Bhutto murder-case prosecutor shot dead in Islamabad Gunmen have shot dead the prosecutor investigating the murder of Pakistan's ex-leader Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007. Police said Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was ambushed as he was being driven from his Islamabad home to a court hearing in the Bhutto case in Rawalpindi. Police have not speculated on a reason for the shooting. Chaudhry Zulfiqar was also the top prosecutor in a case related to the attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008. Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been accused of failing to provide adequate security for Ms Bhutto at the time of her death. Mr Musharraf, who recently returned to Pakistan after living abroad, is being held under house arrest while the claims against him are investigated. He denies the allegations. Nobody has ever been convicted over the murder of Ms Bhutto. Police said Chaudhry Zulfiqar was on his way to the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi for a hearing on Friday morning when his car was ambushed The killing of a top prosecutor of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency has brought into focus the complex security situation in Pakistan. The killers are not yet known, but the speculation has already started. The suspected culprits include the Pakistani secret services, or jihadi organisations. As the former director of FIA and currently its chief public prosecutor, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali spearheaded investigations into two high profile cases: the Benazir Bhutto murder, and the Mumbai bombings. He was the main person who pushed the court to expedite proceedings against five members of the Pakistani Taliban faction called the TTP, detained for Ms Bhutto's murder. He also initiated the move to arrest Pervez Musharraf, in the same case, an unprecedented move that reportedly angered some quarters in the military. Besides, he was close to submitting final evidence against seven members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, being held in connection with the 2008 Mumbai killings. The evidence included planning, training and money-transfer trails in Pakistan that culminated in the Mumbai attacks. The attackers sprayed the car with bullets, badly injuring the prosecutor. He later died in hospital. A woman pedestrian was also killed when Chaudhry Zulfiqar's driver lost control of the car. The attackers fled the scene. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that lawyers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have announced a strike over the killing. The claims against Mr Musharraf date back several years. A UN inquiry in 2010 found that Ms Bhutto's murder could have been prevented, and that Mr Musharraf's government did not provide her with proper security. Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for him in February 2011. He had been in self-imposed exile for several years, but returned to Pakistan in March to try to stand in the forthcoming election. When the authorities arrested Mr Musharraf last week, Chaudhry Zulfiqar described the accusations as aiding and abetting Ms Bhutto's killing. Mr Musharraf had blamed Ms Bhutto's killing on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. Mr Musharraf's political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, condemned the prosecutor's killing. "We vehemently condemn Chaudhry Zulfiqar's murder by armed attackers and seek immediate investigation into the incident which may affect Pervez Musharraf's trial in Benazir case," said party spokesman Muhammad Amjad. Chaudhry Zulfiqar was also pursuing seven suspected militants over the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was blamed for the attacks, in which 166 people were killed. delectus
Bangladesh building collapse death toll passes 500 The death toll from the collapse of an eight-storey factory building near the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, has passed 500, officials say. Another 29 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the Rana Plaza building in Savar overnight, bringing the total to 507, the army said. Scores of workers are still unaccounted for. Nine people have been arrested. It is Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster and has sparked anger among workers in the country. The previous most deadly structural failure in modern times - excluding the 9/11 terror attacks in New York - was the Sampoong department store in Seoul, South Korea, in 1995, in which 502 people died. Late on Thursday, Bangladeshi police arrested another engineer in connection with the disaster. They say Abdur Razzak Khan acted as a consultant for Rana Plaza owner Mohammed Sohel Rana, who is suspected of illegally adding more floors to the building. My daughter... was working in that factory on the fourth floor, she joined three months ago, there's no trace of her as yet” Correspondents say the arrest came as a surprise, as Mr Khan was the engineer who had warned that the complex was unsafe. Bangladeshi media reported that he had been called to inspect the building after it developed cracks the day before the collapse on 24 April. He appeared on a private TV station saying he had told the owners to evacuate the building because it was not