Terror links lead dad to kill daughter

Terror links lead dad to kill daughter

BAGHDAD

When police came hunting for a 19-year-old woman they believed had been recruited by al-Qaida to be a suicide bomber in a town north of Baghdad, they found she was already dead — slain by her father, who told police he strangled his daughter out of shame and then cut her throat.

The killing of Shahlaa al-Anbaky, reported by police Friday, appeared to be from an unusual melding of motives — part to defend the family honor, part to prevent her from joining the militants. But how much of each weighed in her father’s mind remains unclear, with police still investigating the details.

Al-Qaida has been recruiting women for suicide attacks because they can pass police checkpoints more easily than men by concealing explosives under an abaya, a loose, black cloak that conservative Muslim women wear. Suicide bombers have been al-Qaida’s most lethal weapon in Iraq, killing hundreds of civilians and members of Iraq’s security forces.

UN: Gunmen block possible mass grave

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast

Masked gunmen with rocket launchers are blocking access to what officials believe may be a mass-grave site in Ivory Coast, the United Nations said, as concerns grow that the West African nation that suffered a 2002-2003 civil war could return to conflict.

The U.N. reported that heavily armed forces allied with Laurent Gbagbo, and joined by masked men, were preventing people from getting to the village of N’Dotre, where the global body said “allegations point to the existence of a mass grave.”

The U.N. did not elaborate on the possible victims, though it has expressed concerns about hundreds of arrests and dozens of cases of torture and disappearances during the political turmoil since the presidential runoff vote nearly a month ago.

“As the violence goes on, the number of dead, wounded and missing persons is increasing rapidly,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Police: Man had gun in bag at airport

MIAMI

A man headed to Cuba on Friday has been arrested at Miami International Airport after security screeners said they found a loaded gun in his fanny pack.

Miami-Dade Police arrested 48-year-old Juan Manuel Baldoquin of West Palm Beach on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and grand theft of a firearm. He was being held on $10,000 bond.

Detective Javier Baez says a Transportation Security Administration screener spotted the outline of a gun while X-raying Baldoquin’s bag. Police found the loaded gun when searching the bag by hand.

Imam to tour nation promoting center

NEW YORK

The Muslim cleric who hopes to build an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site said Friday that he’ll tour the country in an effort “to inspire interfaith understanding” for a project that has ignited explosive face-offs between supporters and opponents.

“The major purpose is to make people aware of what America means as a country that protects the right to freedom of religion,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told The Associated Press.

American Muslims like himself, he said, “can play an important role as interlocutors between the United States and the Muslim world.”

Rauf’s first appearance is scheduled for Detroit on Jan. 15. The city has North America’s largest Muslim population.

Associated Press