Hostages seized as Iraq militants storm Ramadi university

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By Kareem Raheem and Kamal Naama

BAGHDAD/RAMADI Iraq (Reuters) - A wave of car bombs exploded across Baghdad on Saturday, killing more than 60 people, and militants stormed a university campus in western Iraq, security and medical sources said.

In total, there were a dozen blasts in mainly Shi'ite districts of the capital, the deadliest of which occurred in Bayaa, where a car bomb left 23 people dead, many of them young men playing billiards.

"I was about to close my shop when I heard a huge explosion on the main commercial street," said Kareem Abdulla, whose legs were still shaking from the shock. "I saw many cars set ablaze as well as shops".

Other bombs went off near a cinema, a popular juice shop and a Shi'ite mosque.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the bombings, but the Shi'ite community is a frequent target for Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining ground and momentum in Iraq over the past year.

Since Thursday alone, militants have seized parts of Ramadi and Falluja, the two main cities in the mainly Sunni Anbar province. On Saturday, they took control of the campus of Anbar University in Ramadi.

A member of the security and defense committee in parliament said the insurgency could not be quelled by force alone because the root cause was political. Critics of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government say its treatment of the once-dominant Sunni minority is the main driver of the insurgency.

"SECURITY WILL GET WORSE"

"The Iraqi government now relies on using force to solve things, that is why security will get worse," said Shwan Mohammed Taha, predicting that violence could spread to other Sunni-dominated provinces such as Diyala.

"This is not only deterioration, it is a failure to manage the security file."

Parts of Ramadi have been held by anti-government tribesmen and insurgents since the start of the year. Overnight, gunmen fought their way past guards into the university, planting bombs behind them.

The militants eventually allowed students and teaching staff to leave, but remained in control of the campus late on Saturday, exchanging fire with security forces.

A professor trapped inside the physics department told Reuters some staff who live outside Ramadi had been spending the night at the university because it was the exam period.

"We heard intense gunfire at about 4 a.m. We thought it was the security forces coming to protect us but were surprised to see they were gunmen," he told Reuters by telephone. "They forced us to go inside the rooms, and now we cannot leave."

Sources in Ramadi hospital said they had received the bodies of a student and a policeman.

The identity of the assailants was not clear. Ramadi and Falluja were overrun at the start of the year by tribal and Sunni insurgents, including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

SUPPLY LINES

Security forces have regained control of central Ramadi, but the suburbs and outlying areas have swung back and forth between them and the militants. Falluja, around 50 km (30 miles) away, is still in insurgent hands.

One of the guards at the university said he believed the militants' real aim was to seize an area called Humaira behind the campus, which would allow them to set up supply lines between Ramadi and Falluja.

"I think the militants will withdraw as their target was not the university. They came to stay in Humaira, and we know how important it is for them," he said. "They want to be connected with their gunmen in Falluja".

Almost 480,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Anbar over the past six months, according to the United Nations - Iraq's largest displacement since the sectarian bloodletting that climaxed in 2006-07.

Violence is still well below those levels, but last year was Iraq's deadliest since security began to improve in 2008. Nearly 800 people were killed across the country in May alone - the highest monthly toll this year so far.

On Thursday, militants moved into the city of Samarra in the adjacent province of Salahuddin and briefly occupied a university there as well as two mosques, raising ISIL's black banner until airstrikes forced them to retreat. [ID:nL6N0OM4EL]

The following day, insurgents fought Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul. [ID:nL6N0ON4W6]

The head of Mosul morgue said the bodies of 59 civilians and 11 people had been brought in since Friday. Another source at the morgue said there were still corpses on the streets that could not be recovered because some districts of the city remained under militant control.

(Additional reporting by Raheem Salman in Baghdad and Ziad al-Sinjary in Mosul; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Gunmen take students hostage on Iraq campus

The attackers fought past guards to break into a university, the third such militant attack this week.
Snipers on rooftop

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's new president on Saturday called for dialogue with the country's east, gripped by a violent separatist insurgency, and for armed groups to lay down their weapons but said he won't talk with rebels he called "gangsters and killers."

