World

LONDON — The attacker who killed three people near parliament in London before being shot dead was named on Thursday as British-born Khalid Masood, who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism.

The Daesh terror group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the jihadist group.

Police said Masood, 52, was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England.

“Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

“However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH [grievous bodily harm], possession of offensive weapons and public order offences.”

 Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but was a peripheral figure.

Police said Masood had never been convicted of a terrorism offence. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last one was in December 2003 for possession of a knife.

During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ploughing into pedestrians. He then ran through the gates of the nearby parliament building and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman before being shot dead. 

Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the attack, which May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology.

The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used in the attack had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is located in the West Midlands.

“An employee identified the vehicle after seeing the licence plate in an image online. We ran another check to verify, and immediately contacted the authorities,” said company spokesman John Davies.

About 40 people were injured in the attack, of whom 29 remain in hospital, seven in critical condition.

May visited some of the wounded in hospital on Thursday, her spokesman said. She also chaired a meeting of the government’s crisis response committee, and spoke to several leaders of countries whose nationals were caught up in the attack.

‘Lone-wolf attack’

The bloodshed in London took place on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels, and resembled Daesh-inspired attacks in France and Germany where vehicles were driven into crowds. 

The dead were Masood, two members of the public, and Keith Palmer, the 48-year-old policeman stabbed by Masood.

A minute’s silence was held in parliament and in front of police headquarters at 0933 GMT, in honour of the victims — 933 was the shoulder number on Palmer’s uniform.

“He will be deeply missed. We love him so much,” Palmer’s family said in a statement. He was married with a five-year-old daughter.

It was the deadliest attack in Britain since 2005, when 52 people were killed by extremist suicide bombers on London’s public transport system. Police had given Wednesday’s death toll as five but revised it to four on Thursday.

The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Chinese, one American and two Greeks, May said.

“My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday’s awful violence,” Queen Elizabeth said in a message.

US tourist Kurt Cochran was named as one of the dead in a Facebook post by family member Shantell Payne.

“With a heavy heart I must pass the sad news of our beautiful brother, father, husband, son and friend Kurt Cochran, he could not overcome the injuries he received in the London terror attacks,” Payne wrote.

Her post said Cochran’s wife, Melissa Payne Cochran, was in hospital with a broken leg and rib and a cut on her head.

US President Donald Trump paid homage to Cochran in a tweet, calling him “a great American”.

A government minister was widely praised for trying to resuscitate Palmer, walking away from the scene with blood on his hands and face.

Many have been shocked that the attacker was able to cause such mayhem in the heart of the capital equipped with nothing more than a hired car and a knife.

“This kind of attack, this lone-wolf attack, using things from daily life, a vehicle, a knife, are much more difficult to forestall,” Defence Minister Michael Fallon told the BBC.

Three French high-school students aged 15 or 16 and on a school trip to London with fellow students from Brittany were among the injured. 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault travelled to London to show solidarity and met some of the other students who were on the school trip and their families.

He told reporters the lives of the three youngsters were not in danger. Ayrault later attended the session in parliament where May spoke. France has been hit by repeated deadly Islamist attacks over the past two years.

SEOUL  — A new North Korean missile test failed on Wednesday, the South and US said, two weeks after Pyongyang launched four rockets in what it called a drill for an attack on American bases in Japan.

The nuclear-armed North is under several sets of United Nations sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes.

It is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with an atomic warhead, and staged two nuclear tests and multiple missile launches last year.

The North fired one missile from an air base in the eastern port of Wonsan on Wednesday morning, but the launch “is believed to have failed”, Seoul’s defence ministry said in a statement, adding it was analysing what type of missile was involved.

The US military said the missile exploded shortly after launch.

“US Pacific Command detected what we assess was a failed North Korean missile launch attempt... in the vicinity of Kalma. A missile appears to have exploded within seconds of launch,” said spokesman David Benham.

