Bombings rock markets in Peshawar
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 28 (UPI) -- Side-by-side bomb blasts at markets in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday killed at least two civilians and wounded 70 others, a police official said.
Sahib Zada Muhammad Anis Khan, district coordination officer for Peshawar District, told CNN the blasts occurred in adjacent markets in the city's center.
Peshawar is the capital of the North West Frontier province, were Pakistani military has undertaken a major operation against Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities arrested three men in the bold terror attack on security buildings in Lahore that officials suspect was the handiwork of Taliban.
The government-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported 22 people, including 14 police officers and eight civilians, died in the mayhem Wednesday in the country's second-largest city. The report said 328 were injured, 50 of them seriously.
Other reports put the toll higher.
Five or six armed men driving a van loaded with about 220 pounds of explosives opened fire and lobbed grenades before detonating the explosives that destroyed the security building and damaged nearby police and national intelligence agency buildings, media reports said.
Dawn newspaper reported the blasts occurred at a heavily guarded entry point to the buildings, only yards away from the provincial chief minister's home.
It was not clear who organized the attacks but some unconfirmed reports said a hitherto unknown group had claimed responsibility. Pakistani officials, however, said they suspect Taliban militants seeking retaliation for the military's anti-terrorist campaign in the northwest Swat Valley region.
A CNN report, which put the death toll at 27, said authorities arrested three suspects at the blast site and the bodies of three suspects were found there as well.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack, the U.N. news center said.
"No cause can justify such indiscriminate terrorist violence," he said.
Pakistan seeks dead or alive Taliban list
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 28 (UPI) -- Pakistan issued a dead or alive "rogues list" Thursday putting prices on the heads of 21 top Taliban operating in the Swat Valley.
The most-wanted chart, complete with mug shots, went to newspapers across the country with radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, the architect of uprising in Swat, heading the list with a reward of 5 million rupees ($62,320), PTI reported.
Also on the rogues list are Taliban's spokesman Muslim Khan and three other prominent Taliban in Swat -- Commander Qari Mushtaq, Mehmood Khan and Bukht Farzand -- each with a reward of 3 million rupees ($37,392) on their heads.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the group included those responsible for Wednesday's massive bomb attack at the ISI office in Lahore.
U.S. troop deaths at 20 so far in May
BAGHDAD, May 28 (UPI) -- The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far in May rose to 20 when the military reported a solder was killed by a roadside bomb.
May's death toll so far is due in part to a large number of non-combat deaths, including a multiple shooting at a military base in Baghdad, USA Today reported. A U.S. soldier has been charged.
The spike in fatalities also corresponded with a jump in violence in Iraq in recent months, USA Today reported Thursday. Militant groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq have pumped up suicide bombings and assassinations as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw from urban areas by June 30 as agreed in an accord with the Iraqi government.
The 20 deaths so far in May include five service personnel fatally shot May 11 at a mental health clinic at Camp Liberty in Baghdad for which Army Sgt. John Russell has been charged.
Eight of the U.S. troop deaths this month were combat-related, the U.S. military.
Since the start of the war in 2003, 4,303 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.
Support growing for Suu Kyi release
YANGON, Myanmar, May 28 (UPI) -- The Myanmar court trying opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi adjourned until Monday after hearing the lone defense witness, a spokesman said Thursday.
The court questioned Kyi Win for about three hours in Yangon before breaking for the weekend, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. Kyi Win is expected to return to the stand.
Meanwhile, global demand for release of the 63-year-old Nobel laureate grew louder with the launch of an online campaign on her behalf, CNN reported.
Supporters are being asked to leave 64-word messages for Suu Kyi by June 19 when she will turn 64. By early Thursday, nearly 3,000 messages had been posted, her party said.
Suu Kyi was first detained in 1989 after mass protests against the military government.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Obama called for Suu Kyi's immediate and unconditional release from an "arbitrary" and "unjustified" detention.
The military junta is trying Suu Kyi for violating her house arrest when she allegedly offered temporary shelter to an American man who swam across a lake to her home.
China warns France about Dalai Lama visit
BEIJING, May 28 (UPI) -- Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe's invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit the French capital could harm revived Sino-French relations, Chinese observers warn.
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, was invited to Paris in early June to collect the title of honorary citizen of the city, which he was awarded in 2008, China Daily said.
Earlier this month, Beijing urged Paris not to interfere in China's internal affairs by meeting the Dalai Lama, accused by officials of trying to foment Tibetan independence from China.
The French foreign ministry sought to play down the he significance of the invitation, one made by the city and "should have no impact on the caliber of our relations with China."
Honduras rocked by 7.1 earthquake
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, May 28 (UPI) -- At least one person was killed Thursday when a powerful earthquake hit Honduras registering 7.1 on the Richter Scale, officials said.
The lone reported casualty was a 15-year-old boy, El Heraldo newspaper reported online following the early morning quake.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake's epicenter was near the Honduran Island of Roatan, popular with travelers.
Honduras has been placed on alert for a possible tsunami following the quake. So far there have been no reports of encroaching waters on the Central American country's coast.
There were some reports of power outages near the epicenter of the quake. No other damage was reported.
