Gunmen kill 6 soldiers at checkpoint in Egypt
CAIRO – Gunmen stormed an Egyptian army checkpoint outside Cairo early Saturday morning and killed six soldiers, officials said, in what amounted to an escalation by militants on military targets near the capital.
Just days earlier, masked men opened fire on a busload of military police inside city limits, another rare attack on soldiers this far from the restive Sinai Peninsula, where the army is fighting a counterinsurgency campaign.
Provincial security chief Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Yousri told state news agency MENA the gunmen also planted explosive devices after Saturday’s attack in Shubra al-Kheima, but bomb-disposal experts managed to diffuse two and detonate another in a controlled explosion.
The military blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the attack, calling the group “terrorists” and saying they had planted the additional bombs to target rescue workers rushing to the scene.
Car bombs kill 19 in Iraq’s capital
BAGHDAD – A series of four car-bomb attacks targeting commercial areas and a restaurant killed at least 19 people Saturday in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, authorities said.
Health officials confirmed the casualty figures.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The U.N. said violence killed 8,868 last year in Iraq, the highest death toll since the worst of the country’s sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007.
Karzai: Afghanistan doesn’t need U.S. troops
KABUL, Afghanistan – In his final address to Afghanistan’s parliament Saturday, President Hamid Karzai told the United States its soldiers can leave at the end of the year because his military, which already protects 93 percent of the country, was ready to take over entirely.
He reiterated his stance he would not sign a pact with the United States providing for a residual force of U.S. troops to remain behind after the final withdrawal, unless peace could first be established.
The Afghan president has come under heavy pressure to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement – with a council of notables he himself convened, which recommend he sign the pact. The force would train and mentor Afghan troops, and some U.S. Special Forces also would be left behind to hunt down al-Qaida.
All 10 candidates seeking the presidency in April 5 elections have said they would sign the security agreement.
Israeli official: No peace without recognition
JERUSALEM – Israel’s defense minister says a peace agreement with the Palestinians is unreachable unless they recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland.
Moshe Yaalon, told channel 2 TV on Saturday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is “not a partner” for ending the conflict. Peace won’t happen in his generation, he said.
The recognition issue is a sticking point in U.S. mediated talks. The Palestinians have rejected it.
Associated Press
