Chronology for April 2002

April 2002

31	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	1	2	3	4

April 1, 2002
Israeli troops backed by armor intensified an offensive across the West Bank on Monday, pounding a Ramallah building with anti-aircraft guns, briefly pushing into Bethlehem and sending the deafening echo of tank shells through Palestinian streets.

Disgruntled northern alliance soldiers were blamed Monday for two recent shootings that targeted international peacekeepers, and a spokesman for the security force said troops would significantly increase their presence in a lawless part of the capital.

National Guard troops patrolling airports will be replaced by uniformed police officers, the new Transportation Security Administration government said Monday. In a security directive to airports, the agency said the police officers would be stationed at airport screening stations in place of the Guard. Local police will be at the checkpoints until the security agency hires its own law enforcement officers.

President Bush appealed Monday for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to order a halt to the suicide bomb attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Suicide bombing in the name of religion is nothing but terror

Pakistani authorities have handed over to the United States a man considered the biggest catch yet in the war on terrorism: Abu Zubaydah, a senior al-Qaida leader believed to be leading an attempt to reconstitute the group in Pakistan,

The American flag that was lifted above the wreckage of the World Trade Center and then flew aboard Navy ships deployed in the war against terror was raised above City Hall on Monday. City officials and Navy officers stood at attention in a solemn, wordless ceremony as an honor guard of police officers and firefighters lifted the flag and bagpipers played "America the Beautiful."

Prosecutors acknowledged Monday they do not have evidence that John Walker Lindh killed Americans in Afghanistan. But a federal judge said that would not be necessary to prove Lindh joined a conspiracy to murder Americans as a Taliban fighter.

April 2, 2002
Israel seized control of Bethlehem and another West Bank town Tuesday in a day of wild fighting that left at least 13 Palestinians dead. Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, where tradition says Jesus was born, and Israeli tanks and helicopters pounded the headquarters of a Palestinian security chief.

Al-Qaida terrorists fleeing Afghanistan have been allowed safe passage through Iran, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday, criticizing Tehran for a second straight day as a supporter of global terrorists

The State Department, citing a "deteriorating security situation," urged Americans who live in Jerusalem to leave the city on Tuesday and encouraged dependents of American diplomats to return to the United States

Police raided more suspected al-Qaida hide-outs, arresting 16 people in an ongoing crackdown against Osama bin Laden's terror network in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the country's major Islamic parties called on the government to end military cooperation with the United States in the war on terrorism and announced plans for nationwide protests against Israel's military offensive against the Palestinians, a move the clerics sought to link to U.S. policies.

The White House on Tuesday celebrated the U.S. capture of top al-Qaida leader Abu Zubaydah as a "very serious blow" to the terrorist network. Zubaydah is described as an operational planner and key recruiter for al-Qaida and a member of Osama bin Laden's "inner circle" who can provide a treasure-trove of top-to-bottom information about the terrorist group.

Faced with punitive U.S. sanctions, Serbia's prime minister said Tuesday he expects that war crimes suspects will be quickly arrested and extradited to a U.N. tribunal. In a boost for the chances of extraditions taking place, the Yugoslav federal government said it had ordered state agencies to cooperate with the U.N. court, based in The Hague, Netherlands. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said "it can be expected that the first extraditions take place" Tuesday or Wednesday.

April 3, 2002
Saddam Hussein has increased money for the relatives of suicide bombers from $10,000 to $25,000, drawing sharp criticism from Washington. But Palestinians say the bombers are driven by a priceless thirst for revenge, religious zeal and dreams of glory — not greed.

