Cameron 'to pull 500 UK troops from Afghanistan' (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – British Prime Minister David Cameron is to announce the withdrawal of at least 500 troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012 following a similar drawdown by the United States, reports said Sunday.

The move would take the number of British troops in Afghanistan below the key figure of 9,000 and mark a major step towards Cameron's stated aim of having all British combat forces out of the country by 2015.

Cameron would announce on Wednesday plans to withdraw up to 800 troops by the end of next year, the Sunday Times reported. The Sunday Telegraph put the figure at 500 and said they would leave in mid-2012.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said that some troops would be brought home early but refused to confirm details.

"UK force levels in Afghanistan are kept under constant review," a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.

"The Prime Minister has been clear that there will be no UK troops in combat roles in Afghanistan by 2015 and it is right that we bring troops home sooner where progress allows and taking account of military advice."

The withdrawal is in addition to the pull-out of 400 British support staff by February 2012 announced by Cameron in May, 200 of which have already left Afghanistan.

The Sunday Telegraph quoted a senior defence source as warning that reducing the British force too quickly would "send the wrong message" to Afghanistan's Taliban militants.

Britain currently has 9,500 troops based in Afghanistan's troubled southern province of Helmand, making it the second largest contributor of foreign forces in Afghanistan after the United States.

US President Barack Obama last month ordered all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by mid-2012. France quickly followed suit, saying several hundred French troops would leave by the end of this year.

Western nations have set a deadline of the end of 2014 to hand over control of security to Afghan forces despite fears that they are not ready to protect the country from the Taliban.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed last month that Britain, like the Kabul government and the United States, was in negotiations with the insurgents in a bid to end 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

Cameron held talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday which partly focused on the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan.

A spokesman for his Downing Street office said that the two leaders "both support the Afghan-led process towards reconciliation and peace", adding that Cameron had urged Pakistan to play a "constructive role".

Pakistan has long been accused of covertly backing the Taliban or at the very least of failing to crack down on militant sanctuaries in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

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Hundreds of Yemeni troops defect to rebels (Reuters)

ADEN/SANAA (Reuters) – At least 26 Yemeni government soldiers and 17 Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda were killed on Wednesday in heavy fighting for control of a stadium near the southern city of Zinjibar, officials said.

The military setback, following reports that 300 of his soldiers had defected to the opposition, was another blow to President Ali Abdullah Saleh as recovers in Saudi Arabia from injuries sustained in an attack on his palace in early June.

Yemen, the poorest Arab state and a neighbor of the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has been shaken by months of protests against Saleh's three-decade rule, a resurgent wing of al Qaeda and a separatist rebellion in the south.

The United States and Saudi Arabia fear that al Qaeda may use the chaos to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

Yemeni officials said the militants seized control of the stadium from government forces, who have been using the facility -- built recently to host a regional football tournament -- to support troops fighting to dislodge the militants from Zinjibar.

An official said losing the stadium, located near a military base from which government forces had been launching attacks on Zinjibar, exposed a military base that had been used to launch attacks on the militants in Zinjibar. A counter offensive to retake the position was in progress, he said.

"The militant control of the field will leave the back of the camp from the east exposed," the official said.

Yemeni officials had been reporting successes against the estimated 300 militants who seized control of Zinjibar in May in the midst of a groundswell of popular protests against the nearly 33-year autocratic rule of Saleh.

His opponents say his forces handed over the city to the militants to bolster his argument that his departure would lead to an Islamist takeover of the Arabian Peninsula state.

Yemeni air force planes had killed at least 10 gunmen in attacks on Zinjibar earlier on Wednesday, a local Yemeni official said. One strike mistakenly hit a bus traveling from Zinjibar to Aden, the official added, killing five passengers and wounding 12 other people.

DEFECTION

Earlier in the day, opposition officials reported that more than 300 members of Yemeni security forces, including 150 from the Republican Guards led by Saleh's son Ahmed, had defected to rebels.

"From the podium of the Square of Change in Sanaa, an announcement has been issued that 150 soldiers from the Republican Guards, 130 Central Security soldiers and 60 policemen have joined the revolt," an opposition message said.

No government officials were immediately available to comment on the report.

If confirmed, the mutinies would be a serious reverse for Saleh, who has spent the past three weeks receiving medical treatment in Riyadh for wounds suffered in the June 3 attack.

The defections are the latest in a series by security forces since the anti-Saleh uprising began in February. Most prominent was the defection in March of Brigadier General Ali Mohsen, who has since sent in his troops to guard protesters in Sanaa.

The protests have culminated in battles between Saleh loyalists and gunmen from the powerful Hashed tribal federation in Sanaa that brought the country to the verge of civil war.

Months of unrest have cost Yemen $4 billion, a senior Yemeni official said on Wednesday, adding the Arab state was in talks with potential donors to help plug a gap of $1.5 billion in government commitments for projects funded by Sanaa.

"We are talking with the IMF, the World Bank and donor countries, whether Gulf Arab states or others. There may be some discussions next week with the IMF," Abdulla al-Shater, deputy planning and international cooperation minister, told reporters on the sidelines of a financial conference in Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has been largely quiet with a ceasefire in place since Saleh was injured in the attack, which investigators say was caused by explosives planted in the palace mosque where he and several senior government officials were praying

Saleh, 69, who has not been seen in public since the attack, has resisted pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia to hand over power to his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, under a Gulf nations' initiative to end the crisis.

Hadi has been running the country in Saleh's absence, but the opposition wants the president to officially hand over power to him to pave the way for new elections.

Officials have said the president will soon make his first public appearance since the attack with a recorded message to be broadcast on Yemeni state television.

OFFICER KILLED

In further violence, a bomb killed a colonel when it exploded in his car on Tuesday night in the port city of Aden, a security source said on Wednesday.

The source said that Colonel Khaled al-Yafi'i was the commander of a military outpost guarding the Aden Free Zone business park's entrance.

The outpost was targeted by a car bomb on Friday that killed four soldiers and a civilian and injured 16 other people.

No one has claimed responsibility for the colonel's killing, but Islamist militants affiliated with al Qaeda are active in southern Yemen.

(Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif in Jeddah; writing by Sami Aboudi; editing by Richard Meares)

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U.N. council approves Ethiopian troops for Abyei (Reuters)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a U.S.-drafted resolution authorizing deployment of 4,200 Ethiopian troops to Sudan's disputed Abyei region for a six-month period.

The resolution establishes a new U.N. peacekeeping force, called the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, or UNISFA. Its adoption comes a week after north and south Sudan signed a deal in Addis Ababa to demilitarize Abyei and let Ethiopian troops monitor the peace.

Although the resolution gives UNISFA the authority to use force in self-defense and to protect civilians and humanitarian aid, it does not call for UNISFA troops to monitor compliance with human rights laws, as most peacekeeping forces do.

