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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (28132)	2/6/2004 1:26:34 AM
From: D. Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793848

Blackmail! LOL! worldtribune.com ----------------------------------------------------------- U.S.-Palestinian standoff over ambush that killed Americans SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Thursday, February 5, 2004 RAMALLAH – The United States has maintained its travel ban on the Gaza Strip, hampering aid projects there, because Palestinian authorities have made been slow to investigate an ambush that killed three Americans. Palestinian security sources said the ban was imposed in October 2003 when three U.S. embassy security guards were killed in an attack on a convoy north of Gaza City. The sources said the ban was maintained amid the failure of the Palestinian Authority to capture those responsible for the attack. PA National Security Adviser Brig.Gen. Jibril Rajoub said the United States has been dismayed by the failure of the PA to conclude its investigation of the Oct. 15 attack, Middle East Newsline reported. Rajoub said that the absence of U.S. officials and embassy staffers have hampered aid projects in the Gaza Strip. "The Americans stopped their involvement waiting for the results [of the PA investigation]," Rajoub told a news conference on Wednesday in Ramallah. "This is blackmail." Rajoub said the United States has also threatened to suspend U.S. Agency for International Development programs in the Gaza Strip unless the killers of the Americans were captured. U.S. AID is said to have about $200 million worth of projects in the area. The U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv has refused to comment, but a diplomatic source confirmed the travel ban on the Gaza Strip.The embassy released a statement that reiterated a $5 million award for the capture of the attackers of the U.S. convoy. State Department officials said the PA has acknowledged that it failed to capture any suspects or gather any hard leads in the attack. They said AID projects have not been suspended in the Gaza Strip. "Our position is that there needs to be a resolution of the security situation in Gaza, including apprehension of those who are responsible for the killing of U.S. officials there," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday. "We have seen some cooperation, but we think that cooperation needs to be further increased. And that's something we do talk to the Palestinians about on a regular basis." After the October attack, a wing of the ruling Fatah movement headed by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat claimed responsibility for the attack. Later, Fatah denied any responsibility. "Many Americans are being killed everywhere, even in Iraq, even in Afghanistan, and the Americans are investigating, and still they haven't arrested those people," Rajoub said. "I don't think they should blame the Palestinian Authority." In late 2003, a Western intelligence source said the United States believed that the Fatah insurgents were employed by an Al Qaida operative in the Gaza Strip. The assertion was not confirmed by the United States. On Thursday, Israeli military sources said Islamic Jihad has tried to establish a naval squad to conduct attacks on Israeli targets. The sources said an insurgent was responsible for purchasing motorized rubber boats for what appeared to be suicide attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli targets along the Mediterranean coast.

To: D. Long who wrote (28132)	2/6/2004 2:32:08 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 793848

Explosion Rocks Moscow Subway Friday, February 06, 2004 MOSCOW — An explosion hit the Moscow (search) metro during Friday rush hour, killing 22 people and injuring 30, Interfax reports, citing fire officials. <font size=4> Reuters news service reported that Russian media blamed the blast on a homicide bomber. <font size=3> A severe fire broke out in the train and passengers were being evacuated from the Avtozavodskaya station, ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov (search) said. He could not confirm that the cause or give any further details about the number of victims. He said that rescuers were already on the site, and numerous ambulances could be seen outside the station entrance. Russian prosecutors said they could not rule out terrorism, but that it was too early to say definitively. President Vladimir Putin (search) was informed. The explosion occurred in the second wagon of a train after it left the Paveletskaya station near the center of the Russian capital and headed southeast to Avtozavodskaya station, the news agency Interfax reported, citing emergency officials. The train wagon was badly damaged, according to Interfax and ITAR-Tass. Police immediately barricade the two metro stations and stopped all traffic on the metro, clogging up the capital's streets. The Russian capital has been on alert for terrorist attacks following a series of homicide bombings that officials have blamed on Chechen rebels. In December, a female homicide bomber blew herself up outside the National Hotel across from Moscow's Red Square, killing at least five others. Two homicide bombers blew themselves up at a Moscow rock concert in July, killing themselves and 14 other people. That was followed five days later by an aborted homicide bomb attack at a central Moscow restaurant that killed the sapper trying to defuse the bomb. The suspected attacker was arrested and is currently awaiting trial. In August 2000, a bomb exploded at a crowded pedestrian underpass filled with kiosks at Pushkin Square, a popular meeting place located near a metro line. The attack was initially blamed on Chechen rebels, but some police later said that a turf battle between rival businessmen or criminal gangs could have been the motive. foxnews.com