Pakistani Taliban training Frenchmen

Pakistani intelligence officials say dozens of French Muslims have been training with the Taliban in northwest Pakistan. The officials said on Saturday they were investigating whether Mohamed Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian descent suspected of killing seven people in southern France, had been part of this group. Merah traveled to Pakistan in 2011 and said he trained with al-Qaida in Waziristan. He was killed in a gunfight with police Thursday in the French city of Toulouse. The officials said 85 Frenchmen have been training with the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan tribal area for the past three years. Most have dual nationality with France and North African countries. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

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The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians was upset at having to do a fourth tour of duty in a war zone

 

The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians was upset at having to do a fourth tour of duty in a war zone and was likely suffering from stress after seeing colleagues wounded, his defense lawyer said on Thursday. Seattle defense attorney John Henry Browne said the 38-year-old staff sergeant accused of gunning down children and families on Sunday had already been wounded twice in three tours in Iraq and had been told he would not be sent back to a war zone. "He and his family were told that his tours in the Middle East were over. His family was counting on him not being redeployed," said Browne at a news conference in Seattle. "Literally overnight that changed. So I think it would be fair to say that he and the family were not happy that he was going back." An unnamed U.S. official told The New York Times the killings were a result of "a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues - he just snapped." Asked about the Times report, Browne said he did not know about alcohol and acknowledged that stress was a factor, but he dismissed the domestic issue as "nonsense." Browne said he had not discussed details of the incident with his client but added that the man's unit had sustained casualties about the time of the civilian killings. "I don't know if I'd call them friends, but other people deployed in that base were seriously injured and/or killed shortly before these allegations," he said. Browne would not go into specifics about the identity or well-being of his client. He said only that he was originally from the U.S. Midwest and was at the moment "more shocked than anything." The death penalty had been discussed with Army lawyers, said Browne, and was still on the table as a possible sentence. Lieutenant Colonel Gary Dangerfield, a spokesman at the Lewis-McChord base, declined to comment on the case. Details have dribbled out about the sergeant in the 2-3 Infantry, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which is housed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Seattle. HEAD WOUND The soldier served three tours in Iraq, where he received a head wound and lost part of one foot. He was not sure if he was ready for Afghanistan, the lawyer said. "He wasn't certain he was healthy enough. Physically, mostly," Browne said. Browne, who represented U.S. serial killer Ted Bundy, described his client as an "exemplary" soldier and said the charges against him - and the man's name - may not be known for weeks. He had joined the Army after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. "He enlisted within a week of 9/11. He felt it was his duty to stand up for the United States," Browne said. The soldier met his wife online and they have a "very healthy marriage" and two children. The wife and the children, ages 3 and 4, have been moved to the Seattle-area military base for protection. The unnamed U.S. staff sergeant is accused of killing the civilians in what witnesses described as a nighttime massacre near a U.S. base in Afghanistan's violent Kandahar province. He arrived in Afghanistan in December and had been at the Belambai base since February 1. Browne said that charges against his client would be filed "probably not sooner than a few weeks" and that his name would not be released before the charges. The soldier is being held at a U.S. base in Kuwait, and it is not clear where or when a trial would be held, Browne said, but it would be under military rules. The Times reported the military was preparing to move the soldier to a prison in the United States as early as Friday, most likely to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. There has been broad speculation that the sergeant could have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Browne did not rule that out. Browne, known for a flamboyant courtroom manner and inventive legal mind, attempted to defend a local thief known as the "Barefoot Bandit" on the grounds that he was suffering from PTSD from an unsettled childhood. "Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore, 20, was sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison in January for a two-year crime spree.

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Up to 20 US troops executed Kandahar bloodbath

 

An Afghan parliamentary investigation team has implicated up to 20 US troops in the massacre of 16 civilians in Kandahar early on Sunday morning. It contradicts NATO's account that insists one rogue soldier was behind the slaughter. The team of Afghan lawmakers has spent two days collating reports from witnesses, survivors and inhabitants of the villages where the tragedy took place. “We are convinced that one soldier cannot kill so many people in two villages within one hour at the same time, and the 16 civilians, most of them children and women, have been killed by the two groups,” investigator Hamizai Lali told Afghan News. Lali also said their investigations led to them to believe 15 to 20 US soldiers had been involved in the killings. The head of the Afghan parliamentary investigation, Sayed Ishaq Gillani, told the BBC that witnesses report seeing helicopters dropping chaff during the attack, a measure used to hide targets from ground attack. Gillani added that locals suspect the massacre was revenge for attacks carried out last week on US forces that left several injured. Meanwhile the US military has detained one soldier in connection with the massacre and transferred him to Kuwait amid outcry for a public trial in Afghanistan.  US authorities are currently conducting an investigation into the motives behind the attack, but maintain that the soldier’s trial must be dealt with by the US legal system. It is believed that the soldier may have had alcohol problems and been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. +8 (8 votes)

