World

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a submarine, but it likely failed in its early stage, the latest in a string of tests that are part of efforts by the North to advance technology capable of delivering nuclear warheads, the US and South Korea said.

The US Strategic Command said that the missile was tracked Saturday over the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, where it apparently fell.

It was launched from a location near the North Korean coastal town of Sinpo, where analysts have previously detected efforts by the North to develop submarine-launched ballistic missile systems, said an official from Seoul’s defence ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity because of office rules.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that it presumed the missile successfully ejected from the submarine’s launch tube, but failed in its early stage of flight. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said that the missile likely flew only a few kilometres before exploding in midair, but the defence ministry official couldn’t confirm the report.

North Korea acquiring the ability to launch missiles from submarines would be an alarming development for rivals and neighbours because missiles from submerged vessels are harder to detect in advance. While security experts say it’s unlikely that North Korea possesses an operational submarine capable of firing missiles, they acknowledge that the North is making progress on such technology.

North Korea already has a considerable arsenal of land-based ballistic missiles and is believed to be advancing its efforts to miniaturize nuclear warheads mounted on missiles through nuclear and rocket tests.

US Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, NATO’s top military commander, told reporters Saturday that North Korea’s latest missile test represents a serious threat, both to the region and the US

“With every launch, they’re getting better and they’re working out their problems,” said Scaparrotti, who until recently commanded US forces in South Korea.

North Korea last test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile in April, calling it as a success that strengthened its ability to attack enemies with “dagger of destruction”. The North also test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile on December 25, but that test was seen as a failure, the South’s joint chiefs of staff said. The North first claimed a successful submarine-launched missile test in May last year.

Saturday’s launch came a day after US and South Korean military officials said they were ready to deploy an advanced US missile defence system in South Korea to cope with North Korean threats.

DALLAS — President Barack Obama assured a shocked America Saturday that the black extremist who shot dead five cops in Dallas was a lone-wolf — and that the country can overcome its racial divisions, as the groundswell of anger over police brutality surged on.

Thousands of protesters marched in US cities overnight to demand justice for two African-Americans whose fatal shooting by police triggered the rampage in Dallas by an army vet bent on killing white officers in revenge.

The nightmare scenes in Texas — where the ambush turned a peaceful protest to horror — left many fearing a new, dark chapter in America's troubled race relations.

But as Dallas honoured its slain officers, Obama sought to cut short that narrative — saying Americans of all backgrounds were united in grief both at the recent fatal shooting of African-Americans and the murders in Dallas.

"I firmly believe that America is not as divided as some have suggested," Obama told a press conference at a NATO summit in Warsaw. "There is sorrow, there is anger, there is confusion... but there is unity."

"The demented individual who carried out the attacks in Dallas, he's no more representative of African-Americans than the shooter in Charleston was representative of white Americans," he said, referring to the murder of nine black worshippers at a church in South Carolina last year.

Dallas officials have now said they are certain the atrocity was the work of a lone shooter — 25-year-old Micah Johnson, killed in a showdown with police — and not a group of co-conspirators as initially feared.

"We believe now that the city is safe," Mayor Mike Rawlings told a news conference late Friday.

'Dangerous to be black' 

The Black Lives Matter activist movement which is spearheading months of nationwide protests over police brutality has demanded an end to violence — not an escalation.

There were nasty scenes in Phoenix, Arizona where police used pepper spray to disperse stone-throwing protesters. And in Rochester, New York, 74 people were arrested over a sit-in protest blocking a street.

But elsewhere — from Atlanta to Houston, New Orleans, Detroit or Baltimore — the marches passed off without trouble. 

Fresh protests were planned Saturday in at least half a dozen cities including Seattle, Indianapolis and what was dubbed a "Weekend of Rage" in Philadelphia.

Obama is to visit Dallas early next week in a bid to appease tensions and chart a way forward following the Dallas ambush, and the police shootings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, captured in now-viral video footage.

Leaders from across the US spectrum have spoken out in a spirit of appeasement after a week of violence that graphically highlighted America's racial challenges.

