Pakistan Taliban leader believed dead: intelligence officials

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, the militant movement that poses the gravest security threat to the country, is believed to have been killed by a U.S. drone strike, four Pakistan intelligence officials told Reuters on Sunday.

The officials said they intercepted wireless radio chatter between Taliban fighters detailing how Hakimullah Mehsud was killed while travelling in a convoy to a meeting in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border.

A senior military official told Reuters there was no official confirmation that the Pakistani state's deadliest enemy had been killed. The Pakistani Taliban issued a denial. U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, could not confirm his death.

If Hakimullah did die, it could ease pressure on security forces, who have struggled to weaken the group, which is close to al Qaeda and has been blamed for many of the suicide bombings across one of the world's most unstable countries.

But it may not ease violence in the long term in Pakistan, which is seen as critical for U.S. efforts to fight global militancy, most crucially in neighboring Afghanistan.

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The death of Hakimullah's predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, in a drone strike in 2009 raised false hopes that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, could be broken.

"Six to seven TTP members were talking to each other through wireless radio in the conversations we heard, talking about Hakimullah Mehsud being hit by a drone when he was heading to a meeting at a spot near Miranshah," said one of the intelligence officials.

"They referred to him by his codename."

Officials refused to disclose Mehsud's codename.

"Based on our intercepts, Mehsud was heading to a meeting in Nawa Adda," said another intelligence official. Nawa Adda is a village in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan.

PREVIOUS REPORTS OF HAKIMULLAH'S DEATH FALSE

The Pakistani Taliban said Hakimullah was still alive, but the denial was far less assertive than one issued in 2010 after media reports said he had been killed in a drone strike.

"There is no truth in reports about his death. However, he is a human being and can die any time. He is a holy warrior and we will wish him martyrdom," said TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan.

"We will continue jihad if Hakimullah is alive or dead. There are so many lions in this jungle and one lion will replace another one to continue this noble mission."

The TTP launched an insurgency in 2007 after the military began a major crackdown on militants.

Fighters were particularly incensed when Pakistani security forces stormed the Red Mosque complex run by hard-line clerics in the capital, Islamabad. The government said 102 people were killed in fighting in the incident.

The TTP delivered on threats to carry out revenge attacks in Pakistan after U.S. special forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a secret raid in a Pakistani town in May last year.

More recently, some senior Taliban commanders said the umbrella group had started exploratory peace talks with the government. But it is not clear if all factions were on board.

Hakimullah was not only in danger of being killed by the drone campaign that President Barack Obama has escalated, or by Pakistani military operations. He and his powerful deputy, Wali-ur-Rehman, were at each other's throats and hostilities were close to open warfare, Taliban sources say.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afganistan have been trying to sort out differences between Pakistani Taliban commanders so they can aid their fight against U.S.-led NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Any division within the TTP could hinder the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda's struggle in Afghanistan against the United States and its allies, making it tougher to recruit young fighters and disrupting safe havens in Pakistan that Washington says are used by the Afghan militants.

Hakimullah, who has a sharp face framed by shaggy hair and a disarming grin, is considered to be one of the most ruthless Taliban commanders. He is also ambitious. Under his leadership, the Taliban has vowed to expand its violent campaign overseas to hit Western targets.

A suicide bombing at a U.S. base in Afghanistan's Khost province in 2009 killed seven CIA employees. In video footage released after the attack, the bomber was shown sitting with Hakimullah Mehsud.

Shortly afterwards, the United States added the TTP to its list of foreign terrorist organizations and set rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Hakimullah Mehsud or Wali-ur-Rehman.

A Pakistani-born American who tried to set off a car bomb in New York's Times Square in 2010 told a U.S. court he received bomb-making training and funding from the Pakistani Taliban.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Peter Graff and Peter Cooney)

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Reports: Juarez cartel armed wing leader nabbed (AP)

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, Associated Press Adriana Gomez Licon, Associated Press – Sat Jul 30, 7:23 pm ET

MEXICO CITY – Federal police have captured the alleged leader of a ruthless gang of killers who work for a drug cartel in the violent border of Ciudad Juarez, Mexican news media said Saturday.

The suspect, Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, is wanted by the U.S. government on charges of murdering a U.S. consulate employee and her husband last year in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The newspaper El Universal and Milenio television said the 33-year-old Acosta was arrested Friday in the northern city of Chihuahua, capital of the state where Ciudad Juarez is. Mexican authorities have identified Acosta as the head of La Linea, a gang of hit men and corrupt police officers who act as enforcers for the Juarez Cartel.

Federal officials said they could not confirm the arrest, but federal police spokesman Juan Carlos Buenrostro said a suspect would be flown from northern Mexico to Mexico City to be shown before news media by Sunday.

The federal Attorney General's Office offered a 15 million peso ($1.2 million) reward last October for information leading to Acosta's arrest. A woman answering the reward phone line advertised on Acosta's wanted posters said he had been detained Friday but refused to give her name.

U.S. prosecutors seek to try Acosta in the killings of an employee of the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, her husband and the husband of another consulate employee in March 2010. The slayings are among the highest profile attacks in the city that has been plagued with violence.

A U.S. federal indictment accuses 10 people, including Acosta, of conspiring to kill the three. Acosta and seven others are now in Mexican custody. Two others, including one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, Eduardo Ravelo, are still at large.

Besides the consulate killings, Acosta is blamed for two other notorious crimes in the Mexican government's 4 1/2-year-old offensive against drug cartels.

Chihuahua state officials allege Acosta ordered the massacre of 15 people, mostly teenagers, in January 2010 and was involved in a July 2010 car bombing, the first used by a cartel in recent history. Both attacks occurred in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million people that recorded 3,097 homicides in 2010 and more than 1,300 so far this year.

Mexico's government says at least 35,000 people have died in drug-related violence across the country since late 2006, when President Felipe Calderon took office and launched a crackdown on organized crime. Other sources, including local media, put the number closer to 40,000. The federal government has not released an update of its numbers since December.

Other cities near the U.S.-Mexico border have been hit hard with violence while rival drug cartels battle over control of smuggling corridors.

In the northern state of Durango, federal officials said Saturday they burned 50 metric tons of marijuana that were found earlier in the week inside a large warehouse in black plastic bags.

The warehouse was in Santa Maria del Oro in Mexico's "golden triangle" region. The area, known for drug cultivation and trafficking, is also where soldiers a week ago found marijuana fields covering 148 acres (60 hectares) with a processing lab and five camps.

In Sonora state, Mexico's military said Saturday that troops seized five metric tons of marijuana near the U.S. border in Puerto Penasco, a beach city popular with visitors from Arizona.

Soldiers found three tons of the marijuana more than a mile (2 kilometers) from the port Thursday, a statement said. Officials earlier reported finding two metric tons of marijuana elsewhere in the same town the same day.

U.S. authorities earlier this year urged tourists to "exercise caution" about visiting Puerto Penasco due to rising drug violence in the city.

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Court issues arrest warrant for Libyan leader Gadhafi

(CNN) -- The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Monday for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and two of his relatives.

ICC Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng read aloud the decision to issue warrants for Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi.

Saif Al-Islam Gadhafi is a close adviser to his father. His arrest warrant came two days after his 39th birthday. Al-Sanussi serves as Gadhafi's head of intelligence.

The warrants are "for crimes against humanity," including murder and persecution, "allegedly committed across Libya" from Feb. 15 through "at least" Feb. 28, "through the state apparatus and security forces," the court said in a news release.

In Misrata, a critical city for Libyan rebels in which fighting has raged, a crowd cheered Monday following the news from the court.

The announcement at The Hague came as fighting inside Libya inched closer to the capital. A rebel fighter, Hassan al-Jiwali, told CNN the rebels were 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Tripoli on Monday.

Libya is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the international court's authority, and the court does not have the power to enter Libya and arrest the leaders. Many of those cheering in Misrata saw the news as a sign that the world recognizes the conduct rebels say Gadhafi's regime has been engaged in.

The three-judge Pre-Trial Chamber I at The Hague found "reasonable grounds to believe that the three suspects committed the alleged crimes and that their arrests appear necessary in order to ensure their appearances before the court," the written announcement said. The court also believes the warrants are needed to ensure that the three "do not continue to obstruct and endanger the court's investigations; and to prevent them from using their powers to continue the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the court."

The U.N. Security Council referred the matter to the ICC through a resolution Feb. 26, following widespread complaints about Gadhafi's efforts to crush a rebellion. The resolution said that while "states not party to the Rome Statute have no obligations under the statute, the Security Council urged all states and concerned regional and other international organisations to cooperate fully with the court and the prosecutor."

Gadhafi has made clear he would not recognize the court's authority.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said he has evidence linking Gadhafi, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and Abdullah al-Sanussi to crimes against humanity, including "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilians, in their attempt to put down the months-long revolt.

Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim has previously denied the allegations and criticized what he said were incoherent conclusions of the prosecutor's office.

The United Nations issued a statement Monday about the arrest warrants, noting that "hundreds of people are confirmed to have been killed since opposition forces rose up against the regime of Mr. Gadhafi in February as part of a wider pro-democracy movement across North Africa and the Middle East."

The European Union said it "fully supports" the court and underscores that the court's Libya investigation "is an independent judicial process which must be fully respected."

Not everyone was cheering the news. Michael Rubin, an analyst with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said the court's move could damage efforts to get Gadhafi to end his 42-year reign, because he would not seek refuge in a country that is a signatory to the Rome Statute.

"The ICC's arrest warrant symbolizes the dirty underside of international law," Rubin said. "While the ICC makes itself feel good and diplomats can chatter about their commitment to international law, the fact of the matter is their action takes off the table any possibility that Gadhafi could flee to a retirement haven outside Libya. In effect, the ICC arrest warrant tells Gadhafi to fight to the death."

This is not the first time that the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for a country's leader in the midst of a conflict. The court issued a warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2007, while conflict simmered in that country's western Darfur region.

Moreno-Ocampo told CNN shortly after filing his request with the court that he had evidence that revealed Saif al-Islam Gadhafi organized the recruitment of mercenaries to defend the regime and al-Sanussi participated in attacks on demonstrators.

Authorities believe Moammar Gadhafi ordered attacks on unarmed civilians, he told CNN, and al-Sanussi is "his right-hand man, the executioner."

Moreno-Ocampo began investigating claims against Moammar Gadhafi on February 15, when demonstrations against the leader's regime accelerated. Since then, war has erupted in Libya as Moammar Gadhafi has tried to keep his grip on power.

The probe took investigators to 11 countries and included the review of 1,200 documents and interviews with about 50 witnesses. A report issued in early May found the alleged crimes against humanity include the alleged commission of rape by supporters of Gadhafi's government, as well as the deportation or forcible transfer of citizens during the civil war in the country.

Moreno-Ocampo has scheduled a news conference Tuesday to discuss the court's decision.

The issue of Libyan casualties led the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution in March authorizing force by whatever means necessary, with the exception of a ground invasion, to protect civilians. NATO began bombing military targets a short time later.

A rebel military leader, Hajj Osama al-Jiwali, told CNN Monday that rebels want "more airstrikes and hits of Ghadafi strategic locations for the wake of time and for the the rebuilding of Libya." He called on the United Nations to be "at the forefront" of efforts in Libya.

Al-Jiwali said rebel fighters on Sunday fought "a very fierce battle against the Gadhafi forces in Beir al-Ghanam, where four rebel fighters died and eight were injured, and more than 30 of the Gadhafi forces have been killed." The battle was still ongoing Monday, but not as fierce, he said.

CNN could not independently confirm the reports.

"The rebel forces are in high sprits and determined to continue to Tripoli to get rid of Gadhafi and his collaborators. They are in high spirits and the victory is closer than ever, " al-Jiwali added.

NATO warplanes struck a rocket launcher system mounted on a government truck near the town of B'ir al Ghanam.

Three explosions could be heard in the Libyan capital late Monday morning.

"They appear closer than those heard in the past few days and week," said CNN producer Raja Razek, who is in Tripoli.

The International Criminal Court action comes a day after the African Union announced Gadhafi will not be part of its next attempt to map out a peace deal in Libya.

It was unclear who would represent the Libyan government in negotiations, or when negotiations would occur. Journalists were not allowed to ask questions at a news conference following Sunday's meeting of the African Union's special committee on Libya in Pretoria, South Africa.

Members of the committee have met with Gadhafi and opposition leaders over the past three months. Another African Union-led attempt to broker peace between Gadhafi and the rebels fell through in April.

The committee repeated calls Sunday for a cease-fire between the Libyan government and rebels.

"Only a political solution will make it possible to sustainably settle the current conflict," the statement said.

It also urged NATO to temporarily suspend its bombing campaign to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

CNN's Nkepile Mabuse, Yousuf Basil and Ingrid Formanek contributed to this report.

CNN

Police nab Australian cult leader in Fiji raid (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – A fugitive Australian cult leader has been arrested during a raid on a former resort in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji, authorities and reports said Sunday.

Police said Agape Ministries leader Rocco Leo was picked up by Fijian officials a week ago, along with two associates, for alleged visa breaches and remains in detention. It is not known whether he will be deported.

"It's the call of the Fijian authorities as to whether or not they (Rocco Leo and associates) are breaching any immigration laws or not," Detective Superintendent Jim Jeffery told reporters in Adelaide.

"If Fijian authorities determine that they are going to deport Rocco Leo, we will execute that (arrest) warrant," the Adelaide Advertiser reported him as saying.

"And if Rocco Leo is deported back to Australia we will extradite him from whatever state it is back to South Australia to put him before the courts."

In May 2010, Australian police raided 12 properties associated with Agape and netted 15 guns, slow-burning fuses, detonators, extendable batons and 35,000 rounds of ammunition.

Police have previously said they believed the Agape leaders were planning to move their organisation offshore, possibly to a Pacific island country.

Leo had reportedly told his followers they must move to Vanuatu before the end of the world, which he predicts will happen in 2012.

Adelaide's Sunday Mail newspaper said that the fugitive was detained at the former Tiri Villas eco-resort, about 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the Fijian capital Suva.

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Hezbollah leader alleges CIA infiltration

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah -- seen here in September 22, 2006 -- says three spies have been discovered in the group.Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says three spies were discoveredTwo were recruited by the CIA, he saysNasrallah accuses the CIA of acting on behalf of IsraelThe U.S. embassy in Beirut says the claims are false

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the militant Islamic group has uncovered three spies within its ranks, two of whom were recruited by the CIA, Lebanon's state news agency reported.

The U.S. embassy in Beirut dismissed the report as "empty accusations."

Nasrallah declined to give the names of the suspected spies, offering their initials instead, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said in its report Friday.

"The first name is A.B. This person was recruited five months ago by a CIA officer," Nasrallah said.

The alleged spy confessed his relation to the CIA after Hezbollah found out about him, according to Nasrallah.

The second spy, "H.M.," was recruited by the CIA before "A.B." Nasrallah referred to the third accused spy as "M.A.," the NNA reported.

"We confirmed that he collaborated with a foreign body and we are still investigating which one," Nasrallah said about the third suspected spy, according to the agency.

The Hezbollah leader stressed that none of the individuals involved in spying was a high-ranking official and, as such, they were not in a position to harm the organization.

Nasrallah accused the CIA of acting at the insistence of Israel. Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006.

The United States considers Hezbollah, which has close ties to Iran and Syria, to be a terrorist organization. The group is a political party and a major provider of social services in Lebanon, in addition to operating a militant wing.

"When Israel failed to infiltrate Hezbollah, it asked the help of the CIA," Nasrallah said, according to NNA.

A U.S. embassy spokesperson in Beirut rejected Nasrallah's claims.

"These are the same kinds of empty accusations that we have heard repeatedly from Hezbollah. There is no substance to his accusations," the spokesperson said. "It appears as if Nasrallah was addressing internal problems within Hezbollah with which we have nothing to do. Our position towards Hezbollah is well known and has not changed."

CNN

Top cartel leader captured in Mexico

Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexican authorities captured the top leader of one of the country's most violent drug cartels Tuesday, officials said.

Federal police captured Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, also known as "The Monkey," in an operation in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico's national security spokesman said.

Spokesman Alejandro Poire called Mendez the "principal head" of La Familia Michoacana cartel and said his capture was the federal government's "most overwhelming blow" to the group.

"This capture destroys what remained of the leadership structure of this criminal organization," he said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon praised the capture on his official Twitter account: "A large blow by federal police to organized crime. One of the most wanted criminals was captured. Congratulations."

Mexico's Attorney General's Office had offered a 30 million peso ($2.5 million) reward for information leading to his arrest, saying Mendez was the mastermind behind drug trafficking, kidnappings and killings.

Tuesday's operation marks the fall of 21 of the suspects on Mexico's "most dangerous criminals" list, Poire said.

No deaths or violent clashes have been reported from Tuesday's operation, he said.

La Familia began operating in the state of Michoacan more than a decade ago, the country's national security spokesman told reporters last year. But it grabbed national attention in 2006 after reportedly hurling five decapitated heads of rival gang members onto a dance floor.

Mexico's public safety secretary has said Mendez was responsible for passing on the organization's values to new generations of drug runners in the cartel. Along with other leaders, he helped expand La Familia's reach to other Mexican states.

Extorting residents and charging fees to drug traffickers operating in Michoacan allowed the cartel to push away competitors, Mexican authorities said.