Earlier this month Pyongyang launched a flight of four ballistic missiles, with three landing provocatively close to Japan in what the North described, as practice for attacks on US military bases in Japan.

On Sunday, its leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw and hailed a “successful” test of what Pyongyang said was a new rocket engine — which can be easily repurposed for use in missiles.

Seoul said that experiment showed “meaningful progress” in the North’s missile capabilities.

The developments come as Seoul and Washington hold large-scale annual joint military exercises that always infuriate Pyongyang, which sees them as a rehearsal for invasion.

Analysts’ opinions are varied on how advanced the North’s missile technologies are but many agree that Pyongyang has made significant progress in recent years. 

‘Option on the table’ 

Sunday’s engine test was apparently timed to coincide with a recent Asia trip by new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who warned that regional tensions had reached a “dangerous level”.

Washington would drop the “failed” approach of “strategic patience” with Pyongyang, Tillerson said, warning that US military action was an “option on the table” if necessary — a sharp divergence from China’s insistence on a diplomatic approach to its neighbour, which it has long protected.

Beijing said it had “taken note” of reports of the failed missile launch and that the US was considering more sanctions, and urged “relevant parties” to show restraint. 

“The Korean nuclear issue has very complex dynamics and background,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

“It lies in the differences between the North Korea and the US and stems from the lack of mutual trust,” she added. “Those who tie the knot should be the ones to untie the knot.”

 This week the North’s state news agency KCNA boasted that Tillerson had “admitted the failure” of US policy to denuclearise the nation.

Pyongyang insists that it needs nuclear weapons for self-defence against “hostile enemies” including the South and its ally the US.

But it has yet to test an inter-continental ballistic missile capable of flying across the Pacific Ocean.

The country’s long-range Musudan device has a theoretical range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres. The lower estimate covers the whole of South Korea and Japan, while the upper range would include US military bases in Guam.

The missile was tested eight times last year — but only one of those was successful, with the others exploding in mid-air shortly after launch.

A Musudan launched in June last year flew 400 kilometres off the east coast of the peninsula and was hailed by Kim as proof of the North’s ability to strike US bases across the “Pacific operation theatre”.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that under former president Barack Obama the US stepped up cyber attacks against North Korea to try to sabotage its missiles before launch or just as they lift off.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed restrictions on carry-on electronic devices on planes coming to the United States from 10 airports in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa in response to unspecified terrorism threats.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said passengers travelling from those airports could not bring devices larger than a cellphone, such as tablets, portable DVD players, laptops and cameras, into the main cabin. Instead, they must be in checked baggage.

The new restrictions were prompted by reports that militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices in electronic gadgets, officials told reporters on a conference call on Monday.

They did not provide further details on the threat.

The airports are in Cairo; Istanbul; Kuwait City; Doha, Qatar; Casablanca, Morocco; Amman, Jordan; Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates. 

Officials said the decision had nothing to do with President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose a travel ban on six majority-Muslim nations. DHS Spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said the government “did not target specific nations. We relied upon evaluated intelligence to determine which airports were affected”.

On March 6, Trump signed a revised executive order barring citizens from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from travelling to the United States for 90 days. Two federal judges have halted parts of the ban, saying it discriminates against Muslims. Trump has vowed to appeal up to the Supreme Court if necessary.

The airports affected by the electronics rules are served by nine airlines that fly directly from those cities to the United States about 50 flights a day, senior government officials said.

The carriers — Royal Jordanian Airlines, Egypt Air, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways , Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways — have until Friday to comply with the new policy, which took effect early on Tuesday and will be in place indefinitely. Several of the carriers, including Turkish Airlines, Etihad and Qatar, said early on Tuesday that they were quickly moving to comply. Royal Jordanian and Saudi Airlines said on Monday that they were immediately putting the directive into place.

An Emirates spokeswoman said the new security directive would last until October 14. However, Christensen termed that date “a placeholder for review” of the rule.

