DUBAI: An Uzbek woman who caused 13 hours of panic at the Dubai public prosecutor’s office when she threatened to blow herself up was wearing a fake explosive belt, authorities said yesterday. The woman entered the office with her child on Sunday and said she would detonate explosives strapped to her body unless the authorities forced an Emirati man to admit he is her son’s legal father. “The matter was successfully resolved and it turned out that the Uzbek woman was wearing a fake explosive belt,” Dubai police tweeted. A Dubai government statement said negotiations with the woman lasted from midday on Sunday until around 1:30am yesterday. “The woman was arrested at the public prosecutor’s office after negotiations without the use of weapons,” the statement said. Authorities evacuated the building as they negotiated with the woman. It was the first such incident in the emirate.
Israel, Palestinians hold talks
RAMALLAH: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held another secret round of peace talks over the weekend, a Palestinian official said yesterday, adding that there had been “no breakthrough” so far. “A round of talks was held on Saturday evening between the Israelis and Palestinians — this is the fourth round,” since they restarted more than a month ago, the official said. “But the talks have achieved no breakthrough so far,” the official added. He said another meeting was likely to be held today, but slammed Israel, saying it was “not prepared for any progress” any time soon. The official gave no details of the time and place of today’s expected meeting.
Many escape from Tunisian prison
TUNIS: Forty-nine inmates escaped from a Tunisian prison after overpowering guards, a senior official said yesterday, in a further sign of faltering security as a political crisis over popular discontent with Islamist rule festers. Prisons director-general Habib Sboui said 49 inmates broke out of the prison in the town of Gabes on Sunday evening, and that 12 were recaptured a little later. “They escaped in an ambush in which guards were assaulted, without any shooting,” Sboui said in a statement. It was believed the escapees were all common criminals, he said.
Turkish envoy survives attack
ANKARA: A roadside bomb struck the convoy of Turkey’s consul general in Iraq yesterday, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said, but there were no casualties. The convoy was en route to Arbil from Mosul in the north of the country when the bomb went off. “The Foreign Minister has spoken to the consul general who is in good health,” the spokesman said. “We are still investigating as to who carried out the attack and whether the consul general had been the target.”
Agencies