safe, according to the reports. He said he had told government engineers that the building should be examined further. Two other engineers are also in custody, along with the building's owner Mohammed Sohel Rana, his father Abdul Khalek and four owners of garment factories that occupied the building. Officials say about 2,500 people were injured in the collapse and that 2,437 people have been rescued. No survivors have been found in the past four days but many relatives are still waiting at the scene clutching photographs of their loved ones. One woman, named only as Bulbila, said she was still waiting for news of her daughter. "The name of my daughter is Mallika. She was working in that factory on the fourth floor, she joined three months ago, there's no trace of her as yet," she said. Families of the missing are still waiting to claim their bodies. Many bodies that were badly damaged and decomposed beyond recognition have gone unclaimed and have already been buried, officials say. Rescuers say they do not know how many people are still missing as factory owners have not given them precise figures. On Thursday, garment factories across Bangladesh reopened for the first time since the collapse last week. Workers had been holding daily protests demanding tough punishment for those responsible and better factory safety standards. There were violent clashes with police and some factories had to be placed under guard. Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, and some of the clothes produced in the building were made for Western retailers. The EU has said it is considering "appropriate action" to encourage an improvement in working conditions in Bangladesh factories. It said its actions may include the use of its trade preference system, which gives Bangladesh duty- and quota-free access to EU markets. sphygmic
Boston Marathon suspects 'planned 4 July attack' The Boston Marathon bombing suspects initially planned to attack the city's 4 July Independence Day celebrations, US media have reported. But they finished making the bombs more quickly than expected at Tamerlan Tsarnaev's home, anonymous US officials are quoted as saying. It is unclear if they planned to target a specific event, but Boston hosts major 4 July festivities each year. Meanwhile, the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been claimed by family. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety confirmed a funeral home hired by his relatives picked up the remains on Thursday. Cause of death The suspect's widow, Katherine Russell, gave consent a day earlier for the body to be released. His uncle Ruslan Tsarni, who lives in the state of Maryland, said on Tuesday night the family would take the remains. The medical examiner has said the older Tsarnaev brother's cause of death has been determined, but the information will not be released until a death certificate has been filed. It was unclear if that had happened on Thursday evening. Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell, has been staying with her parents in Rhode Island Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died after a gun battle with police during which he was run over by his younger brother as he fled the scene in a vehicle, police have said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was later captured and is recovering in a prison hospital from gunshot wounds, reportedly told FBI investigators of the plan for a 4 July attack. The 19-year-old also told interrogators that the two of them had initially considered suicide attacks, the New York Times reports. Instead they decided to use pressure-cookers to make the two bombs they allegedly detonated on 15 April near the finish line of the race, killing three people and wounding 264. Also according to the newspaper, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators he and his brother had listened to internet sermons by Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born al-Qaeda suspect killed in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen. The surviving brother faces a possible death sentence if convicted for his alleged role in the Boston attack. Tamerlan Tsarnaev lived with his wife and their young daughter in an apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Police have said they found bomb material at the residence. The FBI has removed evidence, including DNA samples, from the Rhode Island home of Katherine Russell's parents, where she has been staying since her husband's death. Her lawyers say she did not know much about her husband's activities because she spent most of her time outside the home working as a health aide while he watched their child. Three of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's college friends appeared in court on Wednesday, accused of obstructing the police investigation into the attacks. Police say Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev - both from Kazakhstan - threw away the suspect's backpack after realising he was one of the bombers. Robel Phillipos, a US citizen, is accused of lying to investigators. The backpack was recovered at a landfill site. A lawyer for Mr Kadyrbayev told CNN his client had turned over the laptop to the FBI, but did not specify when. threnodic