The policy does not affect any American carriers because none fly directly to the United States from the airports, officials said. 

Officials did not explain why the restrictions only apply to travellers arriving in the United States and not for those same flights when they leave from there.

The rules do apply to US citizens travelling on those flights, but not to crew members on those foreign carriers. Homeland Security will allow passengers to use larger approved medical devices. 

Angela Gittens, director general of airport association ACI World, likened the move to yearslong restrictions of liquids on planes, which she said also came suddenly, in response to a perceived threat, and caused some disruption.

Airlines will adjust to the electronics policy, she said. “The first few days of something like this are quite problematic, but just as with the liquids ban, it will start to sort itself out.”

DHS said the procedures would “remain in place until the threat changes” and did not rule out expanding them to other airports.

The agency said in a statement it “seeks to balance risk with impacts to the travelling public and has determined that cellphones and smartphones will be allowed in accessible property at this time.” 

The government said it was “concerned about terrorists’ ongoing interest in targeting commercial aviation, including transportation hubs over the past two years.”

 Reuters reported Monday that the move had been under consideration since the US government learned of a threat several weeks ago. 

US officials have told Reuters the information gleaned from a US commando raid in January in Yemen that targeted Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) included bombmaking techniques.

AQAP, based in Yemen, has plotted to down US airliners and claimed responsibility for 2015 attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. 

The group claimed responsibility for a Dec. 25, 2009, failed attempt by a Nigerian Islamist to down an airliner over Detroit. The device, hidden in the underwear of the man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, failed to detonate.

In 2010, security officials in Britain and Dubai intercepted parcel bombs sent from Yemen to the United States.

The Homeland Security Department stepped up security of US-bound flights in July 2014, requiring tougher screening of mobile phones and other electronic devices and requiring them to be powered up before passengers could board flights to the United States. 

LONDON/BRUSSELS — Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Britain’s divorce proceedings with the European Union on March 29, launching two years of negotiations that will reshape the future of the country and Europe.

May’s government said her permanent envoy to the EU had informed European Council President Donald Tusk of the date when Britain intends to invoke Article 50 of its Lisbon Treaty — the mechanism for starting its exit after a referendum last June in which Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin to leave the bloc.

The EU said it was ready to begin the negotiations and within 48 hours of the trigger on March 29, Tusk will send the other 27 member states his draft negotiating guidelines, which means that talks could start at the earliest in May.

Sterling slipped from a three-week high against the dollar on what Brexit Minister David Davis described as a move taking Britain to “the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation”.

May said she would negotiate for “everyone across the United Kingdom and all parts of the UK”.

“We’re going to be out there, negotiating hard, delivering on what the British people voted for,” she told reporters.

The 60-year-old leader hopes to negotiate terms that keep trade, financial and political relations with EU member states as close as possible after Brexit, but also satisfy eurosceptics in her Conservative Party who demand a complete break from an institution they say has stolen British sovereignty.

It will be a difficult and ambitious balancing act. Talks on departing the prosperous club Britain joined in 1973 are likely to be the most complex London has held since World War II, with other EU leaders saying they will not give May an easy ride.

With nationalism and anti-establishment, anti-immigrant sentiment spreading across Western Europe, the EU leadership in Brussels is anxious to avoid encouraging others in the 28-member bloc to bolt.

At the same time, May faces threats by Scottish nationalists to call a new independence referendum that could splinter the United Kingdom and fears in Northern Ireland that a “hard border” with EU member Ireland will return after Brexit.

May has revealed little of her strategy for securing what she calls “the best possible deal” for the world’s fifth largest economy and making Brexit as painless as possible. 

Although she succeeded David Cameron as prime minister soon after the June 23 Brexit referendum, she delayed triggering Article 50 to give herself time to work on her strategy for talks that are likely to determine her political legacy.