The cartel is known for its violence and the rules it imposes on its members.

Last year Mexican federal police gunned down Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, whom they described as the group's "spiritual leader."

Mexican authorities say the ideology advocated by the cartel's leaders includes banning members from consuming drugs and alcohol with the goal of keeping a tighter emotional grip on subordinates.

"The indoctrination of this group consists of courses in self-improvement, values, ethical principles and morals in keeping with the purposes of the criminal organization. With the objective that their subordinates separate themselves from drugs and alcohol and they unite with their families," Mexico's public safety ministry said in a 2009 statement after capturing the alleged head of La Familia's training operations.

La Familia's approach shows a "strong religious background," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a 2009 statement.

"It purportedly originated to protect locals from the violence of drug cartels. Now, La Familia Michoacana uses drug proceeds to fuel their agenda that encompasses a Robin Hood-type mentality -- steal from the rich and give to the poor," the statement said. "They believe they are doing God's work, and pass out Bibles and money to the poor. La Familia Michoacana also gives money to schools and local officials."

Intelligence reports indicate that the cartel is "heavily involved in the production of methamphetamine" for export to the United States, according to the DEA, in addition to the distribution of cocaine and marijuana.

CNNMexico.com and CNN's Rene Hernandez, Maria Elisa Callejas and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

CNN

Deposed Tunisian leader to be tried

Former Tunisian leader Zine el Abidine Ben Ali says he is being unfairly discreditedBen Ali, who was deposed earlier this year, denies a variety of charges against himTunisia's revolt triggered a wave of protests across North Africa and the Middle East

(CNN) -- Former Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali is expected to be tried in absentia this week.

The country's minister interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi has said the trial will start Monday.

Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia earlier this year after a revolt led to his ouster and triggered a wave of protests against longtime rulers across North Africa and the Middle East.

Protests against Ben Ali -- who had ruled Tunisia since 1987 -- began to erupt late last year. Fed up with corruption, unemployment and escalating prices of food, people began demonstrating en masse after the self-immolation suicide of a fruit cart vendor in December.

The former strongman's political party has since been dissolved by a court order. Parliamentary elections have been scheduled for July.

At least 300 people were killed and 700 injured during the Tunisian uprising, a top U.N. human rights expert said last month.

Earlier this month, Ben Ali said he has been unfairly portrayed and discredited by political opponents seeking to make a break with their country's past.

In a written statement released by his lawyer, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, Ben Ali said it was time to break his silence because he is "tired of being made a scapegoat" and is a victim of "injustice."

Ben Ali said that recent searches conducted of his official and personal offices were "merely stage dressing" meant to discredit him.

The former leader denied allegations that he has improper bank accounts or property holdings outside of Tunisia. He called various charges against him "nothing but a masquerade with the only purpose of illustrating a symbolic break with the past."

Ben Ali argued, contrary to the assertions of his opponents, that he has always worked for what he thought "was the good of the Tunisian people, improving living standards and progressing on the path to modernity."

CNN

Afghan leader says U.S. in contact with Taliban (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – The United States is in contact with the Taliban about a possible settlement to the war in Afghanistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday, the first official confirmation of U.S. involvement in negotiations.

Karzai said that an Afghan push toward peace talks, after nearly a decade of war, had not yet reached a stage where the government and insurgents were meeting, but their representatives had been in touch.

"Peace talks are going on with the Taliban. The foreign military and especially the United States itself is going ahead with these negotiations," Karzai said in a speech in Kabul.

"The peace negotiations between (the) Afghan government and the Taliban movement are not yet based on a certain agenda or physical (meetings), there are contacts established."

The U.S. Embassy declined to comment directly on Karzai's assertion but said the United States supports Afghan reconciliation and has assisted Afghan government-led reintegration initiatives aimed at the Taliban.

"We must help create conditions necessary to enable a political settlement among the Afghan people. This includes reconciling those insurgents who are willing to renounce al Qaeda, forsake violence and adhere to the Afghan constitution," an official at the U.S. embassy in Kabul said.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, weeks after the September 11 attacks, to help oust the Taliban which had hosted al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden.

The Taliban regrouped and has been waging a fierce insurgency for years against the government, U.S. troops and other Western allies in Afghanistan.

SANCTIONS MOVE

Karzai was speaking the day after the United Nations Security Council split the U.N. sanctions list for Taliban and al Qaeda figures into two, which envoys said could help induce the Taliban into talks on a peace deal in Afghanistan.

But despite hopes that talks with the Taliban could provide the political underpinning for a staged U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the discussions are still not at the stage where they can be a deciding factor.

Diplomats say there have been months of preliminary talks, but the United States has never confirmed any contacts. And so little is known about the exchanges that they have been open to widely different interpretations.

There are also many Afghans, among them women's and civil society activists, who fear talks with the insurgents could undo much of the progress they have made in the decade since the Taliban were swept from power.

"We should not give up 10 years of achievements in Afghan women's rights. If that happens, these peace talks will be incomplete and unjust," said Suraya Parlika, head of the All Afghan Women's Union and a senator in the Afghan parliament.

The closest anyone in the U.S. establishment has come to publicly acknowledging efforts to kick-start talks was when Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this month there could be political talks with the Taliban by the end of this year, if the NATO alliance kept making military advances on the ground.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Karzai said neighboring countries were nervous about plans for a strategic partnership between Afghanistan and the United States, which may include long-term bases on Afghan soil.

"The issue of a strategic partnership deal with the U.S. has caused tensions with our neighbors," Karzai said. "When we sign this strategic partnership, at the same time we must have peace in Afghanistan."

That is unlikely however, as the deal is expected to be concluded in months, and even the most optimistic supporters of talks expect the peace process to take years.

If successful, the deal might ease worries among those Afghans who fear the United States will pull out too quickly, leaving a weak, impoverished government to fend off militants, and those who worry the foreign forces they see as occupiers will never leave.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce next month how many troops he plans to withdraw from Afghanistan as part of a commitment to begin reducing the U.S. military presence from July and hand over to Afghan security forces by 2014.

The United States is on the verge of announcing a "substantial" drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday.

"There's going to be a drawdown. I am confident that it will be one that's substantial. I certainly hope so," the leading Senate Democrat said during an interview with PBS Newshour.

There are currently about 100,000 U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan, up from about 34,000 when Obama took office in 2009.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Hassib, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Libyan leader Gadhafi says NATO will not win (AP)

By ADAM SCHRECK and HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press Adam Schreck And Hadeel Al-shalchi, Associated Press – 15 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – Provoked by renewed daylight NATO bombing of his capital, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi raged against the alliance Friday, screaming his message and daring Western forces to keep it up.

Gadhafi spoke in a telephone call that was piped through loudspeakers to a few thousand people demonstrating in Tripoli's Green Square, at the end of a day when NATO intensified bombing runs across the capital. State television carried the Gadhafi message live, then repeated it a few minutes later.

"NATO will be defeated," he yelled in a hoarse, agitated voice. "They will pull out in defeat."

The sound of automatic weapons being fired defiantly into the air echoed through the square for hours as carloads of pro-Gadhafi supporters — many with children in tow — crammed the streets leading to the plaza. Although there was a large presence of police and soldiers in the square, many of those popping off rounds wore civilian clothes.

Protesters and foreign journalists in the capital said it was one of the biggest such demonstrations since airstrikes began.

"Everyone in Libya wants Col. Gadhafi, not some traitors," Rajab Hamman, a 51-year-old engineer from Tripoli, said in the square as another demonstrator shot a magazine load of automatic rifle fire into the air a few steps away. "These are the real, true Libyans," he said of the crowd.

East of Tripoli, meanwhile, Gadhafi's forces exchanged intense shelling with rebels who are slowly breaking the government siege on their western stronghold, the port city of Misrata.

Doctors at the Hikma hospital in Misrata said nine rebel fighters and a woman living near the battle were killed and 30 others were wounded. Government casualties were not known.

Barrages of artillery and Grad missiles were landing on rebel lines as they continued trying to advance out of Misrata, 125 miles (200 kilometers), east of the capital. The heaviest shelling rained down between the towns of Dafniya and Zlitan, west of the Mediterranean port. Rebels were holding their own with return fire from their front about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of the port.

For weeks rebels had been bottled up in Misrata, one of a handful of toeholds they hold in western Libya. The eastern third of the country is under rebel control from their de facto capital, Benghazi. As NATO warplanes began stepping up attacks on Libyan government forces, bases and ammunition depots in recent days, the rebels in Misrata used the distraction to start their push out of the city toward Tripoli. Fighting has been intense along that front, with the rebels only able to advance about 20 miles (32 kilometers).

NATO attacked the Libyan capital at midday Friday, pounding a target in the south of the city and sending a thick cloud of black smoke rising high into the air.