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Taliban fire at delegates visiting Afghan massacre site

 

Taliban militants opened fire on an Afghan government delegation visiting one of the two villages in southern Afghanistan where a US soldier is suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians. The delegation was talking with families of the victims in Balandi village on Tuesday when they heard shooting, said Qayum Karzai, a brother of the Afghan president who was part of the group. He said he did not believe anyone was killed in the attack, but he had heard reports of one person wounded in the foot. "We were giving them our condolences, then we heard two very, very light shots," said Karzai. "Then we assumed that it was the national army that started to fire in the air." He said that the members of the delegation were safe and were heading back to Kandahar city. An Associated Press reporter accompanying the delegation said the gunfire came from two different directions. The US is holding an army staff sergeant in custody who is suspected of carrying out the killings before dawn on Sunday in two villages close to his base in Kandahar province's Panjwai district, considered the birthplace of the Taliban. Villagers have described him stalking from house to house in the middle of the night, opening fire on sleeping families and then burning some of the bodies. Nine of the 16 killed were children, and three were women, according to Karzai. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid vowed to take revenge for the attack in a statement sent to reporters on Tuesday. He said the soldier should be tried as a war criminal and executed by the victims' relatives. Also on Tuesday, hundreds of students in eastern Afghanistan shouted angry slogans against the US and the American soldier accused of carrying out the killings, the first significant protest in response to the tragedy. The killings have caused outrage in Afghanistan but have not sparked the kind of violent protests seen last month after American soldiers burned Muslim holy books and other Islamic texts. Afghans have become used to dealing with civilian casualties in over a decade of war. Some have said the deaths in Panjwai were more in keeping with Afghans' experience of deadly night raids and air strikes by US-led forces than the Qur'an burnings were. But the students protesting at a university in Jalalabad city, 80 miles east of the capital Kabul, were incensed. "Death to America!" and "Death to the soldier who killed our civilians!" shouted the crowd. Some carried a banner that called for a public trial of the soldier, whom US officials have identified as a married, 38-year-old father of two who was trained as a sniper and recently suffered a head injury in Iraq. Other protesters burned an effigy of Barack Obama. "The reason we are protesting is because of the killing of innocent children and other civilians by this tyrant US soldier," said Sardar Wali, a university student. "We want the United Nations and the Afghan government to publicly try this guy." Obama has expressed his shock and sadness and extended his condolences to the families of the victims. But he has also said the horrific episode would not speed up plans to pull out foreign forces, despite increasing opposition at home to the war in Afghanistan.

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Afghan civilian deaths spark calls for U.S. exit

 