Future relations

Article 50 allows for two years of talks to decide an EU member state’s divorce terms, “taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union”. May says that clause means the two sides can set out deals to cover future trade and other ties.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU also had two tracks to work on over the next year.

“The first track is Britain’s exit, including what all this means in terms of future relations with Britain when the exit terms are known,” she told a news conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a technology fair in Hanover. 

“The second track is how we can strengthen and invigorate cooperation between the EU27 and make them weatherproof in the 21st century.”

 Britain’s referendum exposed geographical and social divisions in the country that have deepened over arguments about its future relationship with the EU.

Nationalists in Scotland, which voted to remain in the bloc, have accused the May government of pressing for a hard Brexit by committing to departing the EU’s lucrative single market of 500 million consumers. Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has called for a new independence referendum.

In Northern Ireland, which also voted to stay in the EU, the largest Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, has said it wants a referendum on splitting from the United Kingdom and uniting with the Republic of Ireland “as soon as possible”.

Against the backdrop of trying to keep the UK together, May has a long wish list for the EU — the closest possible trading ties, security cooperation, regaining control over immigration and restoring sovereignty in various policy areas.

The EU has baulked at her demands, saying they amount to “having your cake and eating it”. May’s government acknowledges its opening position is bold, and is also preparing for the possibility of crashing out of the bloc with no deal.

While the government has signalled areas for compromise and is keen to remind EU leaders of the benefits of cooperation, government departments are still awaiting the final word from May’s office on which economic sectors to prioritise.

Britain’s commitment to payments into the EU budget — which officials in the bloc estimate to reach around 60 billion euros — are shaping up to be one of the first, and possibly most contentious, parts of the divorce talks.

Any argument over money would underline the challenges May will face. She wants to show goodwill in the talks but will also be under pressure from pro-Brexit lawmakers for a total break — something that could harden the case for independence movements.

MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday welcomed the prospect of the International Criminal Court (ICC) putting him on trial over his bloody war on drugs, saying he would not be intimidated and his campaign would be unrelenting and "brutal".

A self-confessed assassin who testified to being in a "death squad" under Duterte is expected to file a case at the ICC this month or in April, accusing the president of crimes against humanity, his lawyer said recently.

But Duterte has said he is on the right track regarding human rights and has never instructed security forces to kill suspects who were not resisting arrest. More than 8,000 people have died since he took office last year and began his anti-drugs campaign, a third in raids and sting operations by police who say they acted in self-defence. 

"I will not be intimidated and I shall not be stopped just by what? International Criminal Court? Impeachment? If that is part of my destiny, it is my destiny to go," Duterte told reporters shortly before leaving for Myanmar.

"The drive against corruption, criminality and drugs will resume and it will continue and it will be brutal." 

Rights groups say many of the deaths were assassinations of drugs users with police complicity. The authorities reject that and blame vigilantes and drugs gangs.

Duterte said he would never "condone the killing of a criminal person arrested with outstretched arms, begging for his life, or what is popularly known as extrajudicial killings".

 "Follow the law and we are alright. Drop shabu and nobody will die tomorrow," Duterte said. Shabu is the street name for the highly addictive crystal methamphetamine that the government blames for most of the serious crimes in the Philippines.

But Duterte warned: "If you place the guys lives in jeopardy... my order is to shoot you." 

He said he would rather see "thousands or millions of criminals go first", than see security forces killed in the anti-narcotics war.

Two men, including the one who is expected to file the ICC case, have testified before the Philippine senate saying they were part of an alleged "death squad" in Davao that killed at Duterte's behest. But legislators found no proof of extra-judicial killings and death squads. 

The "death squad" and allegations of drugs-related extrajudicial killings were among the reasons for an impeachment complaint filed by an opposition lawmaker in congress against Duterte on Thursday.

Duterte said he was not ruling out the possibility that "scalawags in government who are trying to silence guys dealing with them" were behind these extrajudicial executions. 

