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Monday, February 22, 2010 KABUL: The commander of international forces in Afghanistan was quoted as saying Monday that the southern province of Kandahar was likely to be the next target of operations to eradicate the Taliban. US General Stanley McChrystal, commander of 121,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, said a major offensive now in its second week in a poppy-growing valley in Helmand province was a "model for the future". Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar -- where Kandahar city was once the Taliban capital -- have been the main hotspots of the insurgency launched soon after the US-led invasion toppled the Islamists' 1996-2001 regime. NATO and Afghan officials have said that Operation Mushtarak (Together) under way in Helmand is a template for expanding the campaign to at least three other Taliban-held areas of the province. McChrystal was quoted by Britain's The Times newspaper as telling reporters that operations will also move into Kandahar, altho...

Monday, February 22, 2010 VIENNA: Six people were killed and 16 were badly hurt when a German-registered coach crashed on a motorway near Vienna, rescue services said Monday. Another 17 people were also slightly injured in the accident on the A-21, near Baden, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital. The coach was taking Albanian Kosovars working in Germany back home to visit relatives when for an unknown reason it hit the back of a truck, which then collided with another. The driver of the coach and four of his passengers were among the dead, police said. Local rescue services, including the police, fire and ambulance services were out in strength at the scene, and the motorway was closed for some ten hours. The two lorries involved were registered in Slovakia and Romania.

Monday, February 22, 2010 ANKARA: Turkish police Monday detained more than 40 people, including former air force and navy chiefs, in connection with an alleged military plot against the Islamist-rooted government, officials and media reports said. The police swoop came amid rising tensions between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement, and its secularist opponents. "This morning our security forces began a detention process," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference during an official visit to Spain. "As of now, more than 40 people have been detained," he said, but gave no details on who was arrested. The CNN-Turk and NTV news channels said police detained former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina, former navy chief Ozden Ornek and other high-ranking officers both retired and on active service in Ankara, Istanbul, the western city of Izmir and the northwestern city of Burs...