Instead, the resolution "requests the Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) to ensure that effective human rights monitoring is carried out" and report the results to the council.

It was not immediately clear how long it would take the Ethiopians to deploy to Abyei, a region straddling the north and south that some believe may have some oil reserves. Council diplomats said they hoped the deployment would be swift.

The resolution said the 15-nation council was "deeply concerned by the current situation in the Abyei Area, and by all acts of violence committed against civilians in violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law including the killing and displacement of ... civilians."

South Sudan is due to secede from the north to form a new nation on July 9. But the north and south have yet to agree on who possesses Abyei, stirring fears a long-running quarrel over the region could sour the secession and could spark a broader conflict.

In a power play ahead of the split, Khartoum sent tanks and troops into Abyei on May 21, outraging the south, human rights groups and regional and global powers who called it a violation of the 2005 deal that ended Sudan's long civil war.

The move followed an attack on a convoy of northern troops and U.N. peacekeepers which the north blamed on the south and which the U.N. said was likely to have been carried out by southern police or soldiers.

As Khartoum moved in, tens of thousands of villagers fled south in a panicked exodus to escape looting and burning.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Will Dunham)

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Canada says documents clear troops of wrongdoing (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada released thousands of pages of declassified documents on Wednesday, which it said supported its claims that its soldiers played no role in the mistreatment of prisoners in Afghanistan.

The Conservative government has been dogged for years by allegations that military and political officials ignored evidence that Afghan authorities were torturing detainees handed over by Canadian troops stationed there.

The more than 4,000 pages of documents showed that Canada had met its international obligations on the treatment of prisoners, Foreign Minister John Baird told reporters in Ottawa.

"(The documents show) that the allegations are unfounded and critics' accusations of Canadian complicity with torture or even war crimes are simply not true," said Baird, who spoke to reporters before the documents were made public.

But an opposition lawmaker who had access to documents before they were released said the material showed Canadian officials knew there was a huge risk the prisoners they were handing over to Afghan authorities might be mistreated.

"It is impossible to reconcile (the government's) statements with the documents," Liberal Stephane Dion told CBC, saying the documents raised new questions about Canada's conduct.

Reports of abuse prompted Ottawa to sign a deal with the Afghan government in May 2007 allowing officials unfettered access to any prisoners handed over by Canadian troops to investigate allegations of mistreatment.

International law would have prohibited Canadian forces from turning the prisoners over to Afghan authorities if they knew they were likely to be tortured.

The government, which had initially balked at releasing the documents, again rejected calls for a public inquiry, saying the process had already cost C$12 million ($12.4 million) without finding any credible allegations of wrongdoing.

The documents were reviewed by a parliamentary committee and a panel of judges, who screened them for national security and diplomatic concerns before their public release. Baird did not say how many documents were kept secret on those grounds.

Defense Minister Peter MacKay accused opposition parties of attempting "sensationalize" the issue for political gain.

The main opposition New Democratic Party questioned the timing of the document release, saying it came in a way that meant lawmakers would not be allowed to debate any concerns raised in the material

"It's a very cynical approach," NDP leader Jack Layton said.

The document release comes as Canada has begun withdrawing its nearly 2,800 troops from the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan. Its forces have suffered more than 150 casualties.

($1=$0.97 Canadian)

(Writing by Allan Dowd in Vancouver; editing by Rob Wilson)

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Venezuelan troops battle inmates at prison (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela – Gunfire rang out at a Venezuelan prison for a second day Saturday as thousands of troops sought to regain control in battles that have left at least 3 dead and 18 wounded.

National Guard Gen. Luis Motta Dominguez said one inmate had died in addition to two National Guard troops whose deaths were confirmed earlier. At least 18 troops were reported wounded in Friday's clashes at the prison in Guatire, east of Caracas.

The violence erupted in the El Rodeo I prison as troops were searching it for weapons. A riot in the prison on June 12 left 22 dead.

About 50 inmates continued to resist the troops and were refusing dialogue, Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami told state television.

El Aissami later addressed the inmates with a megaphone, saying: "The call is for you to change your attitude and lay down your weapons." He said the prisoners' rights would be respected.

"Think about your families, about your children," he said.

More than 70 inmates accused of leading gangs within the prison were transferred elsewhere, El Aissami told state television.

Inmates relatives' protested earlier outside the prison, some of them weeping as troops stood guard in anti-riot gear. Soldiers used tear gas at one point Saturday to drive back the distraught relatives.

A 5,000-strong security force, including 3,500 National Guard troops, was joined on Saturday by 400 soldiers from an elite army paratroop unit, officials said. They were occupying both El Rodeo I and the adjacent El Rodeo II prison.

During Friday's search, soldiers seized seven rifles, five shotguns, 20 handguns and eight hand grenades, along with about 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of cocaine, 5,000 rifle cartridges and 100 cellular phones, Motta Dominguez said.

Venezuela's severely crowded prisons have suffered repeated violent outbursts as rival gangs often fight for control of cellblocks and sell weapons and drugs with the help of corrupt prison guards.

The country's 30 prisons were built to hold about 12,500 prisoners but instead hold about 49,000, according to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, a group that monitors prison conditions.

Last year, 476 peopled died and 967 people were injured in the country's prison system, according to figures compiled by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Human Rights Watch also said in a recent report that about three out of four inmates in Venezuela's prison system have yet to be sentenced due to backlogs in the country's slow-moving justice system.

President Hugo Chavez has pledged to improve conditions in the prisons, but the violence has worsened recently. After the deadly riot last week, the government announced that a new government ministry would be created to focus on prison issues.

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Lebanon sends troops after residents clash on Syria (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon's army clamped down on two sectarian districts of a northern city on Saturday after a rally in support of anti-government protestors in Syria triggered deadly clashes between rival gunmen.

Troops manned checkpoints and searched cars and houses in Tripoli's Bab al-Tebbaneh neighborhood, a Sunni Muslim stronghold, and Jabal Mohsen neighborhood, whose residents hail from the same Alawite sect as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The communities' long-running feud erupted into violence on Friday after dozens of people took to Tripoli's Nour Square to show support for a three-month-old Syrian revolt that has drawn bloody crackdowns by Assad's government.

Security sources said between four and seven people, among them a boy and a soldier, were killed as street fighters attacked each other with assault rifles and grenades. At least 48 people were wounded.

In a statement, the army said it had "returned the situation to normal" and was enforcing a ban on residents carrying guns.

"The army leadership affirms (that) it will not be lax with those who toy with security and who were the reason behind both civilian and military casualties."

Assad's domestic challenges have been watched warily in neighboring Lebanon, where sectarian tensions have often been inflamed by Syrian involvement.

