THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012
PAGE 3
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NEWS OF THE WORLD
Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AFRICA
Kenyan gunmen kill cleric, spark riots
Members of the public gather at the scene where Aboud Rogo was shot and killed in a beach area of Mombasa, Kenya, Monday, Aug. 27., according to local sources.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Gunmen in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa killed a Muslim cleric accused by Washington and the United Nations of supporting al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia, sparking rioting by youths in which one person died and at least one police car was burned.
The killing on Monday of Aboud Rogo fits into a pattern of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of suspected terrorists that is allegy, lily being orchestrated by Kenyan police, say Kenyan human rights groups.
Rogo was shot dead as he drove with his family in Mombasa, Rogo's lawyer, Mbugua Murethi, told The Associated Press. Rogo's wife was wounded in the leg, said Rogo's father who was also in the car along with Rogo's 5-year-old daughter. He said he and the girl weren't injured.
At the scene of the killing, Rogo's wife angrily accused police of the murder.
"It is you policemen who have killed him, we don't want a post-mortem or any help from you," said Khaniya Said Sagar to police who came to assist her.
Khaniya said that she was being taken to hospital for a backup after she had miscarriage two weeks ago.
Rogo's killing quickly sparked off protests by hundreds of Muslim youths who went on the rampage on the streets of Mombasa, as his body was being taken for burial, in line with Muslim customs of burying the dead on the same day they died.
The Muslim Human Rights Forum condemned Rogos murder, calling it an "extrajudicial killing" and calling for an "an end to targeted killings and enforced disappearances of terrorism suspects."
MHRF Chairman Al-Amin Kimathi said that last month Rogo and Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, who were both suspects in a terror-related case, survived an abduction attempt by gunmen they claimed were state agents who accosted them as they arrived in the capital city.
The abduction attempt was foiled by members of the public
who came to their aid when the two shouted for help as they resisted the heavily armed men, Kimisha said.
Fearing for their lives they sought an adjournment and a transfer of the case from the Nairobi courts to another town, he said.
ASIA
Afghan insurgents behead 17 after celebration
KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents attacked a large party in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan and beheaded 17 people, officials said on Monday.
A local government official initially said the victims were civilians at a celebration late Sunday involving music and dancing in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province. The official, Neyamatullah Khan, said the Taliban killed the party-goers for flouting the extreme brand of Islam embraced by the militants.
However, provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahdoumadi said later that those killed were caught up in a fight between two Taliban commanders over two women,
who were among the dead. Ahmadi said shooting broke out during the fight but it was unclear whether the music and dancing triggered the violence, and whether the dead were all civilians or possibly included some fighters.
All of the bodies were decapitated, but it was not clear if they had been shot first, he said.
In other violence, two American soldiers were shot and killed by one of their Afghan colleagues in the east — bringing the number of Americans killed this month by Afghan allies to 12. Afghan officials said the killings appeared to be accidental. NATO would not comment on whether the killings were
intentional or accidental, but a U.S. Defense Department official said there were indications that it was an intentional killing.
The Taliban has controlled large parts of Musa Qala, a district encompassing more than 100 villages, since 2001. They enforce the same strict interpretation of Islamic law that was imposed on all of Afghanistan during Taliban rule from 1996-2001.
U. S. Marines have battled the Taliban for years in Musa Qala, but the insurgent group still wields significant power in the area as international forces across the country draw down and hand over control to Afghan forces. Helmand province, where Musa Qala is located, is one of the areas that has seen the largest reduction in U.S. troops. The U.S. started reducing forces from a peak of nearly 103,000 last year, and plans to have 68,000 troops by October.
Many Afghans and international observers have expressed concerns that the Taliban will try to re-impose strict Islamic justice as international forces withdraw. Under the Taliban, all music and film was banned as un-Islamic, and women were barred from leaving their homes without a male relative as an escort.
SOUTH AMERICA
Venezuela refinery fire kills 48 as fire spreads
PUNTO FIJO, Venezuela — The death toll rose to 48 at Venezuela's biggest oil refinery, where fires were still raking on Monday nearly three days after a powerful explosion.
The higher toll was announced by Falcon State Gov. Stella Lugo in remarks to the Venezuelan radio station Union Radio.
Residents in a neighborhood next to the refinery say they had no warning before the explosion hit at about 1 a.m. on Saturday.
"What bothers us is that there was no sign of an alarm. I would have liked for an alarm to have gone off or something," said Luis Suarez, a bank employee in the neighborhood. "Many of us woke up thinking it was an earthquake."
People who live next to the refinery said they smelled strong fumes coming from the refinery starting between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, hours before the blast, but many said they weren't worried because
The blast knocked down walls, shattered windows and left streets littered with rubble.
they had smelled such odors before.
Then, a cloud of gas ignited in an area of fuel storage tanks and exploded. Some of the tanks were still burning on Monday, billowing black smoke.
President Hugo Chavez visited the refinery on Sunday and said investigators haven't yet determined what caused the disaster.
In a televised conversation with Chavez, one state oil company official said workers had made their rounds after 9 p.m. and hadn't noticed anything unusual. The official said that at about midnight officials detected the gas leak and "went out to the street to block traffic."
Energy analyst Jorge Pinon said the accounts of the hours leading up the explosion raise concerns.
"The fact that the gas leak went undetected for a number of hours and that there was no evacuation alarm (or) order indicates to me that there is a lack of safety related planning and behaviors throughout the complex, and most important in nearby communities", Pinon said.
Fires continue to burn at the Amuay refinery near Punto Fijo, Venezuela, Monday. Aug. 27. A huge explosion rocked Venezuela's biggest oil refinery early Saturday killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 80 in Venezuela's deadliest refinery blast ever.
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