JMM-BJD alliance hangs in fire for LS poll

New Delhi (PTI): Even though it has pledged support to the BJD government for the trust vote in Orissa, the JMM on Tuesday remained non-committal about an alliance with the Naveen Patnaik-led party for the Lok Sabha elections.

"We have yet not decided with which party we would go. We may contest the next Lok Sabha election even alone as then we would be able to contest more seats," state President of the party Sudam Marandi said on asked whether he will go with BJD in the Lok Sabha elections.

With the JMM still to decide on its future relationship with the BJD, it remains uncertain whether the Shibu Soren-led party will forge an alliance with the latter for the assembly elections in the state which are not far off.

Mr. Marandi was speaking to reporters after the four JMM MLAs, who have pledged their support to the BJD government two days back, met Soren here. The party MLAs along with its state president came here last evening to discuss the matter with Mr. Soren.

The JMM has five MLAs and one MP in Orissa. With the Orissa unit of the JMM backing the BJD, speculation was rife that it could tie up with Naveen Patnaik-led party in the state under a third front arrangement for the coming elections. "There is difference between situations in Orissa and Jharkhand. We will think how to expand the party in Orissa," Mr. Marandi said when asked to comment on the decision of the state unit of the JMM to back the BJD in the backdrop of the party being a key ally of the UPA in Jharkhand.

Suicide car bombing kills 25 in Iraq

Baghdad (Xinhua): A suicide car bomb attack ripped through a tribal leaders' gathering in Iraq's Abu Ghraib area on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 20, an interior ministry source said.

A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a crowd of tribal leaders and senior army officers while they were leaving the town hall, 20 km west of Baghdad, the source said.

The commander of an Iraqi Army battalion was among the killed. Iraqi state-run television said that its reporter was seriously wounded in the attack.

Reply to Pak on Mumbai attacks this week

New Delhi (PTI): India is expected to reply to Pakistan's questions on Mumbai attacks this week, giving further information about the terror strikes with the hope that it would be used by Islamabad to bring perpetrators to justice.

The replies to the 30 questions asked by Pakistan are ready and are expected to be handed over to Islamabad this week, sources told PTI here today but did not give details. Pakistan, in response to the Indian dossier of evidence given on January 5, had posed 30 questions on February 12. In its questionnaire, Pakistan had sought fingerprints and DNA profiles of all the 10 terrorists who carried out the attacks.

Islamabad had also sought post-mortem reports of the nine killed terrorists and their detailed description and information as provided by Kasab.

Pakistan had requested for "authenticated copy" of the confessional statement of lone captured terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab as recorded by judicial authorities and "other documentation/diaries recovered from his possession". It had also sought mobile numbers used by Kasab in the past, if he had disclosed these during interrogation.

BJP MLA quits to support BJD in trust vote

Bhubaneswar (PTI): BJP in Orissa on Tuesday suffered another jolt with one of its leading MLAs announcing resignation from the party, a day before Naveen Patnaik-led government was due to seek trust vote in Orissa Assembly.

"I have sent resignation letter to BJP president and Speaker of the Assembly. I will vote in support of the Naveen government," BJP MLA from Talcher, Mahesh Sahu said, adding that he resigned for alleged indiscpline in State BJP.

Mr. Sahu was elected to Assembly twice in a row in 2000 and 2004 on a BJP ticket. Though he was aspiring to get a berth in the cabinet, the party did not allow him, source said.

Mr. Sahu was the third BJP MLA to resign from BJP within 15 days. Earlier Brundaban Majhi and Dhaneswar Majhi had resigned from BJP.

However, Sananda Marandi, an MLA from Kualiana in Mayurbhanj district, had resigned from the party a few days ago and withdrew the letter later.

Mr. Sahu's resgination came a day after former minister Bed Prakash Agarwal resigned from BJP.