Damascus's clout was especially strong during the Syrian military presence in Lebanon between 1976 and 2005, which also helped the standing of the small local Alawite community.

Since last month, northern Lebanon has seen an influx of Syrians fleeing an assault by Assad's forces on the border village of Tel Kelakh.

(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Dan Williams)

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South Korean troops shoot at civilian airliner by mistake (Reuters)

SEOUL, Jun (Reuters) – South Korean Marines fired rifles at a South Korean commercial aircraft flying near the sea border with North Korea, thinking it was one of the communist North's jet fighters, but they never hit their target, military sources said on Saturday.

The shooting illustrates the level of tension between the two Koreas, still technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, which came close to all-out war last year.

A Marine Corps spokesman said two soldiers guarding an island on the waters off the South's western city of Incheon fired their K-2 rifles for about 10 minutes at around 4 a.m. on Friday.

The plane was later identified as an Asiana Airlines Airbus A320 flying from China making its descent into Incheon, Seoul's main airport.

A defense ministry source said the plane, carrying 119 passengers and crew, was undamaged as it was about 500 to 600 meters out of the range of the hand-held K-2 rifles.

Yonhap News Agency and other local media said the soldiers believed the plane was flying north of the normal air corridor. Asiana officials told the news agency the plane never left its scheduled course.

"We checked yesterday through the air force and the airport control center to make sure there were no abnormalities such as being off course," Yonhap quoted a company official as saying.

An airline official confirmed the plane was an Airbus A320 but made no other comment.

Yonhap and other news reports quoted Marine Corps officers as saying troops would undergo thorough training on how to identify civil aircraft. Airlines will be asked to ensure their planes do not deviate from set courses.

The North denies responsibility in the sinking last March of a South Korean warship and says it was provoked in the second incident, the shelling of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong after the South test-fired shells into disputed waters.

The two attacks killed about 50 South Koreans.

The North this month rejected a proposal from Seoul for a series of three presidential summits after a secret meeting of officials from the two countries. The North denounced the South's call for an apology for the two attacks.

In between the attacks, North Korea unveiled a uranium enrichment program which opens a second route to make a nuclear bomb alongside its plutonium program.

(Reporting by Sung-won Shim; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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7 wounded as troops storm Venezuelan prison (AP)

GUATIRE, Venezuela – National Guard troops stormed a Venezuelan prison Friday seeking to disarm inmates days after a bloody riot, and at least seven troops were wounded by gunfire as some prisoners resisted.

Bursts of gunfire erupted inside the El Rodeo I prison while hundreds of inmates' relatives wept desperately outside the prison, some of them shouting, "Help them!" A military helicopter circled overhead.

At least seven National Guard troops were wounded by gunfire and were being treated, said Nestor Reverol, a deputy justice minister.

"Part of those who are incarcerated have resisted," Reverol told state television. He said they were in a prison tower and had refused to come down.

Fierce gunfire rang out inside the prison in what appeared be shootouts. A fire broke out in a prison tower, and then died down as the gunfire persisted.

More than 3,500 troops were taking part in the operation in El Rodeo I and El Rodeo II prisons in Guatire, east of the capital, Caracas, and had more than 1,700 inmates under control, Reverol said.

The violence erupted as troops were carrying out a search operation to disarm inmates, National Guard Gen. Luis Motta Dominguez told state television. A riot in the prison on Sunday left 21 inmates and a visitor dead.

Friday's clashes were the latest in a series of violent outbursts in Venezuela's severely crowded prisons, where rival gangs often fight for control of cellblocks and sell weapons and drugs with the help of corrupt prison guards.

As the gunfire raged in the prison Friday, inmates' relatives expressed anguish. Ambulances drove in and out of the prison compound.

"We have our hands tied," said Cecilia Mijares, 49, whose nephew was among the prisoners inside. "This started early this morning. Listen to the gunfire."

Government officials said the purpose of the operation was precisely to safeguard the lives of inmates.

Vice President Elias Jaua said the government's message for inmates' families is that "the intervention we're carrying out today isn't to massacre their relatives."

"It's to protect the lives of more than 5,000 inmates," Jaua said in a televised speech.

A total of 124 deaths were reported in Venezuela's prisons in the first three months of this year, a 22 percent increase over the same period last year, according to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, a watchdog group.

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Libyan troops shell western rebel positions (Reuters)

MISRATA/KIKLA, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces shelled rebel positions in the Western Mountains on Wednesday, insurgents said, after rebels edged closer to the capital on three fronts.

A rebel spokesman, called Kalefa, in the town of Nalut said there were no casualties from the shelling.

"Gaddafi's forces bombarded Nalut ... Over 20 Grad rockets landed in the town. They bombarded from their positions ... around 20 km (12 miles) east of Nalut," he said, adding that they had also shelled the Wazin-Dehiba Tunisia border crossing.

The rebels have made advances in key areas in recent days but they have a way to go if they are to successfully march on Gaddafi's well-defended territory.

Fighting was subdued on Wednesday as rebels held positions toward Zlitan, east of Tripoli, and on other fronts.

NATO war planes bombed Tripoli on Tuesday night, causing loud explosions that filled the sky with plumes of smoke, but there were no further reports of bombing on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the rebels tried to advance in the east, setting their sights on the oil town of Brega to extend their control over the region, epicenter of the four-month rebellion against Gaddafi's four-decade rule.

In a sign that Gaddafi's forces may be getting stretched, the rebels seized the town of Kikla, 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Tripoli. They also pushed several kilometers west of their Misrata stronghold to the outskirts of government-held Zlitan.

A Reuters correspondent with the rebels said there were no further advances in the region on Wednesday.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron in London to discuss the nearly three-month-old operation, which has so far failed to oust Gaddafi or enable the rebels to capture Tripoli.

NATO defense chiefs met in Belgrade to discuss the mission on Tuesday. Ties are straining in the alliance, with some reluctant to commit additional resources needed to sustain the bombing mission in the coming months.

A senior NATO commander appeared to raise questions about the alliance's ability to handle a long-term intervention.

"We are conducting this operation with all the means we have ... If the operation were to last long, of course, the resource issue will become critical," General Stephane Abrial said.

Saad Djebbar, a former legal adviser to the Libyan government, told Reuters Gaddafi would continue to play for time and seek to demoralize and splinter the coalition.

"Gaddafi's mentality is that as long as my enemies haven't triumphed, I haven't lost," he said.

"The U.S. stance, that the major outside role should be played by the Europeans and Arabs, sends the wrong signal. Gaddafi will be very encouraged by it. His line is 'We are steadfast'. We can wait it out.'"

He said Gaddafi would be active in supplying Tripoli with food and fuel during Ramadan in August, to ward off revolution.

"The concerns being raised in the British parliament and the U.S. Congress, including questions like 'why are we spending so much?', will be of comfort to him."

