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6 REGION GO OMANDAILYOBSERVER SATURDAY l FEBRUARY 18 l 2017 Turkish shelling kills nine in IS-held town BEIRUT: Nine civilians were killed in overnight Turkish bombardment of a militantheld town in northern Syria, a monitor said on Friday, but Ankara said the shelling killed 13 “terrorists”. Three women were among those killed in the artillery fire on Al Bab, which Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have been fighting to take from the IS group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “In the past 48 hours, Turkish air strikes and shelling have killed 45 civilians, including 18 children and 14 women,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said the army had hit dozens of IS positions, seven of them from the air. “In total, 13 IS terrorists were killed,” Anadolu reported. Ankara began military operations in Syria in August last year, targeting Kurdish fighters as well as IS, but says it is doing its utmost to avoid civilian casualties. Al Bab is IS’s last stronghold in Aleppo province and has come under fierce attack in recent months by Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels. They entered the town last the weekend and are now engaged in “clean-up” operations, Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said on Thursday. The Observatory, however, said Turkish forces had made little progress since entering the town from the west, and rebels said IS was putting up fierce resistance. Field commander Abu Jaafar said his forces had been able to overrun part of the town early on Thursday, but were then ambushed by IS. At least one militant suicide attacker wounded several rebels and seriously damaged their equipment, Abu Jaafar said. “Daesh seeks to install itself in civilian and public buildings and use civilians as human shields,” rebel spokesman Mahmud Hadi said on Friday. “They use suicide attacks and they move about through basements and tunnels... they infiltrate in between civilians fleeing the military operations to try and penetrate behind the lines of the rebel factions.” Dozens of civilians have been fleeing Al Bab on a daily basis, according to the Observatory, leaving newly liberated areas as well as escaping territory still under IS control. From outside the town on Friday, a line of fleeing residents could be seen crossing a field to escape the fighting, as gunshots sounded in the distance. On a road leading to the rebel-held town of Azaz, several fleeing residents had piled their belongings into carts on the back of motorbikes and were driving away. — AFP BONN: US allies said they had won assurances on Friday from new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Washington backed a political solution to the Syria conflict, ahead of UN peace talks. On the sidelines of a G20 gathering in Germany, Tillerson joined a group of countries who support the Syrian opposition for talks on a way to end the nearly six-year war. “All the participants want a political solution because a military solution alone won’t lead to peace in Syria,” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters in Bonn, adding that “Tillerson became very involved in the debates”. The meeting of the so-called “like-minded” nations — made up of around a dozen Western and Arab countries as well as Turkey — was the first since President Donald Trump took office. Diplomats had said before the talks that they were hoping for clarity on whether there had been a change in US policy on Syria, particularly on the future of President Bashar al Assad. The meeting came ahead of a new round of United Nations-led talks in Geneva on February 23 involving Syrian regime and rebel representatives. Under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, Washington insisted Assad had to go, putting it at odds with Moscow which backs the Syrian leader. But Trump has called for closer cooperation with Moscow in the fight against the IS militants in Syria, downplaying what happens to Assad as secondary to US interests. With Russia’s sway in the conflict Allies claim US backing for political solution in Syria US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R), Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (2nd R) and other diplomats listen to German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (3rd L) speaking during a meeting on Syria at the World Conference Centre in Bonn, western Germany, on Friday. — Reuters growing, Moscow has seized the initiative by hosting separate peace talks in Kazakhstan along with Turkey, to broker a fragile six-week truce between Syria’s warring parties. Gabriel said the “like-minded” countries had agreed to step up pressure on Russia to back a political solution, reaffirming that there could be no alternative to the UN-led Geneva talks. “Any political solution must be obtained in the framework of the Geneva negotiations and there should not be any parallel negotiations,” he said. Tillerson, on his first diplomatic trip abroad, has used the two-day G20 event as a chance to sit down with a string of foreign counterparts unsure The meeting of the so-called “likeminded” nations — made up of around a dozen Western and Arab countries as well as Turkey — was the first since President Donald Trump took office about what Trump’s “America First” policy means for them. The former Exxonmobil boss on Friday held his first talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the highest level Sino-US encounter yet after the two powers got off to a rocky start under Trump. Trump angered Beijing by questioning the “One China” policy agreed in the 1970s as the basis for what has become one of the most important global relationships. Wang only agreed to go to Bonn after a conciliatory phone call between Trump and President Xi Jinping in which the US president backtracked on