Март 2013 - Страница 3 из 3

Obama tours symbolic sites in Israel and West Bank

23 марта, 2013 / By Armoured Cars / In security

US President Barack Obama has concluded his trip to Israel and the West Bank by paying his respects to victims of the Holocaust and visiting Bethlehem.

Mr Obama went to the Yad Vashem museum after seeing the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, and former Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin.

He later toured Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and and flew to Amman for talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

On Thursday, Mr Obama urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks.

The president told an audience of some 2,000 young Israelis in Jerusalem that they could be «the generation that permanently secures the Zionist dream» or «face growing challenges to its future».

«The only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realisation of an independent and viable Palestine,» he warned.

Hours earlier, after holding talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, he urged Palestinians to return to the negotiating table even if Israel did not meet their condition of halting Jewish settlement construction.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq claims deadly Baghdad bombings

23 марта, 2013 / By Armoured Cars / In security

A militant umbrella group that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq says it was behind the wave of bombings in Baghdad on Tuesday which killed more than 50 people.

The Islamic State of Iraq described the violence as «the first drop of rain», after which it would have its «revenge» for those executed by the authorities.

On Monday, the justice minister said «nothing» would halt the executions of militants guilty of capital offences.

The bombings also came on the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion.

Although violence has decreased in Iraq since the peak of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, attacks are still common and at least 220 civilians were killed in February.

‘Quick response’

At least 50 people died and 160 others were wounded in the co-ordinated wave of suicide, car and roadside bombings in and around Baghdad during Tuesday’s morning rush hour.

Mali’s Ansar Dine militants blacklisted by US

23 марта, 2013 / By Armoured Cars / In security

The US government has placed Mali’s Islamist group Ansar Dine on its terror blacklist because of continued links to al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch.

The decision freezes any of its US assets and bans business with it.

Ansar Dine was one of a number of militant groups that took control of northern Mali in the aftermath of a coup, one year ago on 22 March 2012.

French troops, which intervened in January to oust them, are still fighting insurgents in the mountains.

France currently has 4,000 troops in Mali, backed by thousands of soldiers from Mali, Chad and other African countries.

Following the coup, several Islamist groups took over major cities, including Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, and imposed strict Islamic law.

Suicide attacks

Ansar Dine has received backing from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM) since its creation in late 2011 and «in its fight against Malian and French forces», the US State Department statement said.