NATO spokesman Major General Nick Pope said air strikes had destroyed three ammunition bunkers in Waddan and that NATO ships were patrolling the Libyan cost to enforce the arms embargo.

AUSTRIA OVERTURE TO REBELS

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger will on Sunday visit the rebels in Benghazi to offer "concrete support," his office said, the latest in a string of such visitors.

Austria's oil and gas firm OMV used to get 10 percent of its oil, about 33,000 barrels per day, from Libya but says it has not had contact from either side since the conflict.

The rebel push to Kikla followed weeks of deadlock between the rag-tag rebel army and government forces, though air strikes by NATO have taken their toll on Gaddafi's better-equipped troops.

The rebels said a NATO leaflet warning of helicopter strikes had prevented them from pushing toward the town of Zlitan on Tuesday, and had prompted some rebels to retreat from their newly-captured positions about 10 km (6 miles) outside the city toward their base in Misrata, east of Tripoli.

A NATO official said the alliance dropped the leaflets west of Misrata, and closer to Zlitan.

A Reuters correspondent in Misrata said there were no further advances toward Zlitan on Wednesday.

A rebel leader in the Mediterranean port city said the oil refinery there was still out of action after Gaddafi's forces shelled it on Monday, but petrol stations were working.

"The oil refinery ... will resume again soon," said Khalifa Zuwawi, chairman of the transitional council in Misrata.

Even without the threat of NATO attack, the rebels said they would not attack Zlitan, citing tribal sensitivities. Instead they would wait for the local inhabitants to rise up.

A NATO official said warplanes had hit an ammunition store at Waddan, not far from Al Jufrah, after Libyan television said Al Jufrah, in central Libya, had been bombed for a second day.

(Additional reporting by Nick Carey in Tripoli, William Mcclean in London, Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Maria Golovnina in Benghazi, Sami Aboudi in Cairo, Souhail Karam in Rabat and Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algers; writing by Tim Cocks and John Irish; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Bye-Bye bidets! US troops leaving Saddam palaces (AP)

BAGHDAD – Available soon: nine palaces in lakeside complex frequented by visiting kings and dictators, beautiful molded ceilings and light fixtures, many bidets, Saddam Hussein mural and former prison cell. As is, with Tomahawk missile damage. Contact: U.S. Army.

Thus might read a real estate ad for the Victory Base Complex, one of the many properties the U.S. military is vacating as the Dec. 31 deadline for its withdrawal from Iraq approaches. It will leave behind probably some of the most elaborate, some would say tacky, office spaces ever used by American soldiers, sailors or Marines.

The U.S. military has been headquartered in the complex near Baghdad International Airport almost since GIs reached Baghdad in 2003. Countless U.S. dignitaries have passed through.

It is an odd place to work, surrounded by so much Saddam history and grandiosity.

By the time the dictator was toppled, he had built about 75 palaces and VIP complexes nationwide. That is according to the then U.S. military historian's report on the Victory Base Complex written last year.

Touring the complex is a bit like touring Saddam's mind.

There is the Victory over Iran palace, commemorating the 1980-1988 war he started that ended in stalemate and half a million dead. And the Victory over America palace commemorating the 1991 Gulf War in which a U.S.-led coalition drove Saddam's invading forces out of Kuwait.

"Any war that Saddam survived was a victory," said Col. Les Melnyk, the former U.S. military historian in Iraq.

Now the Iraqi government must figure out what to do with all this square footage.

It already is turning a palace complex in the southern city of Basra into a museum. A palace near the ruins of Babylon may become a hotel.

Bahaa Mayah heads an Iraqi committee that decides on the fate of the palaces and recently toured the Victory complex.

He thought it would make a good presidential complex, being near the airport.

"When a foreign president or prime minister visits Iraq, we close all the streets, and a lot of security measures are taken and so it really disturbs the traffic inside Baghdad," he said. "So the best place is near the airport where the president can receive his guests without any security burden."

Before Saddam's building spree, it was a country club for Baghdad's elite, and still sports the old signs advertising parking spaces and casino hours.

Saddam had his initials etched into the walls, columns and ceilings of almost every building. One of the last known murals of Saddam decorates the former barracks of his elite Republican Guard.

There is the jail cell he occupied after his capture by U.S. forces, the room where he was interrogated, the spot where he gardened while awaiting trial and the dolly to which he was strapped when he was taken out of the building.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the jail cell will become a museum.

A prime property at the Victory complex is Al Faw palace, whose construction became Saddam's personal architectural hobby. He made more than 400 changes to the plans, according to the history of the complex.

"It has gorgeous ceilings and chandeliers, but we use it like a regular office building albeit with a lot more marble," Melnyk said.

Saddam's most dramatic — and, as it turns out, most damaging — alteration grew from paranoia. Flying over the building, he thought he saw a cross woven into the design and suspected the Yugoslav architects did it on purpose.

"He assumed, being the paranoid man ... that he was, that they were trying to insert a Christian symbol into his country. So he made the decision on the spot to double the size of the palace," Melnyk said.

The result of the hasty remake is that the back half of the palace is unstable, Melnyk said. Cracks are showing, chunks of the walls are falling off, and the palace may cease to be inhabitable. Meanwhile, the staircases are chipped and nicked after years of U.S. troops' weapons accidentally banging into them.

The troops do not mind climbing three floors just to use the massive bathroom — 12 sinks in one room alone. The bidets are used to store toilet paper.

The U.S. military has made many improvements to the palaces it has occupied — smoke detectors, new wiring, upgraded plumbing. Interiors have become cubicled office space and machines clean the floors at Al Faw.

The security agreement governing the withdrawal, however, does not require the U.S. to fix any damage it has caused to these buildings.

It does not help that the palaces were not always built very well. In the back of Al Faw, the paint looks haphazardly applied to the plaster ceiling moldings, the chandeliers in the hallway do not line up and the floor tiles are uneven.

Saddam was thinking "Versailles," but the materials he bought were more half-price sale at Home Depot. At Al Faw the banisters are gypsum, not marble. The Arabic script on the walls looks like gold but it is really brass.

The largest building in the complex is the Victory over America palace, its ceiling holed by an American bomb, its walls featuring graffiti left by American troops. It is a cavernous building with a walk-in fireplace, sweeping staircases and nooks high above the massive ballroom where Saddam could spy on his guests.

Melnyk did not know why the building was bombed. But he joked that its name probably did not help.

At water's edge is a building that the U.S. targeted with a Tomahawk missile, believing Saddam was inside. The roof collapsed, killing some 200 officials of the ruling Baath Party who were watching a movie. It was later used by the U.S. to train sniffer dogs in the hunt for bodies in the wreckage, Melnyk said.

In another part of the building, he said, U.S. forensics teams identified matter scraped from the side of an empty pool as brain parts, suggesting someone was executed there just before the invasion.