Both Mr. Sahu and Mr. Agarwal were likely to join

3-tier security for Kasab at Arthur Rd jail

IANS

Mumbai: The Arthur Road Jail here is being fortified with three security rings to keep Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, the sole 26/11 terrorist captured alive, safe from potential attackers, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Naseem Khan said on Tuesday.

"A crack team of the Mumbai Police will guard the outer periphery of the jail while the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) will guard the precincts inside. The core area where Kasab is lodged will be guarded by the jail's own security set-up," Mr. Khan told IANS.

All parts of the jail will be monitored by cameras, some of which will be hidden. The images will be relayed to a central control room being manned by security officials, he added.

Barriers of different types, including reinforced steel-concrete walls that can resist bombs, grenades and rapid fire weapons, are being erected for the first time inside the 84-year-old jail, making it among the most secure prisons in the country, a police official said.

Kasab, along with nine other terrorists, embarked on a killing spree here on November 26, 2008 that lasted nearly 60 hours. Over 170 people lost their lives in the carnage.

He is lodged in the famous "anda cell" — called so because it is oval in shape — which is usually reserved for the most notorious criminals

LTTE Tigers lose more land: Sri Lanka

Agencies

Colombo: Government forces drove deeper into the Tamil Tigers' dwindling stronghold, confining the rebel group that once controlled a vast swath of northern Sri Lanka to an area smaller than Manhattan, the military said Friday.

The government has said it is on the verge of destroying the rebels and ending the Indian Ocean island nation's quarter-century civil war.

Army troops entered Puthukkudiyiruppu, the last town under rebel control, on Tuesday and the two sides continued to wage fierce house-to-house battles, the military said. If the town falls, the rebels will be confined to a small coastal strip, some villages and a patch of jungle.

The recent military gains have left the group in control of 22 square miles (58 square kilometers) of land, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. That is slightly smaller than the New York City borough.

Aid groups estimate 200,000 ethnic Tamil civilians are trapped in that area along with the rebels and have expressed increasing concerns about their safety. Human Rights Watch reported last week that an estimated 2,000 civilians have been killed in the recent fighting.

Five civilians who were wounded in air strikes and artillery fire Friday died, Dr. Thurairaja Varatharajah said from a makeshift hospital in the war zone. Forty-one others are being treated for their wounds, he said.

Meanwhile, the group Doctors Without Borders expressed outrage that so little has been done for the civilians trapped in rebel territory, calling their condition ``desperate and unacceptable.'' The voluntary organization for medical practitioners urged the government and rebels to ensure the safety of civilians and allow them access to humanitarian assistance.

It said 90 percent of the injured people who arrive at its hospital in northern Vavuniya town, just outside the war zone, have gunshot or shrapnel wounds from fleeing rebel territory.

The rebels once controlled a de facto state measuring about 5,600 square miles (15,000 square kilometers). A recent government offensive drove them into a broad retreat and left them on the brink of defeat.

Verification of the fighting is not available because independent journalists are barred from the war zone.

The Tamil Tigers, listed as a terror group by the U.S. and European Union, have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for ethnic Tamils after decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Hepatitis death toll rises to 53 in Gujarat

Agencies

Ahmedabad: The hepatitis outbreak in Sabarkantha district claimed four more lives on Friday, taking the toll to 53 since February 6, district health officials said.

"Four more deaths were reported today. With this the toll has gone up to 53. Also, six new patients have been admitted to the hospital in Modasa taluka," Sabarkantha Chief District Health Officer (CDHO) H S Patel told PTI.

"Of the 53 who died, 20 are females. Most of the deceased were in the age group of 13-45 years", he said.

With six fresh incidents of the liver disease coming to light, the total cases registered in Sabarkantha has reached 171 of which 53 have died.

Meanwhile, doctors in Sabarkantha were on a strike to protest filing of police cases against some medical practitioners who have been booked for unsafe practises and improper disposal of bio-medical waste.

Dinesh Patel of Modasa Medical Association said the medical fraternity was being harassed.

"The government is harassing the doctors. They are treating them as if they are criminals and raiding their clinics and homes in the middle of the night," Patel alleged.