World briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 4, 2001

Explosion, fire destroy Thai leader's plane

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A passenger jet Thailand's prime minister was to board exploded and went up in flames 35 minutes before its scheduled departure Saturday, leaving one crew member dead and seven people injured.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was on his way to Bangkok International Airport in a motorcade when the explosion triggered a massive blaze aboard the parked Boeing 737-400 Thai Airways plane.

Officials said they have not ruled out a bombing attack, even though there are no known threats to the prime minister's life.

Thailand has a history of coups and violent overthrows of governments, but no prime minister has faced an assassination attempt.

Cabin crew members and airline staff were on the aircraft, preparing for the 70-minute flight to Chiang Mai. None of the 149 listed passengers that included Thaksin or the pilots had boarded, and the engines had not been turned on.

Seven crew and ground staff were injured and the body of one cabin crew member was found inside the wreckage, said Lt. Gen. Jongrak Juthanont, the deputy national police chief.

Taleban says statue destruction is proceeding

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Soldiers of Afghanistan's Islamic Taleban militia have blasted away the legs and heads of two mammoth sandstone Buddha figures at the country's most renowned historic site and demolished most other ancient statues in a nationwide purge of religious "idols," a government spokesman said Saturday.

Despite international condemnation and pleas to preserve the world's tallest standing Buddha statue and other ancient artifacts, Taleban Information Minister Quadratullah Jamal announced Saturday that two-thirds of the country's statues had been smashed so far, and boasted, "They were easy to break apart and did not take much time."

Jamal's claims could not be confirmed because the Taleban militia has refused access by independent observers to any of the five main areas where the purported razings have been conducted.

In addition to the two Buddha statues, Jamal said that in the first two days of demolitions, soldiers have destroyed two-thirds of all statues in Afghanistan, including small clay and wooden pieces in museums around the country. Jamal said destruction is under way at museums and pre-Islamic sites in Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad and Ghazni.

Bosnian Croats say they are leaving federation

MOSTAR, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Bosnian Croat hard-liners declared Saturday that they are pulling out of the Muslim-Croat federation, marking a major setback in efforts to establish a lasting peace in Bosnia.

The move came at a session of the self-proclaimed Croat National Assembly, a group of 500 hard-liners who had indicated they no longer wanted to take part in internationally monitored joint institutions.

The unilateral change constitutes a blatant violation of the peace plan that ended Bosnia's 31/2-year war and is a setback to international efforts that have focused on unifying the country.

The move forces the hand of international officials governing Bosnia. They must now decide whether to keep the Dayton peace accord intact or risk possible unrest in Croat-controlled areas by ousting a political party which enjoys wide support.

Seven killed in stampede at S. Africa train station

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A stampede in a stairway at a Johannesburg train station left seven people dead and eight others injured, officials said Saturday.

The cause of the stampede Friday night at Park Station remained unclear, but witnesses said commuters were rushing down the stairs to catch a passenger train bound for the city of Mafikeng even though the gate to the platform had already been closed, said Vusi Mcube, chief executive officer of the state railway, Spoornet.

The gates to the platforms regularly are closed several minutes before trains depart, officials said.

"Some people pushed up and some pushed down, and seven died," police spokesman Willem de Villiers told the South African Press Association.

Three women, two men and two children were killed on the stairs leading to the platforms, Spoornet officials said.

Mcube said Spoornet would thoroughly investigate the incident and assist the families of the deceased with burial arrangements.

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