They include prominent members of the Republican Party, which has often jumped to the defence of law enforcement in the face of accusations of racial bias.

"It is more dangerous to be black in America," Newt Gingrich, a Republican former House speaker tipped as a possible White House running mate for Donald Trump, said in an interview on Facebook Live.

"Sometimes it's difficult for whites to appreciate how real that is. It's an everyday danger."

Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio had a similar message, issuing a statement saying: "Those of us who are not African American will never fully understand the experience of being black in America." 

Police on edge 

"As Americans, we are wounded by all of these deaths," Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday, echoing Obama's message that black lives matter — and so do "blue" lives, those of police officers.

"It's on all of us to stand up, to speak out about disparities in our criminal justice system — just as it's on all of us to stand up for the police who protect us in our communities every day," he said. 

The Dallas ambush marked the single biggest loss of life for law enforcement in the United States since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Police were set further on edge as it emerged several officers had been targeted across the country from individuals apparently angered at the recent fatal shootings.

In Tennessee on Thursday a man opened fire on a hotel and a highway, killing a woman, grazing a police officer with a bullet and wounding several others.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the gunman "may have targeted individuals and officers after being troubled by recent incidents involving African-Americans and law enforcement officers".

And in Racine, Wisconsin, police said a 43-year-old man was arrested over threatening social media posts that read: "I encourage every black man in America to strap up... I encourage every white officer to kiss there [sic] love ones goodbye."

Scouring social media 

Described to police as a "loner", the Dallas gunman served as a US Army reservist for six years, including a tour of duty in Afghanistan and had no criminal record.

While the White House has ruled out any link between Johnson and known "terrorist organisations", the gunman's Facebook page ties him to several radical black movements listed as hate groups.

He told negotiators before he died that he wanted to kill white cops in retaliation for the fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Police found bomb-making materials and a weapons cache at his home and were scouring his journal and social media posts to understand what drove him to mass murder.

SEOUL — North Korea on Saturday test-fired what appeared to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), Seoul's defence ministry said, a day after the US and South Korea decided to deploy an advanced missile defence system in the South.

The launch was apparently successful but the missile failed in the early stage of flight, the South Korean defence ministry said in a statement.

North Korea previously fired an SLBM on April 23 in a test hailed as an "eye-opening success" by leader Kim Jong-un, who at the time declared his country had the ability to strike Seoul and the US whenever it pleased.

Seoul said the North launched "what was believed to be an SLBM" from waters off the northeastern Port of Sinpo at around 11:30am (0230 GMT).

Yonhap news agency said the missile, launched from a Sinpo-class submarine, reached an altitude of around 10 kilometres before exploding in mid-air.

The US Strategic Command said the missile was tracked over the Sea of Japan, where initial indications suggested it fell. 

Seoul's defence ministry noted that "North Korea has been persistent in violating UN resolutions by launching ballistic missiles continuously".

It added that the North carried out back-to-back tests of a powerful new medium-range missile on June 22, which sparked swift international condemnation.

The two missiles achieved a significant increase in flight distance over previous failed launches and were believed to be of a much-hyped, intermediate-range Musudan missile — theoretically capable of reaching US bases as far away as Guam, the ministry said in June.

"We strongly condemn such provocative acts," it said Saturday.

NATO military head US General Curtis Scaparrotti, who was previously head of US forces in South Korea, said North Korea's latest actions showed progress.

"My reaction is that Kim Jung-un and his regime continues to test and work on their ballistic capability, and with every launch they are getting better, and they are working out their problems," he said at the NATO summit in Warsaw.

"They are doing it with a missile now, the Musudan variant, that has regional range and the very same things that he learns is going to be transferred to his intercontinental ballistic missile capability, so it's a serious threat."

The North American Aerospace Defence Command however said the launch did not pose a threat to North America.

"We strongly condemn this and North Korea's other recent missile tests, which violate UN Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology," Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross said.

He urged the North "to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also played down the launch.

"We don't consider the missile launch to be anything that would immediately affect Japan's national security directly," he told public broadcaster NHK.

'Declaration of war' 

The new launch came after Seoul and Washington Friday announced their decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system, or THAAD, to the Korean peninsula and the North warned US sanctions against its leader amounted to a "declaration of war".