Now Iraqis must decide how to place Saddam's grand designs in their historical context — to raze them as bitter memories, or recycle them for a future free of American occupation.

Mayah, the committee head, notes that most of them were built in the 1990s, when Iraq was under international sanctions and the public was suffering from sweeping shortages.

"They did not have money to feed themselves, while the president was building palaces," he said. The palaces "should stay and remind Iraqis of the period they were built in."

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Syrian troops seal restive northern town (AP)

BEIRUT – Syrian tanks sealed a restive northern city Saturday, and activists said they expected an all-out government assault on the region near the Turkish border.

President Bashar Assad has sent heavy armor, including tanks, and thousands of troops to the region as he struggles to crush a nearly three-month uprising against his family's 40-year rule. Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have died in the government crackdown.

The military operation in the mostly deserted town of Jisr al-Shughour is in response to what the government claims were attacks by "armed groups" that killed more than 120 officers and security personnel. Refugees reaching Turkey said the chaos erupted as government forces and police mutinied and joined the local population against Assad forces.

Syrian state television on Saturday said army units arrested several leaders of the alleged armed groups in the area of Jisr al-Shughour, a city of about 40,000. About 80 percent of the population has fled, with more than 4,000 Syrians taking sanctuary across the Turkish frontier.

Syrian troops backed by dozens of tanks have been operating in the area for several days, securing towns and villages on their way to Jisr al-Shughour.

Undaunted by the continuing and brutal crackdown, protests extended to every major city Friday, and activists said 36 people were killed when security forces opened fire during demonstrations across the country. The dead included 20 from the northern Idlib province, home to Jisr al-Shughour.

Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) to the southeast in the town of Maaret al-Numan, thousands of protesters overwhelmed security forces and torched the courthouse and police station. The army responded with tank shells, a Syrian opposition figure told The Associated Press by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.

Syrian TV appeared to confirm at least part of the report, saying gunmen opened fire on police stations, causing casualties among security officials.

Backed by helicopters and tanks, the troops responsible for most of Friday's violence were believed to be from an elite division commanded by Assad's younger brother, Maher. The decision to mobilize his unit against the most serious threats to the Assad regime could be a sign of concern about the loyalty of regular conscripts.

Syria's brutal crackdown has angered the leader of neighboring Turkey, who accused the Assad regime of "savagery."

A Turkish official at Altinozu on the Turkish side of the border said capacity was near full at the camp there and newcomers would be taken to a third camp at Boynuyogun. Workers on Saturday were putting the final touches to the camp there, welding fences around the camp and laying power lines.

"We don't expect the inflow to end rapidly. The news we are hearing is that there are more people waiting to get in on the other side," said UNHCR spokesman Metin Corabatir.

In an interview with Turkey's NTV television late Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would discuss events in Syria with Assad "in a very different way" after Turkey's general elections on Sunday. Erdogan has hardened his tone against the Syrian regime, accusing Maher on Thursday of "chasing after savagery."

Turkey has vowed to keep it's border open to fleeing refugees.

Confirming information out of Syria is difficult. Communications are cut in areas where the uprising is strongest. Syrians who speak openly face retribution from the regime, and foreign journalists have been expelled.

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AP writer Selcan Hacaoglu contributed to this report from Boynuyogun Village, Turkey.

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Syrians flee town as troops approach (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrians fled a restive town toward the Turkish border, fearing bloodshed as troops with tanks approached, under orders to hit back after the government accused armed bands there of killing scores of its security men.

Though accounts of days of killing in Jisr al-Shughour ranged from an official version of gunmen ambushing troops to residents' reports of an army mutiny, it triggered international alarm that violence may enter a new and bloodier phase after three months of popular unrest that has left over 1,000 dead.

France and Britain, allies in the war against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, took a lead in pushing U.N. moves against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But Russia, citing NATO's inconclusive bombing of Tripoli, said it would veto intervention against Syria in the United Nations Security Council.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, at U.N. headquarters in New York, said it was "a question of days, maybe hours" before the Council voted on a resolution condemning Syria. A draft circulated last month does not propose military intervention.

At Jisr al-Shughour, home to tens of thousands of people, residents said they were taking cover and bracing for attacks.

"The army is taking up position around Jisr al-Shughour," one anti-government activist told Reuters by telephone, saying residents have seen troops approaching the northeastern town from Aleppo, Syria's second city, and from Latakia on the coast.

"Most people have left the town because they are scared," he said, asking not to be named for his own safety. "They know the deaths will be high. People have gone to nearby villages close to the Turkish border. The doctors and nurses have also left."

On Monday, Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said army units would carry out their "national duty to restore security."

The government has expelled independent journalists, making it hard to determine clearly what is happening in the country.

Despite enthusiasm for pro-democracy movements that have unseated dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, few Western leaders -- let alone their autocratic Arab partners -- have shown a will to intervene in Syria, an Iranian ally whose volatile mix of ethnic and religious groups sits astride a web of regional conflicts.

FOREIGN PRESSURE

Assad's family and supporters from the minority Alawite sect have dominated Syria since his late father seized power 41 years ago. He has responded with promises of reform, and a crackdown on protesters in towns across the country. His officials accuse radical Islamists of fomenting a violent, armed revolt.

Neighboring countries, including Israel and Turkey, worry that a collapse into chaos could set off sectarian conflict and the emergence of violent, radical Islamists, as happened in Neighboring Iraq after the U.S. invasion of 2003.

But Western powers kept up pressure. British Foreign Secretary William Hague, in some of London's strongest language yet against the 45-year-old leader, told parliament: "President Assad is losing legitimacy and should reform or step aside." He said European governments were looking at further sanctions.

"We are working to persuade other countries that the Security Council has a responsibility to speak out," Hague added. Russia appears opposed to a general condemnation of Assad, let alone authorising military action against him.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who last month urged Assad to lead a transition to democracy or "get out of the way," did not mention Syria in remarks at a news briefing on Tuesday.

But in Brussels, Russia's envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said: "The prospect of a U.N. Security Council resolution that's along the same lines as Resolution 1973 on Libya will not be supported by my country ... The use of force, as Libya shows, does not provide answers."

Veto-holding Russia abstained on the Libya vote, allowing NATO to begin a bombing campaign that Western powers say saved civilians in rebel-held Benghazi from an onslaught by Gaddafi's forces, but which has failed to dislodge the Libyan leader.

Syria's ambassador to France strongly denied a report on Tuesday that she had resigned in protest at the government's repression of protests, saying it was part of a campaign of disinformation against Damascus.