A purported key backer of Osama bin Laden pleaded guilty Wednesday to stabbing a prison guard in the eye with a sharpened comb, leaving him brain-damaged. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan before Judge Deborah A. Batts. Salim, allegedly a founding member of bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, had been scheduled to go on trial next week on charges that he maimed the guard, Louis Pepe, in November 2000 as part of a wider plot to take hostages and win the release of other prisoners at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

President Bush (news - web sites)'s spokesman blamed climbing U.S. pump prices on Mideast tension, the recovering economy and seasonal factors, but expressed no concern about a possible Iraqi-led oil embargo against the United States. Gasoline prices have jumped 23 cents per gallon over the last month, and U.S. crude prices have jumped by 36 percent since the beginning of February. Motorists are likely to see higher prices at the pump as the peak summer driving season approaches

April 4, 2002
The Palestinian leadership accepted "without conditions" a new peace effort by President Bush, in a Cabinet statement issued early Friday. Bush called for Israel to stop its incursions into Palestinian-controlled territory in the West Bank and begin to withdraw its forces. The president restated U.S. demands that Palestinians stop terror attacks and said he would send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region to try to negotiate an end to the crisis.

Israeli tanks tightened their chokehold on the West Bank's biggest city, and battles raged Thursday at nearby Palestinian refugee camps. The United States intensified its involvement — sending a mediator to meet Yasser Arafat and ordering in the secretary of state.

Pilots have flown through the prohibited airspace protecting the White House at least 94 times over the past decade, illustrating the challenges of thwarting a terrorist airstrike on the nation's capital.

Afghan authorities said Thursday they have uncovered a plot against the fledgling government, arresting hundreds for allegedly planning "terrorism, abductions and sabotage," and seizing weapons and documents in sweeps throughout the capital

The Justice Department is considering a proposal to allow local and state police to enforce immigration laws in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Some police departments are resisting the idea of enforcing noncriminal immigration violations, but Justice Department spokesman Dan Nelson said Wednesday the Immigration and Naturalization Service does not have enough federal agents to do the work.

April 5, 2002
Breaking Yasser Arafat's isolation, a U.S. envoy met with the Palestinian leader at his tank-encircled headquarters Friday on the bloodiest day of fighting since the beginning of the week-old Israeli military offensive.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, welcoming weekend talks with President Bush, said Friday "there can be few grounds of optimism" in the Middle East even as the United States intensifies efforts to curb Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.

Al-Qaida and Taliban supporters in Afghanistan are offering rewards of up to $100,000 for capturing or killing Westerners

Israeli warplanes rocketed suspected guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon on Friday after Lebanese guerrillas renewed attacks on Israeli posts in a disputed border area, defying warnings that fighting could open another front in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

April 6, 2002
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted Saturday that Israel halt its escalating offensive in the West Bank and immediately withdraw its troops, but Israel's leader vowed to fight on for now.

Without giving a time frame, Israel's leader told President Bush on Saturday that he would expedite the nine-day West Bank offensive. Israeli troops traded round-the-clock fire with Palestinian gunmen for a third straight day in Nablus and Jenin.

U.S. troops hauled bags of documents from abandoned al-Qaida and Taliban caves to Bagram air base Saturday after days of searching through mountains, turning up secret jail cells and dossiers with photographs and fingerprint samples.

Despite three gunshot wounds, a top Osama bin Laden lieutenant remained composed and defiant when he was taken into U.S. custody last week, medical staff who treated him said Saturday.

Braced for booby-traps and hidden tripwires, American soldiers searching elaborate cave complexes along the Pakistan border found jail cells and dossiers complete with photographs and fingerprint samples.

North Korea has agreed to resume talks with the United States and revive reconciliation efforts with rival South Korea after months of increasing tension on the world's last Cold War frontier,

Arab foreign ministers met Saturday to discuss ways of strengthening their response to an Israeli military offensive amid calls from Iraq and Iran to cut off oil supplies to Israel's allies.

April 7, 2002
Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Palestinians in the West Bank on Sunday, encountering stiff resistance in the crowded Jenin refugee camp and in the winding alleyways of Nablus' Old City.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the strongest signal yet he would back U.S. military action against Iraq, said Sunday that Saddam Hussein must allow weapons inspectors into his country "any time, any place the international community demands" or face consequences.

