India and China withdraw troops from Himalayan face off

By Fayaz Bukhari and Satarupa Bhattacharjya

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI, Indian (Reuters) - India and China simultaneously withdrew troops from camps a few meters apart in a Himalayan desert on Sunday, apparently ending a three-week standoff on a freezing plateau where the border is disputed and the Asian giants fought a war 50 years ago.

The two sides stood down after reaching an agreement during a meeting between border commanders, an Indian army official told Reuters, after the tension threatened to overshadow a planned visit by India's foreign minister to Beijing on Thursday.

But it was not immediately clear how far China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers had withdrawn - Delhi had claimed they were 19 km (12 miles) beyond the point it understands to be the border with China, a vaguely defined de facto line called the Line of Actual Control, which neither side agrees on.

Defence and foreign ministry spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"Our troops have moved one kilometer backwards from the position they were on since April 16," said the officer, from the Indian army's Northern Command, which oversees the disputed region on the fringes of India's Jammu and Kashmir state.

"Chinese troops have also moved away from their position they were holding on since April 15 when they intruded in Indian territory. It is not clear yet how (far) the PLA moved back."

India considered it the worst border incursion for years.

New Delhi often appears insecure about relations with its powerful neighbor, despite slowly warming relations between Asia's largest countries. China is India's top trade partner, but the unresolved border sours the friendship.

India's opposition and much of the media has been critical of the government's handling of the standoff, drawing parallels with a 1962 war which ended in its humiliating defeat. On Friday, parliament was adjourned after members shouted "Get China out, save the country".

"YOU ARE IN CHINESE TERRITORY"

India says Chinese troops intruded into its territory on the western rim of the Himalayas on April 15. Some officials and experts believe the incursion signaled Chinese concern about increased Indian military activity in the area.

A group of about 30 Chinese soldiers, backed by helicopters, had pitched several tents near a 16th century Silk Road campsite called Daulat Beg Oldi, close to an air strip New Delhi uses to support troops on the Siachen glacier.

Each day since, Indian and Chinese soldiers and border guards left their camps and stood about 100 meters (330 feet) apart on the Depsang Plain, a 5,000 meter (16,400 feet) high desert ringed by jagged peaks of the Karakoram range.

Winter temperatures can drop to minus 30 degrees centigrade, and the area is lashed by icy strong winds all year round.

A photograph released by a source in the Indian army showed a group of six Chinese soldiers on a rock-strewn landscape holding a bright orange banner that read, in English and Mandarin, "This is the Line of Actual Control, You are in Chinese territory".

Delhi reopened the Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in 2008. Two other runways, out of use since the war, have been opened and Daulat Beg Oldi has been upgraded since.

Siachen, at the north of the disputed region of Kashmir, is claimed by both India and Pakistan and has the dubious distinction of being the world's highest battlefield.

Tensions are likely to persist given India and China's increased presence in an area that for centuries was largely unclaimed and criss-crossed with caravan routes. Now the land abuts the Karakoram Highway joining Pakistan to China, which Beijing hopes to develop further as trade route linking it to the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.

Speaking before Sunday's resolution, Srikanth Kondapalli, an Indian analyst who specialises in China studies, said the dispute lay close to large hydroelectric projects and an ambitious plan to expand the Karakoram highway.

He said the lack of agreement about where the border lies, combined with increased military and infrastructure activity meant more flashpoints were likely.

"It is a no-man's land," said Kondapalli, who considers the current standoff to be more serious than the usual cross-border incidents. "Even if the (present) issue is resolved, this will only flare up."

(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Syrian troops capture key town near Damascus

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists and state media say President Bashar Assad's forces have captured a strategic town near Damascus after a five-week battle with rebels.

The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, says government troops regained control of the town of Otaybah, east of the capital, late Wednesday.

State-run SANA news agency said Thursday that the army has "restored complete control" over Otaybah.

The town is located on a road linking Damascus to its international airport, along which rebels have been transporting weapons and other supplies from neighboring Jordan. The opposition has found strong support in the city's surrounding towns and neighborhoods since the beginning of the 2-year-old conflict.

Rebels fighting to topple Assad hope to eventually storm the capital from there.

