Red Bluff Daily News

February 25, 2017

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ByQassimAbdul- Zahra, Sarah El Deeb and Andrea Rosa The Associated Press MOSUL AIRPORT, IRAQ As Iraqi ground troops pushed into western Mo- sul on Friday, the country's air force struck Islamic State group targets inside Syria for the first time in response to recent bomb- ings in Baghdad claimed by the militants. Meanwhile, at least 60 people were killed in IS at- tacks near a key northern Syrian town captured only a day earlier from the ex- tremists by Turkish forces and their Syrian opposi- tion allies. Iraqi Prime Minis- ter Haider al-Abadi an- nounced the Iraqi air- strikes in Syria in a state- ment, saying the border towns of Boukamal and Husseibah were tar- geted in response to re- cent bombings in Bagh- dad linked to Islamic State group operations there. Iraqi forces closely sup- ported by the U.S.-led in- ternational coalition pushed into the first neigh- borhood of western Mosul and took full control of the city's international airport and a sprawling military base on the southwestern edge of the city, according to Iraqi officials. The territorial gains were the most significant yet in the battle, now in its sixth day, to rout IS mil- itants from the western half of Iraq's second-larg- est city. As Iraqi warplanes struck IS targets across the border, militants in north- ern Syria staged a suicide car bomb attack outside a security office operated by the Syrian opposition in a village five miles (eight ki- lometers) north of al-Bab, killing at least 60 people. The town had been con- trolled by IS since late 2013, but the militants fi- nally retreated Thurs- day after more than two months of intense fighting. Most of those killed in the village of Sousian were civilians awaiting permits and an escort to return to al-Bab, a Syrian military commander in the city told The Associated Press. At least six fighters were among those killed in the attack, according to Tur- key's prime minister, who spoke in Ankara. Hours after the first ex- plosion in Sousian, an- other car bomb attack was reported in the vil- lage, killing at least eight people, according to activ- ist groups. There were no further details on the at- tack, and the Aleppo Me- dia Center later took down the report. An additional explosion was reported south of al- Bab, where two Turkish soldiers were killed when an explosive device went off as they were remov- ing land mines, Turkey's military said. The Brit- ain-based Syrian Obser- vatory for Human Rights corroborated the report, saying the explosives det- onated near Tadif, an IS- controlled town south of al-Bab. Turkish Prime Min- ister Binali Yildirim, how- ever, called the explosion a "suicide attack." It was not immediately possible to reconcile the accounts. In Mosul, meanwhile, Iraqi forces pushed into the Mamun neighborhood and engaged in intense clashes with IS militants, according to an Iraqi spe- cial forces officer on the ground, who spoke on con- dition of anonymity in line with regulations. Federal police Maj. Gen. Haider al-Maturi said his forces pushed through concrete roadblocks and earthen berms set up by the Islamic State group, and succeeded in captur- ing around 30 percent of the Aviation District, the first district entering Mo- sul's western perimeter from the south. "There were fierce clashes. We faced car bombs, suicide attackers and mortar shelling," al- Maturi said. "The battle ahead will be difficult and complicated because of the civilians around. It'll be street fights." Al-Maturi said six Iraqi troops were wounded, in- cluding two officers. How- ever, an AP team near the front line saw at least four wounded special forces' members and the bodies of three soldiers, suggest- ing more intense fighting than the previous day. OFFENSIVE Iraqi forces advance in Mosul, strike IS inside Syria POWERFUL TOXIN THEASSOCIATEDPRESS People move through the airport hall at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Friday. By Eileen Ng The Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA Sometime in the hours after poisoning the half brother of North Korea's leader, one of his two attackers began to vomit, Malaysian police said Friday. It was apparently an early indication of the im- mensely powerful toxin that was used in the killing: the chemical warfare agent VX. The oily poison was al- most certainly produced in a sophisticated state weap- ons laboratory, experts say, andisbannedunderinterna- tional treaties. North Korea, a prime suspect in the case, never signed that treaty, and hasspentdecadesdeveloping acomplexchemicalweapons program that has long wor- ried the international com- munity. "Thisisnotsomethingyou make in a kitchen lab. You'd kill yourself if you did," said Bruce Bennet, a defense ex- pert with the RAND Corpo- rationwhohasstudiedNorth Korea. The public poisoning of Kim Jong Nam, which took place amid crowds of trav- elers in the budget terminal at Kuala Lumpur's airport, has boosted speculation that North Korea dispatched kill- ers to assassinate its leader's older brother, who, though not an obvious political threat,mayhavebeenseenas a potential rival in the coun- try's dynastic dictatorship. While Malaysia hasn't di- rectly accused the North Ko- reangovernmentofbeingbe- hind the attack, officials said earlier this week that four North Korean men provided the women with poison. The four fled Malaysia shortly af- ter the killing, police say. South Korean intelligence officials have accused North Koreaofbeingbehindtheat- tack, saying Kim Jong Nam had been on a government hit list for years. North Ko- rea denies any role in the murder and says Malaysia's investigation is biased and full of holes. But since taking powerinlate2011,NorthKo- rean ruler Kim Jong Un has executedorpurgedanumber ofhigh-levelgovernmentoffi- cials, including his uncle. VXisanextremelypower- ful poison, with an amount nolargerthanafewgrainsof salt enough to kill. An odor- less chemical, it can be in- haled,swallowedorabsorbed through the skin. Then, in anywhere from a few sec- onds to a few hours, it can cause a range of symptoms, fromblurredvisiontoahead- ache.Enoughexposureleads to convulsions, paralysis, re- spiratory failure and death. It has the consistency of motor oil and can take days or even weeks to evaporate. It could have contaminated anywhere Kim was after- ward, including medical fa- cilities and the ambulance he was transported in, ex- perts say. "It's a very toxic nerve agent. Very, very toxic," said Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a lead- ing toxicologist who heads the forensic medicine divi- sion at the University of Flor- ida. He said an antidote can be administered by injec- tion. U.S. medics and mili- tary personnel carried kits with the antidote on the bat- tlefield during the Iraq war in case they were exposed to the chemical weapon. "I'm intrigued that these two alleged assassins suf- fered no ill effect from ex- posure to VX," he said. "It is possible that both of these women were given the anti- dote." With authorities acknowl- edging they had not decon- taminated the airport after the killing, the case also has raisedquestionsaboutpublic safety — although there has been no sign that anyone ex- cept the alleged attacker has fallen ill. News that a deadly nerve agent killed Kim Jong Nam was an astonishing break in a case of murder and geopo- litical intrigue. Kim, who was in his mid- 40s and had lived abroad for years,wasestrangedfromhis younger brother, Kim Jong Un. The elder Kim was re- portedly pushed aside by his stepmother, than completely fell out of favor when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport in 2001, saying he wanted to visit To- kyo Disneyland. While he is believed to have kept out of politics,hehasgivenbriefin- terviews criticizing dynastic succession in North Korea. Inthe airportattack ,ase- ries of grainy images taken by security cameras show two women — identified by policeasanIndonesiananda Vietnamese—rubsomething on Kim's face before swiftly walking away in opposite di- rections. Malaysian national police chief Khalid Abu Ba- kar said the women had been trained to go straight to washrooms and clean their hands afterward. 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