A series of explosions rumbled across other parts of the city as fighter jets could by heard flying overhead. Fire engines raced through the streets, sirens blaring.

It wasn't clear what was hit or whether there were casualties. Friday is the main day of rest in Libya, with many people off work.

NATO has been ramping up the pressure on Gadhafi's regime. Though most airstrikes happen under cover of darkness, daytime raids have grown more frequent.

Friday's raids followed a barrage that struck multiple targets late Thursday night.

In his outburst, Gadhafi made a spitting sound and labeled as cowards the rebels fighting to oust him and those politicians and soldiers who had defected from Gadhafi's cause. He called the rebels "sons of dogs," a particularly cutting epithet in the Arab world.

And he said the people of Benghazi, the rebel capital, were existing on money from the "donkeys of Qatar, and the donkeys of the Gulf." The rebels are receiving support from Arab nations in the Persian Gulf.

As the new NATO airstrikes Friday blasted the capital, alliance Wing Commander Mike Bracken said Gadhafi's future at the helm of Libya was what he called a "political decision." Bracken spoke by video conference to reporters in Brussels, NATO headquarters.

A coalition including France, Britain and the United States launched the first strikes against Gadhafi's forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19. NATO assumed control of the air campaign over Libya on March 31. It's joined by a number of Arab allies.

In Brussels, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said there were no indications Gadhafi would stop attacking the opposition.

"It is hard to imagine the end to attacks on civilians while the pro-Gadhafi regime is still in power," Lungescu said in Brussels. "It is unfortunately still the case that pro-Gadhafi forces continue to show shocking determination to harm the Libyan people."

What started as a peaceful uprising inside Libya against Gadhafi has grown into a civil war, with rebels now holding a third of the country in the east and pockets in the west.

Libya's rebels mark Feb. 17 — four months ago Friday — as the start of their revolution against Gadhafi's more than four-decade rule

It was on that date that protesters emboldened by Arab uprisings in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt took to the streets in a number of Libyan cities. At least 20 people were reported killed in a crackdown by state security forces.

Fighting between government forces and the rebels had reached a stalemate until last week when NATO launched the heaviest bombardment of Gadhafi forces since the alliance took control of the skies over Libya.

___

Al-Shalchi reported from Dafniya, Libya. Associated Press writer Don Melvin contributed to this report from Brussels.

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Al-Zawahri succeeds bin Laden as al-Qaida leader (AP)

CAIRO – Osama bin Laden's longtime second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, has taken control of al-Qaida, the group declared Thursday, marking the ascendancy of a man driven by hatred of the United States who helped plan the 9/11 attacks.

Al-Zawahri is considered the organizational brain of the terror group, highly skilled at planning and logistics. Analysts said he could set his sights on a spectacular attack and on building up al-Qaida's already robust presence in Yemen to establish his leadership credentials.

His fanaticism and the depth of his hatred for the United States and Israel are likely to define al-Qaida's actions under al-Zawahri's tutelage. In a 2001 treatise that offered a glimpse of his violent thoughts, al-Zawahri set down al-Qaida's strategy: to inflict "as many casualties as possible" on the Americans.

"Pursuing the Americans and Jews is not an impossible task," he wrote. "Killing them is not impossible, whether by a bullet, a knife stab, a bomb or a strike with an iron bar."

Al-Zawahri's hatred of America was also deeply personal: His wife and at least two of their six children were killed in a U.S. airstrike following the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after the 9-11 attacks.

The Egyptian-born al-Zawahri had been expected to inherit al-Qaida's leadership, although the delay in announcing his succession led some counterterrorism analysts to speculate about a power struggle following the May 2 killing of bin Laden in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.

"The general command of al-Qaida, after completing consultations, declares Abu Mohammed, Ayman al-Zawahri, God help him, the one leading the group," said a statement attributed to al-Qaida and posted on militant websites, including several known to be affiliated with the group.

It gave no details about the selection process but said the choice of al-Zawahri was the best tribute to the memory of the group's "martyrs."

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. will pursue the new al-Qaida leader just as it did bin Laden.

"As we did both seek to capture and succeed in killing bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahri," he said at a news conference in Washington.

Al-Zawahri, who turns 60 on Sunday and has a $25 million bounty on his head, takes control of al-Qaida at a time when it is struggling to stay relevant in the face of popular uprisings across the Arab world that are demanding Western-style democracy instead of the pan-Islamic nation sought by Islamists.

Still, the lawlessness gripping Yemen, a poor Arabian Peninsula nation, offers al-Qaida a rare opportunity to gain a strategic foothold in the Arab world, bringing it a step closer to the ability to export its extremist brand of Islam to the region.

"He will send his best fighters and organizers there," said Abdel-Rehim Ali, an Egyptian expert on terrorism and extremist Islamic groups. "Yemen is the closest target and a great start for al-Zawahri to realize his dream of an Islamic emirate."

Al-Qaida militants and their allies in Yemen already have taken advantage of the turmoil there to seize control of towns in the south and strike deals with local garrisons to train with weaponry and live openly.

Al-Zawahri, a trained surgeon who hails from an upper-middle-class Cairo family, lacks the populist appeal of his late boss, throwing into doubt whether he would be able to lure young Muslims, particularly in the West, to join al-Qaida's cause.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said al-Zawahri lacks the "peculiar charisma" of bin Laden and said there is suspicion about him among militants because he is Egyptian.

Still, what he lacks in personal magnetism al-Zawahri makes up for with rock solid ideological conviction and organizational and logistical skills, qualities that may have spared al-Qaida a swift demise following its expulsion from Afghanistan in 2001.

It's not clear how much consensus there was over al-Zawahri's succession, but two U.S. officials said he was not a popular choice. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Al-Zawahri and his backers seemed to understand that, so instead of declaring himself bin Laden's successor in his first public video eulogizing the slain al-Qaida leader, al-Zawahri waited for a call by fellow jihadis, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and al-Qaida expert at the Brookings Institution. The idea was to create the impression of popular support, he said.

U.S. officials said they'll be watching for signs that al-Zawahri is a leader in name only, with affiliates branching out even more on their own.

They noted that communications captured in the attack on bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, showed al-Qaida's Yemeni branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, argued against bin Laden's idea of spectacular attacks in the U.S. and in favor of smaller operations.

But al-Zawahri's lack of universal acceptance within the organization, analysts said, could give him added incentive to stage a spectacular attack against a prestige target, most likely American, to boost his leadership credentials.

"He must already be planning a big attack to convince the skeptics that he is qualified as a leader," said Khalil al-Anani, an expert on Islamic groups from Durham University in Britain. "He will be under pressure to do that, and quickly."

Al-Zawahri pledged earlier this month to avenge the slaying of bin Laden and to continue the terror network's campaign against the U.S. and other Western interests.

"He was a given leader from the outset. But he doesn't have the same iconic status or personality as bin Laden," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terror analyst at the Royal Swedish Defense College. "He will focus on attacking the West in a big way. To avenge (bin Laden's death), but also to make himself ... even more effective and relevant."

The son of an Egyptian family of doctors and scholars, al-Zawahri's father was a pharmacology professor at Cairo University's medical school and his grandfather was the grand imam of al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's supreme seat of learning.

He has a long history of radicalism, beginning at age 15 when he founded an underground cell of high school students to oppose the Egyptian government. He later merged his cell with other militants to form Egypt's Islamic Jihad.

Al-Zawahri was arrested in connection with the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and served three years in prison. Many Egyptians remember him as the young man who stuck his head against the bars of the defendants' cage in a Cairo courtroom to answer Western reporters' questions in fluent English.

Upon his release, he headed to Afghanistan in 1984 to fight the Soviets, where he linked up with bin Laden. He later followed the al-Qaida leader to Sudan and then back to Afghanistan, where they found a safe haven under the radical Taliban regime.

Soon after came the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa, followed by the 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen, an attack al-Zawahri is believed to have helped mastermind.

Al-Zawahri has worked in the years since to rebuild al-Qaida's leadership on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Al-Qaida has inspired or had a direct hand in attacks in North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, the 2004 train bombings in Madrid and the 2005 transit bombings in London.

The CIA came close to capturing him in 2003 and killing him in 2004 — both times in Pakistan. In December 2009, they thought they were again close, only to be tricked by a double agent who blew himself up, killing seven CIA employees and wounding six more in Khost, Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban welcomed the appointment of al-Zawahri and vowed to fight alongside the terror group against the U.S. and "other infidel forces" around the world.

"We share the same path with al-Qaida. We are allies," Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Al-Zawahri has been in hiding for nearly 10 years and is widely believed to be near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He has appeared in dozens of videos and audiotapes in recent years, increasingly becoming the face of al-Qaida as bin Laden kept a lower profile.

___

AP writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed to this report.

