BEIJING (AP) — China announced Monday that it has arrested more than 200 terror suspects over the past month in the restive Xinjiang region, highlighting its commitment to a security crackdown even as a bloody attack last week raised questions about its effectiveness.

Since the attack, which killed 43 people in a vegetable market in the regional capital of Urumqi, Beijing has responded with a show of force in the form of police and troops parading down city streets, an announcement of a one-year crackdown on terrorism, and creation of ad hoc anti-terror work teams around the country. But some observers say the strategy — no matter how toughly it is implemented — is ineffective and could even backfire.

"These terror attacks show those launching them are capable of attacking any place with methods and timing of their choice," Shanghai-based independent military commentator Zhao Chu said in an article that concluded that China's Xinjiang is quickly becoming like Russia's Chechnya. "The so-called counter terrorism is nothing more than tightening the social controls that are already extremely tight. It is undoubtedly a policy of adding fuel to the fire."

The leadership's hard-line approach was underscored in a document issued late Monday following a meeting of the ruling Communist Party's leading 25-member Politburo to discuss the situation in Xinjiang.

"Strike hard and maintain high pressure on the three forces (of separatism, extremism and terrorism) and effectively contain the expansion of terrorist activity into the heartland," the statement said.

Violence has long been linked to ethnic tensions in Xinjiang. Many of its native Muslim Turkic Uighur people say they are discriminated against by the ruling Han Chinese. Recent attacks blamed on radicals among the Uighurs have become bolder and have targeted civilians, although Xinjiang experts say it is unclear whether groups of people are linking up to make long-term plans on how to maximize terror.

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In this photo taken on May 1, 2014, Uighur children play near a cage protecting heavily armed Chines …

Security has been tight for years in the region, which is flooded with armed military police, city police and community wardens as well as large numbers of surveillance cameras looking for the slightest signs of riots. Armored personnel carriers are a common sight in Urumqi streets.

Police routinely conduct special operations aimed at rooting out potential militants and deterring likely followers. State media said Monday that local authorities have broken up 23 terror and religious extremist groups and caught over 200 suspects so far this month.

The latest attack shook Urumqi just one day after Xinjiang courts jailed 39 people on terrorism-related charges stemming largely from sharing audio and video materials that authorities said promoted violence. And it followed a Central Asian security summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shanghai.

Three weeks earlier, just as Xi had urged police to be "fists and daggers" in fighting terrorism during a tour of the Muslim northwest, two suspected suicide bombers detonated explosives at a train station there, killing themselves and one other person.

Both attacks took place amid a renewed crackdown after five assailants believed to be Uighurs killed 29 by slashing at crowds at a train station in southwestern China. Last year, three Uighurs rammed a jeep through crowds of tourists in the heart of Beijing and exploded the vehicle, killing themselves and two tourists.

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In this photo taken on May 1, 2014, heavily armed Chinese paramilitary policemen march past the site …

Ahmed A.S. Hashim, a terrorism expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technical University, said Chinese authorities already have "enormous amounts of resources" to try to prevent attacks in Xinjiang, and that many of the units are "not exactly well versed in civility."

"The more they take a hard line — the 'strike hard' strategy — the more they tend to feed the disgruntlement and seeking of revenge, and the more likely the Uighur separatists might get support from outside groups, particularly in Central Asia," Hashim said.

A Chinese terrorism expert, Li Wei, said the country had to step up counter-terrorist measures across the country because attacks once confined to Xinjiang are now occurring outside the region. He defended China's efforts so far.

"It is not that our existing counter-terrorist measure are not effective, but the spreading of the extremist thought has played a key role (in bringing about more terrorists)," said Li, director of the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"We are not only targeting the terrorists that directly participate in terrorist activities, but also people that spread extremist ideas, manufacture explosives, plan and organize terrorist activities, because they are all different segments of the terrorists' activities," Li said. "Only by doing so can we reduce the risk of people becoming victims of terrorism."

But Zhao is far less optimistic. He said China's security apparatus has failed because it is built to suppress political and social dissent instead of terrorist threats. "Faced with the tides of terrorist attacks, China's security paraphernalia are nothing but a paper-pasted levee," he said.

Zhao also warned against suppression of open discussions about terrorism and ethnic issues in China.