his earlier comments. Tillerson has also moved to reassure nervous allies with a cautious approach to Russia, signalling there would be no radical shift despite Trump’s pledges to seek a softer line. — AFP DEMO AGAINST SETTLEMENTS Germany says building more Israeli settlements may end 2-state solution Palestinians and foreigners march towards Israel’s controversial separation wall between the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah and the Israeli settlement of Modiin Ilit during a demonstration against settlements in the area, on Friday. — AFP BONN: Germany’s foreign minister has warned that building more Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories could end the prospect of a two-state solution and fuel conflict in the region. Sigmar Gabriel’s comments came as conflicting statements by the new US administration threw off European allies who had hoped to get some clarity from Washington following US President Donald Trump’s apparent shift in policy on Wednesday regarding the Middle East peace process. “We are concerned that unlimited construction of settlements will... make a two-state solution impossible and could increase the risks of conflicts in the Middle East, including possible war,” Gabriel told reporters, showing Berlin’s growing frustration about settlement activity in the Israelioccupied West Bank. A vote by the Israeli Knesset to “legalise” settlements banned under international law further complicated the situation, Gabriel said during a news conference at a G20 foreign ministers meeting. Trump on Wednesday dropped a US commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, abandoning a major pillar of US Middle East policy. But on Thursday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said it would be wrong to say that Washington no longer supported a two-state solution. French Foreign Minister Jean- Marc Ayrault told reporters after a meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the US position on the Israeli-Palestinian dossier was “very confused and worrying”. Gabriel, who met with Tillerson later on Thursday, said Germany would continue to advocate a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling it “the only realistic option to reduce conflict in the region and prevent the emergency of a new war”. — Reuters In ‘liberated’ Mosul, residents say danger remains MOSUL: The Iraqi forces that retook east Mosul from militants last month have moved on to their next battle, leaving a security vacuum that has residents complaining of a job halfdone. The traffic jams in the streets and the crowds swarming the shops of the eastern neighbourhoods that the IS group controlled only weeks ago are deceptive, residents say. “Everything looks like it’s back to normal but people know that bloodshed could be just around the corner and they live in constant fear,” said Omar, from a civil society group that has been trying to breathe life back into Iraq’s second city. “Everybody is talking about the liberation but Daesh (IS) is still here,” the 25-year-old said. “Their drones are flying above our heads, target our homes, our hospitals and our mosques.” The Joint Operations Command that has been coordinating Iraq’s fight back since IS seized a third of the country in 2014 announced that the east bank of Mosul had been “fully The traffic jams in the streets and the crowds swarming the shops of the eastern neighbourhoods that the IS group controlled only weeks ago are deceptive, residents say liberated” on January 24. The Iraqi tricolour has replaced IS’s black flag above official buildings but the atmosphere is tense. “The suicide car bombs are back and that brings back memories of Daesh,” said Umm Sameer, a resident of Al-Zuhoor neighbourhood. On February 9, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a popular restaurant in east Mosul, injuring several people, according to officials. Contrary to some expectations, roughly three-quarters of the People shop after returning to their homes in the Al-Zuhoor neighbourhood of Mosul. — Reuters population of east Mosul stayed home and weathered the fighting that engulfed their neighbourhoods when elite forces from the Counter- Terrorism Service (CTS) punched into the city to take on the militants. Yet some of them are leaving now, despite the fact that their areas have been officially liberated. Nuriya Bashir, in her sixties, left her home with her children and grandchildren this week. “My daughter’s husband was killed when a drone dropped a grenade. Daesh knew where he was that evening. The sleeper cells are everywhere,” she said, speaking from the Hasansham displacement camp east of Mosul where she and her family found shelter. “Just after the announcement that east Mosul was liberated, many displaced people left the camp to return to their homes,” said camp manager Rizqar Obeid. “But over the past few days, we have received around 40 families who couldn’t bear the situation in the city any longer,” he said. There are security forces deployed in east Mosul but Umm Sameer accused them of “negligence” in their work. CTS fighters have now moved out to prepare for an assault on the city’s west bank. “We have handed over this part of the city to the army,” Abdulwahab al Saadi, a top CTS commander, said. He admitted that insecurity remained in the east and blamed it on the fact that “militants on the west side continue to fire mortar rounds.” But weaponised drones and mortar fire are not the only security concerns for east Mosul residents. “The security shortcomings in east Mosul are obvious,” said Amer al Bek, an activist with a local civil society group, criticising “the lack of professionalism of some of the security forces.” Residents of four villages that lie just north of the city limits on the east bank of the Tigris have said that armed IS fighters are still in their midst. “There are around 100 of them in the area, walking around freely with their weapons and combat gear,” said one resident who would not give his name for fear of retribution, adding that the militants had recently executed several villagers. “Why is the army not liberating our villages,” another resident asked. In the city proper, the number of residents who stayed on during the fighting made effective screening almost impossible. The Institute for the Study of War said last week that the “inability to find a suitable hold force is also creating openings for IS to reinfiltrate, as shown by several attacks in eastern Mosul.” — AFP