PARIS — Security forces shot dead a man who seized a soldier’s gun at Paris Orly airport in France on Saturday soon after the same man shot and wounded a police officer during a routine police check, the interior minister said.

The man was known to police and intelligence services, Interior Minister Bruno le Roux told reporters. A police source described him as a radicalised Muslim but did not identify him by name.

The anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation.

The busy Orly airport south of Paris was evacuated and security forces swept the area for bombs to make sure the dead man was not wearing an explosive belt, but nothing was found, interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told Reuters.

“The man succeeded in seizing the weapon of a soldier. He was quickly neutralised by the security forces,” Brandet said.

No one else was injured at the airport. 

Flights were suspended from both terminals of the airport and some flights were diverted to Charles de Gaulle airport north of the capital, airport operator ADP said.

Earlier, a police officer was shot and wounded by the same man during a routine traffic check in Stains, north of Paris.

The incidents came five weeks before France holds presidential elections in which national security is a key issue.

The country remains on high alert after attacks by the Daesh terror group militants killed scores of people in the last two years — including coordinated bombings and shootings in Paris in November 2015 in which 130 people were killed. A state of emergency is in place until at least the end of July. 

The attacks would have no impact on a trip to Paris by Prince William, second-in-line to the British throne, and his wife Kate, who are due to end a two-day visit to the French capital on Saturday, a British spokesman said.

The soldier whose gun the man tried to seize was a member of the army’s “Sentinelle” operation responsible for patrolling airports and other key sites since January 2015 when attackers killed 12 people at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. It was reinforced after the Paris attacks.

Around 3,000 passengers were evacuated fromjavascript:void(0); the airport, the second busiest in the country. 

In March 2016, Daesh claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks on Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital which killed 35 people, including three suicide bombers. 

AMSTERDAM — EU leaders lined up on Thursday to congratulate Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on beating far-rightist Geert Wilders in the first of a series of European elections this year in which populist insurgent parties are hoping to rock the establishment.

The centre-right prime minister had trailed in opinion polls for much of the campaign but emerged the clear victor of Wednesday's election, albeit with fewer seats than before.

Wilders, who campaigned on an anti-immigration platform and wanted to shut mosques and ban the Koran, won a third more seats than at the last election, but was thwarted in his bid to become the biggest party.

Rutte, whose win helped boost the euro and European shares, called it an "evening in which the Netherlands, after Brexit, after the American elections, said 'stop' to the wrong kind of populism".

 A win for Wilders would have been seen as a boost for French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, running second in opinion polls before a presidential election in April and May, and for populist parties elsewhere that want to curb immigration and weaken or break up the European Union.

The sense of relief among European leaders was palpable.

"The Netherlands are our partners, friends, neighbours. Therefore I was very happy that a high turnout led to a very pro-European result, a clear signal," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will run for reelection in September.

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, expected to face Le Pen in a two-way run-off on May 7, said: "The Netherlands is showing us that a breakthrough for the extreme right is not a foregone conclusion and that progressives are gaining momentum."

 The risk premium demanded by investors to hold French government bonds rather than safe-haven German bunds sank in early trade to its lowest level in two weeks, although it later widened again as France released new supply into the market via a debt auction.

Gift from Turkey

With 99 per cent of votes counted, Rutte's VVD Party had won 33 of parliament's 150 seats, down from 41 at the last vote in 2012. Wilders was second with 20, and the CDA and centrist Democrats 66 tied for third with 19 each, data provided by the ANP news agency showed.

Rutte is now virtually guaranteed a third term, leading a government that can be expected to continue tightening immigration policy in the Netherlands, already among the strictest in the EU.

A number of parties including the VVD and the third-placed Christian Democrats, have already adopted most of Wilders' anti-immigration platform, if not his fiery anti-Islam rhetoric.

With his strong second-place finish, Wilders warned Rutte that he had not seen the last of his Party for Freedom. He added that he wanted to participate in coalition talks, even though mainstream parties have ruled out working with him.