Petro Poroshenko's inaugural address after taking the oath of office in parliament gave little sign of a quick resolution to the conflict in the east, which Ukrainian officials say has left more than 200 people dead.

He also took a firm line on Russia's annexation of Crimea this spring, insisting that the Black Sea peninsula "was, is and will be Ukrainian." He gave no indication of how Ukraine could regain control of Crimea, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has said was allotted to Ukraine unjustly under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Rebel leaders in the east dismissed Poroshenko's speech.

"This statement doesn't concern us," said the so-called prime minister of the insurgent Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Poroshenko offered amnesty to rebels who "don't have blood on their hands." But "I don't believe it," said Valery Bolotov, the insurgent leader in the Luhansk region. Rebels in both Luhansk and Donetsk have declared their regions independent.

The new president promised "I will bring you peace," but did not indicate whether Ukrainian forces would scale back their offensives against the insurgency, which Ukraine says is fomented by Russia.

Russia has insisted on Ukraine ending its military operation in the east. Ambassador Mikhail Zurabov, representing Moscow, at the inauguration, said Poroshenko's statements "sound reassuring," but "for us the principal thing is to stop the military operation," RIA Novosti reported.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko speak to e …

As president, Poroshenko is commander-in-chief of the military and appoints the defense and foreign ministers. The prime minister is appointed by the parliament.

The 48-year-old Poroshenko, often called "The Chocolate King" because of the fortune he made as a confectionery tycoon, was elected May 25. He replaces Oleksandr Turchynov, who served as interim president after Russia-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych fled the country in February after months of street protests against him.

The fall of Yanukovych aggravated long-brewing tensions in eastern and southern Ukraine, whose majority native Russian speakers denounced the new government as a nationalist putsch that aimed to suppress them.

Within a month, the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia after a secession referendum and an armed insurgency arose in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

In his inaugural address, attended by dignitaries including U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, Sen. John McCain and Democratic Rep. Marci Kaptur, Poroshenko promised amnesty "for those who do not have blood on their hands" and called for dialogue with "peaceful citizens" in the east.

"I am calling on everyone who has taken arms in their hands — please lay down your arms," he said, according to a translator. He also called for early regional elections in the east and promised to push for new powers to be allotted to regional governments, but he rejected calls for federalization of Ukraine, which Moscow has advocated.

Poroshenko also insisted that Ukrainian would remain the sole state language of the country, but promised "new opportunities for the Russian language," without giving specifics.

He assumed power a day after meeting Putin at D-Day commemoration ceremonies in France.

Putin has denied allegations by Kiev and the West that Russia has fomented the rebellion in the east, and he insisted Friday that Poroshenko needs to speak directly to representatives from the east.

After the low-key inauguration ceremony, which included a choir in traditional national costume singing the national anthem, Poroshenko went to the square outside the landmark Sophia Cathedral for a ceremonial troop inspection.

Taras Danchuk, a 37-year-old spectator at the square who was wearing a traditional embroidered tunic, said he supported Poroshenko's strategy for trying to negotiate an end the eastern conflict.

"Out of emotion I would like to say that we should destroy the terrorists, but that is not possible without sacrificing the civilians who live there, so there will have to be negotiations," he said.

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By Thomas Grove and Alissa de Carbonnel

SLAVIANSK/LUHANSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists poured scorn on peace overtures from Ukraine's new president Petro Poroshenko on Saturday as fighting rumbled on in the east of the country.

Taking the oath of office in Kiev, Poroshenko appealed to the rebels to lay down their arms, offering peaceful dialogue and immunity from prosecution to "those who don't have blood on their hands".

But rebel spokesmen in the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, which has declared independence from Ukraine and wants to unite with neighboring Russia, told Reuters the fight would continue.

"What they really want is one-sided disarmament and for us to surrender. That will never happen," said a top separatist official, Fyodor Berezin. "As long as Ukrainian troops are on our soil, I can see that all Poroshenko wants is subjugation," he said by telephone from Donetsk.

