Gunfire exchange between Cambodian, Thai troops continues in fifth day

The gunfire exchange between Cambodian and Thai troops over the disputed border area at the 13th century Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple in Oddar Meanchey province still continues as of 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday, said Pich Sokhin, the governor of Oddar Meanchey province.The Tuesday's fight began at 1:40 p.m. at the 11th century Preah Vihear temple and spread to burst out at the Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple at 2:10 p.m."It's the longest fighting...

head of the infantry says the SAS is facing a recruitment crisis

The head of the infantry says the SAS is facing a recruitment crisis, caused at least in part by the demands of the operations in Afghanistan.In a letter leaked to the Daily Telegraph, Brigadier Richard Dennis said many eligible soldiers were put off applying because they did not have the time to train for demanding selection tests.He said the "unrelentingly demanding" operations of the regular army, mean as few as a third of slots for the special...

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was unhurt in a NATO airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziyah compound

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was unhurt in a NATO airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziyah compound early on Monday that left three people dead, a government spokesman said, calling it an assassination attempt.Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said it appeared to have been an attempt on Gaddafi's life, but those who died were office workers and security guards while 45 people were wounded. He said the building housed political offices."How is this act of terrorism...

Syria Rolls Tanks Into Cities as Security Crackdown Kills At Least 18

Witnesses say several thousand Syrian army troops, flanked by special forces, shot their way into the southern city of Daraa before dawn Monday, causing numerous casualties. Tanks reportedly began the assault, shelling the city as they moved in from four sides.Videos distributed by human rights activists show black smoke over the city center and fires burning as shell-fire crackled in the background. Reports say Syrian special forces stormed private...

470 prisoners, including Taliban commanders and fighters, fled overnight through a tunnel from Sarposa jail outside Kandahar.

second time in just three years, inmates have managed to escape one of Afghanistan's biggest prisons. At least 470 prisoners, including Taliban commanders and fighters, fled overnight through a tunnel from Sarposa jail outside Kandahar.Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told BBC Pashto that the tunnel was more than 360m (1,180ft) long and took five months to complete.He said the tunnel led from a house north-east of the prison, which "our friends"...

”Restrepo” director Tim Hetherington killed in Libya

Fighting in Libya's besieged rebel city of Misrata killed at least 10 civilians including an Oscar-nominated British filmmaker, and NATO urged non-combatants to avoid troops so it could step up air strikes.Among the dead were British photojournalist Tim Hetherington, co-director of Oscar-nominated war documentary "Restrepo," and American photographer Chris Hondros, killed when a group they were in came under mortar fire.Seven Libyan civilians and...

Cornish photographer has been seriously injured working in Libya.

Guy Martin, 28, from Falmouth, was covering fighting in the besieged city of Misrata when he was hit by shrapnel from a mortar.It is thought Mr Martin suffered leg and stomach injuries. He is in a serious but stable condition in hospital.Another British photographer, Tim Hetherington, and US photographer Chris Hondros, were killed.Mr Martin was working with Panos Pictures agency when he was hurt.He underwent hours of surgery at a local hospital,...

Spain: U.N. won't bless expanded armed intervention in Libya

A second U.N. Security Council authorizing expanded armed intervention in Libya is "impossible," Spain's defense minister said here Tuesday, adding that the goal of the current military operation should be to "create spaces for politics."The Spanish government wants to see strongman Moammar Gadhafi depart Libya "as soon as possible," but regime change is not the aim of the U.N.-approved military operation, Carme Chacon told the defense committee...

Minister claims France and UK 'violating' UN mandate as Nato airstrikes hit pro-Gaddafi communication centres

The Anglo-French decision to send a team of military advisers to Libyan opposition forces in Benghazi is a "clear violation" of the UN security council remit, Muammar Gaddafi's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kayim, has told the Guardian. "No one can legitimise such actions. They will get nothing in return apart from more casualties."He accused Nato and the international coalition of overstepping the limits of the UN security council resolution authorising...

SAS raids were possible for specific missions.

British Army officers are being sent to Libya to advise rebels fighting Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces.The UK group will be deployed to the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, Libya's second city, in a mentoring role to help leaders co-ordinating attacks on the dictator's army.The announcement came after a Royal Navy submarine launched cruise missiles on Libyan targets, with RAF warplanes attacking communication masts.The handful of experienced...

The SAS are very use to working in small groups and they are the type of force that would be ideally suited to this sort of role. But we have to beware of mission creep.

"The SAS are very use to working in small groups and they are the type of force that would be ideally suited to this sort of role. But we have to beware of mission creep."Another defence source, speaking anonymously, said: "History has shown us that air power alone will not win campaigns."In the first Gulf War, Bosnia and Kosovo, air power played a vital role but a ground force was needed to achieve the mission. So the question for the UN is what...

Britain said Tuesday it is sending military advisers to help organise Libyan rebels, even as western powers denied they could soon break their taboo against putting foreign boots on the ground.

Britain said Tuesday it is sending military advisers to help organise Libyan rebels, even as western powers denied they could soon break their taboo against putting foreign boots on the ground.The announcement came as France strongly warned against sending any coalition troops into Libya, where a two-month revolt against Moamer Kadhafi's regime has stalled and civilian casualties are mounting.Foreign Secretary William Hague insisted the addition...

David Cameron has raised the prospect of UK troops operating inside Libya

The Prime Minister insisted that there would be no "occupation" of Libya, but repeatedly refused to rule out short-lived ground-level operations by British forces. Mr Cameron's words, in a television interview, led to renewed warnings of "mission creep" in Libya.After more than four weeks of air strikes by Nato, Col Gaddafi's regime survives and the rebels trying to oust him have made little significant progress towards Tripoli. The Libyan government...

