Nine J&K rebels killed

SRINAGAR: Indian troops killed nine militants in Kashmir, police said on Friday. Eight were killed in two clashes in Doda overnight. Five militants were gunned down at a village which seemed to be a rebel training camp. Separately, Indian troops overnight gunned down three militants in the same district. “They belonged to Hizbul Mujahedin and Lashkar-e-Taiba,” police said. Indian troops shot dead a district commander of Hizbul in Budgam overnight. — AFP

Anti-US shutdown

SRINAGAR: Shops, schools and banks were shut on Friday in Kashmir and women activists burnt a US flag in protest at reports of desecrations of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay. The one-day strike was called by hardline leader Syed Ali Geelani and backed by the women’s separatist group, Du-khtaran-e-Milat. Geelani was put under house arrest by police, his spoke-sman Aiyaz Akbar said. “He (was) to lead an anti-US demonstration after prayers,” Akbar said, adding police had ringed Geelani’s house and told him not to come out for the day. — AFP

Thai PM to visit India

BANGKOK: Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra will pay a working visit to India and the first official visit by a Thai leader to Bhutan next week, an official said on Friday. Thaksin begins his two-day trip to India on June 3 to meet Manmohan Singh, with free trade talks and aviation sector liberalisation on the agenda. The next day he will head to Paro, Bhutan, and meet PM Yeshey Zimba, with talks expected to focus on agriculture, health and trade. Thaksin is scheduled on June 5 to have an audience with King Jigme Singye Wangchuck at Tashiehhodzong palace. — AFP

Stop torture, cops told

BEIJING: China’s top prosecution office has urged police to stop using torture to force suspects

to confess, state media said on Friday. Qiu Xueqiang, deputy director of the Supre-me People’s Procuratorate, said the use of torture, threats, delusion and lies to collect evidence or extract confessions must be stopped, the China Youth Daily said. Only evidence obtained legally can be used. — AFP

More villages flooded

DHAKA: A rain-swollen river burst through an embankment and swam-ped more areas of northeastern Ban-gladesh, relief officials said on Friday. On Thursday, the Kushiara river broke through a mud embankment and inundated at least 20 more villages with a total of about 15,000 people in Habiganj district, a relief official said. That brought to over 200 the number of villages hit by the floods. Over 150,000 are marooned, relying on boats for transportation. —AP