Philippines ‘foils’ extremists attack

Violence flares at PNG camp

MANILA, Philippines, April 15, (Agencies): A foiled attack on a central Philippine resort island this week was a kidnapping and bombing mission by at least three extremist groups affiliated with the Islamic State group in one of their most daring terror plots, security officials said Saturday.

The Philippine military initially said that government forces, backed by airstrikes, successfully detected and thwarted a kidnapping plot by Abu Sayyaf militants in the island province of Bohol, a popular tourist destination far from the militants’ southern jungle bases.

Three soldiers, a policeman, two villagers and at least four militants, including key Abu Sayyaf commander and spokesman Moammar Askali, were killed in the daylong siege Tuesday in a hinterland village in Bohol’s Inabanga town.

Military spokesman Brig Gen Restituto Padilla said combined military and police forces in Bohol thwarted “major terrorist activities” by the militants, who were aiming to divert the military’s focus from intense offensives on the militants’ jungle encampments in southern Sulu province and outlying islands. “The persons who died in the area, some of whom have been identified to be known terrorists, are still the subject of a continuing investigation to ascertain their participation,” Padilla said, adding that the result of the investigation would be made public in the near future.

Askali

Violence flares at refugee facility in PNG:

Violence has flared at an Australian asylum-seeker detention centre in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and shots were fired when local people tried to break into the centre after an argument got out of hand, media and a rights group reported on Saturday.

There were no reports of serious injuries at the centre on Manus island but the trouble is likely to add to pressure on Australia from rights groups and the United Nations to close it and another centre in Nauru, criticised over poor conditions.

Australia’s ABC broadcaster said a large number of PNG men tried to break into the detention facility on Friday evening and police fired shots to disperse them.

The men came back with guns and fired up to 100 rounds into the facility’s accommodation wing, ABC reported.

NZ escapes worst of tropical storm:

New Zealanders began cleaning up Friday after a powerful storm swept across the country, forcing families from their homes and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

The remnants of Cyclone Cook, which battered New Caledonia earlier in the week, struck overnight Thursday.

It caused widespread power outages and landslides, uprooted trees forcing road closures and disrupted air travel with the eastern coasts of the North and South Islands bearing the brunt of the extreme weather.

“The worst is over,” meteorologist John Crouch at the official Metservice said just before dawn as more than 100 people who had sought shelter at an evacuation centre in Whakatane began to return to their homes in the Bay of Plenty region.

Thai revolution plaque removed:

A plaque commemorating a 1932 coup in Thailand that saw absolute monarchy abolished and democracy established has gone missing, police in Bangkok said on Saturday, prompting outcry from pro-democracy activists.

The 1932 coup, also known as the Siamese Revolution, was a crucial turning point in Thai history and ended nearly seven centuries of absolute monarchy, paving the way for political and social reforms.

Since then, Thailand has gone through a shaky experiment with democracy and has witnessed a succession of political protests and coups.