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Three blasts in Baquba kill, injure dozens

BAGHDAD, March 3 (UPI) -- A series of suicide bombings in Iraqi city of Baquba left at least 31 Iraqis dead and dozens more injured Wednesday, officials said.

Two separate car bombings targeting government buildings started the attacks, followed by an attack on a hospital where victims from the initial explosions were being treated, The New York Times reported.

Iraqi officials have warned of an increase in violence as Sunday's parliamentary elections draw closer, the BBC reported. Officials said they plan to lock down the entire country on the day of the elections, banning vehicles from streets and imposing curfews.

Baquba, capital of the ethnically diverse Diyala province, has been the scene of occasional fighting between Islamic militants and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops.

Pakistani military captures al-Qaida caves

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 3 (UPI) -- The Pakistani army says its forces captured a network of caves near the Afghan border built to serve as the hub of the Taliban and al-Qaida.

The caves, located near the village of Damadola in the Bajaur tribal agency, were also used to shelter Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No.2 al-Qaida leader after Osama bin Laden, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

"It was the main hub of militancy where al-Qaida operatives had moved freely," said Pakistani regional commander, Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, who took reporters on a tour of the caves.

The Pakistani army has been fighting in the Bajaur region since August 2008 and this was the first time its forces had entered the formerly insurgent-controlled Damadola in the region's snow-capped peaks.

"Al-Qaida was there. They had occupied the ridges. There were 156 caves designed as a defensive complex," said Khan, adding his Frontier Corps forces had killed 75 foreign and local militants before clearing the area.

The Times report said there were blankets and pillows in the caves left behind by the fleeing insurgents.

Zawahiri, for whose capture there is a $25 million reward, had "been spotted here by the local residents in the past," a Pakistani colonel said.

The Times report said the former Egyptian doctor narrowly escaped a drone missile strike in Damadola in January 2006.

Zawahiri reportedly had married a local girl and would regularly travel between Bajaur and the Afghan province of Kunar, the colonel said.

U.S. hopes for loophole-free sanctions

BRUSSELS, March 3 (UPI) -- The success of new sanctions against Iran depends on closing loopholes allowing high-tech U.S. goods to be bought in Europe then sold to Iran, officials said.

The United States and the European Union are considering imposing a new round of sanctions against Iran over the country's nuclear program Western countries suspect is an attempt to develop nuclear weapons.

But U.S. officials said unless the loopholes are plugged, Europe- and U.S.-based business agents working for Iran still could maneuver around the sanctions, undermining their effect, EUobserver.com reported Wednesday.

"I think it's essential that in conjunction with new sanctions, the U.S. and its partners work together to address the current loopholes that Iran is using not only throughout Europe, but also other countries ... to obtain prohibited items," Brian Davis, who works in the Brussels office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, told EUobserver.com. "Iran will continue to attempt to procure the goods that will be subject to new sanctions through the same mechanisms and doors that are currently open."

ICE agents are working on locating buyers of dual-use items, components that can be used in medical, telecommunications or other fields as well as Tehran's nuclear enrichment program, officials said.

An ICE office recently opened in Brussels, headquarters for the EU, to facilitate cooperation with Belgian authorities, the European Commission and its anti-fraud office, as well as the World Customs Organization, Davis said.

Cleric condemns terrorism

LONDON, March 3 (UPI) -- A Pakistani Muslim scholar, in a lengthy theological ruling against terrorism, rejected al-Qaida's philosophy, saying Islam forbids the massacre of innocents.

Appearing in London, Tahir ul-Qadri told a group of Muslims, clergy, political leaders and police officers his 600-page fatwa rejects violence and called al-Qaida an "old evil with a new name," the BBC reported.

Qadri's movement, called Minhaj ul-Quran International, is growing in Britain, drawing the interest of policymakers and law enforcement heads, the report said. Qadri said his study, resulting from the escalation of militant violence in Pakistan, is a detailed theological rebuttal of every point made by al-Qaida inspired recruiters.

"They (terrorists) can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma (global brotherhood)," he told his audience. "No, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards hellfire. "There is no place for any martyrdom and their act is never, ever to be considered jihad."

Rejecting some scholarly rulings on martyrdom as it related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Qadri said there is no situation in which vengeful acts such as attacks on marketplaces or commuter trains can ever be considered a justifiable act of war.

The report said Qadri has many followers in Pakistan but his Minhaj ul-Quran International has become known in Britain only recently. The movement, which has 10 mosques in cities with significant Muslim communities, is targeting the younger generation, the BBC aid.

Obama to offer map in healthcare debate

WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will offer a road map for the next steps in healthcare reform and a plea for swift congressional action, the White House said.

Obama will speak about moving forward in the final stage of the debate Wednesday, reiterating why the reform is critical and how it benefits U.S. families and businesses, the White House said.

Obama is expected to say his proposal includes the best ideas from both parties and restate his preference for a comprehensive bill that would lower premiums and end discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions, the White House said.

Obama on Tuesday said in a letter to House and Senate leadership that he was open to exploring four Republican-backed proposals such as tort reform and health savings accounts. He led a bipartisan summit with congressional leaders last week on the issue.

Top Republicans, however, dismissed the new proposal, with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia saying it wasn't good enough and repeating the GOP call for Obama to scrap the plan and start over, CNN reported.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn't say Tuesday whether she had enough votes to pass Obama's proposal, saying Democrats still need to fill in the details and get its costs. However, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he thought some of the Democrats who opposed the House legislation when it passed last fall could support the plan pushed by the president.

"Do I think there's a possibility of some people changing? Yes, I do," Hoyer said. "I think that's because it will be a different bill than either the House and Senate (passed). It will hopefully take the strengths of both and I think if that happens, as is normally the case, when bills change, members look at it somewhat differently."