Afghan peace council head killed in Kabul (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – A Taliban suicide bomber on Tuesday killed former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani and head of a council tasked with trying to negotiate a political end to the war, in what analysts called a blow to peace efforts.

The killing underscored doubts over the ability of fledgling Afghan security forces to protect even the most prominent politicians as U.S.-led forces ready to pull out by 2014.

"A Taliban member who went to Rabbani's house (in the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave) for peace talks detonated a bomb hidden in his turban," a statement by the Kabul police chief's office said.

President Barack Obama called the killing of Rabbani, head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, a tragic loss but said work needed to continue to bring elements of Afghan society together to end the years of violence.

A police source said Masoom Stanekzai, a senior adviser to President Hamid Karzai, was badly injured in the attack.

It was the highest profile assassination in Afghanistan since the younger half-brother of President Hamid Karzai, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was killed at his home in July by a highly trusted family security guard.

It also came just a week after a deadly 20-hour siege by militants in the fortified capital, which illustrated the strength of the Taliban after nearly a decade of war.

"The killing of Rabbani is a serious blow against President Karzai and the government's peace and reconciliations efforts. It also underscores the inability of the government to protect even the most prominent Afghan politicians," one diplomat said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility, saying that the killer had gone to Rabbani's home for talks.

"As soon as Rabbani came three steps forward to hug Mohammad Masoom, he triggered his explosive-filled jacket killing Rabbani, (another) Taliban militant Wahid Yar and four security guards present at the house," he told Reuters.

Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen, called the killing "another outrageous indicator that, regardless of what Taliban leadership outside the country say, they do not want peace, but rather war."

"WILL NOT DETER US"

President Karzai, at the start of talks with Obama on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, said Rabbani's death "will not deter us" from continuing the quest for peace.

Karzai, meeting Obama for the first time since the U.S. president announced a troop drawdown plan earlier this year, planned to cut short his New York visit to return home.

"It is a tragic loss," Obama said with Karzai at his side. "We both believe that despite this incident, we will not be deterred from creating a path whereby Afghans can live in freedom, safety and security and prosperity."

"It is going to be important to continue the efforts to bring all of the elements in Afghanistan society together to end the senseless cycle of violence," he said.

Rabbani, a former leader of a powerful mujahideen party during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, was chosen last October by Karzai to head the High Peace Council.

His plan included offering amnesty and jobs to Taliban foot soldiers and asylum in third countries to leaders.

The assassination comes after a series of suicide bombings and other major attacks believed to be the work of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied insurgent faction based along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

One analyst said the peace council had not been seen as effective and that Rabbani himself was viewed by many as an impediment to a deal because he was so loathed by the Taliban.

"But, his assassination might mean that the networks Rabbani led or influenced within Afghanistan .... may resist a deal with the Taliban even more," said Caroline Wadhams, a security expert at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

"It could make it that much more difficult to get greater buy-in from key Afghan leaders, who have been deeply skeptical of talks with the Taliban for some time."

Vali Nasr, a former senior official in the State Department's Afghanistan/Pakistan office, said: "The Taliban wants to send a very powerful message that the Karzai government is not in charge."

"That is important because people begin to waver and shift their allegiances ... And it makes it very difficult to say the Taliban is serious about negotiations if they keep killing people they should be negotiating with," Nasr said.

Rabbani served as president in the 1990s when mujahideen factions waged war for control of the country after the Soviet withdrawal.

As a leading figure among Tajiks, the second largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, there were also concerns his death could worsen ethnic tensions.

The assassination comes a week after a 20-hour gun and grenade attack on Kabul's diplomatic enclave by insurgents, and three suicide bomb attacks on other parts of the city -- together the longest-lasting and most wide-ranging assault on the city.

Last week's siege was the third major attack on the Afghan capital since June.

All three of those attacks are believed to be the work of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied insurgent faction, based along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

(Additional reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul, Laura MacInnis in New York, and Missy Ryan in Washington, Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Yemen protesters set up transitional council (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni protesters formed a transitional council of opposition figures on Saturday to lead efforts to try to force President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.

Youth groups, which have been at the forefront of more than five months of protests against Saleh's three decade rule, told a news conference that the 17 member council would include former Yemeni President Ali Nasser Mohammed and leaders of several opposition groups, including exiles.

They named General Abdullah Ali Aleiwa, a former defense minister, as their choice for armed forces commander.

