British police arrest suspect for murder of French students

LONDON (AFP)

05/07/08

British police arrested a man on Saturday in connection with the murder of two French students found brutally stabbed to death in a burnt out London flat.

The 21-year-old suspect was arrested in the street at 3:40 am (0240 GMT) and was being held in custody at a police station in southeast London. He is the first suspect to be arrested in the investigation.

“Our appeals for witnesses and information after the double murder still apply and we continue to urge people who may be able to assist to come forward,” London’s Metropolitan Police added in a statement.

The bound and battered bodies of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were found in the ground-floor flat in New Cross, southeast London, last Sunday when emergency services were called to the fire.

Bonomo had been stabbed nearly 200 times while Ferez suffered around 50 wounds in a prolonged ordeal, unidentified police sources quoted by the domestic Press Association news agency said.

The detective leading the investigation has said the pair were dead before the fire took hold, adding that they were knifed in the head, neck, torso and back.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie called it a “frenzied, brutal and horrific attack”.

Olivier Ferez, the father of one of the victims, said his family were “in shock and completely devastated”.

“Gabriel is, was, the most intelligent, affectionate, wonderful son anyone could ever want,” the nurse told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, describing his son as “incredibly gifted”.

“He studied at the best university in France and then the best in England. He had such a bright future and now that has gone.”

Ferez, comforting his daughter Helene, 20, and his 12-year-old son at the family’s home, added: “It is the worst nightmare for any parent.”

Rejane Ferez, the victim’s grandmother, said her grandson had been “finding life in London tough”.

“Gabriel loved travelling and had recently spent time in Mexico, but nothing had prepared him for London,” she said.

“As well as all the usual problems, life in London could also be very lonely. Both Gabriel and Laurent were greatly looking forward to getting back home.”

The two students — both biochemists from a university in Clermont-Ferrand, central France — were on a short exchange programme at London’s prestigious Imperial College.

They were due to return home at the end of July.

Students in Clermont-Ferrand were to hold a silent march through the city on Monday.

“The student world has lost two of its own in a horrible fashion. It’s now that we have to join together to show that we never want to see anything like this again,” one of the organisers said.

A forensic search of the scene was still going on at the rented 1980s flat, located in a leafy cul-de-sac.

Police revealed that the flat had been burgled in the days leading up to the men’s deaths, and a computer was stolen.

The deaths coincided with growing concern about knife crime and gang culture in London, which newly-elected Conservative mayor Boris Johnson and Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair have vowed to tackle.

Explosion in Somalia kills Mogadishu official and 5 others

05/07/08

MOGADISHU, Somalia: An explosion killed a Somali official, his wife and four others in the capital Saturday, witnesses and officials said.

In a separate attack, Islamist rebels said they ambushed a convoy of Ethiopian troops allied to Somalia’s shaky transitional government, but the number of casualties was not immediately known.

Hassan Illmi Abtidoon, the deputy district commissioner of Mogadishu’s Yaqshid district, was traveling in a car in the capital along with his wife, driver and three bodyguards, said Ahmed Gedi, who worked with the official.

The vehicle had just left Abtidoon’s house when a remote-controlled land mine exploded under the vehicle, Gedi said, adding that all six were killed in the blast.

Bus driver Abdi Gurey, who was right behind the car at the time of the attack, said “a huge explosion sent it into the air.”

argeted assassinations of officials are common in Somalia, where Islamic insurgents have vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency against the weak and corrupt U.N.-supported government.

The attack on the Ethiopian troop convoy occurred near the Somalia-Ethiopia border, said Sheik Abdirahin Issa Adow, a spokesman for the Islamist insurgency. He said the fighters destroyed three vehicles and killed soldiers on two trucks, but did not know the number of casualties.

Resident Huseen Ahmed Rage said the site of the ambush was soaked in blood, but he did not see any bodies. Somali and Ethiopian officials were not immediately available to confirm the attack.

In December 2006, Somali soldiers and their Ethiopian allies ousted Islamist insurgents who had taken over the capital. Since then, the insurgents have been battling the transitional government. The Islamists had ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months.

Ethiopian and Somali government forces come under daily attack in the capital.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other.

The current conflict is complicated by the involvement of arch enemies Eritrea and Ethiopia, who support the opposing sides, and a complicated web of clan loyalties.

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