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Nail bomb attack was 'sectarian'
The police are treating as sectarian a nail bomb attack on a house in south Belfast in which a woman escaped injury.
It brings to 95 the number of incidents involving pipe or blast bombs since the beginning of the year.
The 30-year-old woman was asleep upstairs when a device was thrown through the window of the house at Upper Dunmurry Lane just after midnight on Thursday. It exploded causing damage to the living room and starting a fire. The woman occupant was badly shocked.
The police said a car used in the attack was later found burned out at Seymour Hill. The RUC are investigating a link between the car and the nail bomb attack. They say it had been hijacked earlier in the evening and had a taxi sign on its roof.
Lagan Valley assembly member, Patricia Lewsley of the SDLP, expressed concern at the attack, which she said was the third in the area in recent The police say that since the start of the year across Northern Ireland there have been 74 incidents involving pipe bombs and 21 where blast bombs were used.
BBC Online, Friday, 29 June, 2001
New style pipe bomb discovered
The RUC has said pipe bombs found in County Antrim are of a type never seen before in Northern Ireland.
The two devices discovered in Ballymena had keys attached. The police said they could have been inserted into a lock of a door, causing death or serious injury when opened.
They said loyalist paramilitaries were behind the devices, but they did not know which particular group was responsible.
The pipe bombs were found in the Moat Park area of the town on Wednesday night by a man out walking and handed in to a police station in Ballymena. A number of controlled explosions were carried out on the devices.
The RUC has warned anyone who discovers suspect objects not to touch or move them, but to contact the police.
BBC Online, Thursday, 28 June, 2001
Army bomb experts are examining two suspect pipe bombs handed in to a Ballymena police station member of the public.
They were found in the Harryville area of the County Antrim town on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, in an earlier incident a hoax bomb was left in the driveway of a County Tyrone house.
The police said the device was left in a sectarian attack on a Catholic man and his 80-year-old mother living at Trewmount Road in Killyman. RUC Inspector Tom Sinclair said: "This was clearly a sectarian attack on people who contribute fully to the excellent community spirit in this area. "This is in stark contrast to what is being offered by those responsible for this elaborate hoax."
When the device was found at 1400 BST on Wednesday, six houses and a school were evacuated. Army bomb disposal experts examined the device before declaring it a hoax.
BBC Online, Wednesday, 27 June, 2001
Police on full alert after Kashmir blast
Police in Indian-administered Kashmir have been put on full alert in the run-up to a Hindu festival next week, after a bomb went off at a railway station on Monday.
Police said 46 people were injured in the blast in the state's winter capital, Jammu. A police spokesman said most of them were soldiers or pilgrims visiting a Hindu shrine. No-one has said it carried out the bombing but police are blaming Muslim militants.
In a separate incident, an Indian army officer and three separatist militants belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen group were killed in a clash in southern Srinagar. Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, is due to visit India in coming weeks to discuss with the Indian government ways to resolve their dispute over Kashmir.
BBC Online, Tuesday, 26 June, 2001
Palestinian activist killed in blast
A member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction has been killed in Nablus in an explosion in a public telephone box.
The dead man, 29-year-old Osama Jawabreh, is reported to have been on Israel's wanted list of Palestinians involved in anti-Israeli violence. Two young children were also hurt in the blast - a brother and sister who happened to be passing the booth and sustained shrapnel injuries, Palestinian radio reported.
Correspondents say about 30 Palestinian activists have been assassinated by a variety of methods by Israel since their latest uprising began last September - including exploding public phones. The blast followed a new demand from Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for a end to violence by Palestinians for 10 days before the two sides can move to the next phase of a US-brokered ceasefire.
"We will not start unless it will be completely quiet, complete cessation. We'll not move forward," he said in a speech on Saturday night. Mr Sharon's security cabinet has given a green light to "pinpoint attacks" against Palestinian militants despite the ceasefire. Ceasefire in peril Correspondents said the ceasefire was already hanging by a thread when the security cabinet announcement was made on Friday.
BBC Online, Sunday, 24 June, 2001
US navy red alert over 'terror threat'
All US navy ships in the Gulf were ordered to put to sea last night after the Pentagon received what sources said was "credible information regarding an imminent terrorist threat".
The navy has been quick to react to any threat from the Osama bin Laden terrorist group after the suicide bomb attack last October which crippled the destroyer Cole and killed 17 sailors. Last night's order moved the state of alert for the armed forces of America in the region up to "Threat Con Delta", its highest level, and resulted in troops being pulled out of Jordan and ships out of port in Bahrain. A battle group, centred on the aircraft carrier Constellation, is in the Gulf at the moment.
The State Department was believed to be preparing to reissue a warning sent to Americans around the world earlier in the week that they faced an increased risk of danger from terrorist attacks.
BBC Online, Saturday 23 June 2001
Eta plot to bomb Plymouth ferry foiled in Spain
Spanish police have foiled a plot by the Basque separatist organisation Eta to sink a ferry bound for Britain using an onboard car bomb, it was reported yesterday.
Security sources fear that Eta is planning an IRA-style "spectacular" against other tourist targets this summer. The ferry plot was uncovered after a series of early morning police raids across the Basque country last week.