Tensions have soared since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of missile launches that analysts said show the North is making progress toward being able to strike the US mainland.

The plan to deploy the powerful THAAD system in South Korea has angered Beijing and Moscow, which both see it as a US bid to flex military muscle in the region.

News of the deployment came after the US on Wednesday placed "Supreme Leader" Kim on its sanctions blacklist for the first time, calling him directly responsible for a long list of serious human rights abuses.

Pyongyang lashed out at Washington on Friday, warning North Korea would instantly cut off all diplomatic channels with the US if the sanctions were not lifted.

The North's foreign ministry called the sanctions against Kim "the worst hostility and an open declaration of war", vowing to take "the toughest countermeasures to resolutely shatter the hostility of the US".

VIENNA — Austrians will again vote in a presidential election on October 2 after the far-right managed to get its narrow defeat from May declared null and void, the government said Tuesday.

The election gives Norbert Hofer, 45, of the opposition Freedom Party (FPOe) another shot at becoming the European Union’s first far-right anti-immigration president.

Hofer lost out to Alexander Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old Greens-backed independent, by just 31,000 votes in May.

The FPOe launched a legal challenge on June 8 alleging “terrifying” irregularities, and on July 1 Austria’s highest court upheld its challenge, ruling that Austrians must vote again.

The constitutional court found that procedural errors took place with almost 80,000 votes, meaning that they potentially could have been tampered with.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said afterwards he was “ashamed” by the scale of the “sloppiness” uncovered. Tabloid newspapers likened Austria to a “banana republic”.

Traditionally the president’s job has been largely ceremonial but Hofer has indicated that he would make use of hitherto untapped powers afforded under Austria’s constitution. 

Winning the Hofburg palace would also be of enormous symbolic importance for the FPOe two years before the next scheduled general elections, and be a fillip to other populist parties across Europe.

Experts say it is impossible to predict the election outcome, although some say that they expect a lower turnout, which could boost Hofer, who says Islam has no place in Austria.

Britain’s June 23 decision to leave the EU could make a possible Austrian exit an election issue, with Hofer pledging a referendum if the EU fails to reform, becomes more centralised or if Turkey joins.

Economics professor Van der Bellen, 72, is staunchly pro-EU, and surveys have shown a clear majority of Austrians in favour remaining in the bloc.

AMMAN — Citizens around the world are very concerned with the ramifications of a Donald Trump presidency, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos.

In a survey conducted in 25 countries, most citizens, 57 per cent, say they would vote for US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; far surpassing her Republican rival, Trump, 13 per cent.  Thirty per cent of respondents have not chosen either candidate, Ipsos said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times this week.

Only 9 per cent of those surveyed in 25 countries believe that Trump, perceived as a controversial candidate, will have a positive impact on world peace and security, and 54 per cent believe that the election of the former first lady, Clinton, would be a positive step to keep the peace.

From an economic standpoint, those surveyed by Ipsos expressed pessimism towards the Republican candidate’s ability to bring about positive change on the global economy. Only 14 per cent of respondents believe that he may have a positive impact on the economy, the statement said.  

Clinton on the other hand, received the backing of 46 per cent of respondents, reflecting their belief in her ability to boost the global economy.

According to the survey, Mexico appears to be the most pro-Clinton country and global superpowers are in support of Trump.

The Republican candidate has indicated that he has plans to build a “wall” between the US and Mexico, to prevent what he described as “drug smugglers” from entering the country.

The pollster said Trump would only receive 1 per cent of Mexicans votes if the population was eligible to vote for the president of the United States.

In contrast, Trump has surpassed Clinton in the US’ rival economic and political superpower countries, China and Russia, where he received 32 per cent and 28 per cent in support from the surveyed citizens respectively, the poll showed.  Clinton on the other hand received 28 per cent support from the Chinese respondents and 12 per cent from the Russians.

In Muslim countries, the survey found that Trump's statements and plans, including plans to prevent Muslims from entering the US and to monitor mosques, has boosted Clinton's edge.

