Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/297066
By Yuras Karmanau Associated Press SLOVYANSK, UKrAiNe » Pro- Russian insurgents com- mandeered six Ukrainian armored vehicles along with their crews and hoisted Rus- sian flags over them Wednes- day, dampening the central government's hopes of re-es- tablishing control over res- tive eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian soldiers manning the vehicles of- fered no armed resistance, and masked pro-Russian mi- litias in combat fatigues sat on top as they drove into the eastern city of Slovyansk, a hotbed of unrest against Ukraine's interim govern - ment. In Brussels, NATO an- nounced it was immedi- ately strengthening its mili- tary footprint along its east- ern border — which often lies next to Russia — in re- sponse to Russia's aggres- sion in Ukraine. The lead- ers of Russia and Germany, meanwhile, talked about the turmoil in Ukraine but came to very different conclusions, their offices said. Insurgents in Slovyansk have seized the police head - quarters and the adminis- tration building, demand- ing broader autonomy for eastern Ukraine and closer ties with Russia. Their ac- tions have been repeated in at least eight other cities in eastern Ukraine — and the central government says Moscow is fomenting the unrest. One of the Ukrainian sol - diers said they had defected to the pro-Russian side — which raises the specter of an uprising led by disgrun - tled Ukrainian forces. But an AP journalist overheard an- other soldier suggesting they were forced at gunpoint to hand over the vehicles. "How was I supposed to behave if I had guns pointed at me?" the soldier, who did not identify himself, asked a resident. Breaking hours of silence, the Ukrainian Defense Min - istry issued a statement say- ing Ukrainian troops had en- tered Kramatorsk, south of Slovyansk, on Wednesday morning, where locals and "members of Russian sabo - tage groups" seized six ar- mored personnel vehicles and drove them to Slovy- ansk. The military said "the whereabouts of the Ukrai- nian servicemen" were not yet known. The Interfax news agency quoted Miro- slav Rudenko, one of the in- surgent leaders in Slovy- ansk, as saying the soldiers will be offered the chance to join a local militia or leave the region. Eastern Ukraine was the support base for ousted President Viktor Yanu - kovych, who fled to Russia after months of protests over his decision to reject closer relations with the European Union and turn instead to - ward Russia. Ref lecting the West's concern over the turmoil in Ukraine, German Chan - cellor Angela Merkel called Russian President Vladi- mir Putin to discuss the sit- uation and preparations for diplomatic talks Thursday in Geneva on Ukraine. The Kremlin said Putin told Merkel that "the sharp escalation of the conf lict places the country in effect on the verge of a civil war." Merkel's office said she and Putin had "different as - sessments" of the events in Ukraine. NATO Secretary Gen- eral Anders Fogh Rasmus- sen, meanwhile, said NATO will respond to what he called Russian aggression in Ukraine. NATO aircraft will fly more sorties over the Baltic region and allied ships will deploy to the Baltic Sea, the eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere if needed. "We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water and more readiness on the land," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels. NATO says Russia has up to 40,000 troops sta - tioned near its border with Ukraine. Western nations and the new government in Kiev fear that Moscow will use unrest in eastern Ukraine as a pretext for a military invasion. Ukraine is not a NATO member but several NATO members — Lithuania, Lat - via, Estonia and Poland — all border Russia. NATO mem- bers Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey also border the Black Sea along with Russia and Ukraine. In Slovyansk, a Ukrainian city 100 miles (160 kilome - ters) from the border with Russia, the armored vehicles stopped near a government building and flew Russian flags while residents chanted "Good job! Good job!" UKrAiNe Pro-Russian insurgents seize armored vehicles AssociAted Press soldiers of the Ukrainian Army sit atop combat vehicles as they are blocked by people on their way to the town of Kramatorsk on Wednesday. By Aida Cerkez Associated Press SeJKOVACA , BOSNiA-Her- zegOViNA » Denisa Hegic pulled her scarf around her nose to guard against the stench and drew back the plastic shroud. Shaking, she