Since Poroshenko's election on May 25, government forces have stepped up what they call an 'anti-terrorist' campaign against the Russian-speaking separatists in the east.

The rebels have fought back, turning parts of the east into a war zone. On Friday they shot down a Ukrainian army plane and killed a member of the interior ministry's special forces in the separatist stronghold of Slaviansk.

Fighting continued around Slaviansk on Saturday and smoke could be seen rising above the surrounding forests.

Ukrainian armored personnel carriers and military transport vehicles lined the road leading into the city, and soldiers behind concrete blocks and sand bags trained their machine guns on cars and buses driving out.

Inna, 38, was leaving by foot with her mother and grandmother, carrying bags with food, water and clothes.

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From left, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-O …

"All you hear is shelling and bombing. Yesterday entire houses burnt down. We've been hiding in the cellar for three days and we finally decided to leave. There is no water or electricity," she said.

In his speech, Poroshenko said the government was prepared to talk to peaceful citizens - "clearly not with gunmen and other scoundrels" - and would offer a safe corridor for fighters who had crossed the border from Russia to go home.

But his appeal appeared to fall on deaf ears.

"We have reached the point of no return," said Andrei Sukhanov, commander of the separatist Kaskad (Cascade) militia, manning a road block in Slaviansk.

PROTEST IN LUHANSK

While the government tightens its grip around Slaviansk, now encircled by the army, it appears to be losing ground in its easternmost region of Luhansk, where border guards have fled several bases after coming under attack.

Some 200 people protested against the presidential inauguration in the center of the city, some laying flowers on the sun-baked sidewalk in memory of eight people killed on Monday.

Residents say they died in an air strike from a Ukrainian plane which blew a hole in the regional administration building. The Ukrainian military denied this, blaming a misfire by separatists.

Broken glass and plaster crunched under the feet of the demonstrators.

"Our government is doing America's bidding. Poroshenko, we appeal to you to stop this - do you really want bloodshed?" shouted a red-haired woman to applause.

Frightened by the air-raid warning sirens that ring out over the city at night, Dmitry Grib, 20, said he was leaving for Moscow.

"I came to take a quick look before leaving," Grib said. "I don't trust him (Poroshenko). I didn't elect him."

But Olga Polovinka, who works as a medic in a charity for the homeless, said she was going nowhere. "This is our land. Why should we leave?" the 75-year-old demanded.

Separatist leader Valery Bolotov, governor of the self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic", was emphatic in his rejection of Poroshenko and Ukrainian rule.

"The Ukrainians have made their choice and they must live with it. As for our republic, we have no diplomatic relations with Ukraine," he told journalists, wearing combat fatigues in a conference room hung with crystal chandeliers.

"Today Ukraine got a new president and now the blood of our people and of Ukrainians will lie on his conscience."

(Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Pro-Russian separatists vow to keep fighting

The rebels reject newly sworn-in president Petro Poroshenko's overtures of peace, as the attacks continue.
'Point of no return'

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona officials say they are rushing federal supplies to a makeshift holding center in the southern part of the state that's housing hundreds of migrant children and is running low on the basics.

Gov. Jan Brewer's spokesman, Andrew Wilder, said Friday that conditions at the holding center are so dire that federal officials have asked the state to immediately ship medical supplies to the center in Nogales.

Homeland Security started flying immigrants to Arizona from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas last month after the number of immigrants, including more than 48,000 children traveling on their own, overwhelmed the Border Patrol there.

The immigrant children were flown from Texas, released in Arizona, and told to report to an ICE office near where they were traveling within 15 days.

A Homeland Security Department official told The Associated Press that about 700 children were sleeping on plastic cots Friday and about 2,000 mattresses have been ordered, and portable toilets and showers have been brought to the holding center — a warehouse that has not been used for detention in years.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to discuss the matter publicly, said the Nogales holding center opened for children because the Department of Health and Human Services had nowhere to turn.

"They became so overwhelmed and haven't kept up with planning," the official said.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has said the immigrants were mostly families from Central America fleeing extreme poverty and violence.

