Weekend 46_4

2 News | This week
Explosion
on highway kills
two soldiers in
southeast Turkey
Suspected Kurdish rebels last
Wednesday, detonated explosives
on a highway as security forces were
passing by, killing two soldiers, the
state-run news agency reported.
The explosion occurred on a
highway linking the cities of Mardin
and Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey,
Anadolu Agency said.
The private Dogan News Agency
said the attack targeted soldiers
who were searching for land
mines. It said the security forces
launched a large-scale operation in
the region to catch the assailants.
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility.
The rebels of the Kurdistan
Workers Party, or PKK, have launched
a series of violent attacks since 2015,
when a fragile peace process with the
government collapsed.
The group, considered a terror
organisation by Turkey and its
Western allies, has led a separatist
insurgency since 1984. The conflict
has killed tens of thousands of people
since then.
Photo: AP
Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off
the coast of Somalia, Somali officials
and piracy experts said last Tuesday,
the first such seisure of a large
commercial vessel on the crucial
global trade route since 2012.
The Aris 13, on Monday, reported
being approached by two skiffs,
John Steed with the organisation
Oceans Beyond Piracy said. The ship
was carrying fuel from Djibouti to
Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, he
said. Eight Sri Lankan crew members
were aboard.
An official in the semiautonomous
state of Puntland said
The world at a glance
Weekend Tribune Desk
Pakistani
army says three convicted Islamic
militants executed
The Pakistani army says three Islamic militants convicted by military
courts have been executed.
The army’s statement last Wednesday says the militants were
associated with the Pakistani Taliban and a second extremist group
named Harkat-ul-Jihad e-Islami. They were convicted of involvement
in the killing of soldiers and police officers.
The Pakistani government began trying alleged Islamic militants in
military courts and lifted a moratorium on executions, following the
December 2014 Taliban attack on a school that killed more than 150
people, most of them schoolchildren.
Human rights groups have criticised the fairness of the military
courts, but the army says all defendants have a right to appeal.
The two-year mandate for the military courts to try alleged Islamic
militants recently expired, and parliament has been debating whether
to continue the practice.
Photo: AP
Pirates
hijack freighter off
Somalia’s coast
over two dozen men boarded the
ship off Somalia’s northern coast, an
area known to be used by weapons
smugglers and members of the
Al-Qaida-linked extremist group
Al-Shabab. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because they
were not authorised to speak to the
press.
The ship was anchored off the
town of Alula, said Salad Nur, a local
elder. “The ship is on the coast now
and more armed men boarded the
ship,” he told The Associated Press
by phone.
Bhurungamari
Pir held over
Bochaganj Pir
murder
Police have detained a Pir, or
spiritual leader from Kurigram’s
Bhurungamari upazila, in
connection with the murder of
another Pir and his daughter in
Bochaganj of Dinajpur.
Eshaq Ali, 57, was picked
up from his house at Dakkhin
Pathordubi of the upazila
around 3am last Wednesday,
police said. Earlier, Pir Farhad
Hossain Chowdhury and his
adopted daughter, Rupali
Begum were found dead at the
former’s Khanqah Sharif in
Hatrampur area of Bochaganj.
Both of them were shot, while
Rupali’s throat was slit. Her
husband, whom she married
three days before the murder,
has remained absconding.
Police later detained
caretaker Saidur Rahman and
his associate Samor Ali for
questioning, and initially said
it could be a militant attack or
result of political or personal
disputes.
News: Dhaka Tribune
An official based in the Middle
East with knowledge of the incident
told the AP that no ransom demand
had been made.
Photo: AP
Local
WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017