One in three New York-area residents remain at risk for post-traumatic stress months after the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center, according to a Red Cross study released Sunday.

Embarking on a crucial Middle East mission, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that Israel's leader has "taken very much to heart" President Bush's call for an immediate withdrawal from Palestinian areas.

April 8, 2002
Arab leaders pressured Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday to do more to halt Israel's military sweep in the West Bank despite President Bush's fresh call for a swift pullback. "I meant what I said," the president declared in the United States.

Israel said it would start withdrawing from two West Bank cities even as it pushed deeper into other Palestinian strongholds Monday in house to house fighting backed by helicopters and bulldozers.

Oil prices surged Monday in a fresh wave of anxiety after Iraq cut off crude exports to demonstrate support for the Palestinians in their struggle with Israel.

Though U.S. forces have failed to capture Osama bin Laden, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says the manhunt has at least neutralized the terrorist leader.

President Bush on Monday revived his appeal for Americans to do their part against terrorism by volunteering with police and emergency crews. "We need this participation from our citizenry," he said. The president toured a citizens police academy and talked with mayors about funds for the Citizen Corps he wants to expand to augment local emergency response.

April 9, 2002
Palestinians ambushed Israeli troops in the cramped quarters of a West Bank refugee camp Tuesday, setting off a suicide bomb trap in a narrow alley and firing on soldiers in a courtyard, the military said. Thirteen Israelis were killed, the biggest blow to the army in its West Bank offensive.

Secretary of State Colin Powell called Tuesday for accelerated negotiations to establish a Palestinian state, even as he pressed for a cease-fire to Middle East violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the meantime

A New York defense attorney and three other people were charged Tuesday with helping a blind Egyptian sheik direct terrorism from a U.S. prison by carrying messages to and from his followers around the world.

President Bush on Tuesday used the Iraqi oil embargo to promote his stalled energy plan, but aides said he was not seriously considering more dramatic action such as gasoline tax cuts or the use of oil reserves to respond to price increases.

The family of a Suffolk woman who died in the collapse of the Twin Towers has filed a wrongful-death suit seeking millions of dollars, saying American Airlines was negligent when one of its jets slammed into the World Trade Center.

The husband of one of the 11 September victims who died inside her World Trade Center office has sued American Airlines for more than $50m (£34.84m) in compensatory damages. In addition, the suit includes a claim for unspecified punitive damages for the terror, pain and suffering, wrongful death and economic loss.

April 10, 2002
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday he would push ahead with his peacekeeping mission in the Middle East despite Israel's objections to his meeting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. An Israeli military withdrawal from three West Bank towns drew support from the White House.

From a West Bank army base overlooking the scene of the deadliest fighting in Israel's 13-day-old offensive, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday delivered a blunt message: Israel will not pull back until Palestinian militias are crushed.

The Federal Aviation Administration removed one of the Sept. 11 hijackers from its mailing list Wednesday after learning it had sent the man its regional pilots newsletter.

April 11, 2002
Secretary of State Colin Powell challenged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's limited withdrawal of troops from Palestinian areas on Thursday, saying President Bush "wants to see more progress."

Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered federal agencies Thursday to link the databases of local and federal law enforcers with foreign intelligence sources to lower bureaucratic barriers and rivalries that could stand in the way of fighting terrorism

The world's first permanent war crimes tribunal got the necessary international backing Thursday to come into force on July 1, a milestone hailed by human rights advocates and many nations but strongly opposed by the United States

A top al-Qaida official denied knowledge of who was behind the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States when interrogated shortly after his arrest here

Israel pulled out of two dozen small West Bank towns and villages Thursday, but swept into others and rounded up more Palestinian men despite U.S. calls and international pressure to end the 2-week-old campaign to root out militants

April 12, 2002
Secretary of State Colin Powell called off his Saturday meeting with Yasser Arafat late Friday night after a new suicide bombing spread out before Powell's eyes the carnage he had come to Israel in hopes of ending

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Friday for sending an armed international force to Palestinian areas to stop the spiraling violence.