The Homeland Security official said the number of children at the warehouse was expected to double to around 1,400. The warehouse has a capacity of about 1,500.

The station began housing children flown from South Texas last Saturday. About 400 were scheduled to arrive Friday but, due to mechanical issues with the planes, only about 60 came, the Homeland Security official said. Saturday's flights were canceled, also due to mechanical problems. There are flights scheduled through mid-June.

Federal authorities plan to use the Nogales facility as a way station, where the children will be vaccinated and checked medically. They will then be sent to facilities being set up in Ventura, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

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FILE-- In this Feb. 26, 2014, file photo, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer appears at a press conference at t …

The Homeland Security official said that the children would be moved out of the Nogales site as soon as Health and Human Services finds places for them. But the official said: "As quickly as we move them out, we get more. We believe this is just a start."

The children being held in Nogales are 17 or younger. The official estimated three of every four were at least 16.

Wilder said reports from consulates that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was stopping the program to fly migrant families to Arizona and then bus them to Phoenix were incorrect. Instead, the program that has shipped unknown thousands of adult migrants and their children to Arizona since last month shows no sign of stopping, he said.

"The adults, the adults with children, families — that continues unfettered and we have no idea where they are going," Wilder said.

In a statement Friday, Homeland Security officials said "appropriate custody determinations will be made on a case by case basis" for migrants apprehended in South Texas.

Brewer sent an angry letter to President Barack Obama on Monday demanding that the program of dropping off families at bus stations in Phoenix stop immediately. She called the program dangerous and unconscionable, asked for details and demanded to know why state authorities weren't consulted or even informed.

The governor said she hadn't received a response to her letter by Friday.

"I have reached out to Federal Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson for answers. Meanwhile, I reiterate my call on President Obama to secure our southern border and terminate this operation immediately," Brewer said in a statement.

Brewer's staff spent Friday in a series of calls with officials from FEMA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security.

Wilder said FEMA's Region 9 administrator was being sent to the holding center in Nogales on Saturday to oversee efforts to deal with the hundreds of arriving children.

The federal emergency supplies are held in Arizona warehouses, and Wilder said the state is working to send them to the holding center.

On Friday night, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that young lawyers and paralegals are being sought for the community service program AmeriCorps to provide legal assistance in immigration proceedings to children who come to the U.S. illegally. Officials say about 100 lawyers and paralegals will be enrolled as members of AmeriCorps in a new division called "justice AmeriCorps."

Immigration officials can immediately return Mexican immigrants to the border, but they are much more hard-pressed to deal with Central American migrants who illegally cross into the U.S. In recent months, waves of migrants from nations south of Mexico have arrived in Texas.

The Homeland Security official said that legally, only their parents or guardians can take custody if the government makes the children eligible for release.

Officials in Central America and Mexico have noticed a recent increase in women and children crossing the border. Father Heyman Vazquez, the director of a migrant shelter in Huixtla in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, said he and others advise children that it's too dangerous. Yet, Vazquez is seeing more and more youths heading north.

"I remember a little boy of 9 years old and I asked if he was going to go meet someone and he told me 'No, I'm just going hand myself over because I hear they help kids," Vazquez said.

The perception that some immigrants could be getting a free pass into the U.S. could lead to more attempts to cross the border. Illegal immigration increased heavily under a "catch-and-release" strategy during the George W. Bush administration. Under that policy the government issued notices to appear in immigration court to migrants from countries other than Mexico until Bush stopped the practice.

Federal officials established a 210-mile stretch of the Texas-Mexico border as a zero-tolerance zone for illegal immigration. Instead of merely getting sent back home, migrants were arrested, prosecuted and sometimes sentenced to prison before being formally kicked out of the country. By August 2006, border agents in the Del Rio, Texas, sector said daily arrests had dropped from 500 to fewer than 100.

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Spagat reported from Tijuana, Mexico. Associated Press writer Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington and Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Arizona rushes supplies to migrant kids

Angry state officials say the situation is dire at a makeshift holding center housing hundreds.
Immigrants sent from Texas