"It must be said that it is a horror that China should ban public discussions and news investigations when it faces such serious terrorism threats," he said. "By suppressing public attention, exchanges of ideas, the society can never fully face this threat."

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Associated Press writer Louise Watt and researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report.

China's counterterrorism abilities questioned

With doubts raised following a deadly attack in the Xinjiang region, Beijing announces 200 arrests.
Strategy could backfire

By Alastair Macdonald and Yannis Behrakis

KIEV/DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine launched air strikes and a paratrooper assault against pro-Russian rebels who seized an airport on Monday, as its newly elected leader rejected any talks with "terrorists" and said a robust military campaign in the east should be able to put down a separatist revolt in "a matter of hours".

Ukrainians rallied overwhelmingly in an election on Sunday behind Petro Poroshenko, a political veteran and billionaire owner of chocolate factories, hoping the burly 48-year-old can rescue the nation from the brink of bankruptcy, civil war and dismemberment by its former Soviet masters in the Kremlin.

Monday's rapid military response to separatists who seized the airport in Donetsk was a defiant answer to Moscow, which said it was ready for dialogue with Poroshenko but demanded he first scale back the armed forces' campaign in the east.

Even as the fighting was getting under way, Poroshenko held a news conference in Kiev where he said the government's military offensive needed to be "quicker and more effective".

"The anti-terrorist operation should not last two or three months. It should last for a matter of hours," he said.

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Smoke rises from the airport outside Donetsk, Ukraine, Monday, May 26, 2014. Ukraine's military …

As for the rebel fighters: "They want to preserve a bandit state which is held in place by force of arms," he said. "These are simply bandits. Nobody in any civilized state will hold negotiations with terrorists."

Gunfire and explosions could be heard as a warplane flew over Donetsk's Sergei Prokofiev International Airport, hours after truckloads of armed rebel fighters arrived and seized a terminal. Thick black smoke rose from within the perimeter.

The government said its jets had strafed the area with warning shots and then struck a location where rebels were concentrated, scattering the fighters before paratroops were flown in to face them.

After three hours of fighting, a Reuters photographer saw three Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopter gunships fire rockets and cannon at the terminal concrete and glass terminal. More plumes of black smoke shot up into the air as the helicopters fired at targets on the runway. The gunships threw out decoy flares as fighters shot at them from the ground.

The airport serves a city of 1 million people that the rebels have proclaimed capital of an independent "people's republic", and where they succeeded in blocking all voting in Sunday's election.

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Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko reacts during his press conference in Kiev, Ukrain …

Their attempt to seize the airport may have been intended to prevent Poroshenko from travelling there: he has said his first trip in office would be to visit the restive east.

FIRM MANDATE

Preliminary results with more than three quarters of votes counted gave Poroshenko 54 percent of the vote - towering over a field of 21 candidates with enough support to avert a run-off. His closest challenger, former premier Yulia Tymoshenko, secured just 13.1 percent and made clear she would concede.

Poroshenko's most urgent task is finding a modus vivendi with the giant neighbor that has seemed poised to carve Ukraine up since a popular revolt toppled a pro-Russian president in February.

"I hope Russia will support efforts to tackle the situation in the east," Poroshenko said. He said he planned to meet Russian officials in the first half of June.

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Ukrainians read newspapers at a metro station, in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, May 26, 2014. Early returns …

But he also showed no sign of heeding Moscow's demand that he call off the operation against rebels in the east.

"Protecting people is one of the functions of the state," he said, promising to invest more in the army. "The Ukrainian soldier should no longer be naked, barefoot and hungry."

So far, Ukraine's military forces have had little success against rebels who have declared independent "people's republics" in two provinces of the eastern industrial heartland where about 20 people have been killed in recent days.

Ukrainian officials say they have held back from using full force in part to avoid provoking an invasion from tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the frontier. Questions have also been raised about Ukrainian forces' training, equipment and loyalties.

Monday's fighting began after a Reuters photographer saw three truckloads bring dozens of armed men to the airport.

Armed separatists gather outside home of Ukraine&# …Play Video

"The rebels are in the terminal. The rest of the airport is controlled by the Ukrainian national guard," airport spokesman Dmitry Kosinov told Reuters before gunfire broke out.

The Ukrainian joint forces security operation in the region said a deadline for the rebels to surrender expired and two Sukhoi Su-25 jets carried out strafing runs, firing warning shots. A MiG-29 jet later carried out another air strike.