The massacre of 16 villagers by a U.S. soldier has triggered angry calls for an immediate American exit from Afghanistan as Washington tries to negotiate a long-term presence to keep the country from sliding into chaos again. Just days before Sunday's attack, Kabul and Washington had made significant progress in negotiations on a Strategic Partnership Agreement that would allow American advisers and special forces to stay in Afghanistan after foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014. But securing a full deal may be far more difficult now after the shooting spree in villages in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban heartland, which killed mostly women and children. "This could delay the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement," an Afghan government official told Reuters. The attack, the latest American public relations disaster in Afghanistan, may be a turning point for the United States in a costly and unpopular war now in its eleventh year. Afghanistan's parliament condemned the killings, saying Afghans had run out of patience with the actions of foreign forces and the lack of oversight. Popular fury over the killing spree, which brought demands that the United States withdraw earlier than scheduled, could be exploited by the Taliban to gain new recruits. "We have benefited little from the foreign troops here but lost everything - our lives, dignity and our country to them," said Haji Najiq," a Kandahar shop owner. "The explanation or apologies will not bring back the dead. It is better for them to leave us alone and let us live in peace." Anti-Americanism, which boiled over after copies of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, were inadvertently burned at a NATO base last month is likely to deepen after the Kandahar carnage. "The Americans said they will leave in 2014. They should leave now so we can live in peace," said Mohammad Fahim, 19, a university student. "Even if the Taliban return to power our elders can work things out with them. The Americans are disrespectful." The civilian deaths may also force Afghan President Hamid Karzai to harden his stand in the partnership talks to appease a public already critical of his government's performance. The partnership agreement, which Washington and Kabul have been discussing for more than a year, will be the framework for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan after foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014. Without a pact that keeps U.S. advisors or special forces here, there is a danger that civil war could erupt again in Afghanistan because ill-trained Afghan forces would be unable to keep insurgents at bay. The Kandahar violence came just days after the United States and Afghanistan signed a deal on the gradual transfer of a major U.S.-run detention centre to Afghan authorities, overcoming one of the main sticking points in the partnership negotiations. Afghanistan wants a timeline to take over detention centres and for the United States and NATO to agree to end night raids on Afghan homes as preconditions for signing the pact. Civilian deaths are one of the main sources of tension between Kabul and Washington. U.S. officials warned of possible reprisal attacks after the villagers were killed in the likely "rogue" shooting. Washington has rushed to distance the shootings from the efforts of the 90,000-strong U.S. force but faces growing criticism at home and abroad about its conduct of the war. "The U.S. Embassy in Kabul alerts U.S. citizens in Afghanistan that as a result of a tragic shooting incident in Kandahar province involving a U.S. service member, there is a risk of anti-American feelings and protests in coming days, especially in the eastern and southern provinces," the embassy said in an emergency statement on its website. "NIGHT-TIME MASSACRE" Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, who were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001. Southern and eastern provinces have seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The U.S. embassy said on its Twitter feed that restrictions had been placed on the movements of its personnel in the south. A sharp increase in attacks on U.S. troops by Afghan forces followed the Koran burning. Sunday's incident in Kandahar was one of the worst of its kind, witnesses describing it as a "night-time massacre" that killed nine children and three women. Villagers in three houses were attacked and many civilians were wounded, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. U.S. President Barack Obama called Karzai, promising a quick investigation and to hold accountable anyone responsible for an incident he called "tragic and shocking". But Afghans are tired of American apologies. Such incidents are often quickly exploited by insurgents and the Afghan Taliban said it would take revenge. "The Kandahar shootings will give the Taliban the chance to prove to Afghans that they are the freedom fighters and the Americans are the evil ones," said Waheed Mujhda of the Afghan Analysts Network. Sunday's attack may also harden a growing consensus in Washington about what can be accomplished in Afghanistan. The bill for the war has already exceeded $500 billion and more than 1,900 U.S. troops have been killed, with the total number of foreign troops killed approaching 3,000. "These killings only serve to reinforce the mindset that the whole war is broken and that there's little we can do about it beyond trying to cut our losses and leave," said Joshua Foust, a security expert with the American Security Project. Karzai, whose relationship with his Western backers is fraught at the best of times, condemned the rampage as "intentional murders" and demanded an explanation. Karzai's office released a statement quoting a villager as saying "American soldiers woke my family up and shot them in the face". There were conflicting accounts of how many U.S. soldiers were involved, with witness accounts saying there were several. Officials from the U.S. embassy, ISAF and from Washington said it appeared there was only one. An ISAF spokesman said the lone U.S. soldier "walked back to the base and turned himself in to U.S. forces this morning". The detained soldier was described by U.S. officials as a staff sergeant who was married with three children. He had served three Iraq tours but was on his first Afghan deployment.