Two men, said to be members of an Eta "commando", were arrested in possession of explosives. Officers said they discovered evidence indicating that the men planned a car bomb attack on the Val de Loire ferry which operates on the Santander to Plymouth route. Reports suggested that after the bomb was driven on board the police would have been warned and the ship evacuated.The terrorists planned to trigger an explosion using a remote control device once the vessel was empty.
Since Eta began its terror campaign in 1968, it has killed 800 people. Thirty one of the victims have died since the terrorists ended a ceasefire in January. In 1987 Eta committed its worst atrocity when it exploded a bomb in a Hipercor supermarket killing 21 and seriously injuring 45. An Eta bomb wounded 24 British tourists at Reus airport in 1998.
"After interviewing the suspects police concluded that the ferry was a possible Eta target. But at present this is still speculation," a ministry spokesman said. Santander, only an hour along the north coast from the Basque country, is frequently targeted by Eta. Some 15 years ago terrorists managed to attach a bomb to a naval patrol vessel in the harbour. It was defused by bomb disposal experts. The suggestion that Eta is willing to step up its campaign of assassination by sinking a ferry underlines how far it has drifted from the Basque mainstream.
Wednesday 20 June 2001
Tesco bomb blackmailer is jailed for 16 years
Tesco bomb blackmailer is jailed for 16 years A BLACKMAILER who failed in an attempt to extort £5 million from Tesco through a parcel bomb campaign against customers was jailed for 16 years yesterday.
Robert Dyer, 51, a failed businessman, devised what he thought was the perfect crime after he read about another blackmailer in an old copy of Reader's Digest which he found in a doctor's waiting room, Dorchester Crown Court was told. Using the pseudonym Sally, Dyer threatened to ruin Tesco's business by targeting customers, initially with letter bombs, and then with pipe bombs which he planned to hide in their gardens, the court was told. He demanded that the store distribute thousands of loyalty cards which could be used in cashpoints to withdraw £1,000 a time, said Derwin Hope, prosecuting. His plan was for the cards to be distributed free in a local newspaper near his home in Bournemouth, Dorset, and for each to be programmed with a Pin number that only he was given. He would buy several copies of the paper and use the cards to obtain the blackmail cash. Although Dyer initially demanded only £200,000, if all the cards had been distributed and used once then it would have cost the store £5 million.
The court was told that Dyer handled his letters wearing rubber gloves to prevent fingerprints and used water instead of saliva on the stamps so as to avoid any risk of leaving DNA. But he also made some basic errors. A blackmail letter giving details of his bombing campaign was left in a newsagent's photocopier. During the campaign detectives also discovered three bombs in a sorting office had not reached their destinations because too few stamps had been put on them.
However, some bombs did reach their targets. Terence and Jean Evans, both 70, were shocked after opening a letter bomb sent to their home. Three identical devices that used party poppers to detonate gunpowder were found before they could be opened. Dyer then claimed to have built a series of pipe bombs filled with gunpowder with a sophisticated fuse.
Tuesday 12 June 2001
Bomb explodes in northern Spain
A car bomb has exploded in northern Spain, causing damage and minor injuries.
The blast happened in the city of Logrono, after police received a telephone warning to evacuate the area. Police said the warning identified the bomb as the work of the Basque separatist group, ETA.
Earlier in the week, ETA vowed to continue its violent campaign despite the poor showing of its political allies in last month's Basque regional election. ETA has been blamed for eight-hundred deaths during its thirty-three year campaign.
Sunday, 10 June, 2001, BBC Online
US embassy in Yemen partially shut
The United States is withdrawing some of its staff from its embassy in Yemen because of what it calls an increased terrorist threat to American citizens.
Embassy employees with what are described as non-emergency jobs have been authorised to leave, along with the families of embassy workers. With immediate effect, public services have been suspended at the embassy in the capital, Sanaa, although emergencies will still be handled by telephone.
American citizens are advised to postpone trips to Yemen. "The department currently believes there is an increased terrorist threat to US citizens and interests in Yemen," the State Department said in a statement. "All Americans in Yemen should consider this information, review their personal security situations and take those actions they deem appropriate to ensure their safety," it added.
It was in the Yemeni port of Aden last October that an American destroyer, the USS Cole, was attacked by suicide bombers.
Saturday, 9 June, 2001, BBC Online
Three bombs have exploded in separate areas of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, injuring 17 people.
Police said the explosions on Monday night were caused by home-made pipe bombs. Two of them had been put into taxis, and the third went off in a taxi park. Police say they have arrested four people in connection with the explosions. No one has claimed responsibility.
Police spokesman Asuman Mugengyi told the BBC that two of those arrested were amongst the injured, but they had refused to go to hospital, which aroused the police's suspicion. The police spokesman said the worst blast occurred at Kampala's main taxi rank. "Ten people were injured and some of those I saw had broken limbs with deep cuts," he said. "These are terrorists who want to cause panic and fear within the population and we're lucky no one has died," he added. The police has not so far found a political motive for the bombings.
