Blazes ‘worst in state’s history’ Militia murders

COLORADO SPRINGS: A wildfire raging near some of Colorado’s most popular tourist sites grew suddenly more ferocious yesterday, forcing 32 000 people from their homes, prompting evacuations from the US Air Force Academy and swallowing numerous houses at the edge of Colorado Springs.

From the vantage point of a command post about 16km from the path of advancing flames, the entire community of Mountain Shadows, a northwest subdivision, appeared to be enveloped in an orange glow after dark.

“This is a fire of epic proportions,” Colorado Springs fire chief Rich Brown said as ash drifted down on the city, sirens wailed and the thick smell of smoke permeated the air.

Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper, flew into the city last night by helicopter to meet fire commanders and tour the fire zone first-hand. He noted that the blaze was one of at least a dozen burning throughout the state. Four people have died in Colorado fires so far this year.

“This is the worst fire season in the history of Colorado,” he said during an impromptu news conference, adding that from the air he saw many homes destroyed in a glowing landscape that looked “surreal”.

The Waldo Canyon fire has grabbed attention for days because of its proximity to landmarks like the famed mountaintop of Pikes Peak and the Air Force Academy.

The blaze claimed its first property losses yesterday as wind-driven flames swept over containment lines into Colorado’s second-most populous city, consuming an unknown number of homes on the town’s outskirts as authorities hurried to evacuate residents. – Reuters PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The bullet-riddled bodies of an anti-Taliban militia commander and three of his associates were dumped in the city of Peshawar yesterday, police said.

The bodies of Fahimud Din, 50, chief of a 1 500-strong vigilante force in Bazidkhel on the outskirts of Peshawar, and three of his associates were found in an SUV on the city’s ring road.