Zimbabwean Opposition leader detained

23.01.2008

Detained ... Zimbabwe`s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and inset, what happened last time he was `detained` by police / Reuters

POLICE took away Zimbabwe`s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the middle of the night for questioning about a demonstration planned for today, his lawyer says.

"The police are saying they want to know what he is planning to do today," lawyer Alec Muchadehama said.

Mr Tsvangirai`s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) planned the march to press veteran President Robert Mugabe for a new constitution to guarantee parliamentary and presidential elections due in March are free and fair.

The MDC launched a legal challenge yesterday to a police ban on the march.

MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti said Mr Tsvangirai was picked up from his home in a suburb of the capital Harare by plainclothes officers.

"He was picked up at around 4am (11pm AEDT) in respect of the intended demonstration. His mobile phone is now off and we are really worried," he said.

The lawyer said police also detained another MDC leader, Dennis Murira.

Mr Mugabe has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.

Mr Tsvangirai was last arrested in March 2007 along with dozens of opposition officials ahead of another planned march.

He says police beat him up in custody. They deny this.

The police had initially granted permission for today`s march, which the MDC called to protest against a crumbling economy blamed on government mismanagement as well as to press for a new constitution.

Yesterday, Mr Muchadehama said the Harare magistrates court would hear an application today on overturning the ban, which police say was prompted by fears the demonstration would degenerate into violence and looting.

Zimbabweans have tended to shy away from demonstrations in recent years, mainly from fear of a heavy-handed response by security forces.

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Detained ... Zimbabwe`s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and inset, what happened last time he was `detained` by police / Reuters

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500 watching dog fight when bomber strikes
Suicide blast kills at least 65 people
Casualties include some youngsters, says official

AT least 65 people have been killed by a suicide blast while watching a dog fight in Afghanistan overnight.

Witnesses said more than 500 people had gathered for the competition - a popular winter pastime, which was banned under the Taliban - when the bomber struck.

Abdul Karim, who was in the crowd, said: "Fighting had just started between two dogs. Suddenly I heard a huge explosion next to a police vehicle.

"Then I saw lots of people dead and wounded. I counted over 40 people on the ground dead."

After the blast, bodies and limbs lay among bloodied boots, clothes and mobile phones - some of them ringing.

The interior ministry gave a revised death toll for the attack in the southern city of Kandahar this morning after initially saying 80 were dead. Local reports still put the toll at more than 80.

Even the lower figure makes it one of the deadliest suicide attacks in Afghanistan since the hardline Taliban movement began an insurgency soon after being driven from government in late 2001.

The Afghan interior ministry said: "The suicide attack ... killed more than 65 people and wounded more than 50 others.

"A number of wounded are in a bad condition and it is possible the number of casualties will rise."

Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said separately that the revised figures were from security forces who were at the scene evacuating the dead and wounded.

Most of the casualties were civilian men but they included several youngsters and a "number" of policemen, he said.

In the southern city of Kandahar, provincial governor Asadullah Khalid kept to his death toll of more than 80.

"Sixty-one bodies have been brought to Mirwais hospital and three wounded died in the military hospital. More than 20 other dead were taken by relatives," he said.

It was the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since a November bombing in the northern province of Baghlan killed nearly 80 people, including 59 school pupils.

The Taliban has carried out most of the suicide attacks in Afghanistan but a spokesman for the group, Yousuf Ahmadi, would not confirm it was involved in the blast.

The extremist militia also never accepted responsibility for the Baghlan attack.