"We were the 3rd largest party of the Netherlands. Now we are the 2nd largest party. Next time we will be number 1," Wilders said.

Rutte got a last-minute boost from a diplomatic row with Turkey, which allowed him to take a tough line on a majority Muslim country during an election campaign in which immigration and integration have been key issues.

"Rutte profited from moving to the right, but also from Wilders having radicalised a lot over the last years and being invisible in the campaign," said Cas Muddle, associate professor at the University of Georgia, referring to Wilders' decision to forego election debates until the final week.

"On top of that, Turkish President Recep [Tayyip] Erdogan gave [Rutte] a beautiful gift."

 Turkey has been locked in a deepening row with the Netherlands after the Dutch barred Turkish ministers from speaking to rallies of overseas Turks.

Turkey's foreign minister said the views of Wilders — who wants to close all mosques and ban the Koran — were shared by rival parties and were pushing Europe towards "wars of religion".

Erdogan on Thursday said that while Rutte may have won the election, he had lost his country's friendship.

Focus next on Le Pen

With 13 parties set to enter a fragmented parliament under the proportional Dutch voting system, it will likely take months for Rutte to negotiate a ruling coalition. He will need at least three other parties to reach a majority.

At 80 per cent, turnout was the highest in a decade in an election that was a test of whether the Dutch wanted to end decades of liberalism and choose a nationalist, anti-immigrant path by voting for Wilders and his promise to "de-Islamicise" the Netherlands and quit the EU. 

Outgoing French President Francois Hollande called the result a "clear victory against extremism", and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called it "an inspiration for many".

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault tweeted: "Congratulations to the Dutch for stemming the rise of the far-right."

 But Mabel Berezin, professor of sociology at Cornell University in the United States, said defeat for Wilders should not be considered a sign that European populism is waning.

"The real bellwether election will be Marine Le Pen's quest for the French presidency, starting April 23 — that is where the populist action is and that is what we should be focusing upon," she said.

While Rutte overtook Wilders in the closing stages of the campaign, years of austerity pushed down his share of the vote. His junior partner in the outgoing coalition, Labour, suffered its worst ever result, winning just nine seats, down from 38 last time.

Wilders' tally of 20 seats is five more than before, but still well below a 2010 high of 24 seats. Support for the two most pro-EU parties, the progressive D66 and GreenLeft, was way up.

Denk, a party supported by Dutch Turks, looked set to win three seats and become the first ever ethnic minority party in parliament.

YANGON — Raging battles on Myanmar’s border with China have claimed dozens more lives, military and official sources said Wednesday, as the mounting death toll landed a fresh blow to the government’s faltering peace process.

Fighting broke out between troops and ethnic minority rebels in the Chinese-speaking Kokang border region in northeastern Shan State this month when insurgents dressed in police uniforms launched a surprise raid on security forces. 

Thousands of people have since fled to China to escape the ensuing gun battles, artillery strikes and fires, leaving Laukkai deserted.

Military sources said 28 civilians and police have been killed, while the commander in chief’s office has reported at least 46 insurgents have also died.

Troops “found the bodies of 17 enemies and seized 27 weapons” between March 6-14, it said in a statement.

Three more rebels were killed on Wednesday during an army offensive in which “some military officers and other [lower] rank soldiers were killed and injured,” it added.

A military source who asked not to be named said the figures were in addition to 26 rebels the government said had been killed in a statement on March 6.

State media reported on Tuesday that “dozens of soldiers” had also been killed in the escalating clashes.

The bloodshed has threatened to derail de facto leader Suu Kyi’s efforts to seal a peace deal with Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, some of which have been fighting the state for decades.

The UN said at least 50,000 people have fled their homes in Shan and Kachin States since September to escape some of the worst violence to grip Myanmar’s restive border regions for decades.

A second round of peace talks initially scheduled for late February have now been pushed back to May.

