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India's Air Force Depot Burnt

ISLAMABAD: A large quantity of arms and ammunition was gutted due to fire break out in Indian Air Force base in Madhya Pradesh.

Two IAF personnel were injured in the incident which took place at Air Force base of Amala, about 30 kilometer away from Baitul Town.

IAF officials say, the incident was being investigated.

10 civilians killed in Shakai Crossfire

WANA (South Waziristan): An up-date report says that ten civilians including a woman and two children were reportedly killed as clashes between foreign militants and security forces intensified in South Waziristan tribal agency on Monday. Also six personnel of the security forces were wounded when a landmine hit their pick-up.

The reports could not be confirmed from independent sources as the authorities have sealed off the area and journalists are not allowed to go to the troubled spots. Officials of the political administration when contacted said that only two persons were killed when a house was hit by a shell.

Details of the reports reaching from Shakai said that six persons including a woman were killed when an artillery shell hit the residence of Qayyum Khunyakhel in Khunyakhel village. Four persons including two children were also reported killed when a shell hit another house.

In Azam Warsak area, six personnel of the security forces were wounded in a landmine blast, the first such attack since the start of the military operation in South Waziristan. The pick up was carrying water to the outposts when hit by the mine. The injured included two scouts Muhammad Khan and Omar Gul, and four army men, Ghulam Ghaus, Shah Wali, Nisar and another unidentified soldier. They were first taken to Wana and then airlifted through a helicopter to Peshawar for treatment.

ISPR sources when contacted, however, said that three soldiers were injured in an improvised explosive device attack at the pick-up. Nine soldiers were occupying the pick-up at the time of the incident and three of them were injured but were in stable condition.

Windstorm claims 11 lives in Mardan

MARDAN: Eleven persons, including women and children, lost their lives and 52 others were injured as severe windstorm struck the town Sunday night, uprooting trees, collapsing walls and caving in roofs of the houses.

The windstorm that started at 7.15 pm PST [02:12 GMT] became violent with the passage of time, forcing steel shades, sign boards to come down and damaging shops and plazas, that also left more than fifty people seriously injured. The storm played havoc for about two hours.

Later, the injured were rushed to the District Headquarter Hospital Mardan where no doctor was present on duty. The people protested against their absence by coming out on the road and blocking it. However, after an hour the doctors came back to the hospital and started attending the injured.

Four Levies men taken away to Afghanistan

QUETTA: Some armed men took away four Pakistani Levies personnel across the border towards Afghanistan from Brabcha area of district Chaghai, some 735 kilometres from the provincial capital, officials confirmed on Monday night.

Five Levies men were performing their duties in Killi Abdul Wahid in Brabcha area near the Pak-Afghan border, when some armed men, who are stated to be the Afghan security forces, trespassed the Pak-Afghan border and took away the four Levies personnel, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Chaghai said.

The armed men also fired into the air, said the official. He added that the incident took place because of misunderstanding of delimitation of borderline. "We are hopeful that the matter would be resolved shortly as talks are in progress with the Afghan officials," he maintained.

Reports suggested that some Afghan tribesmen attempted to construct their houses at the state land. The district administration rushed to the spot and stopped the construction work. The Pakistani administration deployed five Levies personnel there in an attempt not to allow the Afghan tribesmen to resume the construction work.

Subsequently, over a dozen armed men crossed over the border illegally and took away the four Levies men to Afghanistan. The Levies men who were taken away were identified as Gul Zaman, Habibullah, Inayatullah and Abdul Rasheed.

The incident created tension in the whole area, and reports said that senior officials of the district administration of Chaghai would proceed to Brabcha area on Tuesday to hold talks with the Afghan officials to settle the issue.

25 N Ireland police officers injured after annual Protestant marches

BELFAST (Ireland): Twenty-five police officers were wounded late Monday during violent skirmishes between Catholics and Protestants on the day of an annual Protestant Orange Order march near a Catholic district of northern Belfast, police said.

Following a day of traditional Protestant celebrations, to commemorate the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over James II's Catholics in Ireland in 1690, security forces set up a 100-meter (yard) long barricade of about 50 armoured cars and steel barriers along the road separating the Catholic nationalist Ardoyne area and neighbouring Protestant loyalist districts.

But as evening fell, even several hundred anti-riot police and soldiers were unable to prevent the two sides from throwing bottles, stones and other objects at each other over the barrier as the two hostile groups -- some 400 Catholics and 300 Protestants -- squared up.

Hostilities commenced when a group of Protestant marchers neared the Ardoyne area in the early evening. "Serious disorder followed the march where army and police were attacked by protesters," the police said in a statement. Twenty-five officers were injured, "none seriously".

Security forces used water cannon to try and force back mobs in Ardoyne, a well-known area for sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. The crowd had dispersed by early Tuesday and calm restored to the area. The Protestant Orange Order organises nearly 2,000 summer marches across Northern Ireland.