Rebels storm town,hold police hostage
LIMA -- Peru declared a state of emergency in the southern Andean town of Andahuaylas yesterday where an armed group led by a radical former soldier stormed a police station and was holding 10 officers hostage. Seven people were injured, two seriously, in a gunfight in the early hours of New Year's Day after former army Major Antauro Humala and some 160 followers burst into the station in the town, 560 miles southeast of Lima, to demand the resignation of President Alejandro Toledo. Toledo cut short a beach holiday and summoned ministers and key officials to declare a state of emergency, which restricts citizens' rights and puts the area under the control of the security forces. Police and army reinforcements were sent in to restore order swiftly. Humala said earlier by cellphone that some 800 police and 600 soldiers were massed and preparing to attack. (Reuters)
Saudi Arabia
Militant among 5 killed in blast
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia said yesterday that one of the kingdom's most wanted militants was among five suspected Al Qaeda members who carried out this week's suicide car bombings in Riyadh. The militants detonated car bombs outside the heavily fortified Interior Ministry and a security unit Wednesday. Saudi Arabia has been rocked by a surge of Al Qaeda-linked violence since May 2003, in which about 170 people have been killed, including Westerners. The Interior Ministry said the dead bombers included Abdullah Saud al-Sebaie, who was on a list of the 26 most wanted in the kingdom. (Reuters)
Afghanistan
Arrested suspect linked to Al Qaeda
KABUL -- Security forces have arrested a Tajik suspected of organizing the deadly car bombing of a US security firm in the Afghan capital and say he was acting on the orders of Al Qaeda, an Afghan official said yesterday. The suspect, Mohammed Haidar, confessed to his leading role in the Aug. 29 car-bomb attack, which killed about 10 people, including three Americans, Afghan state television reported. An Afghan intelligence service spokesman said the report was accurate but declined to detail it. (AP)
Pakistan
Hundreds protest Musharraf's title
ISLAMABAD -- Hundreds of opposition supporters protested across Pakistan yesterday, denouncing the decision of President Pervez Musharraf to retain the powerful post of army chief. Holding black flags, about 1,500 protesters marched on a main city road in the southern city of Karachi, while nearly 600 people gathered in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Hundreds also marched in Multan and Lahore, with smaller rallies in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere. But the demonstrations did not attract the thousands of protesters organizers had hoped for, and none of the country's top opposition leaders attended. (AP)
Iran
Presidential vote set for June 17 TEHRAN -- Iran's legislative watchdog has set June 17 as the date for presidential elections. Some say the vote will mark the final defeat by conservative clerics of the reform movement led by outgoing President Mohammad Khatami. ''The Guardian Council has approved the 27th of Khordad [June 17] as the date for presidential elections," said the council's spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Elham, in a statement reported yesterday by the official IRNA news agency. The Guardian Council had rejected proposed election dates in May, arguing that screening of candidates could not start more than three months before Khatami's second and last term expires, Aug. 1. (Reuters)