This month’s clashes in the Kokang region have also raised tensions with Beijing, which fears the deadly unrest will spill across its borders as it did in 2015.

The people of Kokang have strong bonds with Myanmar’s giant neighbour — locals speak a Chinese dialect and the yuan is the common currency.

Observers believe Beijing also holds significant sway over the ethnic fighters and has been angling to leverage its key role in the government’s peace process.

Last week China called for an immediate ceasefire and this week officials have reportedly been holding talks with rebel groups in a bid to calm the fighting.

ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday prompted a fresh outcry in the Netherlands with a jibe about the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, warning of new retaliation in a spiralling diplomatic crisis.

Keeping an uncompromising tone, Erdogan said a ‘yes’ vote in an April 16 referendum on expanding his powers would be the best response to Turkey’s “enemies” in a tumultuous dispute that risks wrecking the entire Ankara-Brussels relationship.

He said the Dutch character was “broken” after Netherlands peacekeepers failed to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, comments described as “repugnant” by The Hague.

Ankara had a day earlier announced it was suspending high-level relations with the Hague after the Netherlands prevented two Turkish ministers from holding rallies to woo expatriate support ahead of the referendum.

The Dutch ambassador to Ankara — currently outside the country — has also been blocked from returning to his post.

Erdogan also late Monday sparked a new row with Berlin by lashing out at German Chancellor Angela Merkel for “supporting terrorists”.

‘We know them from Srebrenica’ 

EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn urged Erdogan to show moderation, calling on Turkey to “refrain from excessive statements and actions that risk further exacerbating the situation”.

But far from stepping back, Erdogan accused the Netherlands of “state terror” in preventing Turkish ministers from holding pro-’yes’ rallies and said more sanctions were planned.

“We are going to work more” on measures against the Netherlands, said Erdogan. “These wrongs won’t be solved with a sorry, we have more things to do.”

 Erdogan had previously angered the Netherlands by saying the authorities had behaved like the Nazis, who had occupied and bombed the country in the World War II.

But on Tuesday he touched an arguably even rawer nerve, recalling the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, which Dutch UN peacekeepers failed to prevent in an episode that remains a national trauma to this day.

“The Netherlands and the Dutch, we know them from the Srebrenica massacre,” he said.

“We know how much their morality, their character is broken from the 8,000 Bosnians that were massacred,” Erdogan said.

“We know this well. No one should give us a lesson in civilisation. Their history is dark but ours is clean.”

 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called his claim a “repugnant historical falsehood” and said “Erdogan’s tone is getting more and more hysterical”.

“We won’t sink to that level”, he said.

‘The best answer’ 

Erdogan’s latest broadside against Merkel also infuriated Germany, which had also last week prevented Turkish ministers from holding rallies in the country.

Merkel’s spokesman described the accusations as “absurd”, saying the chancellor had no intention of taking part in a “competition of provocations”. 

Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Tuesday said Ankara was playing the role of the victim with its broadsides against NATO allies, as Erdogan seeks to “build solidarity” ahead of the referendum.

In response to the controversy, German state Saarland said Tuesday it would ban all foreign officials from holding election rallies on its soil.

Responding to the EU’s criticism, the Turkish foreign ministry spat back that: “The EU’s short-sighted statement has no value for our country.”

 The move by the Netherlands to block the rallies by Turkish ministers comes as Rutte prepares to face the far-right populist Geert Wilders in a general election on Wednesday.

Analysts say that with polls indicating a tight outcome in the April 16 referendum in Turkey, Erdogan is keen to exploit the crisis to win the support of nationalist voters in Turkey who are crucial in determining the outcome of polls.

“Our nation on April 16 at the ballot box... will give the best answer to Turkey’s enemies,” Erdogan said. 

In a bid to woo support from citizens living in Europe — where a majority have traditionally supported the ruling party — Turkish officials have sought to take the campaign to European cities.