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Death Toll in Homs Rises

Claims and counterclaims of fresh killings in Syria’s battered central city of Homs emerged on Monday, a day after a United Nations envoy ended two days of meetings with President Bashar al-Assad without securing a deal to end the nearly year-old conflict. Related Military Points to Risks of a Syrian Intervention (March 12, 2012) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors With heavy shelling reported at the weekend in the northern province of Idlib, activist groups quoted in news reports said a dozen and possibly as many as 45 people, including children, died overnight. Activist videos posted online purported to attest to the killing and mutilation of children and six dead adults were shown covered with sheets, The Associated Press reported. But, in a counterclaim reflecting a propaganda war accompanying the bloody crackdown on dissent, the SANA state news agency on Monday accused “the terrorist armed groups” — code for the government’s armed opponents and army defectors — of responsibility. “The terrorist armed groups have kidnapped scores of civilians in the city of Homs, central Syria, killed, and mutilated their corpses and filmed them to be shown by media outlets. A media source asserted that the footage of the corpses presented by some satellite TV stations belong to the civilians, who were kidnapped by the terrorist armed groups,” SANA said. The Syrian government routinely refers to its opponents, including armed men, army defectors and protesters, as terrorists. The conflicting versions agreed only on one point: that more civilians had died, adding to the United Nations estimate of some 7,500 since the crackdown began a year ago in what has become the bloodiest of the Arab uprisings. The continued bloodletting offered a grim backdrop to the just-ended mission of the peace envoy, Kofi Annan, a former secretary general of the United Nations, whose efforts to seek a negotiated settlement were endorsed by both the United Nations and the Arab League. As he left Syria, he said he remained optimistic about the possibility of an agreement, but he acknowledged the difficulties. “You have to start by stopping the killing and the misery and the abuse that is going on today and then give time for a political settlement,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “It’s going to be difficult, but we have hope.” In a statement released by his office after the meeting, Mr. Annan said that he had left several proposals with Syrian officials. He said he asked Mr. Assad to acknowledge the new realities of his country, citing an African proverb: “You cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail.” A diplomat close to the talks said, “The ball is in Assad’s court,” adding that Mr. Annan would also try to persuade the fractured Syrian opposition to form a more united front. Mr. Annan flew to Qatar on Sunday for talks with that country’s emir, a leading critic of the Syrian government who has called for arming the rebels. For the moment, Mr. Assad has shown little interest in a political settlement, nor have many of his opponents. Mr. Assad told Mr. Annan on Saturday that no political deal was possible while “armed terrorists” were operating in the country. Many of his opponents have said that Mr. Assad must step down before any negotiations take place. Arab League officials were hoping that a peace plan agreed to on Saturday between Arab foreign ministers and Russia could pave the way for a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. In the proposal, Arab League members dropped their demand that Mr. Assad step down and said there should be no “foreign interference” in the conflict, meeting some of the demands of Russia and China, which have vetoed previous resolutions.  The league’s secretary general, Nabil al-Araby, is scheduled to meet with a Chinese official next week, his office said.  The Syrian military offensive continued Sunday in Idlib, according to activists there. Shelling in the area, which started before dawn, could be heard miles away in Turkey, The Associated Press reported. An activist reached by Skype in Idlib Province said that the army stormed the village of Janoudiyah, near the city of Jisr al-Shoughour, and several neighborhoods in Idlib city. The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group, said at least one child was killed during the shelling of Janoudiyah. The death could not immediately be confirmed. Residents have been fleeing the area for weeks, fearing that the government would focus on Idlib after a monthlong siege of the city of Homs, another stronghold of armed opponents of Mr. Assad’s government. People who have not been able to stay with relatives in Syria have fled to Turkey. On Sunday, one of the refugees, a 23-year-old man, died trying to cross a river near the border, according to a soldier who had defected. “We’re trying to pick up his body with iron bars,” the soldier said by Skype. “Our attempts are failing because of continuous shooting. The water is so deep.” The SANA state news agency said that a well-known boxer, Ghaith Tayfour, was assassinated on Sunday in the northern city of Aleppo. The agency said that gunmen opened fire on Mr. Tayfour’s car as he passed Aleppo University, hitting him five times in the head. Though Aleppo has been mostly spared from violence during the conflict, assassinations have become more frequent. Opposition fighters associated with the rebel Free Syrian Army have claimed responsibility for some of the killings, including of prominent businessmen who they say support Mr. Assad’s government.

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US soldier has killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children,