Lamia Chakkour, shown standing in front of a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Paris embassy, told France's BFM television that a report by news channel France 24, featuring a telephone interview with a woman claiming to be her, was false.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Yara Bayoumy in Beirut; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Syria to send in army after 120 troops killed (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) – More then 120 Syrian security officers were killed in battles with gunmen, state television said, in the first report of large-scale clashes in a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

The report said on Monday armed groups set government buildings ablaze in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour, stole five tonnes of dynamite and were firing at civilians and security forces with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Wissam Tarif, director of human rights organization Insan, disputed the official report, saying the clashes were between loyalist troops and army members who had defected. He called the number of deaths "inconsistent."

"An army unit or division arrived to the area in the morning. It seems then another unit (in the afternoon) arrived to contain the defection," Tarif told Reuters. He said several people in Jisr al-Shoghour had confirmed that version of events.

Opposition activists said earlier that forces had launched a security operation in the town on Saturday and at least 37 residents and 10 police had been killed. It was impossible to verify the conflicting accounts as authorities have prevented most international media from operating in Syria.

"The security forces have managed to end a blockade of one of the neighborhoods that was seized by the gunmen for awhile and are now battling them to end the blockade of the other neighborhoods," the television said.

"The gunmen mutilated some of the bodies and threw some into the river. The people in Jisr al-Shughour are urging the army to intervene speedily," it said.

Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar said authorities would respond firmly to armed attacks and Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said the army, which has so far stayed out of the town, "will carry out their national duty to restore security."

Rights groups say 1,000 civilians have been killed in protests against the president which have swept from the southern city of Deraa to the Mediterranean coast and eastern Kurdish regions.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France was ready to ask the U.N. Security Council to vote on a draft resolution condemning Syria for its crackdown despite the threat that Russia would veto the measure.

"The situation is very clear. In Syria, the process of reform is dead and we think that Bashar has lost his legitimacy to rule the country," Juppe said in Washington on Monday.

"We'll see what the Russians will do. If they veto, they will take their responsibility. Maybe if they see that there are 11 votes in favor of the resolution, they will change their mind. So there is a risk to take and we're ready to take it."

Amnesty International urged the Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.

ARMED REBELLION

Syrian forces crushed an armed Islamist revolt in the city of Hama in 1982 on the orders of Bashar's father, President Hafez al-Assad, killing up to 30,000 people, leading to fears that the ferocity of the crackdown could increase further if the government comes up against an armed insurrection.

An activist told Reuters that police and members of the security forces in Jisr al-Shughour were killed by gunmen.

"Some people in some areas have taken up arms," he said.

"The situation is grave, what is happening is an armed rebellion. I oppose violence from whatever side it comes from."

Residents said violence erupted in Jisr al-Shughour on Saturday when snipers on the roof of the main post office fired at a funeral for six protesters killed the day before.

Mourners set fire to the post office, a history teacher in the town called Ahmad said. State television said eight members of the security forces were killed when gunmen attacked the post office building.

It said at least 20 security force members were killed in an ambush by "armed gangs," and 82 were killed in an attack on a security post. It said the overall death toll for security forces was more than 120.

A rebellion in Jisr al-Shughour was crushed by Bashar's father in 1980 with scores of deaths.

Assad has sent in tanks to crush demonstrations in certain flashpoints.

He also has made some reformist gestures, such as issuing a general amnesty to political prisoners and launching national dialogue, but protesters and opposition figures have dismissed such measures.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut and Andrew Quinn in Washington; editing by Elizabeth Piper)

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Five U.S. troops killed in Iraq rocket attack (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Five U.S. service members were killed in a rocket attack in Iraq on Monday, in the worst single toll for American troops in the country for at least two years, the U.S. military and Iraqi security officials said.

The attack showed Iraq's security situation is still precarious despite a decline in violence. U.S. troops are preparing to withdraw from the country more than eight years after the invasion that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein.

The U.S. military in Iraq gave few details, saying only that a base in eastern Baghdad came under "indirect fire."

A senior Iraqi security official said the Americans had died when militants fired rockets into a joint base in Baghdad's Baladiyat district in the east of the capital.

"This morning, the American base at Loyalty Camp came under rocket attack. There was a lot of smoke inside and the Americans died in that attack in the Baladiyat area," the security official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Loyalty Forward Operating Base, on the former site of Saddam's internal security directorate, is next to Sadr City, the stronghold of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Two suspected militants involved in the attack were killed when a rocket exploded prematurely on the truck they were using as a launch platform, an Interior Ministry source said.

Violence in Iraq has steadily declined since the height of sectarian conflict in 2006-7, but gun and bomb attacks still occur daily, often targeting local Iraqi security forces.

At least 13 people, mostly Iraqi soldiers, were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber detonated a car in an attack on security forces in the central city of Tikrit.

Tikrit is dominated by Sunni Muslims, a minority in Iraq who were favored under Saddam. Suspected Sunni Islamists, including al Qaeda, have carried out frequent attacks in the town and surrounding Salahuddin province, trying to destabilize the Baghdad government and stir up sectarian tension.

WITHDRAWAL DEBATE

U.S. forces officially ended combat operations in Iraq last August ahead of a scheduled U.S. troop withdrawal at the end of this year. American troops are now mainly involved in a support and training role, and helping Iraqi security forces in counter-terrorism operations.

U.S. fatalities in Iraq since last year have become more sporadic. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in May. Monday's deaths brought the total of U.S. military casualties in Iraq since 2003 to 4,459, the icasualties.org website reported.

So far this year, 29 U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq, compared with 60 last year and 150 in 2009, the website said. That compares with 961 in 2007 at the height of the sectarian conflict.

Around 47,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq are due to leave by the end of 2011 under a security pact, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led coalition government is debating the sensitive question of whether to ask Washington to keep some of them in place.

U.S. officials and senior Iraqi military commanders have said they believe some kind of continuing U.S. military presence is necessary to ensure Iraq's security and defense needs, especially in an advisory and training role.

(Additional reporting by Khalid al-Ansary, Waleed Ibrahim and Suadad al-Salhy; writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Afghanistan Pullout: Could 30,000 Troops Head Home? (Time.com)

So the size of the U.S. troop pullout President Obama is slated to announce later this month now varies by an order of magnitude: those who want to preserve the gains earned over the past year are suggesting about 3,000 -- of the 100,000 U.S. troops now there -- would be about the right number to order home starting in July. But -- given American war weariness, the $100 billion annual cost of the war, and the recent killing of Osama bin Laden -- others in the Administration are advocating that up to 30,000 should head back to the U.S. That would return the number there to about 70,000, the total U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan before Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements early last year.

While this decision is the President's alone to make, he is getting plenty of advice on what to do. Unfortunately, it conflicts. And, unspoken by Administration officials but always present -- kind of like gravity -- is the possibility it could affect his re-election chances next year. (See pictures of President Obama in Afghanistan.)