In Germany, there are over 1.4 million Turkish citizens eligible to vote while there are nearly 250,000 in the Netherlands, according to official figures from November 2015.

ISTANBUL — The European Union on Monday warned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to avoid inflammatory rhetoric, as a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the Netherlands deepened over the blocking of Turkish ministers from holding rallies to win support for plans to expand his powers.

Erdogan at the weekend twice accused NATO ally Netherlands of acting like the Nazis, comments that sparked outrage in a country bombed and occupied by German forces in World War II.

In an escalating standoff that risks damaging Turkey’s already deteriorating relations with the European Union ahead of the April 16 referendum on constitutional change, Brussels sternly warned Ankara to avoid making the situation worse.

In apparent reference to Erdogan’s comments, EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn called on Turkey to “refrain from excessive statements and actions that risk further exacerbating the situation.

“It is essential to avoid further escalation and find ways to calm down the situation,” their statement added.

But Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik responded by warning that Ankara “should re-evaluate” a key part of a 2016 deal to stem the flow of migrants to the European Union.

He said Turkey should look at its policy on preventing migrant flows across land borders, although it would keep halting the illegal and dangerous sea crossings as a matter of human responsibility, state media said.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also urged Turkey and its NATO allies to “show mutual respect, to be calm and have a measured approach to contribute to de-escalate the tensions”.

Envoy summoned 

three times 

The Dutch authorities had at the weekend prevented the plane of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from landing and blocked Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya from holding a rally in Rotterdam.

The ministers had been seeking to harness the support of an estimated 400,000 people of Turkish origin living in the country ahead of the April 16 referendum on constitutional changes giving Erdogan greater powers.

The Turkish foreign ministry on Monday summoned the Dutch envoy to Ankara for the third day in a row, handing two separate protest notes over The Hague’s behaviour.

The Netherlands on Monday also issued a new travel warning to Dutch citizens in Turkey, urging them to stay “alert across the whole of Turkey”.

Turkey has already responded furiously to fellow NATO ally Germany’s refusal to give permission for ministers to hold rallies there, with Erdogan comparing such action to “Nazi practices”.

After Erdogan used the same language to scold the Netherlands, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that the comparison was “completely wrong” and “banalises suffering”.

“This is particularly unacceptable directed at the Netherlands which suffered so much” under the Nazis, she added, offering Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte her full support.

‘Lifeline for Erdogan’ 

The issue risks spiralling into a crisis with the EU as a whole, which Turkey has sought to join for more than half a century in a so far fruitless membership bid.

Denmark has also asked Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to postpone a visit planned for later this month.

Erdogan, who has indicated he may personally travel to EU states to address rallies — in a move that could inflame the situation further — said Sunday that the West was showing its “true face” in the standoff.

He has repeatedly accused the Netherlands of acting like “fascists” and “Nazis”, saying on Sunday: “I had thought that the era of Nazism was over but I was wrong.”

 Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli described Europe as a “very sick man”, a nod to the moniker used in the mid-19th century of the declining Ottoman Empire as the “sick man of Europe”.

Rutte, under pressure to take a hard line against Erdogan as he faces the far-right populist Geert Wilders in general elections Wednesday, said there were no apologies to be made to Turkey.

He called for Dutch voters to be the first to stop Europe’s “trend of populism”, but dismissed the idea that Turkey was trying to interfere in the Netherlands elections.

Bringing out the millions-strong expatriate vote could be key in a referendum that is expected to be close and potentially a turning point in Turkey’s modern history.

Analysts have said Erdogan is using the crisis to show that his strong leadership is needed against a Europe which he presents as being innately hostile to Turkey.

“Erdogan is looking for ‘imagined’ foreign enemies to boost his nationalist base in the run up to the April 16 referendum,” Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Programme at The Washington Institute, told AFP.

“By blocking [the rallies], they may have given Erdogan a lifeline to eke out a victory in the referendum,” he added.