An official from an anti-Saleh coalition of mainstream opposition parties, said the Joint Meeting would not support the new council. The coalition has also called for a transitional body.

"This council does not reflect (the views) of the Joint Meeting, because we have a different plan. It only represents those who set it up," Hamid Assim, deputy secretary-general of an Arab nationalist opposition party, told Reuters.

Saleh, who is in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment following an assassination attempt in June, has backed out three times from a Gulf-brokered plan to ease him from power.

Saudi Arabia, a conservative Muslim absolute monarchy, does not want to see people power bring political change on its borders. It has long been Saleh's main financial backer, and Saleh may not stand down until Riyadh demands it.

Separately, a Yemeni deputy minister said on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates had pledged 3 million barrels of oil to Yemen, which faces a fuel crisis due to attacks on a pipeline during the widespread political unrest.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; writing by Firouz Sedarat; editing by Elizabeth Piper)

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U.N. Council condemns embassy attacks in Syria (Reuters)

BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" attacks by demonstrators on the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus.

Both Washington and Paris sharply denounced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been trying for four months to stamp out a broad popular revolt with troops and tanks.

"He has lost legitimacy by refusing to lead the transition" to democracy, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, further sharpening U.S. rhetoric against the Syrian leader over a harsh crackdown on protesters.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had told reporters: "We have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power,"

A Security Council statement read to media by Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig, this month's president, called on Syrian authorities to protect diplomatic property and personnel.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had earlier accused Russia and China of trying to block a U.N. resolution on Syria, saying it was "intolerable that the Security Council should stay silent on such a tragedy."

Syria's U.N. ambassador accused the United States and France on Tuesday of distorting and exaggerating facts about attacks by demonstrators this week on their embassies in Damascus.

The envoy, Bashar Ja'afari, told reporters that Syria had had sought to protect the embassies and that some demonstrators involved in Monday's events had been arrested and would be brought to justice.

FLAGRANT INTERVENTION

The Syrian state news agency SANA said Clinton's remarks were "another proof of the U.S.'s flagrant intervention in Syria's internal affairs."

"The legitimacy of Syria's leadership is not based on the United States or others, it stems from the will of the Syrian people," it said.

Crowds broke into the U.S. embassy in Damascus on Monday and tore down plaques, while security guards using live ammunition drove crowds away from the French embassy.

The attacks followed protests against a visit by U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford and French envoy Eric Chevallier to the city of Hama, now the focus of the uprising against Assad.

Inspired by the protests that unseated the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, Syrians have been taking to the streets in their thousands since March, calling for more political freedom and an end to corruption and poverty.

Assad has responded with a mixture of force and promises of reforms. He sent his troops and tanks to numerous cities and towns to crush protests, and thousands have been arrested.

But Assad has also granted citizenship to tens of thousands of Kurds, lifted the draconian state of emergency, freed hundreds of prisoners and called for a national dialogue.

A two-day meeting aimed at setting the framework for national dialogue and discussing legislation that would allow a multi-party system and constitutional amendments issued its final statement on Tuesday, endorsing the formation of a committee to rewrite the constitution.

Western governments have condemned Assad's violence against protesters, but their practical response has so far been limited to sanctions against top officials, a far cry from the military intervention against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has steadily toughened its rhetoric on Assad as Syrian security forces crack down on protests. Until Monday, it had refrained from saying Assad had lost legitimacy.

Washington has imposed targeted sanctions on Assad and members of his inner circle, and has said it is working with its allies to build international consensus for further pressure on his government.

SUPPORT FOR ASSAD

Assad retains the support of Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, as well as substantial portions of the minority Alawite community from which his family springs.

"If the Americans think he has lost legitimacy, this doesn't mean he has lost legitimacy, it means the Americans think he has lost legitimacy," Rami Khouri, a political analyst based in neighboring Lebanon, told Reuters.

"When Ford visited Hama, the dynamic changed. Clinton's remarks have simply raised the temperature."

Syria said Ford had sought to incite protests. The State Department denied this and said Ford had toured Hama to show solidarity with residents facing a security crackdown.

Hama, a city of 700,000 people, was the scene of a 1982 massacre that came to symbolize the ruthless rule of the late president Hafez al-Assad, and has staged some of the biggest protests in 14 weeks of demonstrations against his son Bashar.

Human rights groups say at least 1,400 civilians have been killed since the uprising began in March.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut, John Irish, Brian Love, Elizabeth Pineau in Paris and Tim Castle in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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