Red Bluff Daily News

March 20, 2014

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By Ian Mader The Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, MALAysIA » The FBI joined forces with Malaysian authorities in analyzing deleted data on a flight simulator belonging to the pilot of the missing Ma - laysia Airlines plane, while distraught relatives of the passengers unleashed their anger Wednesday — wailing in frustration at 12 days of uncertainty. The anguish of relatives of the 239 people on Flight 370 boiled over at a briefing near Kuala Lumpur's air - port. Two Chinese women who shouted at Malaysian authorities and unfurled a banner accusing officials of "hiding the truth" were re - moved from the room. In a heart-wrenching scene, one woman screamed in sorrow as she was dragged away. "I want you to help me to find my son! I want to see my son!" one of the two uniden - tified women said. "We have been here for 10 days." Files containing records of flight simulations were deleted Feb. 3 from the de - vice found in the home of the Malaysia Airlines pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, Malaysian police chief Kha - lid Abu said. It was not immediately clear whether investigators thought that deleting the files was unusual. The files might hold signs of unusual flight paths that could help explain where the missing plane went. Defense Minister His - hammuddin Hussein told a news conference that Zaha- rie is considered innocent until proven guilty. He said members of the pilot's fam- ily are cooperating in the in- vestigation. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonym- ity because the official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation by name, said the FBI has been given electronic data to analyze. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in Wash - ington that the FBI was working with Malaysian au- thorities. "At this point, I don't think we have any theories," Holder said. Flight 370 disappeared March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bei - jing. Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any pos- sible explanations, but have said the evidence so far sug- gests the flight was deliber- ately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its commu- nications systems disabled. They are unsure what hap- pened next and why. Investigators have identi- fied two giant arcs of terri- tory spanning the possible positions of the plane about 7½ hours after takeoff, based on its last faint signal to a satellite — an hourly "handshake" signal that continues even when com - munications are switched off. The arcs stretch up as far as Kazakhstan in central Asia and down deep into the southern Indian Ocean. Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sab - otage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board, and have asked for background checks from abroad on all foreign pas - sengers. Hishammuddin said such checks have been received for all the foreigners except those from Ukraine and Russia — which account for three passengers. fLIght 370 Ma la ys ia , FB I an al yz e missing pilot's simulator lai seng sin — the associated press an office building is illuminated with led lights displaying "pray for Mh370" next to Malaysia's landmark petronas twin towers in Kuala lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday. By sarah El Deeb The Associated Press CAIRO » A raid by Egyptian police, military and special forces on a suspected bomb factory outside of Cairo turned into an hourslong gun battle with insurgents who detonated car bombs in clashes that killed two mil - itary officers and five mili- tants, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. The ministry, which is in charge of police, said an in - vestigation showed that the al-Qaida-inspired militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem, used the timber workshop in Arab Sharkas village in Qa - lioubiya province to build and store bombs. During the raid early We d ne s d ay, m i l it a nt s opened fire on security forces and set off the car bombs, sparking a gun bat - tle that lasted several hours, the ministry said. The fighting killed a brig- adier general and a colonel, both explosive experts, mili- tary spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said in a post on his Facebook page. Authorities arrested four suspected militants, the ministry said. Private television station CBC aired footage from the area showing security of - ficials defusing an explo- sive belt. The workshop could be seen from afar, and brick and metal debris were strewn on the ground. In the eight months since the military removed Is - lamist President Moham- med Morsi, violence tar- geting police officers and soldiers has increased, mov- ing from the restive north- ern Sinai Peninsula closer to the capital. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, based in Sinai, has claimed responsibility for most of the major attacks in and near Cairo. The most recent at - tack came Saturday when gunmen stormed a military police checkpoint, killing six soldiers, in an area not far from the workshop raided Wednesday. Egypt's military-backed interim government has ac - cused the Muslim Brother- hood — which rose to power following the 2011 ouster of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak — of orchestrating much of the violence and has declared it a terrorist orga - nization. The Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, de- nies the charges, insisting it is pursuing peaceful means to reinstate him. The group has contin - ued to hold rallies against the government since Mor- si's ouster, despite a secu- rity crackdown that has de- tained the group's leader- ship and thousands of its supporters. That has caused the protests to wane, though Islamist supporters con - tinue their demonstrations, holding rallies in universi- ties and often clashing with security forces. A Brotherhood-led coali- tion had called for a new wave of protests for the rest of the month. Security forces re- sponded with heavy deploy- ments in Cairo and other ma- jor cities, especially around security installations. On Wednesday, several hundreds of students at Al-Azhar University, an Is - lamist uniwversity in Cairo, and its branch in the south- ern Assiut province rallied. In both places, police fired tear gas to prevent the stu- dents from taking to the streets. MIDDLE EAst Bomb factory raid in Egypt kills 2 troops thursday, March 20, 2014 redBluFFdailyneWs.coM | NEWS | 5 B

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