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Al-Zawahri succeeds bin Laden as al-Qaida leader (AP)

CAIRO – Osama bin Laden's longtime second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, has taken control of al-Qaida, the group declared Thursday, marking the ascendancy of a man driven by hatred of the United States who helped plan the 9/11 attacks.

Al-Zawahri is considered the organizational brain of the terror group, highly skilled at planning and logistics. Analysts said he could set his sights on a spectacular attack and on building up al-Qaida's already robust presence in Yemen to establish his leadership credentials.

His fanaticism and the depth of his hatred for the United States and Israel are likely to define al-Qaida's actions under al-Zawahri's tutelage. In a 2001 treatise that offered a glimpse of his violent thoughts, al-Zawahri set down al-Qaida's strategy: to inflict "as many casualties as possible" on the Americans.

"Pursuing the Americans and Jews is not an impossible task," he wrote. "Killing them is not impossible, whether by a bullet, a knife stab, a bomb or a strike with an iron bar."

Al-Zawahri's hatred of America was also deeply personal: His wife and at least two of their six children were killed in a U.S. airstrike following the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after the 9-11 attacks.

The Egyptian-born al-Zawahri had been expected to inherit al-Qaida's leadership, although the delay in announcing his succession led some counterterrorism analysts to speculate about a power struggle following the May 2 killing of bin Laden in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.

"The general command of al-Qaida, after completing consultations, declares Abu Mohammed, Ayman al-Zawahri, God help him, the one leading the group," said a statement attributed to al-Qaida and posted on militant websites, including several known to be affiliated with the group.

It gave no details about the selection process but said the choice of al-Zawahri was the best tribute to the memory of the group's "martyrs."

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. will pursue the new al-Qaida leader just as it did bin Laden.

"As we did both seek to capture and succeed in killing bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahri," he said at a news conference in Washington.

Al-Zawahri, who turns 60 on Sunday and has a $25 million bounty on his head, takes control of al-Qaida at a time when it is struggling to stay relevant in the face of popular uprisings across the Arab world that are demanding Western-style democracy instead of the pan-Islamic nation sought by Islamists.

Still, the lawlessness gripping Yemen, a poor Arabian Peninsula nation, offers al-Qaida a rare opportunity to gain a strategic foothold in the Arab world, bringing it a step closer to the ability to export its extremist brand of Islam to the region.

"He will send his best fighters and organizers there," said Abdel-Rehim Ali, an Egyptian expert on terrorism and extremist Islamic groups. "Yemen is the closest target and a great start for al-Zawahri to realize his dream of an Islamic emirate."

Al-Qaida militants and their allies in Yemen already have taken advantage of the turmoil there to seize control of towns in the south and strike deals with local garrisons to train with weaponry and live openly.

Al-Zawahri, a trained surgeon who hails from an upper-middle-class Cairo family, lacks the populist appeal of his late boss, throwing into doubt whether he would be able to lure young Muslims, particularly in the West, to join al-Qaida's cause.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said al-Zawahri lacks the "peculiar charisma" of bin Laden and said there is suspicion about him among militants because he is Egyptian.

Still, what he lacks in personal magnetism al-Zawahri makes up for with rock solid ideological conviction and organizational and logistical skills, qualities that may have spared al-Qaida a swift demise following its expulsion from Afghanistan in 2001.

It's not clear how much consensus there was over al-Zawahri's succession, but two U.S. officials said he was not a popular choice. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Al-Zawahri and his backers seemed to understand that, so instead of declaring himself bin Laden's successor in his first public video eulogizing the slain al-Qaida leader, al-Zawahri waited for a call by fellow jihadis, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and al-Qaida expert at the Brookings Institution. The idea was to create the impression of popular support, he said.

U.S. officials said they'll be watching for signs that al-Zawahri is a leader in name only, with affiliates branching out even more on their own.

They noted that communications captured in the attack on bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, showed al-Qaida's Yemeni branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, argued against bin Laden's idea of spectacular attacks in the U.S. and in favor of smaller operations.

But al-Zawahri's lack of universal acceptance within the organization, analysts said, could give him added incentive to stage a spectacular attack against a prestige target, most likely American, to boost his leadership credentials.

"He must already be planning a big attack to convince the skeptics that he is qualified as a leader," said Khalil al-Anani, an expert on Islamic groups from Durham University in Britain. "He will be under pressure to do that, and quickly."

Al-Zawahri pledged earlier this month to avenge the slaying of bin Laden and to continue the terror network's campaign against the U.S. and other Western interests.

"He was a given leader from the outset. But he doesn't have the same iconic status or personality as bin Laden," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terror analyst at the Royal Swedish Defense College. "He will focus on attacking the West in a big way. To avenge (bin Laden's death), but also to make himself ... even more effective and relevant."

The son of an Egyptian family of doctors and scholars, al-Zawahri's father was a pharmacology professor at Cairo University's medical school and his grandfather was the grand imam of al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's supreme seat of learning.

He has a long history of radicalism, beginning at age 15 when he founded an underground cell of high school students to oppose the Egyptian government. He later merged his cell with other militants to form Egypt's Islamic Jihad.

Al-Zawahri was arrested in connection with the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and served three years in prison. Many Egyptians remember him as the young man who stuck his head against the bars of the defendants' cage in a Cairo courtroom to answer Western reporters' questions in fluent English.

Upon his release, he headed to Afghanistan in 1984 to fight the Soviets, where he linked up with bin Laden. He later followed the al-Qaida leader to Sudan and then back to Afghanistan, where they found a safe haven under the radical Taliban regime.

Soon after came the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa, followed by the 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen, an attack al-Zawahri is believed to have helped mastermind.

Al-Zawahri has worked in the years since to rebuild al-Qaida's leadership on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Al-Qaida has inspired or had a direct hand in attacks in North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, the 2004 train bombings in Madrid and the 2005 transit bombings in London.

The CIA came close to capturing him in 2003 and killing him in 2004 — both times in Pakistan. In December 2009, they thought they were again close, only to be tricked by a double agent who blew himself up, killing seven CIA employees and wounding six more in Khost, Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban welcomed the appointment of al-Zawahri and vowed to fight alongside the terror group against the U.S. and "other infidel forces" around the world.

"We share the same path with al-Qaida. We are allies," Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Al-Zawahri has been in hiding for nearly 10 years and is widely believed to be near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He has appeared in dozens of videos and audiotapes in recent years, increasingly becoming the face of al-Qaida as bin Laden kept a lower profile.

___

AP writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed to this report.

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Egypt opposition leader may not run for president (AP)

CAIRO – Egyptian pro-democracy campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei said in a televised interview aired Sunday he is not sure he will run for president, because there has not been not enough debate about the future of the country.

ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is a favorite of some leaders of the uprising that unseated President Hosni Mubarak, but polls show he has little electoral support. He inspired many of the protesters who took part in the 18-day uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down in February.

"I don't want to run for president just to be president. I want to reform this country," he said. "I want to run. But my red line is I don't want to be part of a stage setting," a reform-like cover for continuing the traditional way of running the country.

The Mubarak regime was faulted for corruption, widespread human rights abuses, cronyism and poor handling of the nation's economy.

ElBaradei was speaking on a TV program aired on the private ONTV station Sunday. He announced in March on the same station that he would run for president only if a real democratic system is in place.

In the interview, he was critical of the way the military rulers have managed the transition period. "We are in a haphazard situation when it comes to the political future of Egypt," he complained.

He said many decisions taken by the military were not discussed enough in advance and other decisions were made too late, such as measures to remove security officers accused of abuses, to keep members of the Mubarak regime from hiding the funds they allegedly took illicitly. He said it remains "an enigma" why the military has not been able to restore security so far.

He said the military issued decrees directing political life, such the law governing political parties and parliament. He criticized lack of debate before a referendum held in March over the framework of a new constitution.

ElBaradei is campaigning for a new constitution to be drafted before parliamentary elections. The voting is set for September, but many activists say that is too soon to allow proper organization and campaigning.

According to the plan endorsed by the military, the new parliament would pick a committee to draft the constitution. ElBaradei and a growing number of public figures argue that drafting a constitution should be the basis for a new political system.

It is not too late to have a dialogue, he said.

"It is an insult to say that Egyptians are not qualified for democracy," he said. "We are taking baby steps toward democracy ... We are learning every day."

ElBaradei said he has not suspended his political activities but has focused on drafting a "Bill of Rights" and a political program with the economy as a priority.

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Protesters celebrate departure of Yemen's leader (AP)

SANAA, Yemen – Thousands of protesters are dancing and singing in the Yemeni capital Sanaa after the country's authoritarian leader flew to Saudi Arabia to receive medical treatment for wounds he suffered in a rocket attack on his compound.

