A round-up of other world news in brief
Khmer Rouge jailer tells why children killed
PHNOM PENH – Pol Pot’s chief jailer told Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday that children of inmates at the regime’s S-21 prison were murdered to keep them from seeking revenge for the deaths later in life.
Duch, the first of five senior cadres to face trial for the 1975-79 reign of terror in which 1.7 million Cambodians died, said he accepted responsibility for the children’s deaths but was following orders.
“When children arrived at the centre I gave the order to kill them because we were afraid those children would take revenge,” the 66-year-old told the court. –(Reuters)
Gabon president dies in Spain
BARCELONA – Gabon’s President Omar Bongo, Africa’s longest-serving leader, died yesterday of a heart attack in a Spanish clinic after more than four decades in power in the central African oil-producing nation.
The 73-year-old leader died at about 2.30pm in the Quiron clinic in Barcelona, according to a statement issued at the hospital by Gabonese prime minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong. –(Reuters)
10 dead, 12 hurt in mosque attack
YALA, Thailand – Ten people were killed and 12 others wounded when suspected insurgents opened fire at a mosque during evening prayers in Thailands restive deep south, police said yesterday.
At least five gunmen armed with assault rifles sprayed bullets into the mosque in the Cho Airong district of Narathiwat
The district is one of three predominantly Muslim provinces hit by five years of separatist violence.
–(Reuters)
Chechen leader reported killed
MOSCOW – Russian forces have killed the leader of the Chechen separatist movement, Doku Umarov, Interfax news agency cited an unidentified source in Russian law-enforcement agencies as announcing yesterday.
Umarov was named leader of the separatist movement in 2006.
The Russian-backed Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has said that Umarov was his main enemy. –(Reuters)
Israel kills three Palestinians
GAZA – Israeli soldiers yesterday killed three Palestinian militants who had planned to blast open Israel’s fenced border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip using horses laden with explosives, the military said. A gun battle ensued after the group fired on a patrol, the Israeli military said. –(Reuters)