At least six people, including two policemen, have died in explosions in eastern Bangladesh as troops battle suspected militants holed up with an ammunitions cache, police said Sunday.

The explosions Saturday on a road near an Islamic religious school in the city of Sylhet also wounded at least 25 people, police officer Bashudev Bonik said.

Paramilitary troops have been trying since Friday to flush out Islamist radicals who have holed up in a building with a large cache of ammunition.

Several explosions have occurred, including a large blast Sunday afternoon. Police have barred civilians, including journalists, from the area.

The gunbattle with suspected militants comes after a man killed himself on Friday by detonating explosives near a police post on a busy road near the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. No one else was hurt.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Sylhet and Dhaka, according to the SITE Intelligence group, citing the Islamic State news agency Amaq. SITE monitors terror group activity online.

The blast near the airport was the second suicide attack in a week in the Dhaka area. On March 17, a suspected bomber died in a blast near barracks of the elite Rapid Action Battalion anti-terror police force.

Bangladesh has experienced a renewed level of Islamic militancy in recent years. Dozens of atheists, liberal writers, bloggers and publishers, as well as members of minority communities and foreigners, have been targeted and killed.

Last July, 17 foreigners were killed when five militants stormed a restaurant in Dhaka’s upscale diplomatic zone.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, but Bangladesh’s government has consistently denied the presence of the militant group in the impoverished South Asian nation, and says the attacks are the work of local radical groups.
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Hong Kong has selected Carrie Lam to be the city’s first-ever female chief executive, sealing an election that many saw as a foregone conclusion and not a democratic race.

Lam previously served as Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration and was China’s preferred candidate in the race.

While she lagged behind in public opinion polls, she outperformed her two male rivals — former finance secretary John Tsang and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing — claiming 777 votes. That is about 70 percent of nearly 1,200 votes cast by the city’s electoral committee, a body that is stacked with Beijing loyalists.

In her victory speech, she looked to put the focus back on Hong Kong, which she called “our home,” and away from China’s looming presence, pledging to build a better society by uniting its citizens and easing their frustrations.

Pro-democracy activists in this former British colony, however, have refused to acknowledge Lam’s victory in the election, given that the city’s 7 million citizens were not allowed to participate in the election and because Lam was chosen from a “small-circle” of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing elite.

They have also vowed to boycott her future rule if she bows to the will of Beijing and puts China’s interests ahead of the city’s.

First female leader

After being elected the city’s first female leader, Lam – accompanied by her husband, son and supporters – told a news conference that she understands Hong Kongers have suffered from serious divisiveness and accumulated lots of frustrations.

She pledged to begin a new chapter by easing the minds of her people, including those of her opponents.

“My priority will be to heal the divide and to ease these frustrations and to unite our society to move forward,” Lam said.

The chief executive-elect also said she would do her utmost to uphold both Hong Kong’s “core values” and the “one country, two systems” model.

“Values such as inclusiveness, freedom of the press and of speech, respect for human rights and systems which have taken generations to establish such as the independent judiciary, rule of law and clean government are matters that we Hong Kong people find precious and are proud of,” she said.

Protestor scuffles

While the votes were being cast, there were a number of rallies staged outside the voting venue either in support of Lam or in opposition of what protesters said was a rigged election.

There were also some scuffles between pro-democracy protestors and the police.

The anti-Lam protesters denounced Beijing’s “interference” amid widespread reports of lobbying of the votes to back Lam, rather than the more popular and conciliatory reformer Tsang.

They demanded a free election by universal suffrage.

Leading one of the protesting parades, pan-democrat legislator Nathan Law called for greater democracy, which he said he hopes will allow the city’s 7 million residents to have a say in the choice of their top leader.

As an electoral committee member, Law said he cast a blank ballot in Sunday’s vote, which he described as a “selection” rather than an election.

“The Beijing government has the final say on who is going to be appointed by the Beijing government. That is the reason why I cast a blank vote. Because as long as it is a very closed system, a selection, you should not add legitimacy to the system,” Law told reporters.

No confidence

At another pro-democracy rally, Takchi Tam, the vice president of People Power — a progressive democratic party in Hong Kong — pledged to soon organize a protest outside China’s representative office in Hong Kong to express the party’s disagreement with what it argues is the communist rulers’ meddling in the election.

Tam said that most Hong Kong citizens have no confidence in Lam and her ability to balance the interests of the public and the rulers in Beijing.

“I don’t think she will keep the balance. I think she will betray Hong Kong people and sell Hong Kong people, sell Hong Kong people’s land, sell Hong Kong people’s benefits to the Chinese communist government,” Tam told VOA.

Tam expressed worries that, under Lam’s rule, the ‘one country, two systems’ formula enacted by China will soon be turned into ‘one country, one system.’

Continued stability

Lam’s supporters, however, disagreed.