The BBC correspondent in Kampala says the bomb attacks are the latest in a series of explosions, which have been occurring intermittently in Kampala since 1997. Dozens of people have died in the blasts, some of them have been blamed on opponents of President Museveni and his government. Several explosions went off in Kampala just after the 12 March presidential elections, which saw incumbent President Yoweri Museveni re-elected.
Tuesday, 5 June, 2001, BBC Online
Several people are still fighting for their lives after a powerful bomb blast in a Bangladesh church killed 10 people. The blast took place as about 70 people attended mass on Sunday in a Roman Catholic church in the village of Baniarchar in the Gopalganj district - 100km (62 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka.
"I was deep into prayer when I heard a big bang. The hall was engulfed in smoke. Everyone was screaming," one of the survivors, Hubert Bairagi, was quoted as saying. No-one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, although Home Minister Mohammad Nasim blamed "anti-liberation fanatic forces", a term used for Islamic fundamentalists.
Villagers are quoted as saying that the feud was the only possible reason for the attack, which is believed to be the first on a Catholic church in Bangladesh. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she had ordered an investigation into the incident and asked army explosive experts to visit the area, which is near her hometown. Security round St Mary's Cathedral in the capital Dhaka has also reportedly been tightened.
The Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Bangladesh, Michael Rosario, said they had not received any threats and there was no report of any communal tension in that area. Christians account for about 1% of Bangladesh's 130 million people, most of whom are Muslim. Baniarchar has a "large" number of Christian residents, police inspector Shah Alam said. But correspondents say religiously motivated violence against Christians is rare. In April, a bomb attack at a concert in Dhaka during the Bengali New Year celebrations killed nine people. The government blamed Islamic extremists for that attack.
Monday, 4 June, 2001
Man held over racist hate mail
Police have arrested a 72-year-old man at Heathrow Airport in connection with a campaign of racist mail.
The man was arriving on a flight from Europe on Sunday. Detectives investigating a nine-year racist campaign released images last week of a man they wanted to interview. He was captured on surveillance cameras at a post office in Gosport, Hampshire. Scotland Yard believes that man may have information about almost 500 racist letters sent over nine years to politicians, judges and media personalities.
Police said the footage released was linked to a postal order bought in the post office and sent to convicted nail bomber David Copeland in Broadmoor Hospital. The man behind the hate mail campaign is thought to support Copeland, who was jailed last year for three murders in nail bomb attacks in London two years ago. Police, who have offered a £10,000 reward for information which helps solve the case, describe the letters as "sickening and offensive".
Home Office minister Paul Boateng and the Conservative peer Lord Taylor of Warwick are among those who have received the letters, accompanied by racist cartoons. The drawings have led police to believe that the racist could have trained as an architect or draughtsman. The mail was marked WASPAWAN, an acronym for a racist slogan.
The hate campaign began in 1992, and since then the mail has been posted from a number of towns in southern England and from other European countries. The campaign was heightened in April 1997, in the run up to the last general election, when some schools used as polling stations were targeted. The number of letters sent also increased during the publicity surrounding Copeland's trial.
Sunday, 3 June, 2001, BBC Online
At least 17 people are reported killed and more than 60 injured in a suicide bomb attack in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, according to Israel Radio, quoting police.
Islamic Jihad said they carried out the blast, which went off at 2300 (2000 GMT) at the entrance to the Pascha nightclub. Israel, which has been maintaining a limited unilateral ceasefire, will hold a security cabinet meeting early on Saturday to consider what action to take following the attack. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oded Eran told the BBC that the Palestinian Authority must take the blame for the attack. "The overall responsibility lies with the Palestinian Authority and its chairman, Yasser Arafat," he said. He said the Palestinian Authority was "not raising a finger" to stop terrorist activity. He called on the international community to apply pressure on Mr Arafat to stop the violence.
The spokesman said he found it hard to believe that the Israeli Government would be able to "prolong its restraint" after the attack. "I suppose that the government of Israel will be, as of tonight, under great pressure to do whatever it takes to indicate to the other side that life cannot go on like this and that steps have to be taken to ensure security," the spokesman said.
US President George W Bush urged Mr Arafat to condemn "the heinous terrorist attack". "I call upon Chairman Arafat to condemn this act and to call for an immediate ceasefire," he said. "My deepest condolences and those of the American people go out to the victims and their families." A senior Palestinian leader said that the Palestinian Authority condemned the killing of all civilians. "We have said time and again that we are against killing civilians, whether they are Israelis or Palestinians,"
Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Korei said. Witnesses said people were queuing up to enter the Pascha club, popular with young emigre Russians, when a suicide bomber made his way into the crowd and detonated himself. "The terrorist exploded outside the entrance to the disco when there were people around him," said David Klausner, deputy head of the Tel Aviv police.
"We heard from our left a huge explosion," said Alex Brodsky, 19. "I saw people lying on the floor. Some had no legs, no arms." There are three clubs and many cafes in the area, which is always packed with young Israelis on Friday nights, at the start of the weekend.
