Region

TUNIS — Islamist militants attacked a Tunisian military checkpoint on Tuesday, killing four soldiers and wounding three others in a raid in a central region bordering Algeria.

Tunisian forces have tightened security since gunmen stormed the national Bardo museum in the capital Tunis last month killing 21 foreign tourists in the North African country's worst militant assault in more than a decade.

Army spokesman Belhassen Ousalti said the checkpoint was attacked near the town of Sbitla in the central Kasserine region, close to a mountain range that borders Algeria.

"Security forces are pursuing the terrorists near the Jbel Mguila mountain area," he said.

State news agency TAP, citing a security source, said around 30 to 35 militants were involved in the attack. They opened fire with automatic rifles on the checkpoint.

Since its 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has seen the rise of ultra-conservative Islamists. Some movements, including local militant groups Ansar Al Sharia and Okba Ibn Nafaa, have turned to violence.

Japanese, Polish, Spanish, French and Colombian tourists were among those killed in the Bardo museum attack that the government says targeted Tunisia's vital tourism industry.

Daesh terror group claimed responsibility for that attack although the Tunisian government said fighters from Okba Ibn Nafaa, which has been mostly based in the Chaambi mountains bordering Algeria, were involved.

BAGHDAD — Iraq has exhumed the remains of 47 people believed to have been massacred by jihadists from mass graves in Tikrit, the human rights ministry's spokesman said Tuesday.

"The number of remains that were exhumed so far is 47, and they were found in 11 mass graves," Kamel Amin told AFP, adding that the number is expected to rise.

Amin said they are believed to have been victims of the infamous Speicher massacre, named for the military base near which up to 1,700 mostly Shiite recruits were abducted by the Daesh terror group last year.

But DNA testing is required to confirm their identity, he said.

The killing of the recruits — which the jihadist group documented in photos and videos posted online — stoked widespread anger and helped rally support for the battle against Daesh.

The mass grave sites were discovered after Iraqi forces retook the city of Tikrit last week in their biggest victory so far against Daesh.

Daesh led an offensive last June that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, but Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitaries have succeeded in regaining significant ground.

BEIRUT — Eight Iranian border guards were killed by militants in a cross-border raid on the frontier with Pakistan on Monday, according to reports in the Iranian media.

Sistan-Baluchestan province in southeast Iran has long been plagued by unrest from both drug smuggling gangs and separatist militants. The population of the province is predominantly Sunni Muslim while the majority of Iranians are Shiites.

"The armed terrorists entered Iranian soil from Pakistani soil and clashed with the guards," Ali Asghar Mirshekari, the deputy governor of the province, told the IRNA news agency.

"They killed eight members of the border guards and fled to Pakistani soil."

The attack happened only two days before Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was scheduled to visit Pakistan.

Tasnim Aslam, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned the attack and noted that a militant group called Jaish al Adl had claimed responsibility, according to Iranian state media.

Jaish al Adl is a Sunni militant group that has carried out attacks against Iranian security forces with the aim of highlighting what they say is discrimination against Sunni Muslims and the ethnic Baluch in the province.

It claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 14 border guards in October 2013.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli security sources acknowledged on Tuesday that the death of a Spanish UN peacekeeper in Lebanon fighting in January was caused by Israeli fire.

"The Spanish soldier was indeed killed by Israel Defence Forces artillery, following a Hizbollah attack on IDF [army] forces that killed two soldiers," a source said on condition of anonymity.

A military statement in response to a query by AFP described the shelling of the UN post near Lebanon's border with Israel as "an unfortunate event".

"There was never any intention of harming United Nations forces," it said. "The IDF is operating in order to prevent similar incidents in the future."

The statement said that a "thorough" military investigation had been carried out and the results passed on to the Spanish army.

Spain and Israel had agreed on a joint probe into the January 28 death of 36-year-old Corporal Javier Soria Toledo.

The 10,000-strong United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) includes some 600 Spanish soldiers and troops from 35 other nations.

Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 22 years until 2000 and the two countries are still technically at war.

Israel fought a bloody war with Lebanon's Shiite militia Hizbollah in 2006 that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Spain's El Pais newspaper on Sunday published what it said were extracts from the confidential Spanish military report, citing soldiers who said they appeared to have been deliberately targeted.

The paper, however, also quoted a UN report which said that a few minutes before the shelling began Israel had warned the UN peacekeepers not to venture outside their post, without giving an explanation.

Over the following two hours nearly 120 artillery shells, 90 mortar grenades and five projectiles were fired in the area, El Pais quoted the report as saying.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is "not in a hurry" to decide whether to join the Saudi-led coalition against rebels in Yemen, the prime minister said Tuesday, before a round of shuttle diplomacy involving Iran and Turkey.

Nawaz Sharif told a special parliamentary debate on Yemen he thought the diplomatic efforts planned for the coming days would yield results.

Saudi Arabia has asked its longstanding ally Pakistan to contribute planes, ships and ground troops to the operation against Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But Pakistan has resisted so far, calling for a diplomatic solution and saying it does not want to take part in any conflict that would worsen sectarian divisions in the Muslim world.

Iran, the major Shiite power, has strongly criticised the military operation in Yemen by a coalition of largely Sunni Muslim nations. It accuses Saudi Arabia of sowing instability with its air campaign.

Sharif has said any Pakistani participation would need the backing of parliament and convened a special session to debate the matter.

He told lawmakers on Tuesday that he did not want to "manipulate you to get a mandate".

"Take your time, we are not in a hurry, we will take all your good points and I want the parliament also to say something about demands of our friends," said Sharif, who was sheltered by Saudi Arabia when overthrown in a 1999 military coup.

Sharif met his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara on Friday and said afterwards both countries wanted a peaceful resolution to the Yemen crisis.

More talks involving Turkey, Iran and Pakistan are planned in the coming days, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan due to meet the leadership in Tehran on Tuesday.

Sharif told parliament he expected these diplomatic efforts quickly to bear fruit.

"We are actually waiting for an answer, which I expect will arrive by tomorrow," Sharif said, adding that Turkey may send its foreign minister or convey the message by phone.

"We will see what we can do after that. We might visit other Muslim countries together."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is due in Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

On Tuesday the Pakistan Navy evacuated another 146 of its citizens from Yemen, along with 36 foreign nationals. Hundreds more Pakistanis have been whisked out of Yemen in the past two weeks for their own safety.

Pakistan faces a tricky dilemma over intervention in Yemen. It has long enjoyed military ties with Riyadh and has benefited hugely from the oil-rich kingdom's largesse over the years.

Like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan is majority Sunni Muslim, but 20 per cent of its population is Shiite and the government is wary of fanning sectarian discord at home.

Concerns have also been voiced in Pakistan about joining the operation when the army is already stretched at home fighting Taliban militants.

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama has rejected a call by Israel for any nuclear agreement with Iran to be conditional on Tehran's recognition of Israel’s right to exist, branding it a "fundamental misjudgement".

Speaking after Israel proposed its own terms for the accord, Obama told US radio network NPR Monday that demands for Iran to recognise the country go beyond the scope of the agreement.

"The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognising Israel, is really akin to saying that we won't sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms," he said in a drive to sell the deal to a hostile Congress.

"And that is, I think, a fundamental misjudgement."

Israel's government reacted angrily to the historic framework agreement on Iran's nuclear programme announced last week, with a final accord due by June 30.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded Sunday that Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist be written into the agreement.

Intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz told journalists Monday that while an earlier pledge by Obama to back Israel's security was appreciated, it did not outweigh the potential threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

"If Iran will produce nuclear weapons, this is an existential threat to Israel," Steinitz said.

"Nobody can tell us that backing and assistance are enough to completely resist or to neutralise such a threat."

Steinitz proposed that the emerging deal between Iran and world powers should incorporate a total halt to research and development on a new generation of centrifuges, a cut in the number of existing centrifuges and closure of the Fordo facility for enrichment of uranium.