Ivan Tsim threw his support behind Lam, who he said will lead the city into a better future with continued stability and economic prosperity, especially when the new leader has addressed his two major policy concerns.

“I’m more concerned [about] the education and housing, these are two big issues for Hong Kongnese,” Ivan Tsim told VOA.

Lam has promised a $644 million (HK$5 billion) budget for education, and to put greater efforts into increasing land and housing supplies as well as diversifying the city’s economic development.

Defeat for public opinions

Although Lam’s victory came as no surprise, some fear the electoral results have meant a defeat for the city’s public opinions and future democratization.

Others said it also meant Beijing would never loosen its grip on Hong Kong.

“Politically, as long as [Chinese president] Xi Jinping, the real hardliner, continues to govern China, he will continue to tighten his grip on Hong Kong and stop Hong Kong from democratizing,” Dixon Sing, associate professor of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s social science division, told VOA.

 
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One person was killed and about 14 injured when violence erupted following a scuffle between Muslim and Hindu school students in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, a senior administrative official said Sunday.

A crowd of about 5,000 people attacked Muslim residents and set dozens of homes and vehicles on fire at Vadavali village in Patan district Saturday after Hindu students complained of misbehavior by Muslim students, said K. K. Nirala, the district’s top administrative official.

Members of the Muslim community retaliated by throwing stones, and police used teargas and fired seven rounds to disperse the crowd and control the violence, Nirala said.

History of violence

Gujarat has a history of serious communal trouble.

Rioters killed about 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, in the state 2002, according to estimates.

Modi was chief minister at the time, and he was accused of turning a blind eye to one of the worst outbreaks of religious violence in independent India.

Modi denied any involvement in the unrest, and in 2013 a panel appointed by the Supreme Court said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

Nirala said the situation had been brought under control and three companies of the State Reserve Police have been asked to stay in the village to maintain peace. 
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A Beijing-backed civil servant, Carrie Lam, was chosen to be Hong Kong’s next leader Sunday amid accusations that Beijing is meddling and denying the financial hub a more populist leader perhaps better able to defuse political tension.

The majority of the China-ruled city’s 7.3 million people have no say in deciding their leader, who is chosen from several candidates by a 1,200-person “election committee” stacked with pro-Beijing and pro-establishment loyalists.

Lam, who will become Hong Kong’s first female chief executive when she takes office July 1, won 777 votes compared with 365 for her closest rival, former financial secretary John Tsang, who polls show is more popular.

A third candidate, retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, got 21 votes.

Protesters scuffle with police

Some scuffles broke out outside the voting center between protesters and a large contingent of police, who used metal barricades to keep the demonstrations well away.

The activists denounced Beijing’s interference amid widespread reports of unprecedented lobbying of voters to back Lam, rather than Tsang, chanting “I want universal suffrage” when the result was announced.

“Lies, coercion, whitewash,” read one banner. A big yellow banner calling for full democracy was hung from the Lion Rock peak overlooking the city.

“The central government has intervened again and again,” said Carmen Tong, a 20-year-old student. “It’s very unjust.”

China’s unwelcome hand

Since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing has gradually increased control over it, even though China had promised wide-ranging freedoms and autonomy not allowed on the mainland under the formula of “one country, two systems.” There was also an undated promise of universal suffrage.

Many, including opposition democrats, fear Lam will continue the tough policies of staunchly pro-Beijing incumbent Leung Chun-ying, a controversial figure who ordered the firing of tear gas on pro-democracy protesters in 2014 and who was not seen to be defending Hong Kong’s autonomy and core values.

“She doesn’t have a strong foundation, nor will she have a honeymoon after she’s elected,” said political scientist Ivan Choy. “But whether she will further divide society, we still have to wait and see what she does, whether she will continue the approach of Leung.”

Difficult line to walk

All of Hong Kong’s three other post-handover leaders have struggled to balance the demands of China’s stability-obsessed Communist Party leaders, with the wish of many residents to preserve the global financial hub’s liberal values and rule of law that have long underpinned its economic success.

In late 2014, parts of the city were paralyzed when tens of thousands of protesters blocked major roads for nearly three months to demand Beijing allow the city full democracy; demands that were ignored amid some violent clashes.

Some see China’s creeping interference in many areas of the city including business, media, politics, academia and the judiciary as tarnishing the city’s international business allure.
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At least six people, including two police officials, were killed and scores wounded in two bomb blasts in Bangladesh Saturday near a militant hideout that was raided by commandos, police said.

The explosions in the northeastern district of Sylhet came a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a security checkpoint near the country’s main airport in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

“At least six people including two police official were killed in two explosions, one near the hideout and another in front of the building,” said Sylhet police spokesman Zedan Al Musa.

More than 40 people were wounded, several critically, he added. About a dozen army and police personnel were among the injured.

