; Kfar Darom in central Gaza; and Morag in the north. However, the government still could decide instead to remove three other settlements in northern Gaza in the first stage.

The pullout is to begin Aug. 17. The Cabinet has approved it several times, but it must vote separately for each group of settlements to be removed.

Islamic Jihad's statement was a sign that the pullout might proceed calmly. The group and its larger militant counterpart, Hamas, denied firing three rockets toward an Israeli demonstration across the Gaza fence late Tuesday. One of the rockets hit a Gaza house and killed the child.

LONDON - British police filed their first charges in the London terror investigations Wednesday, accusing a 23-year-old man of withholding information about the July 21 transit bombers.

Police say that in the week after the attack, Ismael Abdurahman of southeast London had information he knew might help police capture suspects involved in "the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism."

He was charged under antiterrorism legislation and is to attend a hearing in London today. The charges could mark an important step for police seeking to build cases against the 17 people in custody in connection with the July 21 assault, in which bombs planted on three subways and a bus failed to fully detonate.

Also, Zambia announced it was deporting Haroon Rashid Aswat, a British citizen of Indian descent, to Britain. It was unclear whether Britain suspected him of involvement in the London bombings.

JUBA, Sudan - Sudanese Arabs fled this southern town Wednesday after ethnic Africans angered by the death of their popular rebel leader went on a two-day rampage, chasing Arabs in the street and burning Arab shops and homes. At least 18 people were killed, witnesses said.

Gunfire could be heard Wednesday night in Juba, southern Sudan's largest town and a key focal point of a peace deal between north and south. Heavy police and army patrols circulated in the otherwise empty dirt roads. Shops in an outdoor market stood charred and shattered.

Violence erupted after the death of John Garang, the charismatic leader of rebels who for 21 years fought for ethnic African, mostly Christian and animist southern Sudan to gain independence from the Khartoum government in the mainly Muslim Arab north.

Garang died in a helicopter crash Saturday night, just three weeks after becoming vice president under an agreement that established a power-sharing government between north and south.

The government and Garang's own Sudan People's Liberation Movement say the crash was an accident. But outraged southerners rioted in the capital, Juba, and other cities, some believing the government was behind the death.

TROPICAL STORM HARVEY: A depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Harvey on Wednesday as it slowly approached Bermuda, forecasters said. Harvey, the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, had top sustained winds of about 60 mph, and there was a small chance Harvey could become a hurricane when it passes near Bermuda today.

AFGHANISTAN: Two thousand Afghan security forces rushed to an eastern province Wednesday after dozens of suspected Taliban rebels wearing army uniforms killed eight police and soldiers in an attack on a region that has been largely peaceful in recent months.

[Last modified August 4, 2005, 01:06:05]