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Syrian troops launch counterattack on south

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces launched a counteroffensive in the south, capturing a town and killing at least 45 people including women and children, opposition activists said Thursday.

The attack on the town of Sanamein followed a rebel advance in the area in recent weeks. They opposition fighters captured army bases and a major town in the strategic province of Daraa along the border with Jordan.

"They slaughtered any person they found," an activist in the nearby town of Busra al-Harir who goes by the fake name of Hamza al-Hariri told The Associated Press via Skype. He would not give his real name for fear of government reprisals.

"This is the ugliest massacre since the one in Houla," he added, referring to a region in the central province of Homs where more than 100 civilians were killed by government forces in May last year.

Rebels advancing in the south in recent weeks have been aiming to secure a corridor from the Jordanian border to Damascus about 60 miles away in preparation for an eventual assault on the capital.

Regional officials and military experts note a sharp increase in weapons shipments to opposition fighters by Arab governments, in coordination with the U.S., in the hopes of readying a push into Damascus — the ultimate prize in the civil war that has killed more than 70,000 in two years.

Rebels already control vast portions of northern Syria bordering Turkey.

State-run Syrian TV said the armed forces "wiped out terrorist groups" in Sanamein and the nearby town of Ghabagheb. It added that troops were targeting rebel hideouts in different parts of Daraa. They included the villages and towns of Tafas, Jasssim, Dael and Tseel and the report said they had inflicted casualties in those areas.

The city of Daraa, the provincial capital, was the birthplace of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group reported clashes on Thursday in the city of Daraa and said there were casualties among regime troops.

State-run Syrian TV said government forces killed or wounded dozens of gunmen in the city of Daraa, including foreign fighters.

The Observatory said at least 45 people, including five children and seven women, were killed in the attack on Sanamein. It said they were killed by "shooting, shelling and field execution," a reference to people reported to have been shot at close range.

The Syrian National Coalition, the main opposition group, said more than 60 people were "brutally" killed in the town. After troops stormed Sanamein, the group said they used some civilians as human shields and took others as hostages before looting some homes.

The differing death tolls could not be reconciled.

The SNC said the regime carried out the attack in Sanamein after it failed "to stop the operation to liberate the province of Daraa, the southern entrance to Damascus."

In addition to the stronghold in the north, rebels have also captured parts of the east along the border with Iraq recently. But the strategic region between the southern outskirts of Damascus and Jordan — known as the Houran plains — is seen as a crucial gateway to the capital.

Dozens of rebel units have carved out footholds in areas to the east and south of the capital, and use their positions there to fire mortar shells at the heavily guarded city.

Daraa borders Jordan and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

"The regime is trying to score a victory in Daraa and send an internal and external message," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory.

Al-Hariri, the activist from the nearby town, said the attack on Sanamein began at 5 a.m. Wednesday with intense shelling. About five hours later, troops began advancing into the town and clashing with rebels, he said.

He said he had a list of 48 names of the dead as well as about 20 who have not been identified yet.

By nighttime, troops were in control of the whole town, he said.

An amateur video posted online showed 15 bodies covered with sheets, some with their faces covered with blood. The dead included four children and a woman.

"These are the bodies that we have been able to collect so far," said a man wearing a black Islamic headband and an opposition flag around his neck.

The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.

Activists also reported clashes and shelling Thursday in the central province of Homs, Deir el-Zour in the east and Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib provinces in the north. They said rebels shot down a helicopter carrying food and supplies to an army base near the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan, killing the pilot and three other soldiers.

Also Thursday, Syria's Foreign Ministry complained to the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council about al-Qaida's activities in Syria, saying that Damascus has been fighting the group for two years.

The Syrian government denies there is an uprising and says it is fighting terrorists carrying out a foreign conspiracy.

The letter came a day after the leader of the most formidable rebel group in Syria pledged allegiance to al-Qaida but distanced himself from a claim that his Islamic extremist faction had merged with the terror network's Iraqi branch.