A US soldier has killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, after entering their homes in Kandahar. Sky sources said the Afghan victims also included women and elderly men. Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid, who is investigating the incident, said the soldier entered three homes, killing 11 people in the first one. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) coalition confirmed the incident but did not release the number of killed or injured. Sky defence reporter Mark Stone said: "Details are still sketchy and various death tolls have emerged. "It appears to be an isolated incident and the soldier is believed to have been a staff sergeant." Isaf Deputy Commander Lt Gen Adrian Bradshaw said: "I wish to convey my profound regrets and dismay at the actions apparently taken by one coalition member in Kandahar province. "I cannot explain the motivation behind such callous acts, but they were in no way part of authorised ISAF military activity." According to the Panjwai district governor office, seven people died and up to 17 injured were injured in the rampage. The injured have been treated for their wounds at Nato medical facilities. Protests were held over the Koran-burning incident The US embassy in Kabul attempted to quell expected Afghan unrest by also issuing an apology. It said: "We deplore any attack by a member of the US armed forces against innocent civilians, and denounce all violence against civilians. "We assure the people of Afghanistan that the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice." The diplomatic response comes after weeks of tense relations between US forces and their Afghan hosts following the burning of Korans and other religious materials at an American base. Although US officials apologised and said the burning was an accident, the incident sparked violent protests and attacks. Britain also pulled out civilian advisers from buildings in Kabul as protests spread. Six American soldiers have been killed in attacks by their Afghan colleagues since the Koran burnings came to light.

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United States service member walked out of a military base in a rural district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday and opened fire on three nearby houses, killing at least 15 civilians

 

United States service member walked out of a military base in a rural district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday and opened fire on three nearby houses, killing at least 15 civilians, local villagers and provincial officials said. Related Security Fears Lead Groups to Rethink Work in Afghanistan (March 11, 2012) U.S. and Afghanistan Agree on Prisoner Transfer as Part of Long-Term Agreement (March 10, 2012) Afghan Officer Sought in Killing of 9 Colleagues (March 9, 2012) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors Readers’ Comments Share your thoughts. Post a Comment » Read All Comments (1) » The shooting risks further inciting anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and troubling a relationship that had already been brought to a new low by the burning of Korans at an American military base last month. The American embassy in Afghanistan quickly issued a statement on Sunday urging calm. The NATO-led coalition said in a statement on Sunday that a United States service member had been detained after an incident in Kandahar Province, in the south of the country, and that a number of civilians had been killed. Villagers in Belandi in the Panjway district of Kandahar, where the shooting took place, said the service member had attacked three houses, killing 11 people in one house and four in a second home. Five other villagers were wounded, they said. Panjway, a rural suburb of Kandahar, was traditionally a Taliban stronghold. It was a focus of the United States surge in 2010 and was the scene of heavy fighting. The governor of Kandahar Province, Tooryalai Wesa, condemned the shooting, although he could not immediately confirm the number of people killed. A coalition spokesman in Kabul, Capt. Justin Brockhoff, said that it was not clear what had led to the incident. He said the civilians wounded in the shooting were taken to a coalition hospital where they were being treated. One of the houses attacked in the village belonged to a tribal elder, according to a person from the village. “We don’t know why he killed people,” said the villager, Aminullah, who like many Afghans goes by a single name. Aminullah said the soldier was alone. “There was no fighting or attacks.” In the statement, the United States military raced to head off Afghan outrage. “This is a deeply regrettable incident and we extend our thoughts and concerns to the families involved,” the statement said. It went on to say that American forces, in cooperation with the Afghan authorities, would investigate the incident. In its comments, the American Embassy also sought to ease tensions, offering “its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of today’s tragic shooting.” “We are saddened by this violent act against our Afghan friends,” the statement said. In a separate incident, four Afghans were killed and three wounded on Friday when coalition helicopters apparently hunting Taliban insurgents fired instead on villagers in Kapisa province in eastern Afghanistan, according to Abdul Hakim Akhondzada, governor of Tagab district in Kapisa. Last month, the burning of the Korans touched off nationwide rioting and increased the targeting of American troops, resulting in at least 29 Afghans dead and 6 American soldiers killed. The results of the official military inquiry into the Koran burnings are still awaited, including any decision on what kind of disciplinary action may be faced by the American service members identified as being directly linked to the incident. The upheaval provoked by the Koran burnings put a temporary halt to cooperation between the Afghans and Americans, and disrupted planning for the military withdrawal. But relations seemed somewhat back on track after the two governments on Friday broke an impasse on a long-term strategic partnership deal by agreeing for the Afghans to assume control of the main coalition prison in six months. In another incident in January, American officials had to contend with the fallout from a video that showed four United States Marines urinating on the corpses of what appeared to be the corpses of three Taliban members. In 2010, a rogue group of American soldiers, whose members patrolled roads and small villages, also near Kandahar, killed three Afghan civilians for sport in a series of crimes. The soldier accused of being the ringleader of the group was convicted of three counts of murder by an American military panel in November.

