July 19, 2010
Iran- Ahmadinejad accuses US forces for bombings in Iran
Mexico – Officials say gunmen kill 17 at party in Mexico
Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico on alert after drug fugitive’s arrest
Venezuela – Chavez warns Colombia he could break off relations
Central Africa – Army, rebels clash in Central Africa town: military
Somalia – 5 Somalis killed in Mogadishu battle
Iran
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday accused US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan of backing the bombings such as the two suicide attacks which killed at least 28 people in southeast Iran. “If (US President Barack) Obama is unaware of actions of American forces, then we tell him that American forces based in Afghanistan and Pakistan back such actions,” he told a cabinet meeting, referring to Thursday’s bombings in the restive city of Zahedan. NATO and US forces back “terrorists” with equipment and funds to launch such attacks in Iran, he said, quoted by the state news agency IRNA. “Despite this support, the US president sends a message of sympathy.” The hardliner said Islamabad must also be held “accountable” for such actions. “We are friends of Pakistan and we are by its side, but at any rate the government of that country should be accountable,” Ahmadinejad said. On Thursday, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. The bombings killed at least 28 people and wounded hundreds more, according to an updated casualty toll.
Mexico
The gunmen did not say a word as they jumped from their cars and stormed the private party. They simply opened fire. When they were done, 17 people lay dead and 18 wounded.
Sunday’s massacre in the city of Torreon was ghastly, but no longer unprecedented in northern Mexico, a region that is slammed day after day by gruesome slayings that authorities attribute to an increasingly brutal battle between drug gangs feuding over territory. Investigators had no suspects or information on a possible motive in the attack, but Coahuila, where Torreon is located, is among several northern Mexican states that have seen a spike in drug-related violence as the Gulf cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, fight for control of drug-trafficking routes. The attack on the party came just three days after a car bomb killed several people in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez — and a little more than a month after assailants raided a drug-rehab center in the northern city of Chihuahua, killing 19 people in cold blood. Television footage showed the patio of the house in Torreon streaked with bloodstains and white plastic chairs overturned beneath a party tent decorated with pictures of snowmen.
Puerto Rico
With the Caribbean’s biggest reputed drug lord back behind bars, law enforcement authorities in the region are on alert for potential bloody feuds among rivals and lieutenants trying to take his place. The Saturday capture of Jose Figueroa Agosto in Puerto Rico’s capital after a decade-long hunt was a big break, but it also means that members of his violent group may try to wrest control of his share of the illegal trade, said Javier F. Pena, special agent in charge of the Caribbean division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. This guy was truly the leader of his organization,” Pena told The Associated Press on Sunday. “And anytime the top guy is taken down, his people can start to fight one another to assume control. There is always concern that people will be jockeying for position, so it’s a matter of time to see if there will be bloodshed.” Authorities have painted Figueroa as the Caribbean’s version of Pablo Escobar, the late notorious Colombian drug kingpin of the 1980s. For 10 years, the 45-year-old Puerto Rican fed his underworld mystique by pulling off narrow escapes and taunting police in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that is attractive to traffickers as America’s southernmost border.
Venezuela
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday he won’t attend the inauguration of Colombia’s president-elect, and warned he could break off ties if the country’s outgoing leader persists in accusations that Colombian rebel leaders are taking refuge in Venezuela. Chavez called the accusations “madness” and said in a televised speech he won’t attend the inauguration of President-elect Juan Manuel Santos. Chavez denied the allegations by outgoing President Alvaro Uribe’s government, saying, “We don’t hide anyone here.” He said if those in Uribe’s government “continue with their madness, I’m going to break relations with Colombia in the coming hours.” He also said, however, that the situation poses a test for Santos and that “if there is respect,” Venezuela will be willing to take up positive relations again. Chavez called his ambassador home from Bogota for consultations in protest.
Central Africa
Clashes erupted between Central African Republic troops and rebels in the main northern town of Birao Monday, with the military and the rebels both claiming to have control. “We took the town of Birao around 4:30 am this morning (0330 GMT). Fighting began around 4:00 am,” the leader of the rebel Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP) Abdoulaye Hissène told AFP. A Centrafrican military source from Bangui confirmed that there was fighting in Vakaga, near the borders with Chad and Sudan. “We are involved in an attack since the early hours of this morning. The attackers, who we have not yet identified, directly hit the base of the Centrafrican armed forces in Birao,” the source said.
Somalia
An emergency official in Somalia’s capital says at least five people have died during a battle between Islamist militants and government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers. Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said Monday that the dead bodies of four men and one woman were found in their homes in the capital, Mogadishu. Muse said 23 civilians were also injured in Sunday’s five-hour fight. Quranic teacher Moalin Ali Mohamud says among the injured were 10 children hurt when a mortar slammed into their school. Al-Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said his group launched the attacks and captured new territory. But government commanders said they repelled the attacks.