There were scenes of havoc after the blast occurred with crowds fleeing and panicked drivers racing away at high speed. Injured victims lay groaning on the ground and pools of blood covered the pavement. Thirty ambulances raced to the scene of the blast and helicopters hovered overhead, transferring the injured to hospitals in the Tel Aviv area. A witness who arrived at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where the injured were brought, said he saw dozens of children hurt near the club. "I was just there, I was in the next street over when the bomb went off. I saw dozens of kids lying there," he said.
Saturday, 2 June, 2001, BBC Online
Bomb injures six in Rawalpindi
A bomb has injured at least six people in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad.
Police say the bomb was planted under a car which was waiting at a taxi rank to pick up passengers. No group has admitted to involvement in the blast. Polling for the third phase of local councils is being held in 18 districts of the country in preparation for setting up local governments in August. Voting in two districts in Sindh province has been postponed because of heavy rains.
Thursday, 31 May, 2001, BBC Online
An explosion has rocked the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, wounding at least six people.
Israel radio said the blast, which occurred near the entrance to a school, was probably a car bomb. Earlier this month, Netanya was the scene of a suicide bomb attack in which five Israelis were killed and about 100 injured.
The explosion came as the Israeli and Palestinian leaders renewed their calls for an end to violence and officials from both sides prepared to hold a second round of security talks in Gaza. Violence rages despite talks between security officials Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appealed for restraint amid mounting pressure from Jewish settlers to end the limited unilateral ceasefire he announced last week. Speaking after a meeting of his security cabinet, Mr Sharon said he would maintain the ceasefire, and he called for patience.
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, echoed Mr Sharon's call for an end to violence, saying all parties must stop their attacks. In another diplomatic move, Pope John Paul II has sent a senior envoy to Jerusalem to meet Mr Sharon and Mr Arafat to try to help broker a peace deal. Americans cancel
The violence flared after Israel announced further settlement plans In the meantime, a scheduled meeting between senior US diplomats and Palestinian negotiators has been cancelled. US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and US Consul General Ron Schlicher called off the meeting after Jibril Rajoub, the West Bank preventive security chief, refused to attend Israeli-Palestinian security talks Tuesday night, a Palestinian official said. Mr Rajoub refused to attend the talks in protest against the shelling of his house by Israeli troops two weeks ago, according to the official. US officials declined to comment.
The Israeli army said two mortar bombs hit a Jewish settlement overnight in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday three Israelis and three Palestinians were killed in violence and two international journalists were briefly kidnapped by a Palestinian group.
Wednesday, 30 May, 2001, BBC Online
Army technical officers have made safe a pipe bomb in County Antrim.
A number of people had to be moved from their homes during a security operation in Portrush. An unexploded device was found in the garden of a house at Glenmannis Road at about 1200 BST on Monday. Earlier, Army technical officers made safe a pipe bomb, which was thrown at a house in Bath Street in the town. Two men were seen throwing the device at about 0300 BST on Monday. It failed to explode.
The police said they are not treating the pipe bomb attack as sectarian. They are appealing for anyone with any information about the incident to get in contact with them.
Monday, 28 May, 2001, BBC Online
A nail-studded car bomb has exploded in west Jerusalem in the Russian compound, a residential neighbourhood known for its nightclubs and restaurants.
Three people have been treated for shock, but there were apparently no injuries. A BBC correspondent says the blast adds to a sense of national emergency in Israel which has been fed a daily diet of violence and disaster in the past week. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but previous attacks like this one have been carried out by Islamic extremist groups. It underlines the difficulty facing new US Middle East envoy-designate William Burns, who is to meet Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Sunday. Mr Burns is to hold talks with Yasser Arafat in Ramallah in the morning and Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem in the afternoon.
Police have put up roadblocks and deployed helicopters to search for the bombers, who - police believe - drove off in a second car after parking the one with the bomb. Two men were reportedly seen parking the car and leaving the scene shortly before the explosion.
"We were lucky," said Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert. "Think what would have happened if this explosion succeeded." Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said 25 people had been detained, but that police were not sure the people were involved in the explosion. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.
The explosion, which could be heard across the city, occurred in a parking lot not far from central Jerusalem's main police station. The parking lot is across from a courthouse where a nine people were appearing before a judge in connection with the collapse of a building that killed at least 23 people on Thursday night.
The hearing continued, and the judge ordered two of the people held until 29 May and the others until 31 May while the investigation continues. The site is also not far from predominantly Arab east Jerusalem.
Our correspondent says it would not have been difficult for Palestinians to cross from east to west Jerusalem to plant the bomb, despite heavy security throughout Israel. She said the mood among people at the scene was one of shock and anger. It is the third apparent militant attack against Israeli targets in 48 hours. On Friday, explosions in Hadera and the Gaza Strip killed three apparent suicide bombers and injured more than 60 Israelis.
Sunday, 27 May, 2001, BBC Online
Family targeted with pipe bomb
Four people including a baby have escaped injury in a pipe bomb attack on a house in Ballymoney, County Antrim.
The device exploded close to a car parked in the yard of the house at Carnany Park shortly after 0400 BST on Saturday, damaging the car and a fence. Jacqueline Curry, her partner Ernest Christie, her 16-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter were in the house at the time.