The militants then spread out across the territory of the airport, whose state-of-the-art main terminal was built for the 2012 European soccer championships held in Ukraine.

"Right now at the airport, paratroopers have landed and are cleaning up the area," said a Ukrainian security spokesman.

"NEW RUSSIA"

Sweet Victory for Ukraine's 'Chocolate Kin …Play Video

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who last month described eastern Ukraine as "New Russia", has made more accommodating noises in recent days. He promised at the weekend that Moscow would respect the will of Ukrainians, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated that promise on Monday in saying Russia was ready for dialogue with Poroshenko.

Western countries put little faith in Putin's promises, saying he has repeatedly announced he would pull troops from the frontier without doing so. They dismiss Russia's denials it has aided the rebels, whose Donetsk force is led by a mustachioed Muscovite the EU says is a Russian military intelligence agent.

Even though separatists ensured that millions of Ukrainians were unable to vote in the eastern regions, Poroshenko's sweeping margin of victory gives him a firm mandate that makes it harder for Moscow to dismiss him as illegitimate, as it did in the case of the interim leaders he will replace.

Many Ukrainians clearly rallied behind the frontrunner as a way to demonstrate national unity, three months after a pro-Russian president was ousted in a popular revolt and Moscow responded by seizing the Crimea peninsula, massing troops on the frontier and expressing sympathy with armed separatists.

A veteran survivor of Ukraine's feuding political class, Poroshenko has served in cabinets led by figures from both sides of Ukraine's pro- and anti-Russian divide, giving him a reputation as a pragmatist who can bridge differences. That could shield him from the accusations of strident nationalism Moscow aimed at the interim leaders.

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Pro-Russian separatists stand guard outside the house of Rinat Akhmetov in the eastern city of Donet …

He threw his weight and money behind the revolt that brought down his Moscow-backed predecessor in February and campaigned on a platform of strengthening ties with Europe.

Yet it remains unclear how the tycoon can turn firmly westward as long as Russia, Ukraine's major market and vital energy supplier, seems determined to maintain a hold over the second most populous ex-Soviet republic.

"He has taken a heavy burden on his shoulders," said Larisa, a schoolteacher who was among crowds watching the results on Independence Square, where pro-Western "EuroMaidan" protests ended in bloodshed in February that prompted President Viktor Yanukovich to flee to Russia. "I just want all of this to be over. I think that's what everybody wants."

In the eastern Donbass coalfield, where militants shut polling stations cutting off some 10 percent of the national electorate from the vote, rebels scoffed at the "fascist junta" and announced a plan to drive out "enemy troops".

More than 20 people were killed in the region last week.

Although Putin told an international audience at the weekend he was ready to work with a new Ukrainian administration, Russia could still use the gaps in the election in the east to challenge its legitimacy.

A senior member of Putin's party, deputy parliamentary speaker Sergei Neverov, gave a taste of that when he wrote on Facebook: "It is hard to recognize the legitimacy of elections when tanks and artillery are wiping out civilians and a third of the population is driven to the polling stations at gunpoint."

(Additional reporting by Richard Balmforth, Natalia Zinets, Pavel Polityuk, Gareth Jones, Alastair Macdonald and Anna Dabrowska in Kiev and Sabina Zawadzki, Gabriela Baczynska and Lina Kushch in Donetsk; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Will Waterman)

Petro Poroshenko vows to regain control in the country's separatist east and to hold discussions with Russia.
Moscow open to dialogue

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea and China agreed on Monday that recent nuclear activity by North Korea posed a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region and Pyongyang must not conduct a nuclear test, Seoul said after a meeting of their top diplomats.

Renewed activity at North Korea's nuclear test site has indicated Pyongyang may be preparing a fourth nuclear test in contravention of U.N. sanctions.

Analysis have suggested the North may be close to miniaturizing a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile, alarming regional powers that have for two decades tried to rein in Pyongyang's atomic program.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with his South Korea counterpart Yun Byung-se to discuss the North's nuclear program, as well as an upcoming visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Seoul this year, South Korea's foreign ministry said.

"The two ministers agreed to step up cooperation based on the united position that they object to the North's nuclear test and that recent nuclear activities by the North pose a serious threat to the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region," the ministry said.