In Turkey, Trump gathered only 13 per cent of potential votes while Clinton received 57 per cent, Ipsos said.

In other European countries, Trump’s popularity is greatly limited, such as in France, Germany, Spain and Britain, where he received 7 per cent, 9 per cent, 6 per cent and 11 per cent in potential support, respectively in those nations. 

DHAKA — Seven militants who killed 20 people at a restaurant in Dhaka were local Bangladeshis and authorities had tried before to arrest five of them, police said, as investigators probed for possible links with international Islamist extremist groups.

The gunmen stormed the upmarket restaurant in the diplomatic zone late on Friday, before killing mostly non-Muslim hostages, including at least nine Italians, seven Japanese and an American.

The Daesh terror group claimed responsibility, warning citizens of “crusader countries” that their citizens would not be safe “as long as their aircraft are killing Muslims”, the group said in a statement. It also posted pictures of five fighters grinning in front of a black flag who it said were involved in the attack, according to the SITE monitoring website.

The claims have not been confirmed, but Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Reuters late on Saturday that neither Daesh nor Al Qaeda was involved. He reiterated the government’s line that home-grown militants were responsible for a spate of killings in the country over the past 18 months.

“This was done by JMB,” Khan said, referring to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which claims to represent Daesh in Bangladesh.

Analysts say that as Islamic State loses territory in Iraq and Syria and its finances get drained, it may be trying to build affiliates in countries such as Bangladesh for terrorists to launch attacks locally and cheaply.

Rich families

Deputy inspector general of police, Shahidur Rahman, told Reuters on Sunday authorities were investigating any connection between the attackers and trans-national groups such as Daesh or Al Qaeda.

He said the militants were mostly educated and from rich families, but declined to give any more details.

National police chief Shahidul Hoque said all the gunmen were Bangladeshi.

“Five of them were listed as militants and law enforcers made several drives to arrest them,” Hoque told reporters in Dhaka late on Saturday.

Whoever was responsible, the attack marked a major escalation in violence by militants who have demanded Islamic rule in Bangladesh, whose 160 million people are mostly Muslim.

Previous attacks have mostly singled out individuals advocating a secular or liberal lifestyle or religious minorities.

Reciting Koran verse

Friday night’s attack, during the final days of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, was more coordinated than the previous assaults.

Gunmen singled out foreigners as soon as they stormed through the doors of the restaurant popular with expatriates. They ordered all Bangladeshis to stand up before the killing began, a source briefed on the investigation said. The Bangladeshis were later told to close their eyes and recite verses from the Koran and one militant cursed at a Bangladeshi for eating with non-Muslims during Ramadan, the source said.

The Daesh-affiliated Amaq news agency claimed in a report on Saturday the militants identified and released Muslim patrons from the Dhaka restaurant, SITE said.

The victims also included at least three Bangladeshis or people of Bangladeshi descent.

The militants hacked most of their victims with machetes, leaving their bodies to bleed over the floor.

A 12-hour standoff with security forces ended when around 100 commandos stormed the building, killing six of the militants and capturing a seventh after attempts at negotiations proved fruitless, authorities said. They recovered explosives and sharp weapons from the scene.

It was not clear if the attackers had made any demands.

Home-grown groups

Up until Friday’s attack, authorities had maintained no operational links exist between Bangladeshi militants and international jihadi networks. Bangladesh has blamed JMB and another home-grown outfit for the wave of grisly killings over the past year and a half.

One line of inquiry being pursued is whether the restaurant attackers received any guidance from Daesh or Al Qaeda, an official in Bangladesh’s counter-terrorism wing said.

“Pictures [uploaded on Twitter] indicate they might have been encouraged by ISIS [Daesh] activities abroad,” said Muhammad Zamir, a former senior Bangladesh foreign ministry official. “But this does not show a direct link to ISIS. This is exactly what was done and disputed later in the case of the Orlando attack.” 

He was referring to the killing of 49 people last month by a man who pledged allegiance to Daesh.

Friday’s attack in Dhaka was the worst since 2005, when JMB set off a series of bombs throughout Bangladesh in the space of an hour killing at least 25 people, mostly judges, police and journalists.