Ms Curry said that the family have lived in the Carnany Park area for nine months and that she believed she was being attacked because she is originally from Scotland. About 16 homes were evacuated while army bomb experts examine the area where the device exploded. The police said the attack was not believed to have been sectarian.
Saturday, 26 May, 2001,BBC Online
Three people have been killed and at least 12 injured in two separate suicide bomb attacks against Israelis.
Israeli police said the three dead were the bombers. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that despite the attacks Israel would maintain a unilateral ceasefire for "a few more days" to give the Palestinians time to order a ceasefire. "The Palestinians are behind terror activity, and they must order a ceasefire," he said.
Mr Sharon was speaking in Jerusalem following the latest suicide attack, which took place in the northern Israeli town of Hadera. A car pulled up beside a public bus at the town's main bus station and exploded shortly before 1400 (1100 GMT). Two people in the car were killed and police said another 12 people were injured. Media reports put the number of casualties at about 30, including many treated for shock.
"I heard an enormous explosion, and then I saw the burning car," a passer-by, Avi Yehezkel, told Israel TV. Gaza explosion Earlier, a lorry laden with explosives blew up near an Israeli military post at the Netzarim junction south of Gaza city. The driver of the lorry was killed, but no-one else was hurt.
The Islamic militant group Hamas said it had carried out the bombing to mark the first anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon after a 22-year occupation. Hamas identified the dead truck driver as Hussein Nasser. The group said it had filmed the attack and would distribute the footage. "We send our best regards to our brothers in Hezbollah, and we renew our congratulations on the first anniversary of the liberation," Hamas said in a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli army spokesman said the incident began when Israeli army vehicles blocked the Netzarim junction to Palestinian traffic to enable Israeli vehicles to pass. "Suddenly the driver accelerated towards the post, the soldiers fired warning shots at him and the vehicle blew up," he said.
Soon afterwards, Israeli forces entered Palestinian controlled areas of the Gaza Strip. Tanks, bulldozers and armoured vehicles entered Palestinian territory in two areas - near Netzarim and near the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel, Palestinian police said. "Israeli tanks opened fire, lightly wounding three policemen, and advanced some 500 metres," police chief Saeb el Ajeez told the AFP news agency. The Israeli army maintains it has been respecting a ceasefire in the territories since Tuesday evening, when troops were ordered not to shoot at Palestinians unless they themselves were under fire and Israeli lives were at risk.
The Palestinians have dismissed the ceasefire as a publicity stunt. The blasts are the latest in a spate of attacks. A week ago a suicide bomber in the town of Netanya killed five Israelis. In a separate development, the burnt body of an Israeli civilian, missing since Wednesday, was found near the autonomous Palestinian town of Tulkarm in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said.
Friday, 25 May, 2001, BBC Online
At least four people have been killed and about 20 injured in the Colombian capital, Bogota, by two bomb explosions.
Two of the bombs went off during the morning rush hour near the campus of the National University. Bomb squads successfully deactivated a third device a short time later. The area was later sealed off as police searched for further devices.
"First, a bomb exploded, and then we heard another explosion, and ambulances began arriving soon after," the Associated Press news agency quoted Elizabeth Martinez, a local resident, as saying. Nobody has yet admitted responsibility for the blasts.
The bombs are the latest in a series of explosions in Colombia in recent weeks which have revived memories of a deadly bombing campaign carried out in the early 1990s by the former head of the Medellin drug cartel, Pablo Escobar.
On Thursday, Colombian police deactivated two car bombs in the oil refining city of Barrancaberme, 230km (155 miles) north of Bogota. One bomb was found in a taxi parked near a school and another in a car parked next to a bridge. Earlier this week, police found a car bomb outside the offices of a communist magazine in Bogota. The bomb was reportedly big enough to wipe out a whole block of the city.
Another car bomb exploded last week in a fashionable district of Medellin, killing eight people and injuring 130. It went off next to a park lined with discos, bars and restaurants popular with business people and students.
The blasts are signs that Colombia's 37-year civil war may be spreading from the countryside to the big cities. About 35,000 civilians have died over the last decade in the conflict, which pits left-wing guerrilla groups against right-wing paramilitaries and security forces. Peace talks began two years ago between the largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), and the government, but were broken off two months ago by the guerrillas. The conflict has since intensified.
Friday, 25 May, 2001, BBC Online
Terrorist handbook reveals 'secret of success'
Outlawed Basque separatist group ETA has reportedly produced a handbook for new recruits which spells out the secrets of avoiding capture and being "a good activist".
Extracts from the document have been published by the Madrid daily ABC, which said the "extensive handbook" was produced in an effort to cut the number of captures of ETA members by Spanish police and security forces. "The reasons for a capture are very varied and complex," says the document, supposedly aimed at the youth wing of the Basque separatist movement. "Nevertheless, we could prevent 80% of them if we followed absolute, strict security rules. "The secret of the success of a good activist lies in him having a normal family, social and working life, with no-one realising or suspecting his underground activities," the book says.