On one side, outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- now in Afghanistan -- publicly tilted to the 3,000 number on Saturday. "It seems to me that between the successes that we've already enjoyed and the increased capacity of the Afghan forces, we are a in a position - based on conditions on the ground...to consider some modest draw-downs beginning in July," he said in a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This counter-insurgency strategy -- which emphasizes winning over the people rather than killing the bad guys -- has had a pretty good year in Afghanistan. But it is boot-heavy.

Leon Panetta, Gates' successor -- who will be running the Pentagon in less than a month -- is now in charge of the CIA, and favors a stepped-up counter-terror campaign that would permit a bigger reduction. The increased use of special-operations forces and drone strikes that he and other counter-terror advocates support would allow more infantrymen and Marines to head for the exits. Vice President Joe Biden also supports this approach. (See the top 10 defining moments of the post-9/11 era.)

Of course, Panetta's successor come fall is going to be Army General Dave Petraeus, perhaps the Pentagon's leading counter-insurgency champion (he wrote the book, literally). So it's going to be interesting to watch how Petraeus, who will retire from the Army before taking the CIA post, threads the COIN-counter-terror needle.

But all this is mere tea leaf reading. Long-time Pentagon watchers found the most interesting thing over the weekend not the back-and-forth debate over U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, but the missile strikes next door in Pakistan. Despite Islamabad's repeated protests, those strikes continue. On Monday, three drone attacks in South Waziristan killed at least 18 people. In the not-too-distant future, they suggest, the Afghan war could look increasingly like that.

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Attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq 'rising'

Tens of thousands of followers of Shiite anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rally in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad Thursday.Shiite militias in Iraq are targeting U.S. troops ahead of their planned end of the year withdrawalThe militias are using the attacks to take credit for the U.S. withdrawal, a U.S. general says Roadside bombings and mortar attacks have increasingly targeted U.S. troops, the general saysThe U.S. military believes the militias are backed by Iran, a charge it has denied

(CNN) -- Attacks against American troops in Iraq by armed militias are on the rise, an attempt to demonstrate their power ahead of an anticipated U.S. withdrawal at the end of the year, a top military spokesman said.

The attacks come as Iraq debates whether to request U.S. troops stay beyond a January 1, 2011, deadline that requires 46,000 American forces out of the country.

U.S. troops have increasingly been targeted by roadside bombings and mortar attacks, largely in Baghdad and southern Iraq, Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, spokesman for U.S. Forces-Iraq, told CNN by telephone from Baghdad.

"This is one thing that I think all along we have really anticipated," Buchanan said.

While al Qaeda in Iraq, predominantly Iraqi Sunni insurgents, continue to launch strikes, Buchanan said the militia attacks against the U.S. are "designed for power and they want to claim credit for our redeploying, for us leaving."

In recent days, four U.S. vehicles were targeted by roadside bombs, including an explosion Sunday on the outskirts of Baghdad that killed two American soldiers. They were identified by the Defense Department as Sgt. 1st Class Clifford E. Beattie, 37, of Medical Lake, Washington, and Pfc. Ramon Mora Jr., 19, of Ontario, California.

Last week, U.S. soldiers caught a man suspected of conducting reconnaissance on American convoys, Buchanan said. The man was in possession of "a whole file of videos" believed to be used to improve the effectiveness of roadside bombings, he said.

The U.S. military has long accused Iran of providing money and weapons to Shiite militias, such as the Promise Day Brigade, Hezbollah and al-Haq, that in turn attack American troops. Iran denies it.

Overall, the numbers of attacks in Iraq have dropped drastically since 2007 when sectarian violence nearly tore the country apart. There have been 13 attacks a day in Iraq during the first four months of this year compared with 145 a day in 2007, Buchanan said.

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Families of Western troops grieve in Afghanistan (Reuters)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Grieving Canadians and Britons said goodbye on Tuesday to fallen relatives on Kandahar Air Field, a rare reminder in the heart of the war in Afghanistan of the human cost to Western armed forces that has made the decade-long conflict so unpopular back home.

Canada organizes family visits after a member of their armed forces is killed in Afghanistan so that relatives can "feel the heat, smell the air, get covered in the dust" that their loved ones knew in their last days, said Rear Admiral Andy Smith.

"It is still very recent, so a visit like this really helps us go through the grieving process," said Guy Scherrer, father of Corporal Yannick Scherrer, who was killed by a homemade bomb in late March, after a memorial service on the base.

"I had many questions inside ... what was this for? And now I have the answer. I see now exactly what his job was, he was here for the protection of men, women and children," he said.

Canada is the only nation fighting in the NATO-led coalition to organize such trips, which are expensive and complicated -- flying civilians into a war zone can be a security worry -- but are powerful experiences for the bereaved.

A British family were invited on what is likely to be the last such trip, with Canadian combat troops due to return home by the end of July, because Captain Ben Babington-Browne died on a Canadian helicopter that crashed.

The effort is a reminder of public unease in Canada about the war, which helped push the government to end its combat mission after nearly 10 years.

After spells in other areas, they spent five years as the lead nation in one of the toughest battlegrounds of the war, Kandahar province, the Taliban's spiritual homeland, where they lost the majority of 155 soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

About 950 Canadian soldiers will still be based in Kabul helping train the Afghan police and army, however. Polls show that most Canadians oppose the mission in Afghanistan.

HOSPITALS, RESTAURANTS AND HELICOPTERS

There are more than 30,000 people living on Kandahar Air Field, and although a war rages outside the heavily fortified walls, inside there are few tangible reminders of the dangers.

"Ramp ceremonies" honor the dead of all nations before they are flown out, but grieving families are normally thousands of miles away.

During the trip, the families eat at the mess halls used by their loved ones, visit the boardwalk area where soldiers relax at TGI Friday's restaurant or play volleyball in their downtime.

They see military aircraft, the base medical center, and the tactical operations center where the war is coordinated.

They have a chance to meet the commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan and ordinary soldiers, some of whom fought with the person they have lost.

There is also a ceremony at a marble war memorial that will be taken back to Canada for permanent installation when the combat troops leave.

"My primary reason was to walk in Kristal's footsteps, to hear the helicopters and the jets ... I can now picture an environment for some of the moments we shared over the telephone, some of her pictures," said Matthew Giesebrecht, husband of Master Corporal Kristal Giesebrecht.

"I've learnt what a big part of her life the military was. I am so proud of who she was, and I am discovering all of that over again."

(Editing by Paul Tait and Alex Richardson)

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Sudan's Bashir refuses to withdraw Abyei troops (Reuters)

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan's president on Tuesday refused to withdraw troops from the disputed Abyei region they seized over the weekend, defying international calls for them to pull out and raising the stakes in a standoff with the south.

