ARAb StAtES diSMAyEd At WESt'S cOMPlAcENcy - Kuwait Times

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013
Syria oppn blames regime
for village deaths
8
S Africa officials fired
over wedding scandal
9
Pakistani ‘critical’ in
India after jail attack 11
US military
plane crashes
in Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: A military transport
plane crashed in mountains with
three crew members aboard shortly
after taking off from a United States airbase
in Kyrgyzstan yesterday, officials
said, with so far no survivors found. The
C-130 American refuelling plane fell in
the northern Chuy province at around
2:55 pm local time (0855 GMT), the
emergency ministry said.
“The plane definitely belongs to the
US transit centre. On board were three
crew members. Their fate is unknown,”
the emergency situations minister
Kubatbek Boronov said in a televised
comment after rushing to the scene. “I
cannot exclude that the three
American pilots could have died, being
burnt up alive in the explosion,” he
said, adding that the search operation
would continue at least until nightfall.
The Manas airbase is key to US military
operations in Afghanistan, used to ferry
troops into the country, refuel warplanes
and evacuate wounded soldiers.
The US base said it was still confirming
the report. “So far we cannot confirm
this information. If this in fact happened,
we will be able to later give
accurate information,” a spokeswoman
for the base told AFP, speaking in
Russian. —AFP
BISHKEK: The remains of a crashed US KC-135 Stratotanker plane are seen on a hill near the villages of Chorgolo and Cholok-Aryk, 180 km from the Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek yesterday.
— AFP
Close Iran, N Korea nuke networks: US
‘Iran supplying bullets that kill Syrian civilians’
GENEVA: The United States said yesterday
that Iran and North Korea were trying to
obtain high-tech materials linked to their
nuclear programs in violation of UN sanctions.
Iran was also sending weapons and ammunition
to Syrian government forces despite a
ban, said Thomas Countryman, Assistant
Secretary for International Security and
Nonproliferation.
“Both Iran and North Korea have developed
channels that enable them to continue
to export and continue to procure the items
they need for their weapons industry,” he told
a news briefing in Geneva. In comments to
Reuters, he made clear he was referring to
high-tech materials related to nuclear and
other programs, including conventional
weapons.
Iran and North Korea are under UN sanctions
banning sales of nuclear, missile and
related high-tech material to them as well as
the export of any military material,
Countryman said.
There was a determined international
effort to enforce the UN sanctions and prevent
such trade, he said. Regarding Iran’s
alleged efforts, he said: “Certain Iranian
procuring agents in high-tech places like
China push very hard.”
Asked about any cooperation between
Iran and North Korea in nuclear matters, a US
official, speaking on condition of not being
identified, said: “They have contacts. We are
watching it.
Western experts say the two countries
have cooperated on ballistic missile development
and there is concern that cooperation
may extend to the nuclear field, though no
such link has been proven.
North Korea, which conducted a third
nuclear test in February, continues development
of nuclear technology and long-range
ballistic missiles that will move it closer to its
stated goal of being able to hit the United
States with an atomic weapon, a Pentagon
report said on Thursday.
Countryman led the US delegation to a
two-week session that reviewed progress in
implementing the 1970 nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that aims to prevent
the spread of atomic weapons. The Geneva
talks end yesterday. “Obviously, more needs
to be done in order for the regime in Iran to
hear the message that it must seriously
address its non-compliance with the Non-
Proliferation Treaty,” he said. Critics say Iran is
trying to achieve the ability to make nuclear
bombs. Tehran denies this, saying it needs
nuclear power for energy generation and
medical purposes. Negotiators from the
European Union and Iran will meet in Istanbul
this month to discuss future diplomatic efforts
to resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear
program. — Reuters