Base attacker wore Afghan army uniform
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The suicide bomber who killed at least eight U.S. civilians at an Afghan military base used by the CIA wore an Afghan national army uniform, officials said.
The bomber detonated his suicide vest Wednesday at a base in Khost province, killing eight Americans and at least one Afghan civilian, and wounding at least eight other people. Most of the Americans were CIA employees or contractors, The New York Times reported Thursday.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman, used as a CIA operations and surveillance center.
NATO and former U.S. intelligence officials said the use of an army uniform means one of three things -- the uniform was stolen, the bomber was an army official assigned to the base and lost it, or militants have infiltrated the Afghan National Army.
A former CIA official cautioned that early reports from the field could be incorrect. The official told the Times that the final number of dead could be higher because at least six U.S. civilians were wounded.
The attack appeared to be the deadliest event for the U.S. spy agency since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the Times said. Since the intelligence agency was founded in 1947, it has lost 90 officers in the line of duty.
U.N. removes some staff from Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The United Nations, citing safety concerns, removed about a third of its staff from Pakistan despite Pakistani objections, U.N. and government officials said.
U.N. officials said the temporary reduction affected non-essential staff and wouldn't impact operations to help people displaced by fighting between Pakistan's military and Taliban militants or refugees who fled to neighboring Afghanistan, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
"Our main priority is to continue all critical operations and to ensure that all our staff in Pakistan can operate in a safe manner," U.N. officials in New York said when asked about the withdrawal. "We are also in the process of relocating a limited number of international staff for an interim period, many of whom will continue to support our operations in Pakistan from other locations."
In October, a suicide bomber struck a U.N. World Food Program office in Islamabad, killing five workers. Later that same month, an attack on a U.N. guesthouse in Afghanistan left another five people dead.
U.N. officials said about 30 percent of the 250 international workers in Pakistan would be moved. The roughly 2,500 Pakistanis who work for the agency will not be affected.
A source told the Journal the relocation would last at least six months.
A spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Pakistani leaders asked the United Nations to reconsider, arguing that security has improved since the attack on the World Food Program office. He said Pakistan was assured U.N. officials would revisit the plan.
Finnish mall scene of deadly shooting
ESPOO, Finland, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Police said a man found dead Thursday in a shopping center in Espoo, Finland, could be the person suspected of killing five people.
Four people were shot and killed at the Sello shopping mall and a fifth victim -- a former girlfriend of the suspect -- was found dead in an apartment in Espoo, west of Helsinki, Finland Broadcasting Co., YLE, reported.
Police identified the suspect as Ibrahim Shkupolli, whom officials said has had run-ins with law enforcement agencies before.
The shooting spree began Thursday morning. Police said three men and a woman, all mall employees, were killed at the shopping center, which was evacuated and closed.
Witnesses told Helsingin Sanomat they saw numerous emergency vehicles at the mall and commuter trains were not stopping at Leppavaara station, adjacent to the center.
One witness said at least one person was shot in the Prisma grocery store, YLE reported.
Another witness, Kari Harjula, who was in a checkout line at Citymarket, described the situation as "chaotic."
"I started to hear a lot of shouting from the outer doors of Citymarket and Sello, telling everybody to get out," Harjula told the Finnish broadcaster. "The customers and employees were wondering what was going on. Soon some police ran in with riot shields and serious expressions on their faces. They yelled at everybody to get out; that the shopping center was being evacuated."
Avalanches blamed for deaths of 3 climbers
GLASGOW, Scotland, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Three mountain climbers died in two separate avalanches in the Scottish Highlands, rescue officials said.
Two of the victims were climbing in Coire na Ciste on Ben Nevis Wednesday when they were swept away by a snow slide, The Guardian reported Thursday. The third victim died after being engulfed by an avalanche in Torridon near Liathach Ridge.
Two other climbers were rescued by helicopter, the Glasgow Herald reported.
The SportScotland Avalanche Information Service warned climbers of a very high risk of avalanche Wednesday, the Herald reported.
The deaths of the three climbers brought the total number of weather-related fatalities across Britain to six.
Bitter cold and snowy weather has settled over Britain for more than a week, leading to numerous crashes, power interruptions and disruptions in public transportation.
Forecasters predicted heavy snow Thursday for large portions of northern and central Scotland and north Wales, and snow showers in northern England.
Despite warnings of snow and continued frigid temperatures, New Year celebrations in Scotland were gearing up, with up to 80,000 people expected at the annual Edinburgh street party, and 10,000 revelers were expected in Glasgow's George Square, the Guardian said.
Historic Puccini home threatened by flood
VIAREGGIO, Italy, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The historic Tuscan villa of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, a pilgrimage site for opera buffs every year, was under a flood threat Thursday, officials said.
The maestro's turn-of-the-century home on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli, where he lived and wrote such classics as "Tosca," "Turandot" and "La Boheme," faced possible flooding this weekend if the water level continues to rise, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Curators moved antiques, paintings and documents and a wall of sandbags was stacked in front of the villa after torrential Christmas weekend rains raised the lake level to the brink of flooding. However, a civil protection spokesman, Bernardo De Bernardinis, said that the risk of flooding had lessened.
Extra New Year's security in Times Square
NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Thousands of police officers will descend on New York's Times Square Thursday night when revelers flood the streets to ring in 2010, officials say.
The failed attempt to blow up a jetliner near Detroit on Christmas Day has not prompted police to "re-evaluate specifically" the security plans for New Year's Eve, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told The New York Times. But, Kelly said, that event has been factored into what he called a "counterterrorism overlay."
"We assume here that New York is the No. 1 terrorist target in America," Kelly said. "We've done a lot, to my knowledge, even more than any other city in the world, to protect ourselves from a terrorist event."
Streets leading in and out of the square will be blocked with metal barriers and police cars and some subway portals will be shut. Officers with rifles will patrol on rooftops while others, in plainclothes, will mingle with the crowds to search for pickpockets or would-be terrorists. FBI information and intelligence will be shared among New York and New Jersey law enforcement agences.
Authorities have been in a "heightened security posture" since Sept. 11, 2001, said Paul Browne, the chief police spokesman said. Security for each New Year's celebration has been robust, he said, but "not totally predictable."
