Siege after car bomb attack ends
VIENTIANE: US President Barack Obama cancelled his first meeting with Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte today after the blunt-spoken Duterte described him as a “son of a bitch”, casting a shadow over a gathering of Asian leaders in Laos.
Duterte, who has been roundly criticised abroad for a “war on drugs” that has killed about 2 400 people since he took office two months ago, said hours later that he regretted his comments “came across as a personal attack” on the US president.
“President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would ‘lecture’ him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern,” the Philippines government said.
“He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy,” it added in a statement released at the summit in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte.
Duterte responded to that with his “son of a bitch” com- ment to reporters yesterday before leaving to join fellow leaders of South-east Asian and East Asian leaders for the summit.
Obama learnt about the insult when he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials “to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations?”.
Hours later, his aides said the meeting had been cancelled.
Instead, Obama planned to meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye today, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council – a meeting where the response to North Korea’s latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda.
Obama arrived in Vientiane late yesterday for the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, where he wants to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War.
The unusually open tensions between the US and the Philippines, its former colony and long-term ally, threaten to overshadow the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) and East Asia Summits in Laos from today to Thursday.
The 10-member Asean will meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the US.
Moving quickly to soothe the tensions with Washington, Duterte said he remained committed to Manila’s alliance with the US.
“Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting ties with all nations, especially the US with which we have had a long-standing partnership,” he said.
Duterte won the presidency in May because he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers.
At least 2 400 people have been killed since he took of- fice on July 1, including 900 in police operations against drug pushers.
The rest are “deaths under investigation”, a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings.
Duterte has poured scorn previously on critics, usually larding it with curses.
He lambasted the UN after it criticised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit.
In May, he called Pope Francis a “son of a whore”, although he later apologised, and called US ambassador Philip Goldberg a “gay son of a whore”.
Today, Duterte met Singapore’s prime minister and was later to hold talks with the leaders of Japan and Vietnam.
The Philippines has been aligned with the US in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air.
China rejects those accusations and in turn blames the US for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion (R71 trillion) of trade moves annually.
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.
Duterte said last month he expected all Asean members to support the arbitration court’s ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. – Reuters KABUL: Afghan security forces ended an 11-hour stand-off in central Kabul today, killing the last gunman holding out after an attack that began when a car bomber blew himself up in a prosperous business and residential area.
Police sealed off the centre of the city as they battled three attackers who barricaded themselves inside an office of the aid group Care International.
After hours of the standoff, interrupted occasionally by sporadic gunfire, Interior Ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said Afghan special forces had killed all those involved in the attack in the Share Naw area of Kabul.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which happened just hours after Taliban sui- cide bombers killed at least 24 people near the Defence Ministry.
The toll from yesterday’s twin suicide attacks on the Defence Ministry in Kabul was revised up to 35 dead and 103 wounded.
The attack hit a busy part of the city close to a market and transport links yesterday. An initial explosion was followed minutes later by a second explosion that caught many soldiers and civilians who rushed to help victims.
The twin attack was followed only hours later by a car bomb in the Share Naw area of the city and an hourslong stand-off with gunmen who barricaded themselves into a building after the blast. Afghan forces eventually killed all three gunmen involved in the second attack. – Reuters