The authorities executed six top JMB leaders in March 2007 and police have continued to hunt for group members, often detaining suspected militants following intelligence tips.

In February, Bangladesh police arrested three JMB members suspected of killing a Hindu priest.

Daesh has claimed responsibility for a series of other attacks in Bangladesh in recent months since first taking credit for a killing in September last year. An Italian missionary was shot and wounded in the neck last November. Another Italian and a Japanese citizen were killed in attacks at the end of September and early October last year.

Save me, save me

In a run-down government hospital in Dhaka, two police officers who were on patrol duty on Friday night received treatment for gunshot wounds, with bandages and plasters on cheeks and legs. Behind their beds, a sheet of paper carried details of their wounds.

Struggling to speak, 30-year-old officer Pradip, who gave just one name, recalled rushing to the spot after receiving a wireless message that night. A blood-smeared man lay in front of the restaurant, shouting “save me, save me”.

The police officers called for backup after they were shot at from inside the restaurant.

“At some point I felt blood was rolling down my cheek,” Pradip said. “We did respond with fire and the attackers stopped. We then rescued the man, who was the driver of some of the Japanese citizens who were inside.” 

After meeting the officers in the hospital, national police chief A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque told Reuters they had gleaned some preliminary details on the identities of the attackers, but he declined to give details.

Garment industry

The seven Japanese killed were working on projects involving the Japan International Cooperation Agency, an overseas aid agency, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Saturday.

Six of them were in Dhaka to work on a metrorail project, Bangladesh’s communication minister, Obaidul Quader, said.

Italian media said several of the Italians victims worked in Bangladesh’s $26 billion garment sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of its exports.

DHAKA — Militants killed 20 people, most of them foreigners, inside an upmarket restaurant in Bangladesh's capital, before security forces stormed the building and ended a 12-hour standoff on Saturday.

The Daesh terror group said it was responsible for one of the most brazen attacks in the South Asian nation's history, but that claim has yet to be confirmed.

It marks a major escalation in a campaign by militants over the past 18 months that had targeted mostly individuals advocating a secular or liberal lifestyle in majority-Muslim Bangladesh.

The gunmen, who stormed the busy restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic area late on Friday night, ordered all Bangladeshis to stand up before they began killing foreigners, a source briefed on the police investigation said.

Among the dead was the wife of an Italian businessman killed by a machete. She was found by her husband after he spent all night hiding behind a tree outside the café while the gunmen were inside, Agnese Barolo, a friend who lives in Dhaka and spoke to him, told Reuters.

Seven Italians were in the café when the attack started, including several working in the garment industry, Italian media have reported, while seven Japanese citizens were unaccounted for.

The killing of foreigners will likely shatter the confidence of the expatriate community in Bangladesh, many of whom work for multinationals in the country's $26 billion garment sector that accounts for around 15 per cent of the economy. Bangladesh is the world's second largest apparel exporter after China.

Thirteen hostages were rescued, including one Japanese and two Sri Lankans, the army said.

Sharp weapons

Army spokesman Colonel Rashidul Hasan said he could not yet confirm the nationalities of those who had died. Most of them had been killed by "sharp weapons".

Hasan said initially that it seemed all the victims were foreigners, but now the army believed some locals were among the dead as well.

Six gunmen were killed during the police operation and one was captured, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a TV broadcast after the army concluded its operation to clear the café. Two police were killed in the initial assault.

Daesh, which has claimed a series of machete attacks on minority groups in Bangladesh over the past year, posted photos of bodies and blood smeared across floors that it said were dead foreigners killed in the assault.

Police did not immediately confirm whether the pictures were from the site of the massacre.

Gowher Rizvi, an adviser to Hasina, told Reuters security forces had tried to negotiate with the gunmen.

Sporadic gunfire

The hostage crisis began when security guards in the Gulshan district of Dhaka, popular with expatriates, noticed several gunmen outside a medical centre, Rizvi said. When the guards approached, the gunmen ran into a building housing the restaurant, packed with people waiting for tables, he said.

