Page 9 - atoday

WORLD NEWS 9
Wednesday 21 October

Slovenia deploys troops to border as migrant exodus swells

Migrants walk on a dyke after crossing from Croatia, in Brezice, Slovenia, near a border crossing mer Yugoslav rivals. with an enormous number
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015. Slovenia accused Croatia on Tuesday of sending thousands of migrants With far too few buses avail- of people.” He said Slove-
toward its borders “without control,” ignoring requests to contain the surge, and urged the rest of able in Slovenia to cope, nia, an Alpine land of bare-
the European Union to get involved in solving the crisis. most people walked 15 ki- ly 2 million, needed much
lometers (9 miles) on rural more help immediately
(AP Photo/Darko Bandic) lanes past cornfields and from bigger EU partners to
pastures to reach a refu- cope or the country might
DARKO BANDIC derlands as far as the eye units to support police on gee camp, a challenge have to adopt border-
PHILIPP JENNE could see Tuesday as au- their overwhelmed south- eased by sunny weather toughening measures.
Associated Press thorities cautiously lowered ern border with Croatia, after days of torrential rain, “If this continues we will
BREZICE, Slovenia (AP) barriers and intensified ef- which delivered more than fog and frigid winds. have extreme problems.
— Led by riot police on forts to cope with a human 6,000 asylum seekers by On Slovenia’s frontiers Slovenia is already in dire
horseback, thousands of tide unseen in Europe since train and bus to the frontier with Croatia and Austria, straits, an impossible situ-
weary migrants marched World War II. Leaders of in bitterly disputed circum- aid workers toiled to erect ation,” Sefic said as law-
across western Balkans bor- Slovenia deployed military stances between the for- enough tents and other makers debated whether
emergency accommoda- to increase the military’s
tion to shelter up to 14,000 powers to manage border
travelers, more than five security.
times the tiny nation’s pre- In Brussels, Slovenian Presi-
vious official limit. dent Borut Pahor met Eu-
Interior Secretary of State ropean Union leaders and
Bostjan Sefic told reporters said he expected his coun-
in the Slovene capital, Lju- try to apply for emergen-
bljana, that the pressure on cy financial aid and bor-
border security with Croa- der patrol reinforcements
tia had grown “very difficult from EU partners.q

Putin:

20 terror plots foiled in Russia this year

MOSCOW (AP) — Intelli- Speaking Tuesday at a cer- forcement officers almost
gence agents have foiled emony at the Kremlin, Putin daily. Moscow says some
20 terror plots in Russia this said in televised comments of these militants have links
year, President Vladimir Pu- that the FSB intelligence to Islamic State.
tin said Tuesday, and asked agency this year had foiled The FSB, the main succes-
officials to increase their ef- 20 terror plots, arrested 560 sor to the KGB, says that it
forts to prevent attacks. militants and killed 112 oth- has foiled two major terror
Just a few hours after Pu- ers in Russia’s North Cauca- plots in two weeks in Mos-
tin’s announcement, po- sus in raids and clashes. cow and in southern Russia
lice said they had detained Putin asked the FSB to in- which were allegedly pre-
20 members of a banned crease its efforts in prevent- pared by men with links to
Islamic organization in the ing terror attacks as well as IS. The Interior Ministry said
Moscow region. Russia be- uncovering militants’ links in a statement later Tues-
gan carrying out airstrikes to international groups. day that authorities have
against Islamic State mili- Islamic insurgency has “destroyed a cell” of the
tants in Syria last month to been brewing in the North Islamic organization Hizb
support government forces Caucasus following two ut-Tahrir in the Moscow re-
there. The Kremlin has cited wars in Chechnya in the gion. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which
curbing terrorism interna- 1990s. In neighboring preaches a radical brand
tionally and making sure Dagestan, the insurgents of the Islamic faith but has
Russian nationals in IS ranks — who want to carve out renounced violent meth-
don’t come back home as a state governed by their ods, is banned in Russia
the main reasons behind strict interpretation of Islam- and several Central Asian
the Russian airstrikes. ic law — clash with law en- nations.q