He also proposed that Tehran detail its past nuclear arms research and allow international inspectors to make spot checks "anywhere, anytime".

If such terms were accepted, Steinitz said, "it will not be a good agreement but it will be a more reasonable agreement".

Under the outline deal, the United States and the European Union are to lift all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran in exchange for a 98 per cent cut in Iran's stocks of highly enriched uranium for 15 years, while its unfinished Arak reactor will not produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The deal will also see Iran reduce by roughly two-thirds — to 6,104 from around 19,000 — the number of uranium centrifuges which can make fuel for nuclear power but also the core of a nuclear bomb.

Steinitz said that since Thursday's announcement officials have studied the proposals carefully.

"A comprehensive analysis of the Lausanne framework reveals the extent of the irresponsible concessions given to Iran and makes clear how dangerous the framework is for Israel, the region and the entire world," he said.

"We are going to do an additional effort to convince the US administration, to convince Congress, to convince Britain and France and Russia not to sign this bad deal, or at least to dramatically change it and fix it."

Steinitz said Israel preferred a diplomatic solution to the issue but it reserved the right to take military action against Iran if necessary.

"It's still on the table, it's going to remain on the table," he said.

"It's our right and duty to decide how to defend ourselves, especially if our national security and even very existence are under threat."

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia, which has long vied with Shiite Iran for influence in the Gulf and the greater Middle East, said Monday it hoped any future deal could bolster peace in the region and end interference in Arab affairs.

A statement after a weekly Cabinet meeting chaired by King Salman said Saudi Arabia "hopes the agreement will reinforce security and stability in the region and the world".

But it insisted security hinged on "the respect of the principle of good neighbourly relations and non-interference in Arab affairs", said the Saudi Press Agency.

Arab states accuse Iran of fuelling a series of proxy battles in the Middle East that have destabilised Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and other states.

Obama has invited leaders of the several Gulf states to Camp David in the near future in a bid to assuage their concerns.

ADEN — Southern Yemeni militias backed by warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition attacked Houthi fighters across several provinces in south Yemen on Monday, driving the Shiite rebel forces from some of their positions, witnesses and militia sources said.

The southern fighters’ gains came on the 12th day of an air campaign by Saudi Arabia and mainly Gulf Arab allies trying to stem advances by the Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and have advanced on the southern city of Aden.

The fighting has killed hundreds of people, cut off water and electricity supplies and led the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF to warn that Yemen is heading towards a humanitarian disaster.

Saudi Arabia, the main Sunni Arab power in the Gulf, launched the air campaign on March 26 to try to contain the Shiite Houthis and restore President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has fled Aden for refuge in Riyadh.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF plan to fly aid planes into Yemen on Tuesday, but the missions have been delayed as they seek clearance from Arab states waging the air strikes and hunt for planes prepared to fly to Yemen.

In Aden, Houthi forces gathered at the edge of the main port area on Monday but pulled out of two residential quarters on its fringes, residents told Reuters. Around 60 people were killed in heavy fighting in the area on Sunday, they said.

Explosions shook Aden’s suburbs as residents reported a foreign warship shelling Houthi positions on the outskirts.

Military momentum is hard to judge in a disjointed conflict playing out across hundreds of kilometres of mountains, deserts and coastal positions, but in the southern provinces surrounding Aden the Houthis’ foes said they had made gains.

Residents in Dhalea, north of Aden, said air strikes hit a local government compound on the northern edge of the town and a military base on its outskirts which were both taken over by Houthis. They said buildings were on fire and reported loud explosions.

Militia fighters said coalition planes also dropped supplies — the first time they had done so outside Aden — including mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, rifles, ammunition, telecommunications equipment and night goggles.

Southern militias reported cutting off two roads in Abyan province, east of Aden, leading to the port city, after clashes with the Houthis.