Al-Qaida in Iraq said Tuesday that it had joined forces with Jabhat al-Nusra or the Nusra Front — the most effective force among the disparate rebel factions fighting to topple Assad. It said they had formed a new alliance called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

In other developments, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch accused Syria of committing war crimes by indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate airstrikes against civilians, killing at least 4,300 people since the summer.

The regime's air power is its biggest advantage in the civil war, helping to repel rebel advances on Damascus and to prevent a rival government from setting up in the northern stronghold.

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U.N.'s Ban recommends African troops in Mali become peacekeepers

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An African force currently in Mali should be converted into a U.N. peacekeeping operation and a separate combat force should be created to confront Islamist threats, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended to the Security Council on Tuesday.

The U.N.-backed African force in Mali is due to take over from France when it starts withdrawing its 4,000 troops from the country in late April.

In a report to the 15-member Security Council, Ban recommended that the African force, known as AFISMA, become a U.N. peacekeeping force of some 11,200 troops and 1,440 police - once major combat ends.

To tackle Islamist extremists directly, Ban recommended that a so-called parallel force be created, which would work in close coordination with the U.N. mission.

Diplomats have said France is likely to provide troops for the smaller parallel force, which could be based in Mali or elsewhere in the West Africa region.

"Given the anticipated level and nature of the residual threat, there would be a fundamental requirement for a parallel force to operate in Mali alongside the U.N. mission in order to conduct major combat and counter-terrorism operations," Ban wrote.

The parallel force would not have a formal U.N. mandate, though it would be operating with the informal blessing of the Security Council. The report did not specify a time limit for the mission.

The Security Council was due to be briefed on Wednesday on Ban's recommendations and diplomats hope a vote to approve the peacekeeping force can take place by mid-April.

France began a military offensive in January to drive out Islamist fighters, who had hijacked a revolt by Mali's Tuareg rebels and seized two-thirds of the West African country. Paris said Mali's vast desert North was in danger of becoming a springboard for extremist attacks on the region and the West.

In a nine-week operation French, Chadian and Malian troops have driven the Islamists into desert hideaways and mountains near the Algerian border. French President Francois Hollande said recently that Mali's sovereignty had almost been restored.

However, Islamist fighters attacked northern Mali's largest town, Gao, over the weekend. It was the third major offensive there by the rebels since the town was retaken by a French-led military operation in late January.

CHILD RECRUITS

The African force in Mali is made up of troops mainly from West Africa, including more than 2,000 Chadians. Other than Chad's contingent, most African elements remain in the south of Mali away from the fighting.

The United Nations would only take on security responsibilities in Mali when "the necessary security and political conditions were deemed to be in place, following an assessment by the (U.N.) Secretariat."

Mali's government hopes to hold elections in July, but Security Council diplomats and U.N. officials said that goal may be overly ambitious.

Ban said that once the African soldiers become a U.N. peacekeeping force, the majority of the troops and police would operate in the north of the country, while there would be a "light presence" based in the country's capital, Bamako.

"The force would operate under robust rules of engagement, with a mandate to use all necessary means to address threats to the implementation of its mandate, which would include protection of civilians," Ban said.

"This could include the conduct of operations on its own or in cooperation with the Malian ... forces," he said.

Ban also suggested that the Security Council consider establishing an independent group of experts to investigate transnational and organized crime in Mali with the possibility of imposing punitive, targeted sanctions.

Mali was once viewed as an example of a working democracy in Africa, but its north has been a center of cross-desert trafficking of drugs, stolen goods and Western hostages. Border towns are used as transit hubs for trans-Sahara cocaine and hashish smuggling.

Ban raised serious concerns in the report about human rights violations being committed in northern Mali, including summary executions, illegal arrests and forced disappearances, use of children by armed groups, rape, forced marriages and looting.

"Hundreds of children have been recruited by all of the armed groups active in the north, including AQUIM (al Qaeda's north African wing), Ansar Dine, MUJAO and the MNLA," he said.

"The capture and detention of children for intelligence purposes is also an emerging trend that needs to be addressed as a matter of the utmost urgency," Ban wrote.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

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Israel troops shoot to death Palestinian protester

Mar 11 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 2. Tiger Woods $2,671,600 3. Matt Kuchar $2,055,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,491,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 11. Charles Howell III $1,238,219 12. Brian Gay $1,171,721 13. Jason Day $1,080,664 14. Chris Kirk $1,004,053 15. Keegan Bradley $976,993 16. Josh Teater $883,229 17. Bill Haas $876,800 18. Scott Piercy $868,592 19. ...