The protesters slaughtered three cows Sunday to celebrate President Ali Abdullah Saleh's departure. They danced and sang patriotic songs, with many in the jubilant crowd waving Yemeni flags, joyfully whistling and flashing the "V" for victory signs.

The protesters have been camping out since February to call for the ouster of Saleh, Yemen's leader of nearly 33 years.

Vice-President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi met Sunday with the U.S. Ambassador, the strongest indication yet that he is in charge.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's embattled president flew to Saudi Arabia for urgent medical care on Sunday after he was wounded by a rocket attack on his compound, raising the specter of a violent power grab in this impoverished country shaken by months of protests calling for his ouster. It was not immediately clear who was in charge.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled Yemen for nearly 33 years, had clung to power since the uprising against his rule began in mid-February. But at home and abroad, forces were rising steadily against him, culminating in the rocket strike on the mosque in his compound.

A Yemeni official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said Saleh left with his two wives and some of his children. The official said he and others learned about Saleh's plans only after the president left. A Saudi medical official said his condition was "not good."

Saleh's government responded with brutality to the daily peaceful protests, at times shooting live ammunition into crowds of demonstrators.

The conflict turned decidedly more violent over the past two weeks when formal tribal allies of Saleh turned against him and transformed the streets of the capital Sanaa into a war zone. Other forces rose against Saleh at the same time. There were high-level defections within his military, and Islamist fighters took over at least one town in the south in the past two weeks.

Saleh was also under intense pressure to step down from his powerful Gulf neighbors, who control a large share of the world's oil resources, and from longtime ally Washington. They all fear Yemen could be headed toward a failed state that will become a fertile ground for al-Qaida's most active franchise to operate and launch attacks abroad.

Officials said Yemen's constitution calls for the vice president, Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to take over in the absence of the president. U.S. officials said they could not confirm that power had been transferred to the vice president.

Saleh has been widely believed to be grooming his son, Ahmed, as a successor. Ahmed was believed to have stayed behind in an apparent bid to keep control, raising concern the country could be pitted into a violent power struggle.

Yemen's crisis had transformed in recent weeks from a peaceful uprising to a struggle between two of Yemen's most powerful families — Saleh's, which dominates the security forces, and the al-Ahmar clan, which leads Yemen's strongest tribal confederation. The confederation groups around 10 northern tribes.

Al-Ahmar announced the Hashid's support for the protest movement in March, and his fighters adhered to the movement's nonviolence policy. But last week, Saleh's forces moved against al-Ahmar's fortress-like residence in Sanaa, and the tribe's fighters rose up in fury. They fought pitched battles that engulfed the Sanaa in violence.

The battles reached a crescendo Friday when a rocket slammed into the mosque in the presidential compound during a prayer service, killing 11 bodyguards and seriously injuring five top officials who were worshipping along with Saleh. The five officials wounded were taken to neighboring Saudi Arabia for care.

The president delivered an audio address hours after the attack, his voice labored, with only an old photo shown. His failure to appear in public despite repeated promises raised speculation that his injuries were more severe than acknowledged.

Worried their peaceful movement was being co-opted by the tribal forces, protesters in Taiz and Sanaa issued a joint statement demanding the formation of a transitional council comprising civilians "whose hands are not stained with blood."

After news spread that Saleh had left the country, an activist and a witness said military forces in the southern port city of Aden had withdrawn from checkpoints. Elsewhere in the south, armed gunmen stormed buildings in Taiz, prompting protesters to form committees to try to keep the peace.

Saleh's departure likely means his rule is over, said Christopher Boucek, a Yemen expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"I'd hate to rule anything out for President Saleh," Boucek said, noting that Saleh is a proven political survivor who has often beat overwhelming odds. "But I can't see how he can come back and still be president."

Saleh arrived in Saudi Arabia around 1 a.m. and was immediately taken to a nearby military hospital, according to a Saudi medical official, who described the president's condition as "not good." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, did not elaborate.

Sheik Mohammed Nagi al-Shayef, a tribal ally, said he met the president Saturday evening at the Defense Ministry compound in the capital.

"He suffered burns, but they were not serious. He was burned on both hands, his face and head," al-Shayef told The Associated Press. He said Saleh also was hit by jagged pieces of wood that splintered from the mosque pulpit. About 200 people were in the mosque when the rocket struck, he said.

Friday's rocket attack was the first direct strike against Saleh in nearly four months of protests. The fighting between rebellious tribesmen and government forces has left more than 130 people dead over the last two weeks.

Even before the uprising began, Yemen was already the poorest Arab country in the Middle East and the government's authority did not extend far outside the capital. It faced opposition from rebellious Shiites in the north on the border with Saudi Arabia and a secessionist revolt in the south. The regime was also trying, with strong U.S. military help, to fight al-Qaida.

The government has since lost control of some remote provinces, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other Islamist extremists have exploited the turmoil to bolster their position.

Saleh's departure will not necessarily end the crisis in Yemen.

For one thing, fighting could continue between the tribal forces and pro-regime units led by loyal members of Saleh's inner circle. In his more than three decades in power, Saleh administered an elaborate patronage system to ensure the loyalty of military officers and some of those beneficiaries would be tempted to continue the fight in the hope of keeping the perks they had enjoyed under the president.

If Saleh's departure causes the regime to collapse, tribal chieftains would want to take credit for the ouster of the regime and get a dominant role in the country's future. Given the conservative politics of tribal leaders, that could well place them on a collision course with the youth groups that have for months staged peaceful demonstrations in Sanaa and across much of the country to demand Saleh's ouster and political reforms.

Saleh, who is in his late 60s, had agreed to transfer power several times, only to step back at the last moment. Analysts said it appeared unlikely Saleh would return to Yemen: The Saudis have tried repeatedly to persuade him to step down and now he is in their care, large segments of the population oppose him, and a powerful tribal alliance took up arms against him.

"Saleh was an inconsistent partner in the war against al-Qaida," said Rick Nelson, a counterterrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "But at least he was partner part of the time."

John Brennan, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, spoke with the Yemeni vice president by telephone on Saturday, a White House official said, but offered no details. Brennan had traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss the crisis during a three-day visit to the Gulf that ended Friday.

Saleh's arrival in Saudi capped a flurry of conflicting reports about his whereabouts and condition that spread after Yemeni government officials and opposition tribal leaders said Saudi King Abdullah had mediated a cease-fire and invited Saleh to seek treatment in the neighboring kingdom. Past cease-fires have not held, but no fighting was reported in Sanaa on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia called "on all parties to exercise restraint and use reason" to keep the country from "sliding into more violence and fighting."

Although the U.S. long stood by Saleh, the Obama administration has been trying to negotiate a stable exit for him as the situation grew more unstable and government forces continued to crack down on dissent, with more than 150 protesters killed since the uprising began in mid-February.

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Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Ben Hubbard in Cairo and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington contributed to this report.

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Yemeni leader accepts Saudi offer of treatment (AP)

SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh accepted an offer from the Saudi king to get medical treatment there for wounds from a rebel rocket attack, but had not yet left his country, officials close to the president said Saturday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, said Saleh spoke to Saudi King Abdullah shortly after the rocket attack Friday night that wounded Saleh and five top government officials. Eleven security men were killed.

Sheik Mohammed Nagi al-Shayef, a leader of the Saleh-allied Bakeel tribe, said he met with Saleh Saturday evening at the Defense Ministry compound in the capital.

"He suffered burns but they were not serious. He was burned on both hands, his face and head," al-Shayef told The Associated Press.

He said Saleh also was hit by jagged pieces of wood that splintered from the mosque pulpit. There were about 200 people inside the mosque when the rocket landed.

A secretary in Saleh's office and a member of his ruling party said the president's plane was still at the Sanaa airport.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Officials close to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh say he has accepted an offer from the Saudi king to travel there for medical treatment for wounds from a rebel rocket attack, but has not yet left Sanaa, the capital.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, said Saleh spoke to Saudi King Abdullah shortly after the rocket attack Friday night that wounded Saleh and five top government officials. Eleven security men were killed.

A secretary in Saleh's office and a member of his ruling party said the president's plane was still at the Sanaa airport.

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Afghan leader tells NATO attacks on homes "not allowed" (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – President Hamid Karzai warned the NATO-led force in Afghanistan on Tuesday that launching attacks on Afghan homes in pursuit of insurgents was "not allowed" and that patience with the tactic had run out after a spate of civilian casualties.

"NATO must learn that air strikes on Afghan homes are not allowed and that Afghan people have no tolerance for that anymore," Karzai told a news conference in Kabul.

Karzai reacted angrily after NATO air strikes on a compound inadvertently killed at least nine people -- most of them children -- in southern Helmand on Sunday. The strikes were ordered after a patrol had come under fire.