The organisation offers recruits guidance on how to maintain strict discipline on security matters and gives tips on training with arms and explosives. ETA warns its recruits against forming "dangerous friendships" that could compromise the security of activist cells. The handbook also allegedly reveals ETA plans to set up an "internal security service" to monitor the activities of members. ETA warns recruits that the service will show "particular vigilance" in hunting down and executing moles in the organization. .
Monday, 21 May, 2001, BBC Online
New raids against Chechen guerrillas
The Russian military has launched a new series of raids throughout Chechnya to search for suspected rebels.
Federal troops are reported to have sealed all entrances to the city of Gudermes, and combed streets and houses; more than a dozen of people were detained. Russian troops also carried out raids in the southern districts of Shali and Vedeno, where two alleged rebels were killed and fifteen detained.
Correspondents say Russian forces seem increasingly weary and nervous over the recent increase in daily mine explosions and attacks by small bands of rebels in Chechnya. Eight Russian servicemen are reported to have been killed in the past twenty hour hours. Earlier it was announced that three children, aged four, seven and fifteen, had been killed in a weekend explosion in Grozny.
Monday, 21 May, 2001, BBC Online
Bomber strikes at Israeli shoppers
Six people are reported dead and more than 40 injured after a powerful bomb explosion in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv.
The explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber at the entrance to the crowded Hasharon shopping mall in the centre of Netanya. Witnesses said the blast could be heard hundreds of metres away. The Palestinian militant group, Hamas, says it carried out the attack.
Security officials prevented the bomber from entering the shopping centre. They became suspicious because he was wearing a thick blue jacket on a hot, sunny day - so instead, the bomber set off the explosives there and then. Israeli media say he was a 20-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank town of Tulkarm, just a few kilometres from Netanya.
The bomb attack comes after a week of escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
In a separate incident on Friday, it has been reported that a Jewish settler was shot dead and two others injured, one seriously, when the car they were travelling in came under fire near the West Bank town of Ramallah. Israeli government spokesmen immediately blamed Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority for the bomb attack.
Raanan Gissin said the bombing was "the fruit of a new wave of incitations to hatred" by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and official Palestinian media. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held a security cabinet meeting to consider his government's response to the suicide bombing.
Netanya is only 10km from the West Bank and has been the target of a number of attacks by Palestinian militants in recent months. On Monday Israeli soldiers killed five Palestinian policemen in the West Bank town of Ramallah. And two days ago the Israelis announced they were establishing outposts just within Palestinian-controlled parts of Gaza as a defensive move to prevent further attacks on Israel.
The BBC Jerusalem correspondent says the Netanya bomb comes just as Israel made a gesture of goodwill by offering a partial compromise on the question of the expansion of Jewish settlements - it was a move the Palestinians have rejected. The Palestinian leadership has consistently denied any connection with such attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office in March with a mandate to bring security to Israel, but so far has failed to stop attacks on Jews both within Israel and on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Friday, 18 May, 2001, BBC Online
The Saudi Arabian Government says the recent wave of bombings against westerners in the country was caused by a settling of scores between individuals.
Three western men - a Briton, a Canadian and a Belgian - are facing possible execution after confessing to taking part in the bombings. A senior minister was quoted in Thursday's Al-Okaz newspaper as saying the crimes were not linked to politics, and were linked to "individuals involved in illegal activities".
Such comments are generally taken to mean dealing in alcohol, which is strictly forbidden in conservative Muslim Saudi Arabia. Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed al-Saud was quoted as telling Al-Okaz that the government knew who was behind the bombings. However, the government has not named them so far. Instead officials have sought to dismiss rumours that anti-western Islamists are behind the bombing campaign that has killed one Briton and injured several other expatriates.
In February, the government shocked western diplomats by broadcasting televised confessions by a Briton, a Belgian and a Canadian. The three men - Briton Alexander Mitchell, Canadian William Sampson and Belgian Raaf Schifte - appeared to be reading from a prepared script as they said they had been ordered to carry out the bombings. Nine months later there is still no word of when their trial will take place and they have no defence lawyers. If convicted they could face ritual beheading by sword under Saudi Arabia's Islamic Sharia law. Each year the country carries out over a hundred executions of people convicted of murder, rape and drug smuggling, but diplomats say no westerner has been executed to date.
Thursday, 17 May, 2001, BBC Online
Second bomb rocks Post Office building
A second bomb planted at the same post office delivery centre which was targeted by terrorists last month narrowly avoided injuring a passer-by when it exploded.
The device, thought to have contained half a pound of high explosive, had been placed outside the Royal Mail Delivery Centre in The Hyde, near Edgware. No prior threat was received by the Metropolitan Police about the attack in the early hours of Sunday morning, which caused minor damage including broken windows. Like the previous bomb attack on Saturday April 14 thought to have been the work of the Real IRA no one was present inside the premises at the time of the explosion just before 2am, although a man in his mid-20s was fortunate to escape the blast uninjured as he walked past.
Edgware Road and surrounding roads were closed to traffic for several hours while a thorough search of the area was carried out.
DAC Alan Fry, head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch, said: "Anyone who may have been in the vicinity at the time of the explosion or anyone who may have seen someone acting suspiciously should contact us. "There are obvious comparisons with the explosion on April 14 at which time we stated we suspected a dissident Irish republican terrorist to be responsible, given the significance of Easter Sunday to the republican movement."