Ali Arsalan, co-owner of the restaurant, said his staff told him the attackers yelled "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) as they stormed the building, split between Holey Artisan Bakery and the O'Kitchen Restaurant.

The restaurant was regarded as a tranquil place that was safe to visit in an increasingly dangerous city.

Police said the assailants exchanged sporadic gunfire with police outside for several hours after the gunmen attacked the restaurant around 9:00pm on Friday.

A police officer at the scene said when security forces tried to enter the premises at the beginning of the siege they were met with a hail of bullets and grenades that killed at least two of them.

A café employee who escaped told local television about 20 customers were in the restaurant at the time, most of them foreigners. Some 15 to 20 staff were working at the restaurant, the employee said.

The rescued Japanese man was eating dinner with seven other Japanese, all of whom were consultants for Japan's foreign aid agency, a Japanese government spokesman said. The fate of the other seven remained unknown.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the Japanese aid workers "were giving their all for the development of Bangladesh".

"We feel strong indignation at this inhumane, despicable act of terrorism, which has claimed many lives," he told reporters.

Spate of murders

Bangladesh has seen a spate of murders in recent months claimed by Daesh and Al Qaeda on liberals, gays, foreigners and religious minorities.

A Hindu priest was hacked to death on Friday at a temple in Jhinaidah district, 300km southwest of Dhaka.

Local authorities say no operational links exist between Bangladeshi militants and international extremist networks. They say two local militant groups, Ansar-al-Islam and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, have been behind the violence over the past 18 months. Ansar pledges allegiance to Al Qaeda, while Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen claims it represents Daesh.

"The bottom line is Bangladesh has plenty of local, often unaffiliated, militants and radicals happy to stage attacks in ISIS's name," said Michael Kugelman, South Asia associate at The Wilson Centre in Washington DC, using an acronym commonly used for Daesh.

Daesh had claimed more attacks in Bangladesh than in Pakistan or Afghanistan, he said.

The restaurant assault also comes after Bangladesh hanged an Islamist party leader, Motiur Rahman Nizami, on May 11 for genocide and other crimes committed during a 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. That has drawn an angry reaction and some scattered violence from supporters.

Foreign diplomats and human rights groups have warned that Bangladesh's ongoing war crime tribunals and the government's pressure on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have created a backlash domestically, according to Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. 

ISTANBUL — Three suspected Daesh suicide bombers who killed 44 people in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul's main airport this week were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, a Turkish government official said on Thursday.

The attack on one of the world's busiest airports, a hub at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey this year.

The three bombers opened fire to create panic outside, before two of them got inside the terminal building and blew themselves up. 

The third detonated his explosives at the entrance. A further 238 people were wounded.

The official gave no further details beyond confirming the attackers’ nationalities and declined to be named because details of the investigation have not yet been released. Forensics teams had been struggling to identify the bombers from their limited remains, officials said earlier.

“A medical team is working around the clock to conclude the identification process,” one of the officials said.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala told parliament that evidence continued to point to Daesh responsibility and that 19 of the dead were foreigners. Ala said the identity and nationality of one of the bombers had been determined, but did not comment further.

The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said the Russian bomber was from Dagestan, which borders Chechnya, where Moscow has led two wars against separatists and religious militants since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper named him as Osman Vadinov and said he had come from Raqqa, the heart of Daesh-controlled territory in Syria. The Russian interior ministry said it was checking information about Vadinov.

A spokesman for Kyrgyzstan’s state security service said it was investigating, while the Uzbek security service had no immediate comment.

Thousands of foreign fighters from scores of countries have crossed Turkey to join Daesh in Syria and Iraq in recent years. Turkey has tightened security on the Syrian border, but has long argued it needs more information from foreign intelligence agencies to intercept the fighters.

The revelation that one of the attackers was a Russian national comes at an awkward time for relations between Ankara and Moscow, strained since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border last November.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote to Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week to express regret over the incident, but officials in Ankara say he stopped short of making the apology Moscow wants before it will lift economic sanctions.

Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, sent a telegram to his Turkish counterpart calling for cooperation in fighting terrorism after the bombing, Russian news agencies reported.