ASIA 7 SATURDAY l FEBRUARY 18 l 2017 OMANDAILYOBSERVER Japan to speed up frigate build to reinforce E China Sea TOKYO: Japan plans to accelerate a warship building programme to make two frigates a year to patrol the fringes of the East China Sea, where it disputes island ownership with China, three people with knowledge of the plan said. Japan previously was building one 5,000-tonne class destroyer a year, but will now make two 3,000-tonne class ships a year, beginning from the April 2018 fiscal year, the people said, declining to be identified as they are not authorised to talk to the media. It aims to produce a fleet of eight of the new class of smaller, cheaper vessels, which may also have mine-sweeping and anti-submarine capability. Naval shipyard operators including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan Marine United Corp (JMU) and Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding are expected to bid for the work, the people said. Japan and China dispute ownership of a group of islands in the East China Sea, about 220 km northeast of Taiwan. In Japan, they are known as the Senkakus, while China calls them the Diaoyu islands. Senior Japanese military officials have said they are concerned that China may seek to increase its influence in the East China Sea around Japan’s southern Okinawa island chain. Japan provides military aid to Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines and Vietnam that oppose China’s territorial claims in the neighbouring South China Sea. In a departure from normal procurement practice, Japan’s Ministry of Defense said in a report published on Wednesday it will require the winner of the — eight frigate — contract to offer major portions of the build to other bidders. The change is meant to ensure naval shipyards remain open. In the past two years, JMU has won contracts to build the larger Aegis-equipped destroyers, raising some concern among defence ministry officials that rivals could shutter their shipyards, one of the sources said. “We need to ensure our ability to build naval vessels at home,” the person said. — Reuters FLORAL DANCE Ethnic Miao people perform a dance during a local festival in Kaili, Guizhou province, China. — Reuters Pakistan crackdown on militants after shrine attack, toll rises to 88 SEHWAN SHARIF: Pakistani security forces killed dozens of suspected militants on Friday, a day after IS claimed a suicide bombing that killed more than 80 worshippers at a Sufi shrine in the latest of a series of attacks across the country. The bombing at the famed Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in southern Sindh province was Pakistan’s deadliest attack in two years, killing at least 88 people and underlining the threat of militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban and IS. With authorities facing angry criticism for failing to tighten security before the bomber struck, analysts warned that the wave of violence pointed to a major escalation in militants’ attempts to destabilise the region. “This is a virtual declaration of war against the state of Pakistan,” said Imtiaz Gul, head of the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. With pressure growing for action, Pakistan demanded that neighbouring Afghanistan hand over 76 “terrorists” it said were sheltering over the border. The bombings over five days have hit all four of Pakistan’s provinces and two major cities, killing around 100 people and shaking a nascent sense that the worst of the country’s militant violence may be in the past. A series of military operations against insurgent groups operating in Pakistan had encouraged hopes that their leaders were scattered. “But this has led to a degree of complacency within our civil-military leadership that perhaps they have completely destroyed these elements, or broken their back,” Gul said. If so, that impression has been shattered by the events of recent days. At Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, the white marble floor was still marked by blood on Friday, and a pile of abandoned shoes and slippers was heaped in the Devotees react as they gather outside the closed gate of the shrine of 13th century Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar a day after a bomb blew up at the shrine in the town of Sehwan in Sindh province, some 200 km north-east of Karachi on Friday. — AFP courtyard, many of them belonging to victims. Outside, protesters shouted slogans at police, who they said had failed to protect the shrine. “I wish I could have been here and died in the blast last night,” a devastated Ali Hussain said, sitting on the floor of the shrine. He said that local Sufis had asked for better security after a separate bombing this week killed 13 people in the eastern city of Lahore, but added: “No one bothered to secure this place”. Anwer Ali, 25, rushed to the shrine after he heard the explosion, and described seeing dead bodies and chaos as people fled the scene. “There were threats to the shrine. The Taliban had warned that they will attack here, but authorities didn’t take it seriously,” Ali said. Sindh police chief A D Khawaja said on Friday that the death toll had reached 88 people with scores more wounded. Security forces in Sindh