Sarabjit Singh: Funeral for killed Indian 'spy' to be held The funeral is due to be held for an Indian man convicted of spying in Pakistan and killed in a Pakistani jail, amid mass outrage across India. Big crowds are expected to attend the state funeral of Sarabjit Singh in his home village near the city of Amritsar. Sarabjit Singh - who was sentenced to death by Pakistan in 1991 - died after being attacked with bricks by other inmates in Lahore's jail. Delhi said the attack was "barbaric", demanding the perpetrators be punished. Sarabjit Singh had been sentenced to death for spying and his role in bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Pakistan in 1990. Thousands of people have been arriving at a local school in Bhikhiwind village, in Punjab's Tarn Taran district, since early on Friday to pay their respects to Sarabjit Singh. The rented home where Singh's family lives is too small to accommodate all the visitors, so the authorities decided to move his body to the school courtyard. It's been kept on a platform, draped in the national flag, and visitors can be seen putting flowers on his body. His wife, daughters and sister are sitting nearby, mourning, while some of the visitors raise slogans of "Long live Sarabjit" and "Death to Pakistan". The state government has announced Singh will be cremated with "full state honours" and thousands of policemen have been deployed to ensure security. All roads leading up to the small village on the India-Pakistan border are jammed with people trying to get to the funeral venue. Scheduled for 14:00 India time (08:30GMT), the funeral is expected to be attended by the state chief minister and several other ministers in the state government. Senior leaders of India's governing Congress party are also expected to attend. His family always insisted he was innocent and had strayed into Pakistan by mistake when he was arrested. The issue risks stirring fresh tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours and long-time rivals, correspondents say. Meanwhile a Pakistani prisoner, Sanaullah Haq, has suffered critical head injuries after he was attacked by a fellow inmate at the high-security Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu, in Indian-administered Kashmir. He has been admitted to intensive care at a Jammu hospital and doctors say he is in a coma. Police say Haq has been in prison for the last 17 years on militancy-related charges. His attacker, police say, is a former Indian army soldier convicted of murder. Reports said the attack happened on Friday morning after the two men argued. The body of 49-year-old Sarabjit Singh was flown to Amritsar, northern India, from Lahore on Thursday. Hundreds of grieving people waited at the airport, describing Sarabjit Singh as a "martyr". His death triggered protests in India, as people burned Pakistani flags and accused Islamabad of hatching a conspiracy to kill him. His body will be handed over to his family in the village of Bikhiwind for cremation at 14:00 local time (08:30 GMT) on Friday. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Sarabjit Singh "a brave son of India" and said the attack was "barbaric". "It is particularly regrettable that the government of Pakistan did not heed the pleas of the government of India, Sarabjit's family and of civil society in India and Pakistan to take a humanitarian view of this case," he added. He was referring to mercy petitions which had been rejected by Pakistani courts and former President Pervez Musharraf. Sarabjit Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur called her brother's death "a murder by Pakistan", according to the Associated Press. Ms Kaur said she would continue to fight for the release of other Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails. Espionage accusations Sarabjit Singh fell into a coma after last Friday's attack in Lahore's Jinnah hospital and died on Thursday morning. He was assaulted as he and other prisoners were brought out of their cells for a one-hour break. Sarabjit Singh • Accused of spying and involvement in the 1990 bomb attacks in Lahore and Faisalabad in which 14 people died • Convicted and sentenced to death in 1991 • Pakistan says his real name was Manjit Singh • Campaigners allege his trial was unfair and he confessed under torture • His family says he was a farmer who strayed into Pakistan by mistake while drunk • Delhi unsuccessfully appealed for his release or transfer to India • Died after being attacked by inmates in Lahore's prison Two inmates have been charged over the attack and two officials suspended. The Pakistani foreign ministry said Sarabjit Singh had received "the best treatment available" and that "medical staff at Jinnah Hospital had been working round the clock... to save his life". Tensions between the two countries had already increased in the past six months with the execution in India of Kashmiri Afzul Guru over the 2001 attack on India's parliament, and of Mohammed Ajmal Qasab, a Pakistani who was the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Sarabjit Singh's lawyer Owais Sheikh said his client had received threats after Guru's execution. Pakistan and India frequently arrest each other's citizens, often accusing them of being spies after they have strayed across the land or maritime border. In recent years, several Indians returning from Pakistani jails have admitted to spying. gigantology
retorse