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Stalking to become a crime for 1st time with offenders facing up to 5 years in jail

Stalking is to become a crime for the first time, with offenders facing jail for up to five years and unlimited fines. After decades of debate, David Cameron will announce today that the Government is to change the law to protect tens of thousands of victims let down by the system. Currently, police must wait until  suspects commit another crime – such as harassment or breaching a restraining order – before they act. Scroll down for video Beauty consultant Clare Bernal, 22, was shot dead in Harvey Nichols by her former boyfriend Slovakian Michael Pech, 30, who she had dated for just two weeks. Pech on bail was awaiting sentence for breaching a restraining order and harassment of Clare when he shot her four times before turning the gun on himself As a result, only 2 per cent of stalkers are jailed, with the maximum sentence being six months if pursued under the Protection from Harassment Act. Mr Cameron will unveil plans to reform the law at Downing Street alongside Tricia Bernal, whose daughter Clare was shot dead by her former boyfriend in a Harvey Nichols store in Knightsbridge.     Also at No 10 today will be Claire Waxman, who was subjected to an eight-year campaign of harassment by Elliot Fogel. The former Sky Sports news producer stalked his ex-classmate for nearly a decade, Googling her name 40,000 times in a year and posing as a prospective parent at her child’s nursery. He was finally jailed for two years after breaching a restraining order. Tricia Bernal, pictured with her daughter Clare who was shot dead by Pech on September 13, 2005, will appear alongside David Cameron when he announces changes to the law today Mr Cameron will say today: ‘Stalking is an abhorrent crime. It makes life a living hell for the victims – breaking up relationships, forcing the victims to move house, making them feel they are being watched 24 hours of the day. ‘That is why we are criminalising stalking, to make sure justice is done, protect the victims and show that stalking is a crime.’ A Downing Street source added: ‘Stalking will carry a sentence of six months and stalking with violence a maximum of five years.’ Cross-party MPs who examined the existing law concluded it was not fit for purpose. Even stalkers  who had broken into victims’ homes or threatened to kill them escaped with community punishments and suspended sentences. The British Crime Survey suggests 120,000 people are stalked a year, with many claiming their concerns are not taken seriously by the authorities.   Some stalkers who continually flout restraining orders go on to murder their victims, according  to probation officers’ union Napo. CLARE BERNAL WAS SHOT FOUR TIMES BY HER  STALKER Beauty consultant Clare Bernal, 22, was shot dead by a stalker she briefly dated while working at the Knightsbridge Harvey Nichols store. Clare dated 30-year-old Slovakian Michael Pech, a former security guard at the department store, for just three weeks. But after they broke up Pech started following her, pestering her with phone calls, standing outside her house and bombarding her with text messages. Her mother Tricia Bernal has told how Clare felt she had no where to turn, couldn't sleep at night and became physical exhausted from the constant harassment.    He was arrested for breaking a restraining order and found guilty of harassment but while awaiting sentence he went to Slovakia and bought a gun. On September 13, 2005, just as Harvey Nichols was due to close, he walked up behind Clare and shot her four times in the head before turning the gun on himself. Mrs Bernal, from Tunbridge Wells, last night welcomed moves to strengthen laws against stalkers to prevent anyone suffering the way her daughter did.

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Police divers search for head and limbs of Gemma McCluskie

Frogmen from Scotland Yard's Marine Support Unit are in Regent's Canal in Hackney, east London, where the torso was found this week. Ms McCluskie's brother Tony is thought to have been arrested yesterday at his home in Bethnal Green, east London, where he lives with his mother and where his sister disappeared from last week. His mobile phone number was among those that appeared on a missing person's poster he himself helped circulate around the local area when Ms McCluskie disappeared. The limbless corpse was dragged from Regent's Canal by the Metropolitan police, with sources indicating it had been identified as 29-year-old Ms McCluskie. Relatives and former co-stars were said to be 'fearing the worst' while awaiting official results of forensic tests. Police sources said the unclothed body's arms, legs and head had been hacked off before it was found floating in the waterway. 'At this early stage officers believe they know the identity of the victim but must await further forensic tests before formal identification can take place,' a Met spokeswoman said. 'Police were initially contacted by a member of the public who had noticed something suspicious floating in the water. The torso was recovered by divers from the Met's Marine Support Unit (MSU) and additional searches are due to be carried out in the water.' The actress, who played Kerry Skinner for 30 episodes in 2001, had been missing since March 1, sparking a frantic search. Past and present cast members on the flagship BBC1 soap including Martine McCutcheon, Brooke Kinsella and Natalie Cassidy had appealed for information about the actress via Twitter and other social networking websites. Brooke Ms Kinsella tweeted: 'Please get in touch if you have seen her.' Ms McCluskie's brother Danny said her family was 'going out of our mind with worry' after she disappeared from her home in Bethnal Green last week. 'Her phone has been switched off since Thursday afternoon,' he said. 'We've not heard from her.' More than 100 people helped carry out a search for Ms McCluskie, with posters being put in shops and pubs while leaflets were handed out. A statement from Scotland Yard issued after the body was found said: 'A body was found in Regents Canal near Broadway Market in East London at 2.40pm. 'Enquiries are underway to establish the identity of the deceased. A post-mortem will be scheduled to ascertain the cause of death. 'Pending that post-mortem we will be treating the death as unexplained.'