China, North Korea's lone major ally, is usually very guarded in its opinion on Pyongyang's nuclear program, usually expressing its desire for a nuclear-free "Korean peninsula" and careful not to be seen to be taking sides.

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European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton speaks during a meetin …

Wang said before his meeting with Yun that it was important for six regional partners, including the United States and North Korea, to work to resume the so-called six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program.

The talks produced an agreement in 2005 to provide impoverished North Korea with aid in return for Pyongyang taking steps to suspend its nuclear programs. But the deal was proclaimed dead in 2008 by Pyongyang and Washington.

The United States and South Korea demand the North take steps agreed in the 2005 deal as a precondition to more talks. But Pyongyang and Beijing, which has hosted the negotiations, have since sought an unconditional resumption.

Separately on Monday, a former official of the U.S. State Department, Joel Wit, confirmed he had met with North Korea's chief delegate to the six-party talks, Ri Yong-ho, but the State Department said it was a private, not an official contact.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the talks, which also involved a former CIA analyst, Robert Carlin, took place in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator on Friday.

Wit, who worked in the past on U.S. strategies to deal with North Korea's nuclear weapons program and is now a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, confirmed to Reuters that the meeting had taken place, but declined to give details.

An official at the U.S. State Department said it had its own separate channels of communication with North Korea and no current U.S. government official had participated.

"They are acting in their private capacity," the official said. "If any former U.S. government officials choose to meet (North Korean) officials, they do so in their private capacity and will not be carrying any messages from the U.S. government."

The official said the U.S. message to North Korea was unchanged - that Washington remained committed to "authentic and credible negotiations" to implement the 2005 agreement.

"But the onus is on North Korea to take meaningful actions toward denuclearization and refrain from provocations," he said.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dan Grebler)

Seoul says that after a meeting of top diplomats, the two nations agree Pyongyang's nuclear activity poses a threat.
Rare comments

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's new president-elect promised Monday to negotiate an end to a pro-Russia insurgency in the east and said he was willing to begin talks with Moscow. Yet he described the separatists as "Somali pirates" and authorities in Kiev launched an airstrike against the militants occupying a major eastern airport.

Russia quickly welcomed Petro Poroshenko's offer for talks, raising hopes that his election will indeed ease the protracted crisis that has fueled tensions unseen since the end of the Cold War.

The airstrikes against the separatists in control of Donetsk airport appeared to be the most visible government military operation yet since it started a crackdown on insurgents last month.

In Donetsk, a city of one million, sustained artillery and gun fire was heard from the airport. Fighter jets and military helicopters were seen flying overhead and dense black smoke rose in the air. Many flights to or from Donetsk were delayed or canceled and access to the airport was blocked by police.

Vladislav Seleznyov, a spokesman for Kiev's anti-terrorist operation, wrote on his Facebook account that the military had given an ultimatum to the gunmen at the airport to lay down their arms. He said the gunmen didn't comply and the military launched an airstrike.

An Associated Press journalist saw several vehicles full of dozens of heavily armed separatists arrive near the airport. Half an hour later, several flatbed trucks full of reinforcements came in.

Denis Pushilin, a separatist leader in Donetsk, said they had sent their men to the airport after some supporters were detained.

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A Ukrainian helicopter Mi-24 gunship fires decoy flares over a residential area moments after attack …

Donetsk media, citing an unnamed health official, said Monday that one person was killed and two others wounded by machine gun fire at the city's main train station. Further details were not immediately available.

In Kiev, international observers hailed Ukraine's presidential vote as a "genuine election," saying it was held freely and fairly Sunday.

Candy magnate Poroshenko, known for his pragmatism, supports building strong ties with Europe but also has stressed the importance of mending relations with Moscow. Upon claiming victory, he said his first step as president would be to visit the Donbass eastern industrial region, where pro-Russia separatists have seized government buildings, declared independence and battled government troops in weeks of fighting.

"Peace in the country and peace in the east is my main priority," Poroshenko said Monday, signaling that he would end the Ukrainian army's much-criticized campaign to drive out the separatists.

The tycoon looked decidedly composed Sunday night when the exit poll results were announced but he got emotional Monday when asked about the crisis in the east.

"The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months," he said. "It should and will last hours."

