Syria, Pakistan and Somalia

Pakistani protesters try to siege US embassy, clash with police

Pakistani police have fired teargas and used batons to repel over 1,000 protesters trying to march on the US Embassy in Islamabad. Official Mohammed Iqbal says the protesters are mainly students.

RT,

20 September, 2012

Eight police officers have already been reported as injured.

The US embassy in Islamabad is located in an enclave that houses several government offices. Police used shipping containers in an attempt to block access to the enclave. The British and French embassies are also located on the premises.

“Demonstrators tried to enter some embassies, but they were stopped by police, who have called for reinforcements from the Rangers and the army because [the protests] were out of the control of the police,” said RT Arabic correspondent Tariq Mohiyuddin.

AFP reported that Police have fired live ammunition in the air in an attempt to disperse the crowd, and that some students are armed with wooden clubs.

"I was ordered by my boss to disperse the crowd and that is why I had to open live fire, but the aim was nearby trees and not the demonstrators," Zaman Khan, a police officer deployed at the protest said.

The live fire reportedly scattered the protestors temporarily, but they soon returned, pelting the police with stones.

Protesters also tried to break down barriers belonging to the Islamabad Serena Hotel, which is inside the “Red Zone,” where the embassies are located.

“I’m looking out the window right now and there are a lot of people outside….the police have blocked them off. They were trying to get in, because we are part of the red zone,” the hotel’s corporate public relations manager told RT.

“Now they’ve diverted their attention to the other areas. The police are here…and I hear that they’ve called the army. So hopefully things will get under control soon,” she said.

But it seems demonstrators don’t plan on ending the protests until they make their way inside the US embassy once and for all.

“Tomorrow is the big show….it’s Friday and the government in Pakistan has announced a national holiday…the protesters told me that tomorrow they will try to break in arrangements and enter the diplomatic area to reach the American embassy,” Mohiyuddin said.

The US government has warned against all non-essential travel to Pakistan in light of the violence.

Air strike on Syrian gas station kills at least 30

An air strike in the Syrian province of Raqqa hit a gas station, killing and injuring at least 100 people, according to reports.

RT,

20 September, 2012

The information was released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group with a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

"At least 30 people were killed and 83 were injured, although unconfirmed sources say the number of dead was actually more than 50," the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

According to the Local Coordination Committee of Syria, more than 70 people were wounded and are being treated at local hospitals.

This latest escalation of violence in the 18-month uprising came as the Dutch Foreign Minister hosted a "Friends of Syria" meeting in The Hague to refine sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria has been torn by a civil conflict for 17 months. The uprising against President Assad has claimed over 15,000 lives. Nearly 150,000 Syrian refugees have registered in the four neighboring countries since the conflict began.

Twin bomb attacks at Somali restaurant kill 14

PressTV,

20 September, 2012

At least fourteen people have been killed and more than 20 others injured in double bomb attacks at a restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

The bombs were detonated on Thursday in the restaurant, which is popular with civil servants and journalists and is close to the presidential palace.

The dead included the former editor of Somali National TV, two other journalists and two policemen.

Ali Mohamud Rage, the spokesman of al-Shabab militant group, said the bombing has been carried out by the supporters of the group.

"Action has been taken by sympathizers of the Shabab, who were angry with the situation in Somalia, especially the intervention by foreign troops," he said.

"We did not directly order the attacks, but there are lots of angry people in Somalia who support our fight and want to change the situation," he added.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

On September 10, MPs meeting in Mogadishu elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new president of Somalia with a big majority.

The 56-year-old university lecturer garnered 190 votes against 79 for former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in a second round run-off in the presidential election.

The African nation is one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced people in the world.