The most senior al-Qaida member in U.S. custody could be a "fountain of knowledge" about terror operations but so far has said little

Sharply higher gasoline costs drove up wholesale prices in March by the largest amount in 14 months. Shoppers, hit by more expensive energy bills, spent modestly on other things

Two governors announced tougher security measures at the major airports around New York City on Friday, including requiring criminal background checks of shop workers and fingerprint scans for all airport employees. The $100 million plan by New York Gov. George Pataki and New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey exceeds federal rules established after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Senators are pushing to win passage of a White House-approved border security bill to tighten restrictions on who can get into the country and how closely those people are tracked by immigration and security officials.

April 13, 2002
Struggling to salvage his peace mission, Secretary of State Colin Powell will press Yasser Arafat when they meet Sunday to take "effective action" to end Palestinian attacks against Israel. Powell also is calling for restraint by Israeli forces on the West Bank.

Israeli troops charged into several more West Bank villages and arrested about 40 suspected militants Saturday, while Palestinian civilians picked through the rubble in towns hard-hit by Israel's ongoing incursion.

An associate of ex-President Slobodan Milosevic died Saturday, two days after shooting himself in the head to protest passage of a law that would have allowed his arrest and extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

After a month long tribute, two pillars of light beamed skyward in memory of those killed in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center faded out as Saturday night yielded to Sunday morning. Located about a block from Ground Zero, the twin banks of 88 searchlights were meant to evoke the fallen towers and could be seen more than 20 miles away. The creation was such a success that there were calls to include it as part of a permanent memorial.

April 14, 2002
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat rebuffed Secretary of State Colin Powell's demand Sunday for a halt to violence, saying Israel first must withdraw its troops from the West Bank

Israel's Supreme Court told the army Sunday that it must give the Palestinians the bodies of those killed in this refugee camp. The army gave journalists a limited tour of the devastation and denied that mass killings took place.

Spanish police have arrested an Algerian man suspected of being the financial chief in Spain of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network

A warning to anyone considering foul play along the Boston Marathon course: That runner who just huffed by could be a cop. As many as 600 officers, half from the Boston Police Department, are expected to run in Monday's race, supplementing the unprecedented force that will guard the race's first edition in the security-conscious days following the Sept. 11 attacks.

April 15, 2002
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that Israeli troops would press ahead with a campaign against Palestinian militants in two major West Bank towns despite U.S. pleas for a full withdrawal. Israel also grabbed a senior aide to Yasser Arafat whom Sharon says was behind suicide bombings.

Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday embraced the idea of an international conference aimed at stopping Middle East violence and restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations

At least four U.S. soldiers were killed Monday and a fifth was injured when rockets they were trying to destroy accidentally blew up. The casualty toll could rise because some soldiers were missing after the noontime explosion, U.S. officials said

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that troops will be out of all West Bank cities except Ramallah and Bethlehem within a week.

In a previously undisclosed videotape of al-Qaida images, a young man identified as one of the Sept. 11 hijackers said "It is time we kill the Americans in their heartland." Another clip broadcast by the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera shows Osama bin Laden kneeling side by side with a top deputy who proclaimed the terror attacks a "great victory." It wasn't clear when the tape shown Monday was made, but the appearance of an apparent hijacker in one segment indicated at least some parts were filmed before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

April 16, 2002
Secretary of State Colin Powell, struggling for progress at the end of a frustrating trip to the Middle East, pushed Israel Tuesday to expand its withdrawal from the West Bank and sought fresh assurances from the Palestinians to stop violence

British troops have launched their first major combat operation of the Afghan conflict, joining U.S. and Afghan soldiers searching the snowcapped peaks of southeastern Afghanistan for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

Israeli forces moved into a West Bank town and three villages near Jerusalem on Tuesday — a day after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said operations were winding down — and imposed curfews as part of a high security alert ahead of Israeli Independence Day.

