LIBYA: Slain rebel leader’s son blames opposition “traitors” for death.
The son of the rebel military leader assassinated last week accused “traitors” within the opposition of killing his father to create cracks in the rebel ranks. He demanded an open investigation and speedy trial for the perpetrators. In Tripoli, Moammar Gadhafi’s regime vowed to keep fighting until it had reclaimed the whole country from the rebels.
EGYPT: Mubarak’s trial begins today.
Ousted President Hosni Mubarak, who is 83 and ailing, goes on trial today on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising that toppled him. Many Egyptians are celebrating the chance at retribution against a longtime authoritarian ruler, but they also question whether the trial will truly break with the injustices of the past.
ALGERIA: Fundamentalist icon’s son killed in clash.
Al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate says the son of a Muslim fundamentalist icon has been killed in a confrontation with security forces, drawing attention to the new generation of fighters challenging Algeria’s government. Abdelkahar Belhadj, said to be 23 at the time of his death, was the son of Ali Belhadj, whose party’s thwarted electoral victory in 1991 catapulted Algeria into a 20-year-long insurgency that has left an estimated 200,000 people dead.
YEMEN: Military offensive halted after airstrike accident kills 40.
Government airstrikes that accidentally killed 40 people last week, including four army officers and a tribal sheik, brought an abrupt halt to the largest military effort yet to dislodge al-Qaeda- linked militants from a key southern town, officials and tribal fighters said Tuesday.
The airstrikes, which took place late Friday just east of the town of Zinjibar near Yemen’s south coast, outraged pro-government fighters, prompting them to withdraw from the military offensive against Islamic militants.
The collapse of the offensive on Zinjibar will likely raise concerns among U.S. officials, who worry that Yemen’s active al-Qaeda branch and other militant groups are exploiting political upheaval in the impoverished country to step up operations against the West.
Denver Post wire services
