President Karzai said in a statement that killing civilians in Kandahar was the Taliban's response to the death of Osama Bin Laden. They are trying to hide their defeat by taking revenge on the innocent people of Afghanistan, he said. A spokesman for the Taliban denied that, saying that
on the contrary
, the Kandahar attack had been planned for some time. A week ago, the Taliban did announce the beginning of their spring offensive. They've also put out a statement more recently, saying that what they called the pure blood of Osama Bin Laden would
nurture
the sapling of jihad.
Reports from Syria say tanks have moved into the port city of Baniyas, where there have been
persistent
demonstrations against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in recent weeks. Some local people are said to have tried to form human chains to stop the tanks. Jim Muir reports.
The official version of events at Baniyas announced on Syrian state TV is that army and security forces have moved into the coastal town to chase what they called "armed terrorist elements". It said a number of wanted men have been arrested and quantities of arms and ammunition found. Activists said the troops and tanks moved in under cover of darkness and began house-to-house searches with lists of people they were after. Women staged a protest on the road outside the town, demanding the release of the detained men.
Rebel leaders in Libya say Italy has agreed to supply weapons to help them defeat Colonel Gaddafi's forces. The Italian government has denied the deal. A foreign minister spokesman said Italy would only provide the rebels with self-defence equipment.