The FBI, facing escalating criticism and threats of a lawsuit from some family members, recently reversed its position and announced it would allow interested families to listen to the 30-minute tape Thursday in Princeton, N.J. The move was guided in part by the strong possibility that the tape will be used in the government's prosecution of alleged hijacking conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui

April 17, 2002
Secretary of State Colin Powell failed to get the cease-fire he sought as he ended his 10-day peace mission Wednesday, leaving Israel and the Palestinians mired in violence and recrimination.

Afghanistan's deposed monarch, Mohammad Zaher Shah, ended a 29-year exile in Italy on Thursday and headed home to Afghanistan — a historic return that many believe will help stabilize the war-ravaged country and unify its ethnic and tribal groups.

President Bush said Wednesday the United States is still waging war "day by day, terrorist by terrorist," and warned that the spring thaw in Afghanistan could unearth pockets of al-Qaida fighters seeking to violently undercut the fledging government.

American Airlines' parent company said Wednesday it lost $575 million in the first three months of the year, and officials suggested a surprisingly large loss in the current quarter.

Police and security agents on Wednesday questioned five Pakistanis suspected of providing logistical support to Richard C. Reid before he boarded a Paris-Miami flight with explosives-laden shoes.

To better manage homeland defense, the Pentagon is changing the way it assigns war-fighting responsibilities at home and around the world, defense officials announced Wednesday. "Today, our country faces an era of the unexpected," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in announcing a realignment of the military's command structure. "We must be ready to win today's global war on terror, but, at the same time, prepare for other surprises and uncertainties that we must will most certainly face in the 21st century."

A U.S. Special Forces soldier was shot in the face Wednesday when a gunman fired at a group of Americans in an apparent drive-by shooting on a crowded shopping street, the U.S. military said. Afghan officials said they believed Taliban or al-Qaida fugitives were responsible and said they feared there may be more such attacks on U.S. troops and their Afghan allies.

April 18, 2002
A small plane, in flames and reporting mechanical problems, smashed into the tallest skyscraper in Italy's financial capital Thursday, killing at least three people and injuring 60. The crash initially raised fears of a Sept. 11-type terror attack, but the Italian government said it was probably an accident.

Israel will complete its pullout from the town of Jenin overnight, an army commander said Thursday, after a curfew was lifted and refugee camp residents began searching for loved ones under the rubble. A U.N. envoy said the incursion caused "colossal suffering" and was unjustified.

With grief counselors on hand, relatives of those who died aboard United Flight 93 heard a cockpit recording Thursday that included "yelling and screaming" just before the hijacked plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field Sept. 11

President Bush defended the slow pace of Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian cities and said Thursday he understood why Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had laid siege to Yasser Arafat's headquarters

After the weakest year in a decade, the world economy is set to rebound in 2002, led by a stronger-than-expected recovery in the United States, the International Monetary Fund predicted Thursday. The IMF, issuing its latest "World Economic Outlook," saw a variety of reasons to be more optimistic about growth this year and in 2003. The report also cited threats that could derail the recovery, ranging from rising tensions in the Middle East to a surge in global oil prices.

British troops have found indications that Taliban and al-Qaida fighters may be sneaking back into the area they fled last month during the U.S.-led Operation Anaconda.

April 19, 2002
The cockpit recording from hijacked United Flight 93 confirms that its passengers were heroes who struck America's first counterpunch against terrorism on Sept. 11, their relatives said Thursday after listening to the tape for the first time .In the final minutes before the jet slammed into a Pennsylvania field, the tape recorded a woman pleading for her life, dishes smashing, the sound of yelling and screaming in Arabic and English and the almost deafening noise of the wind as the jet hurtled toward Earth

The Israeli army pulled out of Jenin on Friday as Palestinian residents of the town's devastated refugee camp dug for corpses and international aid workers moved in to help the homeless and trace the missing.

The Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center claimed victims from half the states in America, according to a report released by New York City's Office of Vital Statistics. Based on 2,617 death certificates filed by Jan. 25, records show the vast majority of those killed 1,687 were from New York, followed by 662 from New Jersey. But victims also hailed from as near as Pennsylvania and Connecticut and as far as Utah and California, the report released Thursday said.

The FBI publicly warned more than 1,200 banks in the Northeast on Friday of possible terrorist attacks, and government officials said the unconfirmed information that led to the dramatic alert came in part from a high-ranking al-Qaida leader in U.S. custody

A Pakistani court replaced the judge in the case of slain U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl on Friday, just days before the four defendants were to enter pleas. The lawyer for the chief defendant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, had asked that Judge Arshad Noor Khan be removed because he was present during a Feb. 14 hearing at which the British-born Islamic militant admitted his role in the kidnapping. Saeed later recanted, and his lawyers argued that allowing Khan to preside would be prejudicial to the defense.

Malaysian police believe that 100 members of an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group remain at large following the arrests of 14 suspects, including the wife of a Malaysian accused of helping two of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

April 20, 2002
City transit officials say reconstructing the lower Manhattan transportation network, smashed by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, could cost more than $7 billion, two newspapers reported Saturday.

Pakistan's opposition parties agreed Saturday to hold nationwide protests against a referendum being staged by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to affirm his role as president.

The fragile nature of Afghanistan's peace was evident Saturday, as French peacekeepers were shot at, a plot to assassinate the returned king was uncovered and parents were threatened with death for educating their children

Hundreds of U.S. military engineers landed on a southern Philippine island Saturday to build roads, airstrips and improved ports to aid an American-backed offensive against Muslim extremists.

Nearly 300,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan and Iran in the past seven weeks as peace starts to take hold in large parts of Afghanistan, the United Nations said.

Gunmen opened fire on French peacekeepers patrolling the Afghan capital of Kabul, slightly injuring one soldier. The French soldiers returned fire during the attack near the Kabul airport Friday evening, shooting 70 to 80 rounds, said Capt. Serge Khun, spokesman for the 18-nation, 4,500-strong international peacekeeping force responsible for security in Kabul.

April 21, 2002
Images of the al-Qaida leader swirl on televisions across the Middle East, his steady voice preaching war as he kneels before a scenic mountain range. U.S. officials believe the latest pictures of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) were probably filmed last year and are an attempt by his followers to keep the message alive while his fate remains unknown.

Palestinians in West Bank cities began to clean up and rebuild Sunday, the first day in three weeks without an armed Israeli presence on the streets.

Former king Mohammad Zaher Shah told the Afghan people he has no interest in regaining his throne and he supports the leadership of interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai

April 22, 2002
Maulvi Mohammed Nabi Mohammedi, an Afghan militia leader who battled the Soviets and visited the White House in the 1980s, died Monday in Pakistan, a news agency reported. He was 82.

Fed up with checkpoints and armed men demanding unofficial "fees," shippers balked Monday at paying more charges, leaving a long line of elaborately painted trucks piled high with cloth, tires, television sets and car parts going nowhere.

Two people were killed Monday in religious strife between Hindus and Muslims in western India, bring to 20 the number of dead in two days of clashes. At least 105 have been injured since Sunday.

The Afghan government says its campaign to plow under poppy fields is stopping tons of opium from entering the market, but a half-hour drive from the southern city of Kandahar vast fields of the bright pink and red flowers remain untouched.

President Saddam Hussein ordered that $25,000 be paid to Palestinians for each house destroyed by Israeli forces in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, the official Iraqi news agency reported Sunday. Iraq already has been making payments of up to $25,000 to families of Palestinian suicide bombers since the Israeli-Palestinian clashes began in September 2000.

April 23, 2002
Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh admitted his role in the kidnap-slaying of reporter Daniel Pearl and said he expected to be extradited to the United States, two police officers testified Tuesday.