said they killed 18 suspected militants. On the same day, army and police raids in the northwestern cities of Peshawar and Bannu killed seven militants and another six were killed in shelling on the border with Afghanistan. — Reuters Malaysian forensics test samples in N Korea killing KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA: Malaysian government scientists were on Friday examining samples from the autopsy of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader. Police were meanwhile questioning two female suspects who were arrested carrying Vietnamese and Indonesian passports, as well as a Malaysian man, as they attempted to shed light on the murder of Kim Jong-Nam. Lab forensics received samples from the post-mortem on Thursday and will “conduct the analysis as soon as possible”, Dr Cornelia Charito Siricord of the science ministry’s chemistry department told national news agency Bernama. Malaysia’s deputy prime minister said on Thursday he believed North Korea had put in a request to claim the body through the police and the hospital, and that Malaysia was ready to comply once investigations were completed. Police obtained a seven-day remand order for the two female suspects, Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said. SHOCK AND DISBELIEF: The family and former neighbours of an Indonesian woman arrested over the assassination of the North Korean leader’s half-brother expressed shock on Friday that “a nice person” like her could have committed such a crime. The woman, Siti Aishah, was detained over the killing of Kim Jong-Nam. Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla suggested that the 25-year-old Aishah, was a “victim” of a “scam” who thought she was taking part in a reality show involving hidden cameras. Malaysian police say that Jong- Nam was preparing to board a plane to Macau when he was jumped by two women who squirted some kind of liquid in his face. In the Jakarta neighbourhood of Tambora, where Aishah used to live with her then husband, her former father-in-law was horrified on hearing the news of her arrest over the dramatic murder. “I was shocked — no way,” said Tija Liang Kiong, 56. “There’s no way such a nice person would do that. I could not believe it because she was a good person.” “She was kind — if she was not kind I would not marry her off to my son,” he added. She married the son after meeting him while working for Kiong’s business. They had a baby and went to Malaysia to find work but got a divorce in 2012, Kiong said. Kiong said the child they had still lives with his family and that Aishah last visited her son on January 28. Indonesian immigration authorities said she flew to Malaysia from Indonesia on February 2. — AFP Kim Jong-Nam sought reform: Japanese author TOKYO: The assassinated half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un was a courageous man who sought to reform his country, a Japanese journalist who wrote a book about him said on Friday. Kim Jong-Nam, who was killed on Monday at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport, had regularly corresponded with Tokyo Shimbun senior writer Yoji Gomi. “Even if it put him in danger, he wanted to tell his opinions to Pyongyang through me or other media,” Gomi told reporters. Gomi also said that Kim told him he had never met his younger half-brother who succeeded their father Kim Jong-Il and allegedly ordered his assassination, sending female agents to poison him, according to South Korea. Gomi’s relationship with Kim began Kim Jong-Nam, who was killed on Monday at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport, had regularly corresponded with Tokyo Shimbun senior writer Yoji Gomi when he spotted him at Beijing’s international airport in 2004. They began to regularly exchange emails in 2010. Gomi also interviewed Kim in Macau and Beijing in 2011 for a total of seven hours. Tokyo Shimbun senior staff writer Yoji Gomi (R) at a press conference entitled ‘Kim Jong-Nam and his death’ at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on Friday. — AFP The last contact was via an email received in January 2012, just weeks after the death of Kim’s father. Gomi said that Kim wanted North Korea to carry out economic reforms similar to those pursued by China from the late 1970s. “He said that the only way that North Korea could survive would be to go through the series of reforms and liberalisation that China had carried out,” Gomi said. “He was critical of the system that was in place in North Korea,” Gomi added. “He said that power should not depend on hereditary succession. That was not appropriate for a socialist society. The leader should be selected through a democratic process.” He did say, however that at their first meeting, in Macau in January 2011, Kim was visibly nervous, sweating and fidgeting. Gomi also said he found Kim to be a polite “intellectual” with a sense of humour, unlike his reputation as a playboy gambler, though he acknowledged he enjoyed drinking, especially in Tokyo’s fancy restaurants. “He said that there he was able to enjoy singing and drinking with South Koreans, North Koreans and regular Japanese people, and he said he hoped that someday walls throughout the world would disappear like that.” Kim is often remembered for a failed attempt in 2001 to enter Japan on a forged passport to visit Disneyland. He was expelled in an incident that was widely seen as an embarrassment for his father and may have scotched his hopes of succeeding him as the first-born son. But Kim told Gomi he did not believe that was the reason behind his father’s decision. In his book, Gomi quoted Kim as saying that his father grew angry and distant after he advocated reform. — AFP
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Page 19 and 20: OO 19 SATURDAY I FEBRUARY 18 I 2017

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