Oil companies operating in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier province have halted work following bomb threats from local rebels. The companies involved are Hungary’s MOL and Schlumberger, along with Pakistani firms Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd., Oil and Gas Development Corp. and Pakistan Petroleum, Geo TV reported Sunday.
The private television station reported that local lawmaker Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz said officials of the foreign companies had complained of threatening letters and telephone calls warning of suicide attacks if security personnel at their offices were not removed. He said the companies were thinking of leaving Karak districts where the threats came. Aziz added his Khatak tribe along with others had assured the companies of protection. The region is known to be a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaida activities.
Philippine police find bomb in bus 15 minutes before its timed explosion
08/22/2007
Philippine police found a bomb on a passenger bus in the south of the country. The device was neutralized only 15 minutes before it was timed to explode and just hours after a blast in the territory injured at least 14 people, officials said Wednesday.
A time bomb hidden under a concrete bench exploded in a crowded square in Zamboanga city late Tuesday, wounding at least 14 people. The bomb, staged amid already-tight security in the city, may have been set off by the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group to divert the military's focus from the offensives on nearby Jolo and Basilan islands.
Later Tuesday, police found another bomb on a bus after its passengers disembarked at a crowded terminal in Pagadian city in nearby Zamboanga del Sur province, city police chief Oscar Buenaobra said. The bomb, hidden in a powdered milk can, was found 15 minutes before it was set to explode, and an army ordnance team defused it, Buenaobra said. The bomb was timed to explode at midnight, when the bus was scheduled to arrive at the terminal. The bus driver may have saved lives by arriving early, the police chief said.
"The bomb was supposed to blow up in transit but the driver drove fast. Thanks, God," Buenaobra told The Associated Press by telephone from Pagadian, about 780 kilometers (487 miles) southeast of Manila. He would not immediately speculate on who planted the bomb, but said Muslim rebels had been suspected in an attack on a public market in Pagadian last year.
A security official said the bomb that went off in Zamboanga's Pershing Square late Tuesday resembled those used by Muslim rebel groups, including the Abu Sayyaf. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The two incidents heightened security concerns in Jolo and Basilan where the military has renewed an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf. At least 56 troops and scores of militants have died in three key battles on the islands since last month.
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http://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/22-08-2007/96208-philippines-0
People are asked to be vigilant after detonators were stolen from a Network Rail van in Derbyshire. Thieves took 12 of the yellow disc shaped detonators from the vehicle parked on Gadsby Rise at Nether Heage at about 0520 BST on Wednesday.
The detonators are regularly used on railway lines and contain a small amount of explosive material. They can explode if hit with force or ignited and give off a blast similar to a shotgun firing. Officers have urged anyone with any information on the theft to contact them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/6958991.stm
Bosnia revokes 500 citizenships granted to foreigners
Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08Sarajevo - A special commission of Bosnia-Herzegovina's government has almost completed a revision of citizenships granted to foreign citizens during the country's 1992-1995 war, Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz reported Wednesday quoting a commission official. The head of the commission, Vjekoslav Vukovic said that the government had so far revoked 500 citizenships, while additional checking was underway for another 60 cases.
Most of the people with the revoked Bosnian citizenship - a total of 330 - had not been living in the country for several years already, he said. The rest of them received the decision that their Bosnia- Herzegovina citizenship had been revoked, but they used legal instruments to try to change the government's decision and stay in the country, Vukovic said.
Citizenship was revoked mostly from people from Islamic countries - like Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey - who came to Bosnia-Herzegovina to help Bosnian Muslims fight against Serbs and Croats during the 1992-1995 war.
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Bomb in bus found before it exploded.
Good deal Oorang.