The most likely dissident group to be responsible was the Real IRA in view of their on-going terror campaign in Northern Ireland and London. "Clearly the 20th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands is another significant date in the republican calendar and may have motivated this morning's attack."
He added that he would like to hear from anyone who has been paid cash for rented accommodation, or may have access to lock up facilities. Businesses who may have CCTV footage of the surrounding area are also being asked to contact the police.
May 9, 2001, Local London News
Israeli forces shelled a security complex in Jericho.
A bomb has exploded in a Tel Aviv suburb, lightly injuring a woman, Israeli police say. The blast happened near a bus station in Petah Tikva during the morning rush hour. The police said the bomb was placed in a rubbish bin.
Israel radio reported that four mortar bombs were fired from the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip on Sunday, hitting an area near the Israeli town of Sderot. Nobody was hurt.
Sunday, 6 May, 2001, BBC News Online
Election bombing campaign feared
The head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch has warned of a general election bombing campaign, after another blast in London linked to dissident republicans.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry was speaking after a second blast at a north London postal sorting office - where a bomb linked to the Real IRA went off three weeks ago. One passer-by - a man in his 20s - was slightly injured in the latest explosion in Hendon.
Mr Fry said police had contingency plans for dealing with the "major challenge" of a terror campaign ahead of the election, which is expected to be called within days. "We have seen sustained activity in election campaigns both in '97 and '92," he said. "We take note of that and we will be doing everything possible to secure the safety of those taking part in the election and the general public."
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said no warning was given ahead of the latest blast and no-one has claimed responsibility. But Mr Fry said: "The most likely dissident group to be responsible was the Real IRA in view of their on-going terror campaign in Northern Ireland and London."
Sunday, 6 May, 2001, BBC News Online
Deadly bomb blast in Afghanistan
A bomb has exploded outside a mosque in the western Afghan city of Herat killing at least eight people and injuring many more.
Taleban officials said among those killed was an exiled Iranian Sunni Muslim cleric Maulvi Mohammad Musa. It's not clear if he was the target of the bombing. One report said another Iranian, believed by Taleban officials to be the bomber, was also killed.
Taleban officials said the bombing was followed by riots with protestors attacking the Iranian consulate and setting fire to several mosques of the minority Shi'ite Muslim sect. The majority of Afghans are Sunni Muslims.
Saturday, 5 May, 2001, BBC News Online
British woman killed by own bomb
A British woman was killed in Athens yesterday when a bomb she was carrying in her car exploded.
Police investigators think that her rottweiller probably set off the remote control detonator. Susan-Mary Aris, 49, apparently intended to plant the device at the premises of nightclub rivals allegedly responsible for murdering two of her associates. She was wearing black gloves and had plugged her ears with cotton wool.
Police said the bomb, made from a hand-grenade shell filled with explosives and nails, was in a knapsack strapped to her shoulders. The detonator was inside a black bag on the front passenger seat. Mrs Aris had only just left home in her British-registered white BMW when the bomb went off in the prosperous coastal suburb of Voula, a nightclub area where other killings have taken place.
There was an immediate flurry of speculation that she was linked to the November 17 terrorist group, which assassinated Brig Stephen Saunders, 52, a British military attache in Athens last year. The terrorists have also murdered 22 American, Greek and Turkish officials and businessmen over the past 25 years. Another fear was that, with the Pope due in Athens today, the bomb was the work of Greek Orthodox extremists.
But police were convinced last night that the incident was linked to a turf war between gangster organisations which provide protection to nightclub owners. A police official said: "This was not terrorism. It is clear it is a case of common crime." Mrs Aris or Aristides was born Susan-Mary Weymouth in London, but had lived in Greece for much of her life. A Greek identity card was found on her body. She had divorced her husband, Spyros Aristides, a businessman, who Anglicised and shortened his surname to Aris after emigrating to Australia. The couple's two sons lived in Athens with their mother. Dimitris Efstathiades, the secretary-general of the public order ministry, said: "Initial investigations show that the woman left England when she was young, perhaps about 40 years ago. The incident does not appear linked to a terrorist group. She was apparently acting on behalf of a gang involved in rival nightclub interests."
There has been a number of killings in Athens over the past two years, mainly involving two families which have been battling for control of the lucrative nightlife business. Mr Efstathiades said that Mrs Aris was apparently closely linked to a family which has lost two of its key figures, father and son, in less than a year. The father was murdered in a remote-controlled bombing as his car waited at traffic lights on a busy Athens avenue. The son was shot outside a courthouse as he was preparing to testify against his father's alleged killer.
Friday 4 May 2001 , BBC News Online
Tv studios invaded by man with bomb
Police have surrounded a major television studio after a man burst in and claimed to be carrying a bomb.
The "highly aggressive" man stormed into the reception area of London Television Centre shortly after 10.30am, said sources in the building. Officers have cordoned off the studios on the South Bank and begun to evacuate staff members. A GMTV employee based in the building says she saw the man standing in the lobby and shouting. "I had just come down to pick something up and he was already in there, shouting and screaming," she said. "He was very aggressive but I don't know what he wanted. Somebody said he had a bomb or a gun but I just got out of there."
