Dozens killed in rare Afghanistan attack / CNN

photo: photo: AP / Musadeq Sadeq

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Twin suicide bombings killed dozens Tuesday in Afghanistan, most of them in a mass-scale sectarian attack on Shiite worshippers unlike anything the country has seen in its decade-long war.
The terrorist attacks in the cities of Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif killed 58 people and wounded scores of others, officials said.
A suicide bomber detonated a device at a Shiite shrine in Kabul as worshippers were marking the Shiite holy day of Ashura, Afghan Health Ministry spokesman Kargar Norughli said. Fifty-four people were killed and 150 were wounded, said Afghan Health Ministry spokesman Kargar Norughli.
Four people were killed by an explosion at a roundabout on a busy street in Mazar-e Sharif, the provincial capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, police official Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said. Another 21 were wounded in that attack.
"The enemies tried to spread fear in this important holiday in the city," Ahmadzai said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. The Taliban denied involvement.
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a leading Shiite member of Parliament, blamed "foreign criminals."
The attacks showed "that those who claim to be defenders of Islam" are liars, and showed "how far from humanity they are," he said.

The attackers committed "these crimes for the interest of those foreigners who are controlling them so that they could create hatred among Muslims in Afghanistan," he said.
In Iraq, where large scale sectarian attacks have occurred frequently, government officials and analysts have said the goal of extremists was to foment sectarian tensions.
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan issued a statement Tuesday condemning the "the twin suicide bombings that killed dozens of worshippers, many of them women and children."
The bombs detonated nearly simultaneously, the statement said.
Afghanistan has seen attacks on mosques. In 2006, rioting broke out between Shiites and Sunnis at an Ashura festival in Herat, leading to several deaths. But the country has not seen sectarian attacks of the scale that occurred Tuesday.
The attacks came a day after an international conference in Bonn, Germany, addressed the state of affairs in Afghanistan, and Afghan officials pushed for international support and contributions.
The U.S. Embassy statement Tuesday vowed that the United States "remains undeterred in standing with the Afghan people against the scourge of terrorism in our mutual aim of promoting peace and prosperity."

Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said, "An attack against Ashura pilgrims on one of the holiest of days in the Islamic calendar is an attack against Islam itself, and we denounce and condemn these atrocities in the strongest of terms. Our prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families and loved ones of those innocent civilians killed or injured in today's horrific attacks."
Ambassador Simon Gass, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, called the attacks "horrifying."
"That men, women and children are killed and injured on Ashura is particularly tragic," he said.
Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Hussein's death in battle in Karbala, Iraq, in 680, is one of the events that helped create the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, the two main Muslim religious movements. Shiites are a minority presence in Afghanistan, which is predominantly Sunni.

At the Bonn conference on Monday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that the Taliban could make a comeback as the country struggles with security a decade after a U.S.-led coalition ousted the hardline militia from power.
"If we lose this fight, we are threatened with a return to a situation like that before September 11, 2001," Karzai said.
In an e-mailed statement to journalists, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said he condemned Tuesday's attacks. He accused NATO forces of playing a role in the attacks "to sow mistrust and hatred among Muslims so they can stay longer."
Karzai, at Monday's conference, said that though there had been progress over the past 10 years, stability remains a distant goal.
"Our shared goal of a stable, self-reliant Afghanistan is far from being achieved," he said.

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ICC seeks Sudan defence minister arrest over Darfur

Sudan's Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant for Sudan's defence minister for alleged crimes in Darfur.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein was suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 2003-04.
The Hague-based ICC has already indicted Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on genocide charges in Darfur.
A senior Sudanese official has dismissed the warrant as "ridiculous".

Rabbie Abdal Attie told the BBC the ICC was a "tool of the West" and was trying to destabilise Sudan but that the warrant would not affect the country.
In another development, Kenya and Sudan have resolved their diplomatic row triggered by a Kenyan court issuing its own warrant for President Bashir after he was allowed to visit Nairobi in August in defiance of the ICC request.

The latest warrant request was made by Mr Moreno-Ocampo's office in a statement on Friday.
It asked the ICC "to issue an arrest warrant against the current Sudanese Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004".

The statement added that Mr Hussein was among those who "bear greatest criminal responsibility" for atrocities in Darfur.
At the time, Mr Hussein was both Sudan's interior minister and its representative in Darfur.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said he was requesting the warrant now "to encourage further public focus" on Sudan's policy and actions, and to "promote cooperation" to arrest the three Sudanese officials the ICC has already indicted.

Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein is very much part of President Omar al-Bashir's inner circle, so for those close to him, this is another attempt to destabilise their man - and the country.
That is not helping matters at a time when Sudan wants its $40bn (£25bn) or so of foreign debt forgiven.
ICC judges will now study the prosecutor's request before deciding whether to issue a warrant.
Together with President Bashir, the court has also indicted another former Interior Minister Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, a suspected leader of the Janjaweed militia, over alleged atrocities in Darfur.

The ICC says that Mr Harun reported directly to Mr Hussein.
They all deny the charges and refuse to surrender to the ICC.
The mainly Arab Janjaweed militia is accused of carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Darfur's black African population after rebels took up arms in 2003, accusing the government of ignoring the region.

According to the ICC, attacks followed a pattern, with Sudan's military surrounding a village, the air force bombing it and then soldiers and Janjaweed fighters going in on foot, killing, raping and looting.
The Hague-based court has also indicted two Darfur rebels, who are accused of attacking African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. The suspects surrendered to the court last year.

Despite the warrant, Mr Bashir has visited several countries, especially in Africa, without being arrested.
After the Kenyan court issued a warrant for Mr Bashir's arrest on Monday, Sudan ordered the expulsion of Kenya's ambassador in Khartoum, and threatened to expel Kenyan peacekeepers from Sudan and not to allow planes flying to Kenya to go through Sudanese airspace.

But on his return from an emergency trip to Khartoum, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula on Friday said relations were now "back to normal" and that no diplomats would be expelled.
He said that while the government respected the court, he said he would guarantee that Mr Bashir would not be arrested on Kenyan territory.

Mr Wetangula said Kenya would not withdraw from the ICC but, like other African countries, it was concerned that the court was unfairly targeting the continent.

"We have voiced concerns about the manner in which the ICC has been pursuing African leaders and leaving leaders with much, much heavier responsibility of human rights and murderous actions," he said, pointing to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The African Union has urged the UN Security Council to defer the warrant against Mr Bashir in order to help the search for peace in Darfur.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo is set to be replaced as ICC chief prosecutor by his deputy, Fatou Bensouda, from The Gambia.

She is the only candidate in the 12 December election and is to take up her new duties in June 2012, the ICC says.

Some 2.7 million people have fled their homes since the conflict began in Darfur in 2003, and the UN says about 300,000 have died - many from disease.

Sudan's government says the conflict has killed about 12,000 people and the number of dead has been exaggerated for political reasons.
(Story : BBC)
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Baghdad suicide bomber kills 11 at prison/The Associated Press

Iraqi soldiers search a car at a Baghdad checkpoint on Sunday, but they were unable to prevent a deadly suicide bombing on Monday. Iraqi soldiers search a car at a Baghdad checkpoint on Sunday, but they were unable to prevent a deadly suicide bombing on Monday. (Saad Shalash/Reuters )

A suicide bomber slammed a car packed with explosives into the gate of a prison north of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 11 people, Iraqi officials said.

The attack in the town of Taji, about 20 kilometres north of the capital, is the third major attack in about a week in Iraq, and raises questions about the ability of the nation's security forces to protect the country after U.S. troops leave in just over a month.

A police officer said the attacker struck the main gate of al-Hout prison at 8 a.m. local time, when many employees and guards were on their way to work. Six policemen were among the dead and the rest were civilians, he added. At least 21 people were wounded.

Two health officials in nearby hospitals confirmed the causality figures.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Violence has ebbed across Iraq since the height of the fighting, but deadly bombings and shootings still occur almost daily as U.S. troops prepare to leave.

Vehicles destroyed by a suicide car bomb explosion are towed away in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. A suicide bomber slammed a car packed with explosives into the gate of a prison north of Baghdad on Monday, killing and wounding scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Last Saturday a string of explosions hit a market in Baghdad and an area on the city's western outskirts, killing at least 15 people. Three days earlier, a triple bombing in the southern city of Basra killed 19 people.

Iraqi security officials maintain that they are fully prepared for the American withdrawal, which is required under a 2008 security pact between the U.S. and Iraq. About 15,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, down from a one-time high of about 170,000.

Many Iraqis, however, are concerned that insurgents may use the transition period to launch more attacks in a bid to regain their former prominence and destabilize the country.