reached down to touch her mother's skull and ca - ressed it. The last time she touched her mother she was bleed- ing on the floor of the family home, slain by Bosnian Serb soldiers storming their tiny village in northwestern Bos - nia. On Wednesday, mother and daughter were reunited in a cavernous building used to house the remains of vic - tims newly excavated from the mass grave in Tomasica, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Sarajevo. "I found her body," said Hegic, who is now 30. Hegic's experience is be - ing repeated by many sur- vivors of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war this week, as experts begin allowing families to view the remains meticu - lously pulled from the earth and identified through DNA analysis. Hundreds of fam- ilies are expected to make the sad pilgrimage to see the dead. So far, 430 victims have been found in the Toma - sica grave, a vast pit 10 me- ters (about 30 feet) deep and covering 5,000 square me- ters (54,000 square feet). The mass grave contains victims of Bosnian Serb mili- tary units who killed Muslim Bosniaks and Roman Cath- olic Croats in hopes of cre- ating an ethnically pure re- gion. Many believe more peo- ple were originally buried there. Diaries confiscated from former Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic suggest that some of the bodies in the Tomasica pit were dug up and moved, which now complicates efforts to iden - tify the dead. But some progress has been made. Family members coming to view remains are also offering statements to local prosecutors to assist in efforts to prosecute Mladic, who is being tried on war crimes charges at the U.N. tribunal in the Netherlands. The tribunal has sentenced 16 Bosnian Serbs to a total of 230 years for the crimes committed in the closest town, Prijedor, but no one has yet been held responsi - ble for the killings in Hegic's village of Biscani, which is nearby. On July 20, 1992, when Hegic was 8, people in Biscani heard the Bosnian Serbs were coming. Her parents hid their only child in the basement. When the soldiers came, they shot her mother, her father, her grandparents, her three un - cles and her three cousins. An aunt pulled her away from mother's bloody body. "My aunt was there with my mother, but she managed to escape and took me with her," Hegic said, her green eyes misty and red as she recalled the day. They ra n, but were caught. Eventually the two survivors were sent to a Nazi-style camp with thou - sands of others. But inter- national journalists working in Bosnia at the time embar- rassed Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic with im- ages of starving people at the gates of the camp, and he was forced to shut it down and free those inside. Hegic and her aunt, sur - vived. She eventually set- tled in Germany and mar- ried a boy from her village that she knew as a child. They both gave DNA sam- ples to identify relatives who died in the attack. They were called Tuesday and drove back to Bosnia as soon as they heard. They found themselves early Wednes - day, waiting with others, looking for corpses, as they have been for 22 years. Here, at the Sejkovaca Identification Center, they bring the families in one at a time, where they are faced with bodies placed on shelves, preserved in salt and covered in plastic. Some of the corpses are only par - tially decomposed, a result of soil heavy in lime. The stench makes the viewings diff icult. Most people spend only a short amount of time with the dead. They will wait to mourn, gathering for a mass funeral in July. remAiNS Bo sn ia ns s ee v ic ti ms e xc av at ed f ro m ma ss g ra ve AssociAted Press Bosnian woman denisa Hegic hugs her husband as she enters the sejkovaca identification center, near the Bosnian town of sanski Most, 162 miles northwest of sarajevo, on Wednesday. Hegic was 8 years old when serb soldiers stormed her house and killed her entire family at the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Associated Press CALgArY, ALBertA» The son of a Calgary police offi- cer was charged in the fa- tal stabbing of five people at a house party that the law enforcement officials called the worst mass slaying in the western Canadian city's history. Matthew Douglas de Grood, a recent graduate of the University of Cal - gary, picked up a large knife shortly after arriving at the party and stabbed the vic- tims one by one shortly af- ter 1 a.m. Tuesday, said po- lice Chief Rick Hanson. De Grood, 22, was charged with five counts of murder