Police said a Muslim was burned alive and a Hindu was shot by officers who were trying to stop rioters from burning a slum on Tuesday in Gujarat state, where 857 people have been killed in nearly two months of religious rioting.

Afghans sheltering in camps that dot this country are feeling the pinch of a cut in aid supplies by agencies trying to prod them to return to the villages they abandoned. But many stay behind amid the squalor and constant burials that have become so familiar. Agencies involved in the relocation push acknowledge a shift in food distribution with the long-term goal of disbanding Afghanistan's largest camp, Maslakh, which currently has 100,000 residents.

The top al Qaeda lieutenant captured in Pakistan told U.S. interrogators Sunday that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network has worked on developing a radiation bomb

A federal judge said yesterday that a lawsuit filed by the nation's largest Muslim charity raised "significant and distressing allegations" about government actions in its war on terror.

April 24, 2002
The chief prosecutor in the trial of Muslim militants charged in the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl said Wednesday he feared for his life after being threatened by the defendants.

From across southern Afghanistan, Pashtun tribal elders gathered inside the marble and tiled walls of one of the country's holiest shrines Wednesday to urge the return of deposed king Mohammad Zaher Shah to the throne.

Factional fighting erupted Wednesday in southern Afghanistan after one local police commander arrested another and locked him in a shipping container for five days, the provincial intelligence chief said. Four people were killed and three were wounded

Police fired tear gas into a huge crowd of mainly Muslim demonstrators outside a police station Wednesday, but the protesters refused to leave until authorities promised to arrest leaders of a Hindu mob who ransacked and burned a Muslin neighborhood the night before.

Zacarias Moussaoui spoke his mind in court Monday, and legal specialists say his words are a gold mine for prosecutors who, as a result, won't have to try hard to convince the judge or jury that the Frenchman hates America and would be capable of participating in a terrorist plot.

Flooded with more than 60,000 applications since Sept. 11, the Central Intelligence Agency and its Pentagon counterpart are beefing up the ranks of spies – reversing a decade of cutbacks to hire hundreds of new recruits – from Arabic speakers to counterterrorism experts.

April 25, 2002
Afghanistan's interim regime on Thursday freed the first of hundreds of Pakistani prisoners locked away for months in cramped, squalid cells because they came to help the deposed Taliban regime fight a "holy war" against America.

The trial of Muslim militants charged in the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl was halted for the day Thursday while defense attorneys protested an upcoming referendum to extend the president's stay in office.

Covert U.S. soldiers have participated in attacks against al-Qaida hide-outs in Pakistan and are searching for pockets of militants along the border region. U.S. troops based on the Afghanistan side of the mountainous frontier have been attacked several times a week over the last month and have been in several firefights with al-Qaida militants.

Jahed Azimi is an amiable former airplane pilot with a tough job: rebuilding Afghanistan's national airline. After punishing U.N. sanctions and weeks of U.S. and British bombing that largely wiped out what was left of the fleet, the new president of Ariana Afghan Airlines is trying to revive a bloated state operation that lacks a key tool.... airplanes.

Part of the U.S. criminal investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks fell to pieces today when a British judge refused to extradite Lotfi Raissi, saying the Justice Department had produced no evidence to back up its allegation that the Algerian pilot was involved in the conspiracy.

April 26, 2002
More than 1,000 union workers gathered for a prayer service and rally Friday to honor the nearly 600 union members killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. After the service at Trinity Church, union members walked three blocks to the World Trade Center site and rallied along with site workers in overalls and hard hats to highlight occupational health and safety in workplaces

The State Department announced Friday a contribution of $4.8 million to help refugees and displaced persons return to their homes in Afghanistan.

Soldiers stormed in by the hundreds, smashed the bolted wooden doors of ramshackle shops and seized more than six tons of opium at Afghanistan's biggest drug market.

The main power broker in northern Afghanistan pledged Friday to release hundreds of prisoners, including Pakistanis, in what would be the largest clemency yet from the overcrowded, disease-ridden Shibergan prison.

