Petraeus: Al-Qaida attacks down 60 percent
BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- While al-Qaida in Mesopotamia remains the major terrorist threat in Iraq, attacks are down by 60 percent since June, the top U.S. commander said Saturday.
Giving reporters a summary of the year, Gen. David Petraeus said both military and civilian deaths are down, The New York Times reported.
"The level of attacks for about the last 11 weeks or so has been one not seen consistently since the late spring and summer of 2005," he said. "The number of high-profile attacks, that is car bombs, suicide car bombs and suicide vest attacks, is also down, also roughly 60 percent."
The "high-profile attacks" peaked in March.
At another briefing, a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry said coalition forces have reduced al-Qaida's capacity by 75 percent by rolling up networks and destroying safe houses.
Petraeus acknowledged that al-Qaida remains active in northern Iraq, including the city of Mosul.
Dispute about Bhutto's death continues
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The Pakistan People's Party is free to have Benazir Bhutto's body exhumed if it wants to settle doubts about how she died, a government spokesman said Saturday.
The government suggests the former prime minister was killed when her head hit the sunroof of her car, fracturing her skull. Leaders of Bhutto's party accuse the government of trying to downplay the assassination and insist she was hit by bullets.
Sherry Rehman, the party's information secretary, said she saw the bullet wounds, CNN reported. She called the government's version "the most bizarre dangerous nonsense."
"We don't mind if the People's Party leadership wants her body to be exhumed and post-mortemed," Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema said. "They are most welcome, but we gave you what the facts are."
Videotape of the assassination Thursday show a man firing three times at Bhutto's vehicle, followed shortly thereafter by the explosion as a suicide bomber set off his belt.
Report: Bhutto's will details PPP's future
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Benazir Bhutto's husband said Saturday the slain Pakistani opposition leader has left a will detailing her instructions for the Pakistan People's Party.
Asif Zardari said his wife, who was assassinated Thursday, had left written instructions on how her political party should move forward in the future, the Press Trust of India reported.
"She has left a message for the party and she has left a will and we will make it public tomorrow," Zardari said.
"We have called for a meeting and her will will be read out there and the instructions she has left will be read out there."
Zardari, who also detailed the impact the loss of his wife has had on him personally, said he would consider succeeding her as the head of the PPP given the right circumstances.
"It depends on the party and depends on the will," he said.
Kenyan presidential vote count delayed
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Challenger Raila Odinga accused President Mwai Kibaki of delaying the vote count Saturday to rig Kenya's election results.
Odinga was ahead 57 percent to 39 percent in preliminary results released Friday. But Saturday, his lead was down to less than 40,000 votes, the BBC reported.
Officials with the electoral commission said final results would not be released until Sunday.
The delay helped fuel ethnic violence between the two largest tribes. Kibaki is a Kikuyu, a member of the tribe that has dominated Kenya since independence, while Odinga is from the second-largest tribe, the Luo.
Police used tear gas and fired warning shots at protesters.
Early vote tallies indicated the majority of parliamentarians lost their seats, including Vice President Moody Awor and most of Kibaki's cabinet.
The electoral commission said more than 70 percent of the 14 million Kenyans voted in the election.
