French Development Minister Henri de Raincourt, after a visit to Mali, charged that Tuareg guerillas of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) killed nearly 100 residents in their occupation of Aguelhok, one of several northern towns that have come under attack by the rebels. Raincourt said some of the victims had their throats slit, while others were shot in the head. "The execution method was similar to those used by al-Qaeda," he said, raising the specter of Tuareg collaboration with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Mali's army also accused the rebels of conducting summary executions and working with AQIM. MNLA spokesman Abdoul Karim ag-Matafa said those killed in Aguelhok were soldiers, not civilians.

Security forces in Bahrain fired tear-gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades at protesters gathered on the eve of the first anniversary of the start of pro-democracy demonstrations Feb. 13. Protesters tried to gain control of the Pearl Roundabout in the capital, Manama—the focal point of last year's movement. Riot police pushed them back at a perimeter some two kilometers from the square. Thousands of riot police and other security forces have been deployed across the kingdom. At least 60 people have been killed in protests over the last year. (BBC News, Feb. 13)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran Feb. 13 atfter an Israeli diplomat's wife in New Delhi was injured by a car bomb, and a second bomb was disabled in a staff member's car at the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. "Iran is behind these attacks; it is the largest exporter of terrorism in the world," Netanyahu said in a statement. Citing recent incidents in Azerbaijan and Thailand, Netanyahu said: "In each instance we succeeded in foiling the attacks in cooperation with local authorities. Iran and its proxy Hezbollah were behind all of these attempted attacks." The attacks came the day after the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh in a Damascus car bomb blast.

A 69-year-old Palestinian man was killed and three others injured in an attack by the Israeli Air Force on tunnels and a weapons depot in the Gaza Strip on Feb. 12. The Israeli military released a statement saying its aircraft had struck four targets, including "a terror tunnel and a weapon manufacturing facility" near Gaza City. The strikes came in response to a short-range rocket that was launched from Gaza the previous day, wounding an Israeli woman, the statement said. No faction took credit for the rocket attack. Hamas, Gaza's ruling Islamist movement, has tried to rein in attacks on Israel as it seeks political accommodation with the secular Fatah movement that controls the Palestinian Authority. (Ha'aretz, Feb. 12)

Peru's President Ollanata Humala flew into a remote jungle military base in the Upper Huallaga Valley Feb. 12 to announce the capture by soldiers stationed there of the last "historic" leader of the Shining Path guerilla insurgency, Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala AKA "Comrade Artemio." Troops at the Santa Lucía base, in Tocache province, San Martín region, brought "Artemio" in via military plane after after finding him gravely wounded near the Río Misholla. Some reports indicated he was hit in a shoot-out with government forces; others that he was shot by his own bodyguards. "Peru has won," declared Humala. "We can now say that the terrorist delinquents have been defeated, and we can begin the process of pacification."

Peru on Feb. 8 raided an illegal logging site in Manú National Park, Madre de Dios region—just days after the UK-based Survival International released the first detailed photos of the "uncontacted" Mashco-Piro tribe that inhabits the reserve. In an operation led by SERNANP, Peru's agency for protected areas, park guards and police uncovered more than 3,000 feet of illegally harvested timber. SERNANP's two-day operation led to the arrest of a group of men and confiscation of their tools. The men face prison terms of three to six years. Sightings of the Mashco-Piro have risen in recent months, with many blaming illegal loggers for pushing the tribe out of their forest home.

A procession of some 1,000 cross-country marchers entered Lima Feb. 9, holding a massive rally joined by thousands more in Plaza San Martín to oppose the Conga mining project in Cajamarca region, and like projects across Peru's sierras. Having marched nine days from Cajamarca, the protesters filled the square with cries of "¡Conga no va!" Speakers included Cajamarca protest leaders Wilfredo Saavedra and Marco Arana, who asserted: "This is the voice of the people, and it must be complied with." They were followed by Cajamarcs's elected president Gregorio Santos, who warned the government of President Ollanta Humala not to "underestimate" the movement's power. Participants later attempted to march on the Congress of the Republic, but were barred by a thick cordon of riot police. They were prevented from meeting at the intersection outside the Congress building with a delegation of dissident lawmakers from Humala's Nationalist Party, led by Natali Condori.

On the night of Feb. 9, Bolivia's Plurinational Assembly passed a new law mandating a consultation process for indigenous communities in the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS)—billed as a "compromise" between proponents and opponents of the proposed road through the reserve. The new law threatens to undermine the existing law that cancelled the highway in October and now protects the TIPNIS as an "untouchable" ecological zone. The consultation law was developed by ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) legislative leaders in conjunction with CONISUR, an indigenous organization that favors the road project. It was approved by the MAS-controlled legislature in less than a week, and promptly signed into law by President Evo Morales—sparking an immediate outcry from indigenous leaders opposed to the road.