New Yorkers who lived and worked in the vicinity of the 11 September terror attacks may be at increased risk of developing asbestos-related cancers. The American College of Preventative Medicine (ACPM) is particularly concerned about a deadly form of cancer of the lungs called malignant mesothelioma.

The Howard Government has stepped up pressure on the United States to permit Australian intelligence agents and police to interview 46-year-old Mamdouh Habib over alleged links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. So far, the US has failed to respond even to specific Australian Government requests for information about the case.

April 27, 2002
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld promised Afghans on Saturday the United States will soon come up with money to help them train a national army. The offer does not commit American troops to an international security force the Afghan government wanted.

U.S. forces joined Pakistani paramilitary troops in searching an Islamic school near the Afghan border for adherents of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network,

A U.S. fighter jet roared low over this eastern Afghan city on Saturday, a warning for rival warlords to stop battles that have complicated U.S. Special Forces' search for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

A rocket hit a runway near the airport headquarters of the international peacekeeping force in Kabul but failed to explode and caused no damage or casualties. The rocket was fired Friday night, hours before U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew into Kabul. Rumsfeld arrived Saturday in a military helicopter that landed at the U.S. Embassy instead of the airport.

April 28, 2002
Bitter feuding among warlords turned eastern Afghanistan into a war zone this weekend, leaving as many as 25 people dead and furious residents accusing the interim regime of being weak, and the United States of being uncaring.

A top Central Intelligence Agency official has warned Americans that a new terrorist attack is unavoidable, despite all efforts to prevent it and the fact that the CIA is now "stealing more secrets" than ever. "Now for the hard truth. Despite the best efforts of so much of the world, the next terrorist attack -- it's not a question of if, it's a question of when,"

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Sunday U.S. personnel were helping provide communications support for Pakistani forces tracking down al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan.

Attorneys for the man accused of conspiring with the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks accused the government of "pandering" to the public in seeking to execute him "because no one else is available." Four days after Zacarias Moussaoui tried to fire them, a team of court-appointed defense attorneys filed a brief in U.S. District Court in Alexandria saying the government is ignoring federal standards in seeking the death penalty in the case.

April 29, 2002
United States military and policy planners have concluded they cannot rely on internal opposition forces to speed the ejection of Iraq's President, Saddam Hussein, and that Britain is probably the only ally available to help in a huge offensive to end his regime. A consensus has also emerged in Washington that military action against President Saddam, whose 65th birthday yesterday was celebrated with parades in Iraq, will not be viable this autumn and will have to wait until next year.

A single biological attack on the US could cause 10 times more deaths than a nuclear strike, claims a report from an influential think-tank. The Brookings Institution is advising President Bush to concentrate anti-terrorist efforts on thwarting "doomsday" scenarios such as these.

German security officials have warned that a terrorist attack could be carried out in the country within the next three weeks. BKA The country's federal office for criminal investigations, the BKA, which issued the warning, insisted however that it did not know of a specific date or target for the attack, or how it might be carried out.

U.S. special operations forces reportedly raided a mosque and religious school in this tribal border village Friday in an unsuccessful attempt to pin down al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who may have slipped into the country from Afghanistan.

April 30, 2002
A new report into America's national defense apparatus says the US Government is not doing enough to bolster domestic security. The study, to be published on Tuesday, says the US Government is neglecting areas of concern and needs to spend up to $10bn more a year on improvements.

The Bush administration plans a major reduction in the number of reservists and national guard troops on active duty despite a warning from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that forces were stretched thin

Raymond Patterson, a prominent forensic psychiatrist who treated presidential assailant John W. Hinckley Jr., has been appointed by a federal judge to evaluate whether Zacarias Moussaoui is mentally competent to defend himself against terrorism charges.

American military experts have started arriving in Georgia to help the impoverished former Soviet state's rag-tag army fight Islamic extremists as part of the U.S.-led campaign against terror.

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