IS claims responsibility

Islamic State claimed responsibility “for a bombing on Bangladeshi forces in Sylhet,” the SITE monitoring service said, citing the militant group’s news agency Amaq.

Army commandos had stormed the hideout, belonged to a domestic Islamist group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The group was blamed for a cafe attack last July in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners.

On Saturday, commandos rescued all 78 people trapped inside the five-story building for more than a day in an operation that was still underway.

The raid came after a string of suicide attacks on security bases this month.

Three recent suicide blasts

A forensic report confirmed that Friday’s attack was a suicide blast that was the third incident involving explosives in the capital, Dhaka, in a week.

Islamic State and al-Qaida have made competing claims over killings of foreigners, liberals and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh, a mostly Muslim country of 160 million people.

The government has consistently ruled out the presence of such groups, blaming domestic militants instead.
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A small electoral college began voting for a new Hong Kong leader Sunday amid accusations that Beijing is meddling and denying the Chinese-ruled financial hub a more populist leader perhaps better suited to defuse political tension.

The majority of the city’s 7.3 million people have no say in their next leader, with the winner to be chosen by a 1,200-person “election committee” stacked with pro-Beijing and pro-establishment loyalists.

Three candidates are running for the top post, two former officials, Carrie Lam and John Tsang, and a retired judge, Woo Kwok-hing. Lam is considered the favorite.

Hundreds protest

Several hundred protesters marched Saturday denouncing Beijing’s “interference” in the election amid widespread reports of lobbying of the 1,200 voters to back Lam, rather than the more populist and conciliatory former finance chief, Tsang.

Other democracy activists hung a large, yellow banner from a peak called Lion Rock, overlooking the city, with the slogan, “I want universal suffrage.”

Security was tight around the voting center with 2,000 or so police officers expected to be deployed in the vicinity in case of unrest.

China increases control

Since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing has gradually increased control over the territory even though China had promised wide-ranging freedoms and autonomy under the formula of “one country, two systems,” along with an undated promise of universal suffrage.

Many fear that Lam will continue the tough policies of staunchly pro-Beijing incumbent Leung Chun-ying, a divisive figure who ordered the firing of tear gas on pro-democracy protesters in 2014 and who was not seen to be defending Hong Kong’s autonomy and core values.

The political upheavals with Beijing over the city’s autonomy and democratic reforms — that many hoped would have allowed a direct election this time round — have roiled a new generation and weighed on the city’s economy, ranked 33rd globally by the World Bank in 2015.

Politics stalling progress

Political and social divisions, mainly over democracy and anxieties over China’s creeping influence, have dominated political debate leading to some legislative and policy-making paralysis and the stalling of major projects, including a cultural hub and high-speed rail link to China.

While Hong Kong’s proximity to China has been a boon for the city, bringing in Chinese investment and spending, businesses have also faced growing competition from mainland Chinese firms in core sectors like services and property.

Housing prices, now among the world’s highest, are widely seen to have been pushed up by an unrelenting wave of buying from rich Chinese, intensifying anti-mainland China sentiment.

Many observers, businessmen and politicians have warned Hong Kong can’t afford another period of upheaval if it is to regain its former capitalist allure.

Beijing’s detention of five Hong Kong booksellers in late 2015, and the disappearance of a Chinese billionaire this year, have also undermined confidence in the “one country, two systems” formula.

While Beijing has not explicitly backed any candidate, senior officials have stressed certain conditions must be met including a new leader having the “trust” of China’s Communist leaders.

“Just because a candidate is leading popularity polls doesn’t necessarily mean you should vote for (that person),” said outgoing city leader Leung on Friday.
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The Pentagon said Saturday that a U.S. air strike in Afghanistan this week killed an al-Qaida militant who was responsible for the death of two American service members and accused of involvement in a deadly attack on a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s cricket team in 2009.

The Pentagon said in a statement the strike took place March 19 in Paktika province and killed Qari Yasin, “a well-known al (Qaida) terrorist leader,” who had ties to the Tehreek-e-Taliban, also known as the Pakistan Taliban.

“The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice,” U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in the statement.

Yasin, a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, had ties to Tehrik-e Taliban and had plotted multiple al Qaida terror attacks, including the Sept. 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of innocent people, a Defense Department statement said.

Among those killed were U.S. Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O’Bryant, the statement said.

On Sunday, Pakistani security sources and Islamist militants said that a U.S. drone air strike in Afghanistan had killed Yasin, also known as Ustad Aslam.

Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department had offered a bounty of 2 million rupees ($19,000) for Yasin, saying he was involved in the 2009 bus attack in the northeastern city of Lahore, allegedly organized by militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus led to Pakistan’s exclusion from the role of hosting major international tours. At least 10 gunmen fired on the bus with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British coach, and killing eight Pakistanis.

Since then, Pakistan has been forced to play most of its “home” games in the United Arab Emirates.

 
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