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The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb that killed six British soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb that killed six British soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan, saying they were "very proud of it".

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From top left: Sergeant Nigel Coupe, Corporal Jake Hartley and Private Anthony Frampton. From bottom left: Private Christopher Kershaw, Private Daniel Wade and Private Daniel Wilford Photo: MOD

Sources had already indicated the device that killed the six men – five of whom were under the age of 22 – was not a legacy bomb but one planted "recently".

They were named today as Sgt Nigel Coupe, 33, Pte Christopher Kershaw, 19, and Pte Daniel Wade, 20, Cpl Jake Hartley, 20, Pte Anthony Frampton, 20, and Pte Daniel Wilford, 21.

In a statement on their website, the Taliban said: "Mujahedeen (holy warriors) of the Islamic emirate have reported that a landmine of mujahedeen blew apart a tank of British invading forces in Greshk district.

"All the invaders on board were incinerated."

One told the BBC the insurgents were "very proud" of the attack.

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Six dead UK soldiers set to be named

Six British soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan by a Taliban bomb are to be named by the Ministry of Defence later. Five from 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment died while on patrol on Tuesday. It is the biggest single loss of UK life in Afghanistan since 2006. Meanwhile, head of the Armed Forces General Sir David Richards has told the Times the UK will "hold its nerve" in Afghanistan. He said the British military strategy would remain unchanged, with service personnel set to continue combat operations in the region until the end of 2014. The deaths took the number of British military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001 to 404. More information has emerged about Wednesday's incident. 'Powerful bomb' Senior army and intelligence officials in Helmand province told the BBC: "It was a joint Afghan National Army and British patrol from 215 Core of ANA - there was a distance between our vehicles. "It was a powerful bomb which had been planted recently. This area close to Kandahar's Maywand district is a major Taliban criss-crossing terrain - the Taliban fighters have been moving from this area from Kandahar's Panjwai to Maywand and than to Helmand province - they also would go from Helmand into Kandahar province.'' An Afghan intelligence official with the country's spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, told the BBC: "The patrols in this area were meant to deny and deprive the Taliban from movement from Kandahar into Helmand and from Helmand into Kandahar. "They knew that for quite some time that there was an increase in Taliban presence in the area, they had been active and present in the area and had been planting roadside bombs." General Richards said the progress made since entering the country in the wake of the 9/11 attacks was "truly impressive". He said: "As progress continues the work of our servicemen and women will draw down but our efforts will endure. "Sadly, as we hold that course it is likely that others will lose loved ones." Some of the soldiers' colleagues spoke to the BBC last month of their fears about being posted to Afghanistan. He added that he and his troops do not "underestimate the dangers" faced in Afghanistan, but understood "the importance of the mission with which we are charged". "We will hold our nerve," he said. His comments echoed sentiments expressed by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond who said the timetable for withdrawal remained on track despite this "cowardly attack". "This will not shake our resolve to see through the mission - I believe we owe that to all the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives and put themselves at risk over the last few years," he told the BBC. The dead soldiers have now been returned to Camp Bastion in Helmand. Prime Minister David Cameron said the deaths marked a "desperately sad day for our country". "Every death and every injury reminds us of the human cost paid by our armed forces to keep our country safe," he said, at the start of Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the six soldiers were on a security patrol in a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle when it was caught in an explosion in Kandahar province.. The BBC understands that the area was sparsely populated and particularly unstable, with insurgents known to have planted roadside bombs there. BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the six soldiers had been in the country for less than a month. Most of the 9,500 UK troops in Afghanistan are expected to be withdrawn by the end of 2014, when 13 years of combat operations in the country are set to cease.