Residents near Al Anad Airbase, once home to US military personnel fighting a covert drone war with Al Qaeda in Yemen, said dozens of Houthi and allied fighters were withdrawing north after the site was bombed by coalition jets.

Heavy aden fighting

Saudi Arabia has taken the lead in military operations against the Houthis, backed by air forces from its Gulf allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. It says it also has support from Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco and Pakistan.

Pakistan has yet to spell out what support it will provide, and its parliament was meeting on Monday to discuss what the defence minister said was a request from Riyadh for military aircraft, warships and soldiers.

Street fighting and heavy shelling have torn through Aden for several days. The city is the last bastion of support for the Saudi-backed Hadi, though it is unclear whether the southern fighters are battling for him or for local territory.

Food, water and electricity shortages have mounted throughout the country but especially in Aden, where combat has shut ports and cut land routes from the city.

“How are we supposed to live without water and electricity?” pleaded Fatima, a housewife walking through the city streets with her young children.

She clutched a yellow plastic jerry can, like dozens of other residents on the streets and in queues seeking water from public wells or mosque faucets after supplies at home dried up.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which for days blamed the Saudi-led coalition for delays, told Reuters on Monday that Saudi Arabia had granted permission for an aid shipment late on Saturday but problems in chartering planes would likely delay the aid’s arrival until Tuesday.

“We are still working on getting the plane to Sanaa. It’s a bit difficult with the logistics because there are not that many companies or cargo planes willing to fly into a conflict zone,” said Marie Claire Feghali, a Red Cross spokesperson.

The ICRC is aiming to get 48 tonnes of medical supplies into Yemen by plane. It is also trying to get staff by boat from Djibouti to Aden, but fighting has complicated efforts.

“Today fighting was taking place in Aden Port so the security situation isn’t getting any better,” said another ICRC spokeswoman, Sitar Jabeen.

At least eight people were killed in an air strike before dawn in the suburbs of the northern city of Saadah, home of the Houthi movement which spread from its mountain stronghold to take over the capital Sanaa six months ago.

A Houthi spokesman said the dead included women and children.

Local officials said strikes also hit air defence and coastal military units near the Red Sea Port of Hodaida, and targets on the outskirts of Aden. They also hit a bridge on the road south to Aden, apparently trying to block the Houthis from sending reinforcements to their fighters in the city.

The United Nations said on Thursday that more than 500 people had been killed in two weeks of fighting in Yemen, while the Red Cross has appealed for an immediate 24-hour pause in fighting to allow aid into the country.

BEIRUT — Palestinian fighters clashed with Daesh militants in a heavily contested Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital on Monday as a United Nations official described the situation in the embattled camp as "beyond inhumane".

The fighting in Yarmouk began Wednesday after Daesh muscled into the camp, marking the extremists' deepest foray yet into Damascus. The heavy clashes that have raged since then have added yet another layer of misery for the nearly 18,000 Yarmouk residents who have already endured desperate conditions marked by a lack of basic food, medicine and water.

The deteriorating situation prompted the UN Security Council to call an emergency meeting Monday to discuss Yarmouk. The Security Council was scheduled to receive a closed-door videoconference briefing by the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Pierre Krahenbuhl.

After heavy fighting on Sunday, sporadic clashes broke out on Monday in Yarmouk, according to Hatem Al Dimashqi, an activist based in an area just south of Damascus, and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Both Al Dimashqi and the observatory said Syrian government aircraft have been shelling the camp and dropping barrel bombs since Sunday.

The fighting inside the camp has largely pitted the Daesh group against Aknaf Beit Al Maqdis, a Palestinian faction opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman estimated that Daesh now controls as much as 90 per cent of Yarmouk, slowly squeezing out Aknaf Beit Al Maqdis.

Palestinian officials and Syrian activists say the Daesh militants fighting in Yarmouk were working with rivals from Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Al Nusra Front. The two groups have fought bloody battles against each other in other parts of Syria, but appear to be cooperating in the attack on Yarmouk.

Al Nusra said in a statement it is taking a neutral stance in the camp.

Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, told The Associated Press in Barcelona late Sunday that the agency has not been able to send any food or convoys into the camp since the fighting started.

“That means that there is no food, there is no water and there is very little medicine,” he said. “The situation in the camp is beyond inhumane. People are holed up in their houses, there is fighting going on in the streets. There are reports of... bombardments. This has to stop and civilians must be evacuated.”

He said 93 people have been evacuated from the camp so far.

The United Nations says around 18,000 civilians, including a large number of children, are trapped in Yarmouk. The camp has been under government siege for nearly two years, leading to starvation and illnesses. The camp also has witnessed several rounds of ferocious and deadly fighting between government forces and anti-Assad militants.

“Things were bad and things got worse when the fighting engulfed the camp,” Gunness said.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel's intelligence minister on Monday proposed terms for a final nuclear accord with Iran which he said would be an improvement on the outline drawn up last week.

Yuval Steinitz told journalists that US President Barack Obama's pledge to back Israel's security was appreciated, but it did not outweigh the potential threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

"If Iran will produce nuclear weapons, this is an existential threat to Israel," Steinitz said.

"Nobody can tell us that backing and assistance are enough to completely resist or to neutralise such a threat.”

Steinitz proposed that the emerging deal between Iran and world powers should incorporate a total halt to reasearch and development on a new generation of centrifuges, a cut in the number of existing centrifuges and closure of the Fordo facility for enrichment of uranium.

He also proposed that Tehran detail its past nuclear arms research and allow international inspectors to make spot checks "anywhere, anytime".

If such terms were accepted, Steinitz said, "it will not be a good agreement but it will be a more reasonable agreement”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government fiercely oppose the draft agreement announced on Thursday after marathon talks in Switzerland.

"Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period," Netanyahu said in response.

Steinitz said that since Thursday's announcement officials have studied the proposals carefully.

"A comprehensive analysis of the Lausanne framework reveals the extent of the irresponsible concessions given to Iran and makes clear how dangerous the framework is for Israel, the region and the entire world," he said.

"We are going to do an additional effort to convince the US administration, to convince Congress, to convince Britain and France and Russia not to sign this bad deal, or at least to dramatically change it and fix it."

Steinitz said Israel preferred a diplomatic solution to the issue but it reserved the right to take military action against Iran if necessary.

"It's still on the table, it's going to remain on the table," he said.

"It's our right and duty to decide how to defend ourselves, especially if our national security and even very existence are under threat."

Erbil, Iraq — Iraq's prime minister said Monday that "only" 152 homes and shops were burned in Tikrit, where pro-government forces have been accused of carrying out abuses after retaking the city.

Haider Al Abadi did not specify who burned the structures or when the fires took place, but pro-government militiamen have admitted to torching houses in other recaptured areas and allegedly did so in Tikrit as well.

Security forces and allied paramilitaries retook the city last week from Daesh terror group, which overran large parts of the country last year, but misconduct has marred Baghdad's biggest victory yet over the jihadists.

"Only 67 houses and... around 85 stores were burned and it is a very small number for a city with a population of 100,000 people," Abadi told a news conference in the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Erbil.

He said those figures were confirmed by top officials including the governor and police chief of Salaheddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital.

Columns of black smoke rose from burning homes and shops even as Abadi visited Tikrit last Wednesday to celebrate its recapture from Daesh.

During the visit, pro-government militiamen looted and put graffiti on shops in central Tikrit while journalists looked on.

The premier's office said Friday he had ordered security forces to "deal with cases of vandalism" in Tikrit, blaming it on "gangs" seeking to tarnish the achievements of government forces and their paramilitary allies.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric who is revered by millions, urged the forces to "preserve and guard citizens' properties in areas that have been liberated".

Doing so is a "religious and national and moral duty”, Sistani said in remarks read at Friday prayers in Karbala.

Additionally, "it has an important role in encouraging those who have not yet decided to participate in liberating their areas to decide to participate," he said.

"This is an important gain for all."