Dawn raids

Turkish police detained 13 people, four of them foreigners, in raids across Istanbul in connection with Tuesday night’s attack. Broadcaster CNN Turk said they were accused of providing logistical support for the bombings.

Counter-terrorism teams led by police special forces launched simultaneous raids at 16 locations in the city, two officials told Reuters.

Yeni Safak said the organiser of the attack was suspected to be a man called Akhmed Chatayev, of Chechen origin. Chatayev is identified on a United Nations sanctions list as a leader in Daesh responsible for training Russian-speaking militants, and as wanted by Russian authorities.

Turkish officials did not confirm to Reuters that Chatayev was part of the investigation.

Wars in neighbouring Syria and Iraq have fostered a home-grown Daesh network blamed for a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, including two others this year targeting foreign tourists in the heart of Istanbul.

Daesh has established a self-declared “caliphate” on swathes of both Syria and Iraq and declared war on all non-Muslims plus Muslims who do not accept its ultra-hardline religious vision. It has claimed responsibility for similar bomb and gun attacks in Belgium and France in the past year.

Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance and part of the US-led coalition against Daesh, has repeatedly fired back on the Sunni hardliners in recent months after rocket fire from northern Syria hit the border town of Kilis.

In a sign of the growing threats to Turkey, US defence sources said on Wednesday that Washington was moving towards permanently banning families from accompanying US military and civilian personnel deployed in the country.

US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the Istanbul attack bore the “hallmark” of Daesh and that one US citizen had been slightly injured.

Parliamentary pressure

Critics say Turkey woke up too late to the threat from Daesh, focusing instead early in the Syrian civil war on trying to oust President Bashar Assad by backing even his hardline Islamist opponents, arguing there could be no peace without his departure.

Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, angered by the ruling AK Party’s refusal to hold an inquiry into the airport attack, accused the AKP of “an ideological kinship” with Daesh. Government officials have flatly rejected such accusations in the past.

Turkey adjusted its military rules of engagement this month to allow NATO allies to carry out more patrol flights along its border with Syria.

It has also carried out repeated raids on suspected Daesh safe houses in Turkey.

Nine suspected militants, thought to have been in contact with Daesh members in Syria, were detained in dawn raids in four districts of the Aegean coastal city of Izmir on Thursday, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

It said they were accused of financing, recruiting and providing logistical support to the group.

The military killed two suspected Daesh members trying to enter Turkey illegally at the weekend, security sources said on Thursday.

One of the suspects, a Syrian national, was thought to have been plotting a suicide bomb attack in either the capital Ankara or the southern province of Adana, home to Incirlik, a major base used by US and Turkish forces through which some coalition air strikes against Daesh are carried out. 

BRUSSELS — The EU opened a new negotiating chapter with Turkey on Thursday on its long-stalled bid for membership, a week after a British vote to leave the EU in which it was a major campaign issue.

The decision is part of the European Union’s migrant deal with Ankara in which it also agreed to boost aid to Turkey to cope with millions of refugees on its territory and to speed up visa liberalisation.

Muslim-majority Turkey formally launched its membership bid and since then the EU has opened 15 chapters out of the 35 required to join the bloc, although it has only completed one.

Britain’s bitterly-fought Brexit referendum saw “Leave” campaigners jump on the Turkish membership issue to back their claim Turkey would be a massive source of migrants in the future.

“All EU member states have agreed to open this chapter” on finance and budgetary affairs, said Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders after chairing a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Brussels.

“We stressed the importance of EU-Turkey relations, the EU and Turkey working together on issues including migration,” Koenders said.

The decision was part of an EU agreement in March to speed up accession talks in return for Turkey helping to control the massive inflow of migrants, mostly fleeing Syria, which overwhelmed the bloc last year.

Koenders told reporters the talks had begun with a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the bomb attacks on Istanbul Airport which left more than 40 dead, recalling a similar, Daesh-claimed atrocity in Brussels in March.

Turkey rights concerns 

The membership talks have been stalled largely due to disagreements over Turkey’s human rights record and there were tough exchanges again on Thursday. 