Bahraini opposition leader has strongly criticized Bahrain's intensified pressure on peaceful protesters, describing the brutal crackdowns as “genocide.”

“This is a crime against humanity, it is a genocide it is a sectarian apartheid,” said Saeed al-Shahabi of the London-based Bahrain Freedom Movement, in a Press TV interview on Saturday. He went on to describe the brutal crackdowns in Bahrain as instances of “sectarian cleansing.” Since the protests erupted in Bahrain three months ago, many Bahraini doctors have been arrested, tortured or sacked from their jobs, the human rights activist said. This...

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi fired rockets at rebel positions near the eastern city of Ajdabiya Sunday.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi fired rockets at rebel positions near the eastern city of Ajdabiya Sunday. It is not immediately clear if there were any casualties from the shellings, which come a day after fighting west of the city left at least seven dead and 27 wounded.  Fighting was reported Saturday in at least two other Libyan cities.  Rebels clashed with pro-Gadhafi forces in the oil town of Brega. Witnesses also reported...

Pro-government forces in Libya have been accused by a human rights campaign group of using cluster bombs

Pro-government forces in Libya have been accused by a human rights campaign group of using cluster bombs, which are banned by more than 100 countries.Human Rights Watch said one of its photographers had seen three mortar-launched projectiles explode over a residential area of Misrata.A Libyan government spokesman denied the allegation.Government troops have intensified their siege of Misrata, the only west Libyan city still in rebel hands.The BBC's...

French helicopters were fired upon during an evacuation mission

A military spokesman in Ivory Coast says that French helicopters were fired upon during an evacuation mission by forces supporting the country's strongman, who refuses to emerge from a bunker at his residence.Cmdr. Frederic Daguillon, military spokesman for the French base in Ivory Coast, said Saturday that no soldiers were injured in the attack, but that French helicopters fired back at forces supporting Laurent Gbagbo and destroyed at least one...

rating guarding Britain’s flagship nuclear submarine who shot dead a Royal Navy officer and left another critically injured was wrestled to the ground by civic dignitaries.

Able seaman Ryan Donovan, who was wearing body armour and camouflage gear, fired several rounds before he was overpowered by Royston Smith, the leader of Southampton city council.Cllr Smith, 46, said he reacted after he felt a bullet whistle past his head.Sources said the rating, a London-born warfare specialist trained in tracking vessels, had just collected the rifle from the submarine’s weapons store as he came on guard duty, and was due to take...

US extends airstrikes as Libyan rebels retreat

The United States has agreed to extend air strikes in Libya into Monday as the oil town of Brega saw heavy fighting, with rebel forces advancing only to fall back after an ambush by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.The US air strikes, part of a coalition effort to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, would continue through Monday at NATO's request, because of "recent poor weather in Libya", the Pentagon says.The US military had planned to begin...

Defected Libyan military commanders and their units are taking the lead in the fight against forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi,

in a rebel bid to stanch setbacks on the front lines and facilitate greater cooperation with coalition forces.But as the army has stepped up its role, a leadership squabble has emerged among two rebel commanders. That could pose an early test to the strength of the civilian rebel leadership's control over the military, since some military commanders appear to disagree with the leadership decisions made by the civilian leaders.The two rival commanders...

Mohammed Ismail, an aide to Saif al Islam Gaddafi, visited London in recent days on what was described as a private visit.

Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman confirmed that the UK authorities had been in contact with Libyan officials but insisted "there are no deals"."The next steps need to be an end to violence and Gaddafi needs to go", said the spokesman.A Foreign Office spokeswoman earlier neither confirmed nor denied the report, saying: "We are not going to provide a running commentary on our contact with Libyan officials."Noman Benotman, a Libya expert and...

10 Libyan rebels are reported to have been killed when a coalition plane enforcing the no-fly zone fired on their convoy between Brega and Ajdabiya late on Friday night.

10 Libyan rebels are reported to have been killed when a coalition plane enforcing the no-fly zone fired on their convoy between Brega and Ajdabiya late on Friday night.A BBC correspondent at the scene said the attack came after rebels in five vehicles fired an anti-aircraft gun into the air.Meanwhile, Libya's government has rejected a rebel ceasefire offer.Spokesman Moussa Ibrahim dismissed the idea as "mad".Troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi would...

Gaddafi aide Moussa Koussa faces more questions

Moussa Koussa's career1979-80: De facto ambassador in London1994: Appointed head of foreign intelligence2009: Appointed foreign minister; reportedly resigns 30 March 2011Profile: Gaddafi's intelligence chiefLockerbie father hails defectionQuestioned about whether the UK was backing the opposition, Dr Fox said the UN resolution "gives us the freedom to assist those who are helping protect the civilian population.Scottish prosecutors want to question...

The wife of the Libyan foreign minister who defected to Britain earlier this week has been seized by Colonel Gaddafi and is being interrogated by his "internal security" officials,

She is thought to have been captured amid eyewitness reports of a fierce gunfight at Col Gaddafi's central Tripoli compound as the regime stepped in to stop further defections.Yesterday, local residents recalled how the most fierce firefight yet seen in central Tripoli had erupted within hours of the regime confirming that the Foreign Minister had defected."The blocks in that area are the homes to high ranking official of the state who must live...

senior aide to Saif al-Islam, Col Gaddafi’s son, had been sent to London for secret talks according to reports, in an indication that the regime was looking for an exit strategy.

There was even specualtion that Saif himself may have already left Libya in Mr Koussa’s convoy but such a suggestion was dismissed.The Foreign Office did not comment on the report which asserted that British officials met with Mohammed Ismail.The meeting was one of a number conducted between the two nations in the last two weeks, according to the Guardian and is believed to have addressed the possibility of an exit strategy for Gaddafi.Despite a...