Ahmadinejad unveils Iran's newest fighter jet

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran on Saturday unveiled its newest combat jet, a domestically manufactured fighter-bomber that military officials claim can evade radar.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a ceremony broadcast on state TV that building the Qaher F-313, or Dominant F-313, shows Iran's will to "conquer scientific peaks."

The Qaher is one of several aircraft designs the Iranian military has rolled out since 2007. Tehran has repeatedly claimed to have developed advanced military technologies in recent years, but its claims cannot be independently verified because the country does not release technical details of its arsenals.

The Islamic republic launched a self-sufficient military program in the 1980s to compensate for a Western weapons embargo that banned export of military technology and equipment to Iran. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, torpedoes, drones and fighter planes.

"Qaher is a fully indigenous aircraft designed and built by our aerospace experts. This is a radar-evading plane that can fly at low altitude, carry weapons, engage enemy aircrafts and land at short airstrips," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.

Vahidi said advanced materials were used to manufacture the body of the aircraft, making it Iran's best stealth plane.

However, some reports suggest that Iran's program relies on equipment supplied by major international defense contractors and that it incorporates parts made abroad or uses outside engineered technologies in its domestic designs.

Still photos of the Qaher released by the official IRNA news agency and pictures on state TV showed a single-seat jet. They described it as a fighter-bomber that can combat other aircraft and ground targets.

Iran's English-language state Press TV said Qaher was similar to the American-made F/A-18, an advanced fighter capable of dogfighting as well as penetrating enemy air defenses to strike ground targets.

But Hasan Parvaneh, an official in charge of the project, said the physical design of the Iranian plane was unique and bore no resemblance to any foreign fighter jet.

"Development depends on our will. If we don't have a will, no one can take us there," Ahmadinejad told the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. "Once we imported cars and assembled them here. Now, we are at a point where we can design, build and get planes in the air."

Ahmadinejad said Qaher was built for deterrence.

"It's not for expansionism. It's for deterrence," he said, claiming the aircraft was among the most advanced fighter jets in the world.

In 2007, Iran unveiled what it said was its first domestically manufactured fighter jet, called Azarakhsh or Lightning. In the same year, it claimed that Azarakhsh had reached industrial production stage.

Saeqeh, or Thunder, was a follow-up aircraft derived from Azarakhsh. Iran unveiled its first squadron of Saeqeh fighter bombers in an air show in September 2010.

Train carrying chemicals derails in North Carolina, causes evacuations

23 killed in Taliban attack on Pakistan army post

People gather at the site of a suicide bombing in Hangu, Pakistan, Friday, Feb 1, 2013. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a Shiite mosque in northwestern Pakistan as worshippers were leaving Friday prayers, killing several people and wounding many in the latest apparent sectarian attack in the country, police said. (AP Photo/Abdul Basit)

A Pakistani man who was injured in a suicide bombing is rushed by volunteers to a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a Shiite mosque in northwestern Pakistan as worshippers were leaving Friday prayers, killing several people and wounding dozens in the latest apparent sectarian attack in the country, police said.(AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Taliban militants wearing suicide vests fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at an army post in northwestern Pakistan in a pre-dawn raid Saturday, killing 23 people, including 10 civilians, officials said.

Twelve attackers also were killed in the assault.

The raid came a day after a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque elsewhere in the northwest that killed 30 people, police said. The blast at the mosque was the latest in a rising number of sectarian attacks in the country.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. The group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years and sometimes targets the country's minority Shiites.

The Taliban and allied militant groups have stepped up the pace of attacks in Pakistan in recent months, an indication of their strength despite numerous army operations against their strongholds in the northwest.

The raid on the army post in Serai Naurang town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province began around 3:45 a.m. local time and lasted for several hours, said senior police officer Arif Khan Wazir. The militants fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, he said.

Two security officials said the militants killed 10 civilians, including three women and three children, in a nearby house. In addition to the civilians, nine soldiers; four members of the Frontier Constabulary, a force that polices parts of northwestern Pakistan; and 12 attackers also were killed in the fighting.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press from an undisclosed location. He said four suicide bombers were involved in the attack. He said that three of them were killed and the fourth was still resisting as of his call at around 9:20 a.m. local time.

Ahsan said the attack was in retaliation for the recent deaths of two Taliban commanders in U.S. drone strikes. He accused the Pakistani army of helping with the attacks. Pakistani officials often criticize drone operations as a violation of the country's sovereignty, but are known to have assisted some U.S. strikes in the past.

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said he saw the bodies of three attackers with their suicide vests intact. Their features suggested they belonged to a group of Uzbek militants allied with the Taliban, he said.

He said other attackers detonated their explosives during the battle with security forces — one inside the house where civilians were killed. He did not say if this caused the civilian deaths.

The attack on the mosque Friday took place in Hangu town, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The town has experienced previous clashes between the Sunni and Shiite communities there.

Six people wounded in the bombing died on Saturday, raising the death toll to 30, said local political official Tahir Zafar Abbasi.

Shiites in Pakistan have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics, and 2012 was the bloodiest year for the minority sect in the country's history. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 Shiites were killed in targeted attacks in Pakistan last year.

The Taliban are battling the Pakistani government because of its alliance with the United States and because it wants to impose Islamic law in the country. Pakistani's military has launched operations against the Taliban in many of their sanctuaries in the semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border.

But one major area remains: North Waziristan, the main stronghold for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the country. The army has resisted launching an operation there, despite intense U.S. pressure, for fear of a backlash from militants who so far have directed their attacks against U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan rather than inside Pakistan.

It's unclear whether the recent surge of attacks in Pakistan will alter the army's calculation. There also have been calls from some political leaders to hold talks with the Taliban in an attempt to end the violence. But others believe it is not possible to reason with the Taliban or trust them, and that the best option is to try to battle them into submission.