Koenders stressed Turkey must meet EU rights standards as all candidate countries should.

“As the EU, we also stressed the need for swift reform efforts, especially in areas of the rule of law and fundamental rights,” he said.

“As a candidate country, naturally [there has to be] respect for the highest standards of democracy and rule of law.” 

The EU says it cannot grant Turkey visa-free travel if it does not curb the broad scope of its anti-terror laws, something Ankara says it cannot do as it battles Kurdish militants and other extremist groups.

“Of course the messages of condolences and solidarity are always appreciated,” Cavusoglu said in translated remarks.

“But only showing solidarity is not efficient in fighting terrorism... Turkey is fighting against terrorism; new demands that would encourage terrorists, we do not find that helpful.” 

The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, responded immediately that visa liberalisation was never meant “to reduce Turkey’s capacity to fight terrorism effectively, quite the contrary”. 

But the Turkish authorities should be proportionate, so that peaceful opponents of the government “do not find themselves being put in prison or charged for this expression of views on the basis of the terrorism legislation”. 

Cavusoglu was due to meet European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans later Thursday for talks on the visa issue.

BRUSSELS — Turkey defied pressure from the European Union on Thursday to amend its anti-terrorism laws, saying that a suicide bomb attack at Istanbul Airport this week that killed 42 people provided further vindication of its tough stance.

But Turkish officials, in Brussels for further talks on their country’s decades-long bid to join the EU, also argued that the bloc needed Turkey, with its economic and geopolitical weight, more than ever after Britain’s vote last week to leave.

The EU repeated its demand that Turkey modify its anti-terrorism laws, saying they limit freedom of expression and allow indiscriminate arrests of activists, but Ankara showed no sign of budging.

“Turkey today is fighting against terrorism,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with senior EU officials, referring to Tuesday’s gun and bomb attack by three suspected Daesh militants.

“New demands directed at Turkey would encourage terrorists. We cannot make any changes in our anti-terror laws,” he said.

Turkish police have detained 13 people, three of them foreigners, in raids across Istanbul in connection with the attack, the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey this year.

The EU has tied the changes in the anti-terrorism laws to progress in Turkey’s bid to win for its citizens the right to travel in Europe without visas. That right is part of a bigger deal whereby Turkey also promises to take back Syrian and other migrants who leave its shores for the EU.

Fresh vision needed

Turkey, a NATO member strategically located between Europe and the Middle East and boasting a vibrant economy and young population, will be a great asset for the EU, the country’s EU minister Omer Celik said in Brussels.

“Turkey is a major European power... Europe needs a fresh start and a fresh vision and will have to include Turkey,” he said, referring to Britain’s decision to leave, or “Brexit”.

“Whatever the picture will be after Brexit, Turkey’s position will be stronger. Any picture that doesn’t include Turkey will be a weak picture.” 

Ironically, Britain had long been Turkey’s main advocate in the EU, often in the face of deep German and French scepticism.

But Britain’s referendum “leave” campaign successfully tapped into Britons’ fears of large-scale immigration, including from Muslim Turkey. Prime Minister David Cameron, struggling to persuade his compatriots to vote to remain in the EU, even suggested Turkey might not join until the year 3000, causing consternation in Ankara.

In another role reversal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reluctantly agreed to back an acceleration in Turkey’s EU bid because she needs Ankara’s help in stemming the flow of migrants after more than one million arrived in Germany last year.

This month EU officials have taken Ankara to task not only over its anti-terrorism laws but also over its arrest of three press freedom campaigners, amid deepening unease about the human rights situation in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“We have to act within the limits of the rule of law and defend our freedom of expression. This is not something we can give up or suspend,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn told Thursday’s news conference.

In a small victory for Turkey, the EU opened negotiations on Thursday on EU budget payments, one of 35 policy areas or chapters in the country’s accession process.

But Slovakia, which takes over the EU’s rotating six-month presidency on Friday from the Netherlands, played down Turkish hopes for more swift progress in the negotiations which began in 2005 but have only edged forward very slowly.

“I would like to open more chapters during our presidency but honestly I don’t see the consensus,” Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak told reporters in Bratislava.