Another GMTV employee said that at first there were at least half a dozen police cars around the building but most had moved back out of sight. A member of staff in the building said: "Some nutter burst into reception claiming to have a bomb. That's all we know. The front of the building has been evacuated." Another said: "There are loads and loads of police cars and police surrounding our building."
Scotland Yard has declined to discuss the incident.
Friday 04 May 2001 , Ananova Ltd 2001
US doctor critical after Saudi bomb blast
An American doctor was maimed yesterday when a parcel bomb exploded in his face at his office in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.
The explosion casts doubt on Saudi claims that British expatriate workers fighting for control of the trade in illegal alcohol are to blame for the recent spate of terrorist attacks in the country. The doctor thought that the package sent to his clinic at the Saad Hospital in the eastern city of Al-Khobar contained a video cassette.
US Embassy officials who visited the physiotherapist last night described his condition as very critical but refused to say whom they blamed for the blast. Staff at the hospital named the doctor as Gary Hatch, 40, a bachelor of Indian origin.
The port of Al-Khobar was the target of one of the most devastating explosions against American targets abroad when a suicide bomber drove a lorry packed with explosives into a US military barracks in June 1996, killing 19 and wounding more than 500. Saudi ministers still insist that the most recent bomb attacks on Westerners are linked to a turf war between rival British businessmen who smuggle alcohol. What the Riyadh authorities do not explain is why there have been at least four more bombings since the Britons they suspect of carrying out this terror campaign have been in jail. Nine Britons are still being held with no indication of a trial date. Embassy officials in Riyadh are being allowed to visit the prisoners once a month and say all are in "good condition".
Saudi dissidents claimed that the latest explosion was evidence that an Islamic extremist group was behind it. Opposition leaders say that the authorities are desperate to cover up the activities of this home-grown terrorist threat.
Saad Al-Fagih, a leading Saudi dissident based in London, said last night: "The continuation of the attacks after the detention of the accused confirms it is not a matter of a fight over alcohol." He said that fundamentalists were attacking Westerners to embarrass the Saudi regime, which is keen to present itself as stable and secure. "They also want to keep the matter of the Western presence in the country as a hot subject and to give a message to Westerners that they are not wanted in the Arabian peninsula," said Dr Fagih, the director of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, which is committed to change through peaceful means.
At least 70 suspected Saudi Islamic fundamentalists had been arrested since the bombings began, he said. Two car bombings in Riyadh in November killed Christopher Rodway, 47, a British engineer, and injured his wife, Jane, 50, and four other Westerners. Three weeks later David Brown, 32, a Scots-born executive, was blinded in one eye and lost a hand in another bombing in Al-Khobar. In a fourth attack at a shopping centre used by Western workers, opposition sources say that terrorists left a note demanding that all foreign staff leave the country. Another Briton was injured by flying glass and shrapnel in March when a bomb exploded outside a bookshop in Riyadh.
03 May 2001, Times Newspapers Ltd
Bomb attack in Pakistani Kashmir
At least one person has been killed in a bomb blast in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Fourteen people were injured in the blast - four of them seriously. Police said the device was placed under a seat inside the cinema and went off at a time when scores of people were watching a film.
No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion. However, a senior government minister in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Ishaq Zafar, described it as an act of sabotage and blamed Indian intelligence for the incident.
At least one person was killed and 13 injured in a bomb attack last December in Muzaffarabad. Pakistani officials also blamed that incident on India's intelligence agency. Kashmir is disputed between India and Pakistan, who have fought two wars over the territory since independence in 1947.
Thursday, 3 May, 2001, BBC News Online
UK drugs firms issue warning to banks
Banks have severed links with HLS, after threats from animal rights activists.
Britain's pharmaceuticals industry has threatened that it might close accounts with banks and financial institutions that cave in to threats from animal rights protesters. The move follows a number of high profile financial institutions severing links with the drugs-testing firm Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) after it was targeted by animal rights activists. "If they are not prepared to support a member of our industry [HLS], we must ask if they are the people we should rely on for advice and to invest our cash," said Trevor Jones, director-general of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
The drugs companies are now said to be actively canvassing promises of support from city institutions holding their money. If bankers fail to give the necessary assurances, then there is the possibility that the pharmaceuticals companies will withdraw their accounts.
Last week, an umbrella group of medical research charities pulled its funds out of HSBC, after the bank refused to handle shares in Huntingdon Life Sciences. The Association of Medical Research Charities has 112 members with assets of about £16bn. Investors such as Citibank, Charles Schwab, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and HSBC have all cut ties with Huntingdon following pressure from animal rights groups. The bankers withdrew their support over fears of fire-bomb attacks and death threats to employees Shares in the drug-testing firm have plunged, losing four-fifths of their value over the past two years, as financial backers and customers walked away. Earlier this year, the Arkansas-based investment firm Stephens Group, announced that it was the mystery backer that had come to HLS's rescue.
Tuesday, 1 May, 2001, BBC News Online