Ukraine Holds Crucial ElectionPlay Video

The president-elect also had harsh words for the pro-Russia gunmen, comparing them to Somali pirates.

"Their goal is to turn Donbass into a Somalia, where they would rule with the power of machine guns. l will never allow that to happen on the territory of Ukraine," Poroshenko said, adding that he hoped Russia would support his efforts to stabilize the east.

Poroshenko's spokesman told the Associated Press that the date for his inauguration has not been set yet.

In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia appreciated Poroshenko's statements about the importance of Ukraine's ties with Russia and his pledge to negotiate an end to fighting in the east.

"We are ready for dialogue with representatives of Kiev, with Petro Poroshenko," Lavrov said at a briefing, adding it was a chance that "cannot be wasted." He emphasized that Moscow saw no need for any involvement by the United States or the European Union in those talks.

"We don't need any mediators," he said pointedly.

Russia Ready for Talks With New Ukraine PresidentPlay Video

Lavrov also noted Russia's longstanding call for the Kiev government to end its military operation in eastern Ukraine.

Less than 20 percent of the polling stations in eastern Ukraine were open Sunday after gunmen intimidated residents by smashing ballot boxes, shutting down polling centers and issuing threats. But nationwide, about 60 percent of Ukraine's 35.5 million eligible voters turned out, and long lines snaked around polling stations in the pro-Western capital of Kiev.

Joao Soares, special coordinator for the OSCE observer mission in Kiev, hailed Sunday's vote even as he said monitors saw multiple threats, intimidation and abduction of election officials in the east.

"Ukrainian authorities should be commended for their efforts in the extraordinary circumstances to facilitate an election" which was held in parts of Ukraine's volatile east, Soares said.

With votes from 80 percent of the precincts counted Monday, Poroshenko was leading with about 54 percent of the vote in the field of 21 candidates. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was running a distant second with 13 percent. Election officials confirmed that Poroshenko had avoided a runoff.

Poroshenko struck a tone of unity Monday, saying he had no "rivals or political opponents in the race" and all of the other main candidates had congratulated him.

"More than ever, Ukraine now needs to be united," he said.

The election, which came three months after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was chased from office following months of street protests, was seen as a critical step toward resolving Ukraine's protracted crisis.

Since Yanukovych fled in February, Russia has annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea Peninsula, the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk have declared independence, and the interim Ukrainian government has launched an offensive to quash an uprising.

The interim Kiev government and the West have accused Russia of backing the separatist uprising. Moscow has denied the accusations.

President Barack Obama praised Ukrainians for participating in the voting "despite provocations and violence." He said the U.S. supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and is eager to work with the next president.

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Vasilyeva reported from Kiev. Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry in Moscow and Laura Mills in Kiev contributed to this report.

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Ukraine launches airstrikes against gunmen

Kiev fires artillery on pro-Russian militants as newly-elected President Petro Poroshenko stresses mending relations with Moscow.
Details

Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's highest ranking military officer on Monday gave a glimmer of hope to the families of more than 200 schoolgirls held by Boko Haram militants, revealing they had located the missing teenagers.

"The good news for the girls is that we know where they are but we cannot tell you," Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh told reporters in the capital Abuja as the hostage crisis entered its seventh week.

Nigeria's government and military have been sharply criticised for their response to the mass abduction on April 14 and were finally forced to accept foreign help, including from the United States, in the rescue effort.

Unmanned US drones and surveillance aircraft have been scouring northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Chad from the air while British, French and Israeli teams have been on the ground providing specialist assistance.

Badeh was speaking after addressing demonstrators who had marched on Defence Headquarters in Abuja, the latest in a series of daily protests that has sought to keep up the pressure on the government.

The officer refused to divulge any further details, describing the operation as a "military secret", but he added: "We are working. We will get the girls back."

Addressing the protesters, Badeh said the military was faced with a dilemma of whether to send in ground troops, given fears of deaths and casualties among the 223 girls still being held.

"Nobody should come and say the Nigerian military does not know what it's doing. We know what we are doing. We can't go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back," he told the crowd.

"So, we are working. The president (Goodluck Jonathan) is solidly behind us. The president has empowered us to do the work."

Yahoo News with Katie Couric: Crisis in Nigeria

Nigeria's military chief offers hope to the families of the schoolgirls held by Boko Haram militants.
Refuses to divulge details