Civilian casualties caused by foreign troops, usually in air strikes or "night raids" on Afghan homes as they hunt insurgents, have long been a major source of friction between Karzai and his Western backers.

Karzai warned that Afghans had had enough of the tactics, which he said were a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty.

"If they don't stop air strikes on Afghan homes, their presence in Afghanistan will be considered as an occupying force and against the will of the Afghan people," he said.

"The international community has helped us a lot but they cannot risk the lives of Afghan people, this can't be compensated," Karzai said, adding he had warned NATO commanders "a hundred times."

Tension boiled over at the weekend after the strikes on the compound in Helmand's Nawzad district. Graphic television footage after the strikes showed grieving relatives holding the bodies of several children, including babies.

The commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southwestern later apologized for the deaths, saying the strikes on the compound had been ordered because insurgents were using them as a base.

U.S. and NATO commanders have stepped up the use of air strikes and night raids in the past 12 months, arguing they are effective weapons against insurgents who often hide among the Afghan population.

However commanders have significantly tightened the rules for using both tactics over the past two years amid a growing outcry from Afghan leaders.

U.N. figures show that at least three-quarters of civilians are caused by insurgents but it is those by NATO forces which cause the most anger among ordinary Afghans.

Karzai repeated that he had given NATO a "last warning" over air strikes and night raids but again did not go into any details about what his government would do if the tactics were not stopped. He said he hoped to meet ISAF commanders in Kabul later this week.

"Afghanistan has a lot of ways of stopping it ... But we would like NATO to stop it on their own," Karzai said.

The latest NATO strikes came at a time of high anti-Western sentiment in Afghanistan, and with a gradual security transition from foreign forces to Afghans due to begin in several areas in July.

The argument over air strikes and night raids also comes at a time of heightened violence across the country since the Taliban began their spring offensive at the start of May.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Yemen leader accused of allowing Islamist takeover (AP)

SANAA, Yemen – Hundreds of Islamic militants cemented control over a town in southern Yemen on Sunday, even seizing army tanks, military officials said, while breakaway army units encouraged other military forces to switch their loyalties and join the uprising.

The growing number of defections in the military posed the most serious threat yet to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade grip on his country.

A leader of the breakaway forces, Maj. Gen. Abdullah Ali Elewa, appealed to other units to join.

"Stand side by side with the courageous armed forces, Republican Guards and security officers who endorsed the peaceful popular youthful revolution and announced their support to stand up to the tyrants and corrupt, and unjust," he said.

Elewa, a former defense minister, was one of nine military officers who signed the statement, named "Statement Number One" in the style of a military regime, though the officers are not in power. The group included leaders of four of Yemen's five military divisions.

Saleh labeled them "traitors" and "war mongers."

"We understand the demands of the youth revolution, but we ask them first to get rid of those corrupt, agent and traitor elements who defected from the military," Saleh said in a statement.

Late Sunday, several explosions were heard in the capital Sanaa. Their origin was not known.

Also, witnesses in the southern city of Taiz said security forces attacked protesters camped out in the central square with rifles and water cannon in an attempt to clear the area. Doctors said 150 people were taken to hospitals with injuries. In an earlier clash in Taiz, six protesters were killed, activists and doctors said.

Throughout the three months of protests against his 33-year rule, Saleh has repeatedly argued that the terror group would overrun the impoverished corner of the Arabian peninsula if he falls.

Critics say he's bluffing.

"He wants to ... confirm his false claims that if he gives up power, the homeland will be destroyed," Elewa said.

Hundreds of Islamic militants stormed Zinjibar, a small town of more than 20,000 people near the shores of the Gulf of Aden, on Friday, seizing a number of banks and government offices.

Military officials said the militants extended their control starting late Saturday night, capturing six army tanks and several armored cars after the governor, the security chief and the commander of a local army brigade withdrew.

Other army units clashed with the militants around the town Sunday, shelling it from the outskirts and forcing terrified residents to flee or cower in their homes.

Medical and military officials said eight civilians and 18 soldiers have been killed since Saturday. Scores more have been injured.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Ali Dahmis, a political analyst in the town, said officials who supported Saleh fled early, making it easier for militants to stream in.

Col. Abdullah al-Badawi, who defected from Saleh's regime and led his men to fight the Islamists, claimed the militants were in fact supporters of Saleh.

"We will chase the mujahideen, the supporters of President Saleh, and will never allow them to have a foothold in Abyan," he said, referring to the province of which Zinjibar is the capital.

Elewa, said Saleh sought to spread fear "that Yemen without him will become another Somalia."

Saleh's political opponents and experts on Yemeni affairs discount such fears, though the estimated 300 fighters of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula could exploit the growing turmoil to operate more freely in remote parts of the country.

Washington considers the group to be the biggest terrorist threat to the U.S. It has been linked to the December 2009 attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner and the plot to put U.S.-addressed parcel bombs onto air cargo flights.

It is not clear if the militants who seized Zinjibar were linked to al-Qaida. Yemen is home to numerous other Islamic extremist groups.

Islamist militants also took over the nearby town of Jaar at the end of March, and there were similar accusations then that the government purposely stood aside.

The United States, which once considered Saleh a necessary ally in fighting Yemen's active al-Qaida branch, has turned its back on the ruler, calling for him to transfer power peacefully.

Saleh has clung to power despite daily protests, a wave of defections by army officers and political and tribal allies, and international condemnation of a crackdown that has killed more than 150 protesters.

Saleh has refused to sign a U.S.-backed proposal by Yemen's powerful Gulf Arab neighbors to step down in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

With diplomatic efforts stalled, the political crisis gave way to serious street battles last week between Saleh's forces and armed men loyal to the country's most powerful tribal leader, who has turned against the president.

The clashes killed 124 people and raised fears of a civil war before the two sides reached a cease-fire over the weekend. Armed tribesmen who had occupied government buildings began withdrawing Sunday in observance of the cease-fire

In another sign of Saleh's eroding support, a brigade of the powerful Republican Guard announced its defection to the opposition Sunday.

Activist Abdul-Rahman Ahmed said a letter from Brig. Gen. Ibrahim al-Jayfi, commander of the Guard's Ninth Brigade, was read to thousands of protesters in the provincial capital of Damar, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Sanaa.

The head of Yemen's most powerful tribal confederation has called on the Guard to help topple Saleh.

A larger crumbling of support within the Guard appeared unlikely because it is commanded by one of the president's sons.

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Notorious Hutu militia leader captured

The Hutu militia, known as the Interahamwe, was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in Rwanda in the 1990s.Bernard Munyagishari is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, including rapeHe was detained in an operation led by Congolese troops, the tribunal for Rwanda saysThe tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia are both making progress

(CNN) -- One of the most notorious leaders of the Rwandan Hutu militia in the 1990s has been apprehended in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) announced Thursday.

Bernard Munyagishari was wanted by the tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, including rape.

The announcement of his capture was almost a side note in the struggle to bring to justice those indicted for crimes against humanity, coming as it did on the same day that Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic was apprehended after a more-than-15-year manhunt.

Mladic: Commander turned fugitive

In the spring of 1994, the international community was preoccupied with the Bosnian Serbs' campaign of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, a campaign that would culminate the following year in a massacre at Srebrenica. But at the same time, thousands of miles away, Hutu militia were beginning a rampage across Rwanda, unhindered by any international intervention. Munyagishari was allegedly one of their leaders.

The militia, known as the Interahamwe, was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in Rwanda as they set about a campaign of genocide against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu. An estimated 800,000 people were killed in three months of massacres and arbitrary executions.

Munyagishari was detained in an operation led by Congolese troops in a remote and forested area of north Kivu, the ICTR said. He is currently being held in Goma in Congo, awaiting transfer to the tribunal, which is based in Arusha in Tanzania.

According to an indictment published in 2005, Munyagishari led the Interahamwe in the district of Gisenye. It alleges that long before the genocide occurred, Munyagishari was training and distributing weapons to Interahamwe groups to enable them "more efficiently to attack and kill the Tutsis and Hutu opponents."

Early in 1994 he is alleged to have spread rumors that Tutsi were poisoning the water supply and "masterminded a virulent hate campaign against the Tutsis."

In April 1994, the indictment alleges, Munyagishari "selected Tutsis and ordered his Interahamwe to take them to be killed and buried at the 'Commune Rouge,'" an infamous cemetery in Gisenye. He also created a special militia "to rape Tutsi women and girls before killing them" and was allegedly involved in an attack on a Catholic church where many Tutsis had taken refuge.

That attack took place in the same week that US F-16 jets attacked the positions of Mladic's forces as they lay siege to the Bosnian town of Gorazde.

For years it seemed that both the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the ICTR were destined to be expensive failures, unable to bring those accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice. There was also widespread criticism of the ICTR for its perceived failure to prosecute those accused of crimes of sexual violence.

