U.S.-led coalition chief: ISIS will not control Kobane

The man appointed to coordinate the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) says Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will thwart the militant group’s attempts to seize control of the Syrian city of Kobane.

“We don’t think Kobane is about to fall in the hands of ISIS, the entrance of Peshmerga fighters will prevent that,” John Allen, the retired U.S. general tasked by President Barack Obama with overseeing the anti-ISIS campaign, told Al Arabiya News Channel in an exclusive interview.

More than 150 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters crossed the border to Turkey on Tuesday, heading for Syria to support their Syrian Kurdish brethren in their fight against ISIS in Kobane.

The fighters will be battling ISIS on the ground, as the international coalition carries out air strikes targeting the militants.

There are concerns that ISIS, the extremist group that seized swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, is nearing the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said American, British and Iranian advisors were helping his country’s security forces against the militant group.

Despite the rivalry between the United States and Iran, Gen. Allen did not reject Iran playing role in Iraq to counter the ISIS threat in that country.

“Iran has a role to play in Iraq and we welcome any positive steps taken by it,” he said.

However, he said that the coalition has not decided yet on whether to arm Iraqi tribes, which have joined the fight against ISIS.

“There is no decision regarding arming Iraqi tribes so far.”

Commenting on the Syrian conflict, Allen stressed that “the future of Syria will not be with Assad.”

Turkey seeks to rescue 18 miners trapped by flood

Turkish emergency workers were Wednesday trying to reach 18 miners who were trapped when their shaft was engulfed by water, amid growing fears that they may have drowned.


The accident in the southern province of Karaman was the latest to hit the disaster-prone Turkish mining industry after 301 workers were killed in May in an explosion at a mine in Soma in the west of the country.

The catastrophe has cast a huge shadow over Wednesday's celebrations for the annual Republic Day which marks the foundation of modern Turkey in 1923 out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would be travelling to the scene and would cancel a planned lavish reception for the holiday scheduled to be held at his new presidential palace in Ankara. 

But he insisted that there was still a chance of finding the miners alive.

“Our expectations and our hopes have not been lost. Our friends and ministers are continuing to work and make efforts there,” he said in Ankara in comments broadcast by state television. 

The 18 miners were believed to be trapped in a flooded shaft over 300 metres (1,000 feet) underground. At least 34 miners were underground at the time of the accident Tuesday but 16 escaped unscathed early on.

Rescue workers have been seeking to reduce the water levels by pumping out the water with a gigantic pipe. But the levels had continued to rise until finally starting to fall in the night.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz confirmed late Tuesday that there had been no contact with any of the trapped miners.

“Time is against us,” he acknowledged.

The accident took place when a build-up of water caused the walls of the shaft to collapse but officials have been unable to explain what caused the accumulation of water.

The government has sought to show it is on top of the situation after the Soma disaster sparked a wave of fury against Erdogan, who was accused of indifference to the plight of the victims.

He notoriously appeared then to play down the tragedy by saying such catastrophes were part of the job and comparing it to mining disasters in early industrial 19th-century Britain.

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Taliban storm Afghan court, kill seven: officials

Taliban militants stormed a court in northern Afghanistan on Monday and killed at least seven people including prosecutors, officials said.
Four attackers wearing army uniforms attacked a provincial appeals court in the city of Kunduz, triggering a four-hour gun battle with Afghan security forces, provincial police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told AFP.

“They first blew up an explosives-laden car at the gate of the court and then entered the building,” he said.

“The attackers killed six court officials and one police. Eight people were wounded,” he said, adding that the militants were also killed.

Chief prosecutor Amruddin Amin said the gunmen went door-to-door in the court compound, shooting their victims at close range. 

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on their website and said several court officials and prosecutors were killed. 

They did not elaborate on the motive for the attack but the court was hearing several cases against Taliban militants.

Family tortures, kills Indian woman for ‘witchcraft’

A woman has been tortured and beaten to death by her in-laws in central India on suspicion of being a witch and practicing black magic, police said Monday.

Police in the central state of Chhattisgarh said relatives attacked the 55-year-old widow on Sunday after claiming her witchcraft had caused her nephew’s ill health.

“Chilli powder was put in her eyes, ears and private parts and they thrashed her severely, because of which she died,” Narendra Khare, Bemetara district police chief, told AFP.

The district is 125 kilometers west of the state capital Raipur.

Khare said the victim’s brother-in-law, his wife and other relatives of her late husband confronted her over the sick boy, demanding that she reverse whatever “black magic” had caused the illness.

When she protested her innocence, the relatives attacked her with sticks and punched and kicked her in front of her 28-year-old son. He later took her to hospital where she was declared dead.