LTTE political chief killed
Tamil Tiger spokesmen have confirmed that SP Thamilselvan, the leader of the rebel group's political wing of the Tamil Tigers, has been killed in an air-raid by Sri Lankan forces. Thamilselvan had a wealth of negotiating experience, and his death will come as a stiff blow to the rebels.
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As Iraq meets with its neighbours to explore ways of improving internal security, discussions have been overshadowed by the growing crisis along the Turkey-Iraq border, where Turkish troops are poised to invade and flush out dug-in Kurdish rebels.
Hawkish Turkish commentators suggest that the main Kurdish political party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP), is distancing itself from Turkish Kurds by refusing to condemn Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) "terrorists".
As the economic, political and cultural conditions of life in the Kurdish areas of Turkey have improved, support for the PKK has waned.
Iraqi Kurds are braced for potentially devastating sanctions placed on their autonomous region by Ankara for Erbil's failure to handle PKK rebels hiding in its territory.
Radio Mullah tunes in
Maulana Fazlullah, the firebrand radio cleric leading the insurgency in the valley of Swat in northwestern Pakistan, has demanded that Pakistani troops withdraw from the area ahead of possible negotiations.
Militants in Swat paraded 48 Pakistani paramilitaries captured in recent fighting.
A US military drone struck a religious madrasa affiliated with al-Qaida in Waziristan, killing five people.
According to a World Public Opinion poll, 60% of Pakistanis believe that "sharia" should play a larger role in Pakistani life.
Here for the long haul Countries mentioned in today's security brief:
- Turkey
- Iraq
- Iran
- USA
- Russia
- India
- Pakistan
- Sri Lanka
General John Abazaid, a former commander of US troops in west Asia, has suggested that the American military will have to be in the region for at least fifty years.
Militants surrender in Assam
A key Assamese insurgent leader, Bhaskar Bora, surrendered along with 67 other militants to Indian authorities.
A little known group fighting for the autonomy of certain hill tribes in Assam ambushed a police convoy, killing seven policemen and pilfering their weapons.
A cataloguing nightmare
The "terrorist watch" list maintained by US federal agencies, and growing at a clip of 20,000 records per month, has come to include all sorts of people, including deadbeat dads. Increasingly unwieldy, the list has made officials ponder whether it is indeed, in this instance, "better to be safe than sorry".
Iran a flimsy excuse
Russian foreign ministry officials have criticised their counterparts for insisting that the "nuclear threat" posed by Iran is an excuse for establishing a missile defence shield. The nuclear "umbrella" that Washington seeks to open above much of Europe and the western hemisphere is seen in Moscow as an aggressive move against Russia.
Russian investigators have found a suspect thought to be involved in the Wednesday bombing on a bus in the city of Togliatti which killed eight and injured 50 people, mostly students.