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Helicopter crash in Afghanistan kills five foreign troops: NATO

KABUL (Reuters) - A helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan killed five members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, NATO said on Tuesday, although there were no immediate details about the cause of the crash.

A brief ISAF statement said the crash occurred on Monday.

"The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident," the NATO statement said.

It also did not give any details about the nationality of the troops killed, although U.S. and British forces make up the bulk of the NATO-led contingent in Afghanistan's south. Australian troops also still operate in the south.

The crash came on the same day that two U.S. troops and five Afghan police and soldiers were killed in a so-called insider attack by a person in an Afghan military uniform in the restive east of the country.

New Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel left Afghanistan earlier on Monday after a difficult first trip to Kabul.

His trip was marred by a suicide bomb attack near where he was holding a meeting, and differences with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who accused the United States of colluding with the Taliban.

Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Afghanistan and the Taliban and others often claim to have shot them down, although such claims by insurgents are often exaggerated.

Last August, 11 people, including seven U.S. soldiers, were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan.

The worst such incident was in August 2011, when the Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, killing all 38 people on board, including 25 U.S. special operations troops.

(Reporting by Paul Tait; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Malaysian troops attack armed Philippine group in Sabah

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian troops launched an attack on an armed Filipino group on Tuesday, trying to end a standoff on Borneo island after violence in recent days that killed at least 27 people, a Malaysian government official said.

The operation to take over an area occupied by about 180 Filipinos, dozens of them armed, began at 7 a.m. (06.00 p.m. EST Monday), a spokesman for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said. The government sent seven army battalions to the area in eastern Sabah state on Monday to reinforce police.

Two policemen were killed along with 12 militants when Malaysian security forces tried to tighten a cordon around the armed group on Friday. That sparked more violence over the weekend with six policemen and seven more gunmen killed in another area, raising concerns the violence was spreading.

"After the first attack, I have asserted that the intruders must surrender and if they refuse the authorities of this country will take action," Najib said in a statement.

"The government has to take the right action in order to preserve the pride and sovereignty of this country."

The group, which arrived by boat about three weeks ago, say they are descendants of the sultanate of Sulu in the southern Philippines, which ruled parts of northern Borneo for centuries. They are demanding recognition and an increased payment from Malaysia for their claim as the rightful owners of Sabah.

Malaysia has refused their demands and along with the Philippine government had urged the group to return home.

The violence has sparked a political crisis ahead of elections for both the Philippine and Malaysian governments and raised concerns of instability in resource-rich Sabah state.

(Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Dean Yates)

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UN troops seized by Syrian rebels appear in video

BEIRUT (AP) — Several U.N. peacekeepers from the Philippines who were detained by Syrian rebels appear in videos posted online and say that they are safe and fine.

Rebels abducted 21 U.N. peacekeepers near the village of Jamlah in the Golan Heights on Wednesday.

In one of the videos posted online Thursday, three men are dressed in camouflage and blue bullet-proof vests emblazoned with the U.N. and "Philippines."

One of the men says in English says they "are safe and the Free Syrian Army are treating us good."

The other video shows six peacekeepers sitting in a room, and one of them says they are safe.

The abduction marked the first time since U.N. troops began patrolling an Israeli-Syrian armistice line nearly 40 years ago that U.N. forces have encountered trouble.

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Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Hundreds of Palestinian protesters are squaring off against Israeli security forces in the West Bank at a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Some 2,000 people gathered at the Beitunia military checkpoint on Thursday, hoping to march to a nearby military prison. When the military prevented them from proceeding, protesters began throwing stones and burning tires. Israeli soldiers are responding with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The Israeli military estimates the crowd size at about 300 people and says it is using nonlethal means to break up what it calls a violent riot.

Palestinians have staged protests across the West Bank all week in solidarity with the 4,500 prisoners held by Israel. They consider the prisoners heroes in a struggle against Israeli occupation.

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