"Abyei is northern Sudanese land," Omar Hassan al-Bashir said in a speech, adding he had given the green light to the northern army to respond to any "provocation" by the south which also claims Abyei and plans to secede in July.

Sudan's northern army moved tanks into Abyei town, the border area's main settlement, on Saturday, sparking an international outcry and forcing thousands to flee.

Analysts are watching how the south will react, fearing further north-south fighting over Abyei, which has oil and grazing land, could reignite a full-blown conflict that would disrupt the already fragile region.

North and south Sudan fought for decades before a 2005 peace deal that also allowed southerners to vote overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum in January.

The United Nations said on Tuesday it has asked south Sudan to investigate separate attacks on U.N. peacekeepers in Abyei last week by what appear to have been southern security forces.

Such attacks, the U.N. said, amount to war crimes.

"The available information and eyewitness accounts describing the assailants, including their uniforms, strongly suggests that the attackers were members of the southern Sudan police or military forces," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York.

Khartoum accused the south of ambushing northern troops traveling in a convoy with U.N. peacekeepers on May 20 in the Abyei region. The south denied carrying out the attack.

Earlier on Tuesday in Khartoum, Sudan Cabinet Affairs Minister Luka Biong, a southerner, told Reuters he was resigning in protest at the northern seizure of Abyei.

"These are real war crimes. I have never seen such suffering. Houses are burned in Abyei town and south of it," Biong said.

U.N. officials said between 15,000 and 20,000 people fled Abyei, many heading to Agok, just over the southern border.

"We are concerned ... about the grave humanitarian consequences of what's transpired in Abyei. There have been horrific reports of looting and burning," said Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., visiting the southern capital Juba.

KHARTIUM DEFIANT

North Sudanese officials said their army moved in to clear out southern soldiers who it said had broken agreements by entering the area. The south denies this.

The African Union said former South African President Thabo Mbeki had met Sudan's President Bashir and southern President Salva Kiir to try and resolve the crisis.

Abyei remains the most contentious point in the build-up to the secession of the south, the source of 75 percent of the country's 500,000 barrels a day oil production.

The 2005 deal also promised Abyei residents their own referendum over whether to join north or south, but that did not take place as neither could agree who was qualified to vote.

The peace deal created a coalition government dominated by Bashir's National Congress Party and the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), headed by Kiir. Both were also allowed to keep their own armies.

The coalition government is due to be dissolved on the secession of the south which currently has its own semi-autonomous government.

(Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing in Khartoum, Jeremy Clarke in Juba, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations, Barbara Lewis in Geneva, Wangui Kanina in Nairobi and John Irish in Paris; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Syrian troops fire during protests; 9 killed (AP)

BEIRUT – Syrian security forces opened fire on protests around the country Friday in the latest sign the conflict could be moving toward a long and bloody stalemate as President Bashar Assad shrugs off tighter sanctions and U.S. calls to step aside. Activists said at least nine people were killed.

The clashes indicate neither side appears able to tip the scales in the two-month uprising. Assad's forces have waged a relentless crackdown on the opposition, but protesters continue to face down security forces with marches seeking to break the Syrian leader's authoritarian rule.

Human rights groups say more than 850 people have been killed in the clashes and clampdowns.

Witnesses reported protests Friday in the central cities of Homs and Hama, as wells the Mediterranean ports of Banias and Latakia.

In Banias, one witness said security forces dispersed protesters with gunfire and sticks. Several people were wounded from beatings, including a woman who was taking video of the march, he said.

Like most witnesses contacted by The Associated Press, he asked that his name not be used in fear of reprisals from the government.

Syria has banned foreign journalists and prevented local reporters from covering trouble spots, making it nearly impossible to independently verify witness accounts.

Last week, mass arrests and heavy security kept crowds below previous levels seen during the uprising, suggesting Assad's sweeping campaign of intimidation was working. But the marches Friday suggested that opposition forces could be trying to regroup.

Friday's death toll was reported Friday by one of the Local Coordination Committees in Syria, which help organize the protests. The groups said at least seven people were killed in Homs, one in the Damascus suburb of Daraya and one in the village of Sanamein in southern Syria.

Syria is coming under increasing pressure to end the crackdown, but the government has brushed off the criticism and new U.S. sanctions that have targeted Assad and senior aides.

In an address Thursday on the Arab world uprising, U.S. President Barack Obama said that Assad should lead his country to democracy or "get out of the way."

Syria's official news agency said Obama's speech amounted to "incitement." Syria has blamed the unrest on armed thugs and foreign agitators.

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Zeina Karam can be reached at http://twitter.com/zkaram

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NATO incursion into Pakistan wounds two troops: officials (Reuters)

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – A NATO helicopter from Afghanistan intruded into Pakistan's North Waziristan region on Tuesday, wounding two troops, local intelligence officials said, adding to tensions between Islamabad and the West.

"It happened early morning," a Pakistani intelligence official in the region, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "The helicopter hit a Pakistani check post on the border in the Datta Khel area."

Another intelligence official said several Pakistani helicopters took off from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, toward the site of the attack. The purpose of the Pakistani mobilization was unclear.

The Pakistani military was immediately unavailable for comment.

Lieutenant-Commander Colette Murphy, a spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said in Kabul that the coalition was aware of the reports and looking into them, but had no immediate comment.

North Waziristan is the base of the Haqqani network blamed for the insurgency in eastern Afghanistan. U.S.-led drone aircraft have repeatedly targeted the area over the past year.

Many militants, including foreign fighters loyal to al Qaeda, are based in Datta Khel. It is a stronghold of fighters loyal to Hafiz Gul Bahadur and has been a frequent target of U.S. drone strikes.

Pakistan's Express 24/7 television channel said the checkpost targeted in the latest attack was located right on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It quoted officials as saying that the helicopters were just about to intrude into Pakistani territory when aerial gunshots were fired. They subsequently moved back but fired a retaliatory shot due to which rubble fell from the nearby mountains and wounded the security personnel.

The reported incursion came a day after unmanned U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles in Datta Khel killing 12 militants, Pakistani officials said.

An intelligence official said that one of the dead militants, an Arab, was the son of an al Qaeda operative identified as Abu Kashif. There was no way to verify the death toll. Militants often dispute official accounts of drone attack

Relations between the U.S. and Pakistan have been pushed almost to the breaking point after the secret May 2 raid on Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden, embarrassing and humiliating the powerful Pakistani Army and intelligence service.

Before that, in late January, undercover CIA contractor Raymond Davis killed two Pakistanis in Lahore, resulting in a six-week standoff over diplomatic immunity.

A previous incursion on September 30, 2010, killed two Pakistani troops and wounded four more when NATO helicopters crossed the border while pursing insurgents. Pakistan retaliated by shutting down the supply route for NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Washington sees the rugged border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a critical battleground against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

(Writing by Chris Allbritton; Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad and Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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