late Tuesday. "This is the worst murder — mass murder — in Cal - gary's history," Hanson said at a news conference Tues- day. "We have never seen five people killed by an individual at one scene. The scene was horrific." The Calgary attack came nearly a week after a teen - age boy in the U.S. stabbed and wounded 21 students at his high school outside Pitts- burgh. Hanson said the motive for the Calgary attack was unknown. He said the sus - pect's father and mother are devastated. "They are now feeling so much sorrow," he said. "Those young people are dead and they are abso - lutely devastated." Hanson said the identities of the five victims —four men and a woman — will be re - leased when autopsies are completed. He said their ages range from 22 to 27 and they were all "good kids." Neither the victims nor the suspect had any prior in - volvement with police, Han- son said. The University of Calgary said de Grood graduated in 2013 with a bachelor's degree majoring in psychology and a minor in law and society. Hanson said about 20 people were at the party celebrating the last days of classes at a home in the northwest residential neigh - borhood of Brentwood, near the campus. He said the sus- pect was invited to the party and showed up after working his shift at a grocery store and was welcomed inside. He said it appears that no one at the party had been sleeping when the attack took place shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday, but that every - one was taken by surprise. Hanson said the suspect "targeted the victims one by one, stabbing them sev - eral times." "Was there anything that precipitated the event? Was there something that anyone had done that anyone could have taken as an insult or an affront to this individual? To the best of our knowledge right now, there's nothing to indicate anything like that happened," Hanson said. Hanson said the suspect allegedly brought a weapon, or "instrument," from work to the party, but grabbed a large knife from inside the house. Three men were found dead at the home after someone at the party called the emergency dispatcher. A man and a woman died at a hospital. Police said de Grood was arrested with the help of the police canine unit about 40 minutes after the stabbings and was taken to a hospital for treatment for dog bites. Hanson said there's noth - ing to indicate the suspect was drunk or had been do- ing drugs. He said police are inter- viewing witnesses. The blue-sided house where the stabbings oc- curred is on a quiet, tree- lined residential street. It was surrounded with yellow police tape as medical ex - aminer staff brought three bodies out on stretchers. Neighbor Doug Jones said about a dozen students had been drinking beer around a fire pit in the backyard ear - lier in the night, but they weren't rowdy. He said they were talking about poli- tics and the stock market. They took the party inside at about 9 p.m. and he heard nothing after that. CANAdA Police officer's son charged in fatal Calgary stabbings LArry MAcdoUgAL, tHe cAnAdiAn Press/AP A makeshi memorial is le at a police tape line near the scene of a multiple fatal stabbing in northwest calgary, Alberta, on tuesday. 100 Jackson Street, Red Bluff (530) 529-1220 First 50 new members $ 25 .00 month Call or Come In for details STOVE JUNCTION The The North State's premier supplier of stoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat 9am-5pm • Closed Sun & Mon Now Carrying! Green Mountain Grills & Accessories Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties RUNNINGS ROOFING Sheet Metal Roofing Residential Commercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane Owner is on site on every job Serving Tehama County 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 No Money Down! "No Job Too Steep" " No Job Too Flat" FREE ESTIMATES CA. LIC#829089 Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate SERVICES AT LOWER PRICES All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K Members Welcome 2 Bud's BBQ 22825 Antelope Blvd. Red Bluff We seat 40 people inside M-F 11am-6pm Sat. 11am-3pm Closed Sunday (530) 528-0799 CATER COMPANY MEETINGS BBQ PORK ★ BEEF ★ CHICKEN When it comes to finding the perfect home, make sure you have the right realtor on your side. Meet Your Dream Team Stromer Realty (530) 527-3100 590 Antelope Blvd. Bldg. A, Suites 10 & 20 Red Bluff ~ Specializing in residential to ranches ~ http://redbluff.stromerrealty.com | NEWS | redBLUFFdAiLyneWs.coM tHUrsdAy, APriL 17, 2014 4 B