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Iran apparently cleaning up secret nuclear work, diplomats say

Satellite images of an Iranian military facility appear to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating an attempted cleanup of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The assertions from the diplomats, all nuclear experts accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could add to the growing international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

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Blast kills six British soldiers as toll passes 400

Six British soldiers are missing, believed killed, after a massive explosion in Afghanistan. The losses mark a new and violent milestone in the war amid indications that the attack was carried out by insurgents using a bomb of an unusually large size. Click here to see the 'British troop deaths' graphics The deaths were the largest number resulting from action in a single incident since British forces were deployed 11 years ago, and took the total number of fatalities to more than 400. The men were on patrol in a hazardous area on the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces when the Warrior armoured personnel carrier they were travelling in was blown up. The ferocity of the blast flipped the vehicle upside down and sheared off the gun turret, starting a fire which ignited ammunition stored inside. The soldiers, five from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, were just a week into their tour of duty. Troops in a second vehicle which was left relatively undamaged attempted to get to those inside the stricken Warrior, but were beaten back by flames and the risk of secondary explosions. Other forces which arrived soon after the initial reports of what had happened on Tuesday spent most of the night gathering remains and returning them to their base at Camp Bastion. The commander of Task Force Helmand, Brigadier Patrick Sanders, said the Warrior involved in the blast suffered "catastrophic damage". The armoured personnel carriers, used extensively by forces on frontline duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, were due for a billion-pound upgrade, including equipment which would allow greater flexibility on attaching armour, announced by David Cameron last autumn. The measure was taken after concern about the protection provided against IEDs (improvised explosive devices) was first raised in 2007 when four soldiers were killed in Iraq by a bomb which ripped apart the underside of their vehicle. At their inquest, David Masters, the coroner for Wiltshire, said he would be raising the issue with then Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth. The Prime Minister said last October: "It's a £1bn investment – 90 per cent of the jobs and the work are going to be done here in the UK. That's good for the economy, it's good for our Armed Forces but only possible because we made difficult decisions." A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said last night: "The focus of the £1bn Warrior upgrade announced last year was to install a new 40mm cannon, add standard armour enhancements to allow for flexible detachable armour in the future and to extend the Warrior's life in service. Warrior has been upgraded throughout its service in Iraq and Afghanistan to tackle the threat from IEDs and mines. Warrior provides some of the highest levels of protection available but sadly no armoured vehicle can provide absolute protection from the very largest explosions." The latest fatalities raise the number of UK military personnel killed in Afghanistan to 404. Until now, the highest number killed in one attack was in July 2009, when five British soldiers died in an IED blast in Sangin, and November of the same year, when five more were shot dead by an Afghan policeman they were training at base Blue 25 in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand province. A total of 14 servicemen died in an accident when their Nimrod aircraft crashed in 2004. Mr Cameron said yesterday: "This is a desperately sad day for our country and desperately sad of course for the families concerned. It is a reminder of the huge price that we are paying for the work we are doing in Afghanistan and the sacrifice that our troops have made and continue to make." Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said: "This is a dark day. We salute all of our fallen and those who continue to serve in the face of the gravest danger." General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said he was "deeply saddened" by the news. "The courage, fortitude and determination of those servicemen and women currently in Helmand is inspirational," he said. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said his heart went out to those affected. Helmand attack area was meant to be safe The blast that killed the British servicemen occurred in an area which the Taliban consider their heartland but which was supposedly "cleared" of insurgents in a series of operations by US, British and Afghan forces. The attack shows the ease with which Afghan fighters are able to return and place improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at relatively little risk to themselves but with lethal impact. Western and Afghan officials insist that large numbers of bombs have been recovered after tip-offs from locals. But although the Talibs had previously been driven away from the border area between Helmand and Kandahar, they have repeatedly returned and been able to set up bases, either because residents of the sparsely-populated hamlets are intimidated, or because they actually support the Taliban. Local people are aware that Nato troops will be leaving soon, and there is uncertainty about the ability of Afghan security forces to protect them from the insurgents in the aftermath. There is also confusion caused by statements from the government of Hamid Karzai and Western states about negotiating with the Taliban, and what degree of power the Islamists will hold in the future.

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