Saudis capture terrorism suspect
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia One of Saudi Arabia’s most wanted terror suspects killed five police officers in drive-by shootings Tuesday before security forces wounded and captured him, the Interior Ministry said. The capture of Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Mohammed al-Suwailmi was the latest in a series of successes by Saudi security forces in their nearly three-year crackdown on al-Qaida and other Islamic militant groups in the kingdom.
Police have now killed or captured eight of the top 15 suspected militants believed to still be in the country who were on a list of most-wanted terrorists issued in June. Some 21 others are believed to be outside Saudi Arabia. Al-Suwailmi, 23, was involved in recruitment and propaganda for Islamic militant groups, Al-Arabiya said. It was not immediately clear whether he was directly linked with any specific attacks.
Bolivian president may reject U.S. aid
La Paz, Bolivia President-elect Evo Morales will reject U.S. economic and military aid if the United States requires continued coca-eradication efforts to get the money, a close aide to the former coca growers’ leader said Tuesday.
Morales also plans to withdraw Bolivia’s military from anti-drug efforts and leave the job to police, said Juan Ramon Quintana, a member of the Morales’ transition team.
Morales, who won Bolivia’s presidency Dec. 18 with a decisive 54 percent of the vote, campaigned on promises to stand up to the U.S. on the coca issue and the eradication of coca plantations. Coca eradication is a condition for aid from the United States, which gave Bolivia $91 million in 2005.
Morales’ election added momentum to South America’s leftward tilt where several leftist leaders are now in power. He has also forged strong ties with Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, both outspoken U.S. critics.
Russian security forces absolved in Beslan raid
Moscow Prosecutors examining last year’s school siege in Beslan have found no reason to blame security forces for the deaths of 331 hostages during a police raid, the official leading the inquiry said Tuesday, provoking outrage from relatives of victims.
The comments by Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel differed sharply from last month’s report by a regional legislative panel that accused Russian authorities of botching rescue efforts and urged that those responsible for the Sept. 3, 2004, bloodbath be punished.
Shepel, who is heading the investigation by federal prosecutors, said in a statement released by his office that his inquiry so far had not discovered any mistakes by authorities in dealing with the siege in the southern town.
The statement, which came a day before the Russian parliament was to release results of its own investigation, heated up the simmering anger among Beslan residents, who have argued that authorities bungled their response to the crisis and mounted a cover-up of their mistakes.
Islamic militants seized Beslan’s School No. 1 on the first day of school, taking more than 1,100 children, parents and staff hostage and herding them into the gymnasium, which they rigged with explosives.
The hostages suffered in hot, unsanitary conditions and were denied water by their captors during the ordeal, which ended in explosions and gunfire on the third day of the standoff. The dead hostages included 186 children.