The killings continue in Syria, even as there is a cease-fire and UN observers are in country. Homs again the centre of artillery bombing.
Saudi Arabia says al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Saudi diplomat in Yemen last month and threatened to kill the man unless the kingdom releases detained militants.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is promising an investigation, and leads the 'apology tour', after an American newspaper published photos of U.S. soldiers holding what appear to be the body parts of an Afghan insurgent.
Details after the break.
Syria's nearly week-old cease-fire continued to deteriorate Wednesday as a bombing killed six Syrian law enforcement officers and government forces continued to shell and attack a number of towns and cities across the country.
The violence continued despite the presence of a U.N. observer team.
Witnesses say Syrian government security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in a Damascus suburb Wednesday, after a team of U.N. observers left the area following a brief visit. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
Syrian artillery also pounded an area of Homs Wednesday, despite a cease-fire that went into effect last Thursday. Several opposition districts have come under sporadic and at times heavy shelling each day since the truce started.
The state-run SANA news agency says an "armed terrorist group" detonated an explosive device planted on a road in the northern Idlib province. It also says a sniper killed a police officer in the southern city of Daraa.
The Syrian government has said it has the right to respond to attacks from what it calls "terrorists."
Moroccan Colonel Ahmed Himiche, who heads the U.N. team, said its mission is proceeding despite the violence. He said the U.N. team's job is to act as a go-between with Syrian officials and other parties in a technical mission of monitoring.
In a meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that Damascus was ready to allow the U.N. to boost the strength of its mission. He said that most observers will be deployed to areas that Syria considers to be hot spots and he agrees that it would be logical to increase the size of the U.N. team to 250 members.
Yemen
Saudi Arabia says al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Saudi diplomat in Yemen last month and threatened to kill the man unless the kingdom releases detained militants.
Saudi officials said Tuesday the terrorist network's regional affiliate, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed the kidnapping in a phone call to the Saudi Embassy in Yemen. They identified the caller as a wanted Saudi terror suspect, Mashaal Rasheed al-Shawdakhi.
Gunmen abducted the Saudi deputy consul in the Yemeni port city of Aden outside his home on March 28.
The Saudi government said al-Shawdakhi demanded the release of militants jailed in Saudi Arabia and a ransom payment in exchange for the diplomat. It said the caller warned that al-Qaida will kill the diplomat, attack a Saudi embassy and assassinate a Saudi prince if the demands are not met. Riyadh rejected the threats.
Kidnappings of foreigners for ransom are common in Yemen, an impoverished nation where al-Qaida militants and other rebels control large swathes of territory.
But the seizing of the Saudi diplomat in Aden appears to be a new tactic for al-Qaida, according to senior analyst Robert Powell of the Economist Intelligence Unit research institute.
Reached by phone in New York, Powell said al-Qaida usually executes its prisoners or attempts assassinations such as a 2009 suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia that failed to kill the country's deputy interior minister.
Powell said al-Shawdawki's warning of further attacks on Saudi targets "sounds like bluster." He said Saudi Arabia's diplomatic and economic facilities are well-defended, and there is no indication that al-Qaida has the power to launch coordinated attacks against them.
The EIU analyst said the Saudi government has not negotiated with high-level al-Qaida figures in the past because the group is dedicated to overthrowing the Saudi monarchy. But he said the Saudis have shown a "considerable willingness" to engage with lower-level militants.
Powell said Saudi Arabia has tried to re-educate al-Qaida members, teaching them a "new path within Islam, away from violence and toward a more peaceful form of jihad." He said these efforts are aimed at assimilating militants into local tribes and stripping them away from the central organization.
Afghanistan
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is promising an investigation, after an American newspaper published photos of U.S. soldiers holding what appear to be the body parts of an Afghan insurgent.
U.S. military officials believe the photos could provoke attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Pentagon tried to get the newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, not to publish them.
The photos, apparently taken in 2010, show a number of U.S. soldiers holding what appear to be the dismembered legs of at least one Afghan insurgent bomber. Posing with the Americans are Afghan men wearing uniforms typical of the Afghan national security forces.
Reports say the body parts are those of one or more suicide bombers.
Once the newspaper went ahead and published the pictures, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta - in Brussels for a NATO conference - issued a condemnation. “That behavior that was depicted in those photos absolutely violates both our regulations and more importantly our core values," he said.
Panetta said the Pentagon asked the newspaper not to publish the photos. “The reason for that is those kinds of photos are used by the enemy to incite violence and lives have been lost as a result of the publication of similar photos in the past. We regret that they were published," he said.
Panetta said an investigation is under way and promised the individuals responsible will be held accountable for the photos, which U.S. officials are concerned will further damage relations with the Afghans. “This is war. And I know that war is ugly and it is violent and I know that young people sometimes caught up in the moment make foolish decisions. I am not excusing that behavior, but neither do I want these images to bring further injury to our people or relationship with the Afghan people," he said.
All content based on VOA News reports.
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