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Chechen rebel leader is dead, website reports

 
Published March 19, 2014

Russia

Chechen rebel leader is dead, website reports

Doku Umarov, the Chechen Islamic warlord who threatened to attack the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February to punish the Russian hosts, is dead, the insurgent website Kavkaz Center announced Tuesday. The notice gave no details about the circumstances of Umarov's death. The announcement of what was termed his "martyrdom" said only that he had sacrificed 20 years of his life in the holy war for an Islamic state in Russia's southern region. Russian security officials reported in January that they had information that Umarov, 49, had died.

Washington

Navy Yard attack called preventable

A Defense Department review of the mass shooting that killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard in September has concluded that the deaths could have been prevented if the Navy had properly evaluated and reported alarming behavior by the gunman, Aaron Alexis, a former Navy reservist. At a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel released the review along with an independent review that found that threats to military men and women were increasingly coming from within, including from colleagues with security clearances. Hagel ordered new security procedures at the Pentagon and at U.S. military bases in the United States and overseas.

Los Angeles

Chaotic response in LAX shooting

When a gunman opened fire at the Los Angeles International Airport in November, poor communication and coordination among emergency officials led to a chaotic response that left victims waiting for responders and passengers stranded without information, according to a report released Tuesday. The report, by consultants contracted by the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, spotlighted flaws in various divisions of the airport and in systems in place at the time of the shooting. One Transportation Security Administration officer was killed and several people were wounded.

Pomona, Calif.

Cost of break-in, teen party: $1M

Authorities have filed criminal charges against 14 teenagers who allegedly broke into a Southern California mansion and held a party that resulted in more than $1 million in damage and thefts in November. Los Angeles County prosecutors said Tuesday that the party was promoted on social media and brought more than 100 teens to the La Habra Heights mansion while the owner was away. The accused are 15 to 18 years old.

Elsewhere

Libya: A militia commander controlling Libya's oil terminals on Tuesday denounced the United States for seizing a tanker that his militia was using to try to export oil in defiance of the country's central government.

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New York: A judge in Manhattan ruled Tuesday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, will not be permitted to provide testimony in the terrorism trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a former top adviser to Osama bin Laden.

Afghanistan: A suicide bomber riding a rickshaw blew himself up outside a checkpoint near a market in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 17 civilians, officials said, in the latest attack in the countdown to next month's presidential elections.

Times wires