Iraq violence: 15 dead

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi army officer says a suicide bomber walked into a base and set off his explosives belt, killing 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounding at least 40. The officer says the attack on Thursday occurred at the joint base shared by Iraqi soldiers and US troops in Habbaniyah about 70 km west of the capital. He says the bomber walked up to a group of soldiers headed for a base canteen and then detonated his explosives. It’s not clear if there were any US soldiers at or near the gathering. — AP

IAEA team pulls out

SEOUL: UN nuclear inspectors left North Korea on Thursday after the hardline communist state ordered them out and announced plans to restart production of weapons-grade plutonium. The inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Beijing but declined to comment. A separate four-member US team which had been monitoring the North’s disablement of its Yongbyon nuclear complex was also preparing to leave after being ordered out. The complex produced enough plutonium for a 2006 nuclear test and for several other bombs until it was shut down in 2007 under a six-nation disarmament deal. — AFP

Three refugees killed

SYDNEY: Police say three people are dead and two are missing in an explosion aboard a refugee boat that was being escorted by Australia’s navy after it was intercepted off the country’s northwest coast. Sergeant Greg Lambert of the Western Australia state police says two people are also missing following the blast. No other details were immediately available about the explosion on Thursday.

The vessel had been located on Tuesday in the Indian Ocean and was carrying 49 suspected refugees, believed to be from Afghanistan. — AP

Military might at work

SUVA: Fiji’s self-appointed leaders tightened their grip on power on Thursday, saying they were determined to transform the nation and that their word was law and could not be challenged. In a rallying speech to army officers, coup leader and prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama

underlined the military’s role in ensuring his plans for political reform are carried out. — AFP