But as the years have passed, the political landscape has changed and hiding places have shrunk. The old generation of Serbian hardliners has lost influence and the young republic has eyes on joining the European Union. In central Africa, after years of antagonism, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun cooperating on a range of issues, from trade to tackling the militia rife in eastern Congo.

Such tribunals are expensive. Both the ICTR and the Yugoslav tribunal cost more than $130 million a year to sustain. And they move slowly as evidence is collected and translated, defense teams assembled and the scope of international law tested.

Both courts have focused on bringing to justice the alleged architects of atrocities rather than the foot soldiers, in a calculated message to any who might contemplate such strategies in the future. And in the view of Antonio Cassese, the former president of the Yugoslav tribunal, "Justice is an indispensable ingredient of the process of national reconciliation. ... It breaks the cycle of violence, hatred and extra-judicial retribution.'

Eventually some of the most wanted figures from both Rwanda's genocide and the civil war in the former Yugoslavia -- not all of them Serbs by any means -- have been brought to trial.

At the ICTR, 32 cases have been completed and nine accused remain at large. A further 22 cases are currently being heard. At The Hague, the Yugoslav tribunal has charged more than 160 people, including heads of government and high-level military figures. More than 60 have been convicted and more than 40 are in various stages of proceedings.

Add to that list: Ratko Mladic and Bernard Munyagishari.

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New Liberal leader Bob Rae says party here to stay (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The new interim leader of Canada's beleaguered Liberal Party, Bob Rae, said on Wednesday the Liberals would pick themselves up from their disastrous electoral showing and rebuild.

The Liberals, who governed Canada for 70 years in the last century, were reduced to third-party status in the May 2 election, which was won by the Conservatives. As a result, some members have wondered if it is time to pack it in and merge with the left-of-center New Democrats.

But Rae, picked by the Liberal caucus on Wednesday to head the party until the membership chooses a permanent leader, said the Liberal Party will triumph again.

"I can assure you that the Liberal Party has a future that is every bit as promising and great as our past achievements have been," he told reporters after taking the helm.

"I have no hesitation in saying that the Liberal Party is here to stay. We're here to fight for the things that Canadians believe in."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was able to convert his minority Conservative government into a majority government on May 2 partly because the Liberals split the center-left vote with the New Democrats, who overtook them as the biggest opposition party.

The Liberals were reduced to 34 seats -- smaller even than the new Conservative government's cabinet -- out of the 308 in the House of Commons. The party had 77 seats before the election.

Rae served as premier of Ontario, as head of the provincial New Democrats, from 1990 to 1995, during which time he raised taxes and forced unpaid furloughs on public workers in an effort to contain budget deficits. He later joined the Liberals.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer; editing by Peter Galloway)

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Mexican police catch Gulf drug cartel leader (AP)

MEXICO CITY – Mexican federal police captured a leading member of the Gulf drug cartel Friday at what appeared to have been his birthday party, authorities said.

Gilberto Barragan Balderas "is considered one of the main leaders of the Gulf Cartel" and is the subject of a $5 million reward by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said Ramon Pequeno, head of anti-drug operations for the federal police.

Barragan Balderas was allegedly in charge of the cartel's operations in Miguel Aleman, across the border from Roma, Texas. Police captured him at a party at a ranch near another border city, Reynosa, which is across from McAllen, Texas.

Police said the party was apparently in honor of Barragan Balderas' May 19 birthday. Two alleged associates were also arrested in the raid, which also netted an assault rifle and three pistols.

No formal charges had been filed against any of the suspects.

Barragan Balderas, 41, is wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States under a 2008 indictment.

A DEA statement says he was "responsible for obtaining advanced notice regarding the movement and locations of military and state police patrols and mobile checkpoints, thus protecting shipments of cocaine and marijuana for the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas" before the two gangs split in 2010.

The Gulf and Zetas cartels are now bitter rivals, and federal police said one of Barragan Balderas' "duties was to defend territory in Tamaulipas against attacks by the rival Zetas."

The Zetas have also been expanding into other territories in Mexico and engaging in a series of turf battles with gangs other than the Gulf.

On Friday, the attorney general of the north-central state of Zacatecas said at least 10 people were killed in a gunbattle apparently involving the Zetas and a rival front of gangs known as the "United Cartels."

"I say at least 10 people, because witnesses say that the gunmen, before they left ... took away other bodies," Attorney General Arturo Nahle told a local television station.

Gunmen left 11 vehicles at the scene of the confrontation in the remote town of Florencia de Benito Juarez. Six of the vehicles were bulletproofed, officials said.

The United Cartels is believed to be an alliance between the Gulf, Sinaloa and the La Familia cartels, to form a common front against encroachments by the Zetas.

Also Friday, Mexico's federal security spokesman said homicides in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez have dropped from an average of 11 a day in October to about four a day in April.

Alejandro Poire attributed the drop to the deployment of thousands of federal police and efforts by local prosecutors. But he added that "the problem is not 100 percent solved."

More than 6,000 people have died the past two years from drug-related violence in the city, which sits across from El Paso, Texas.

Despite the bloodshed, the state legislature is scheduled to award the city the title of "Heroic" Ciudad Juarez on Saturday in recognition of the city's participation in the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution.

The killings extend throughout various parts of Mexico. On Friday, police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero reported they found the decpitated bodies of four men in the township of Tecpan de Galeana, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Acapulco.

Also Friday, President Felipe Calderon met with a delegation of U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Connie Mack, a Florida Republican who is chairman of the House subcommittee on Western Hemisphere affairs.

Calderon's office said in a statement that the president stressed "the importance of combatting ever more firmly and efficiently weapons trafficking and money laundering," two elements that Mexico says fuel the bloody drug war that has cost over 35,000 lives since late 2006.

He also "stressed the importance of fully recognizing the contributions that Mexican migrants make to the U.S. economy and society."

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NATO leader: 'Gadhafi's time is over'

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi stands outside a tent erected at his Bab al-Aziziya residence in Tripoli on April 10, 2011.Rasmussen cites the 'wind of change' in the Arab worldThere's no way to gauge the end of the mission, Rasmussen saysNATO planes strike more targets in Libya

(CNN) -- NATO's leader confidently proclaimed on Sunday that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's days are numbered, but he couldn't foresee how long the alliance's grinding mission to protect besieged civilians will last.

"The game is over for Gadhafi," NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN's "State of the Union." "He should realize sooner rather than later that there's no future for him or his regime."

Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister, believes Gadhafi will be ushered out of power amid the "wind of change" sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East, and the dramatic military strides in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"This week we have seen a major blow to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's evil vision of conflict as a means to create conflict between the Muslim world and the rest of the world. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban is under pressure everywhere, so basically I am very optimistic," he said, making reference to the killing of bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs on Monday in Pakistan.

The alliance has been carrying out a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the protection of civilians from the Gadhafi regime by any means necessary, and since March 31, its planes have been pounding targets across the country.

According to NATO's latest daily operational update, NATO planes struck several targets on Sunday, including an ammunition storage site in the Zintan region, tanks in Misrata and Ajdabiya, military vehicles in al-Brega, and headquarters compound buildings and ammunition and vehicle storage facilities in Hun, south of Sirte.

There have been widespread assumptions among experts that the conflict between pro- and anti-Gadhafi forces will continue to be a stalemate for some time. Rasmussen was asked when the NATO operation would be completed but all he could say was "it needs an end of the mission."

"We have defined three very clear military objectives," he said. "Firstly, a complete end to all attacks against civilians. Secondly, a free and unhindered and immediate access for humanitarian assistance. And thirdly, a withdrawal of Gadhafi military forces and paramilitary forces to their bases and barracks. When these objectives are fulfilled, our mission is accomplished."

He said "it's hard to imagine" that the "outrageous and systematic attacks" by pro-Gadhafi forces against Libyans will halt as along as Gadhafi stays in power.

He said there needs to be a political and not a military solution with a "peaceful transition to democracy" as Gadhafi leaves power.

But the conflict rages on. The Tunisian state news-agency reported on Sunday that 50 people were injured when government forces and rebels clashed near the Tunisian-Libyan border on Saturday.

Gadhafi's forces on Saturday bombed key fuel depots in the besieged city of Misrata, destroying six containers and causing a massive fire, a rebel spokesman said.

Meanwhile, in the de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, the Libyan opposition said Saturday that Italy has agreed to arm the rebels.

Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the National Transitional Council, said opposition representatives have flown to Italy to finish the deal.

The Italian Foreign Ministry categorically denied it will send weapons to Libya. A press office spokesman said Italy will only go as far as sending non-lethal weapons such as satellite and radar systems to aid the rebels.

The rebels, intent on winning on the ground without foreign troops, have been asking for arms supplies as the war rages in cities like Misrata.

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