Also Saturday, a bomb exploded during a search of a compound in Ghunda Mela area of Orakzai tribal region, killing an army officer and a soldier and injuring two soldiers, according to a military statement. Orakzai is one of the tribal regions where Pakistan army is carrying out massive operations against Islamist militants.

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Associated Press writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Iraqi officials: Suicide car bomb targeting police kills at least 15 in disputed northern city

BAGHDAD - Officials say a suicide car bomb targeting a provincial police headquarters has killed at least 15 people in a disputed northern Iraqi city.

A police officer says at least one attacker drove his car into the headquarters building in Kirkuk on Sunday morning. He said another 70 people were wounded.

The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release information. The head of the provincial health directorate, Sidiq Omar Rasool, confirmed the casualty figures.

Kirkuk, 290 kilometres north of Baghdad, is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area.

Syrian rebels advance near Aleppo airport

This citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows anti-Syrian regime protesters flashing the victory sign as they hold a banner during a demonstration, at Kafr Nabil town, in Idlib province, northern Syria, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN)

Syria's top opposition leader,Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib, arrives at the International Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013. The Munich Security Conference started Friday afternoon with experts from 90 delegations including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels captured a strategic neighborhood near Aleppo's international airport on Saturday, putting opposition fighters in control of a key road that the regime has used to ferry supplies and reinforcements to soldiers fighting in the embattled northern city, activists said.

Elsewhere in the nation, fighting continued unabated, killing more than 60 people nationwide, according to activists.

Troops loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels have been locked in a deadly stalemate in Aleppo, Syria's largest urban center and main commercial hub, since an opposition assault last summer. Seven months later, the rebels hold large parts of the city and its outskirts, including several army bases, but they have been unable to overcome the regime's far superior firepower.

The capturing of the Sheik Said neighborhood, southeast of Aleppo, is a significant blow to regime forces because the area includes a major road, linking the northern city with the airport. The army has used the road to supply troops.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels captured the area Saturday after several days of fierce battles with Assad's troops. Rebels have previously established enclaves outside Syria's major cities to threaten the regime, including near the capital, Damascus, but they were later attacked by Assad's fighter jets and artillery.

In an effort to reverse rebels' advance in Aleppo, regime's war planes carried out several airstrikes on the Sheik Said, the Observatory said. There were no reports of casualties from the bombing.

The opposition's Western backers, including the United States, have been reluctant to supply rebels with more sophisticated weapons because of the increased influence of an al-Qaida-affiliated group among the anti-Assad fighters on the front lines. The Islamists growing prominence in the Syrian opposition has fueled fears that Muslim radicals might try to hijack the revolt that started as peaceful protests against Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years.

In Germany, Vice President Joe Biden said, "The opposition (to Assad) continues to grow stronger."

Speaking at an annual security conference in Munich, Biden stated the conviction of the U.S. and many others. "President Assad — a tyrant hell-bent on clinging to power — is no longer fit to lead the Syrian people and he must go," Biden said.

Assad has repeated brushed aside international calls to step down, characterizing its opponents as Islamic extremists who are out to destroy the country. In a speech last month, Assad outlined a peace initiative that would keep him in power.

The opposition coalition has rejected any talks with Damascus until Assad steps down. However, Moaz al-Khatib, the president of the coalition that is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood movement, said Wednesday that he is willing to negotiate with members of Assad's regime to bring a peaceful end to the country's civil war.

Russia is Assad's longtime ally, and it has disagreed sharply with Washington and its Western allies on ways to end the bloodshed in Syria. Moscow has maintained that Assad is part of the solution to the crisis, though Russian officials have recently criticized their ally in Damascus and even mentioned the possibility of rebels winning the war.

However, Lavrov told the gathering of top security officials that Biden's statement that Assad must go was counterproductive.

"The persistence of those who say that priority No. 1 is the removal of President Assad — I think it's the single biggest reason for the continued tragedy in Syria," Lavrov said.

Syria's civil war is estimated to have claimed more than 60,000 lives since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011.

Despite disagreements on ways to end the fighting and Assad's role in peace efforts, Lavrov said Russia shared the West's concern over the fate of Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons.

As the regime grows more desperate to retain power, many fear it could use the weapons against its own people — a claim Damascus has repeatedly denied. There have also been concerns that conventional and unconventional weapons that Syria is said to have could end up in the hands of Islamic radicals.

"The red line is a common line for all of us: We are categorically against any use of weapons of mass destruction, be it chemical, be it biological, be it nuclear," Lavrov said. He added that the Syrian government has repeatedly assured Moscow that it is watching over those weapons and keeping the rebels away from the sensitive sites.

"Our partners agree with us that the biggest threat is the probability or possibility that the rebels get hold of those chemical weapons," Lavrov said.

In Damascus, another close Syrian ally, Iran, pledged continued support for Assad's regime. During a three-day visit to Syria, Tehran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, lashed out at countries supporting the opposition, saying they are "the enemies, claiming they are defending the Syrian people."

In the north, regime war planes hit rebel-held areas in Idlib province as troops fought rebels in Deir el-Zour in the east, an oil-rich area along Syria's border with Iraq, the Observatory said. Fighting also raged in the central provinces of Homs and Hama, in the restive suburbs of Damascus that were also hit by air strikes and in the southern province of Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising.

State-run SANA news agency said 15 people were killed and 22 others were wounded when a car, packed with explosives detonated prematurely in Idlib's Saraqeb city. The report said all the dead and wounded were "terrorists," a term the government uses for rebels.

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Associated Press writers Geir Moulson and David Rising in Munich contributed to this report.