© The Associated Press, 2011
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20 people killed in Cairo clashes

A general view shows Tahrir Square as Egyptian riot policemen try to disperse protesters in Cairo November 20, 2011. Police backed by the army used batons and teargas on Sunday to charge protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square demanding Eygpt's ruling generals swiftly hand power to civilians, in some of the worst violence since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Health Ministry says 20 people have been killed since Sunday in clashes between police and protesters demanding the country's military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government.

The ministry also said Monday some 1,750 people have been wounded in the clashes since they began Saturday. The ministry did not specify whether the dead and wounded were protesters, or whether the figures included policemen and army soldiers.

The military has floated a timetable that places the transfer of power late in 2012 or early 2013, but the protesters want it to announce a precise date. A growing number, however, wants the military to immediately step down in favor of an interim civilian council.

Police are clashing for a third day in Cairo's central Tahrir Square with stone-throwing protesters demanding the country's military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government.

About 3,000 protesters are on the square, facing off with hundreds of black-clad riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Monday's clashes are also taking place near the Interior Ministry, which is close to Tahrir Square — the epicenter of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February.

The protests have spread across much of Egypt. At least 13 protesters have been killed since Saturday, all but one are in Cairo. Hundreds have been wounded.

The military has floated a timetable that places the transfer of power sometime late in 2012 or early 2013.

© (AP)
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Seif al-Islam Gadhafi arrested in Libya

Moammar Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, waves to troops in Libya on Aug. 23, 2011. He had not been seen since he went underground after the country's capital, Tripoli, fell to revolutionary forces in August. (Dario Lopez-Mills/Associated Press)

Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam — the only member of the ousted ruling family to remain at large — was captured as he travelled with aides in a convoy in Libya's southern desert, Libyan officials said Saturday.

A spokesman for the Libyan fighters who captured him said Seif al-Islam was detained about 50 kilometres west of the town of Obari with two aides as he was trying to flee to neighbouring Niger, but the country's acting justice minister later said the convoy's destination was not confirmed.

The International Criminal Court had charged Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam and Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi with crimes against humanity for the brutal crackdown on dissent as the uprising against the regime began in mid-February and escalated into a civil war.

Seif al-Islam's capture leaves only al-Senoussi at large.
Mohammed al-Alagi, the National Transitional Council's justice minister, told The Associated Press that Seif al-Islam was detained deep in Libya's desert Friday night by revolutionary forces from the mountain town of Zintan who had been tracking him for days.

Seif al-Islam was being held in Zintan but would be transported to Tripoli soon, according to al-Alagi.
A spokesman for the Zintan brigades, Bashir al-Tlayeb, who first announced the capture at a press conference in Tripoli, said the NTC, which took over governing the country after Gadhafi was ousted, would decide where Seif al-Islam would be tried.

He also said that there was still no information about al-Senoussi's whereabouts.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, at 39 the oldest of seven children of Moammar and Safiya Gadhafi, had long drawn western favour by touting himself as a liberalizing reformer in the autocratic regime but then staunchly backed his father in his brutal crackdown on rebels in the regime's final days.

He had gone underground after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces and issued audio recordings to try to rally support for his father.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he will travel to Libya next week for talks with the country's transitional government on where Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam will be tried.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo says that while national governments have the right to try their own citizens for war crimes, he is concerned that Gadhafi will have a fair trial and that he be tried for the same charges he faces at the ICC.

"The good news is that Seif al-Islam is arrested, he is alive, and now he will face justice," Ocampo said in an interview Saturday in The Hague.
The ICC had earlier said that it was in indirect negotiations with a son of Moammar Gadhafi about his possible surrender for trial.

© The Associated Press, 2011
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Syrian clashes said to leave 90 dead

Dozens of soldiers and security forces were gunned down by suspected army defectors in southern Syria, a deadly ambush that comes as President Bashar Assad increasingly appears unable to manage the crisis

Demonstrators protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad gather in Hula, near Homs on November 13, 2011. (Handout/Reuters)

Monday's hours-long clash in the southern province of Daraa came on a particularly bloody day in Syria, with as many as 90 people killed across the country. The brazen attack by the army defectors suggested a new confidence among troops who have sided with the protesters and highlighted the potential for an armed confrontation to escalate.

The UN estimates the regime's military crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising has killed 3,500 people in the past eight months. November is shaping up to be the bloodiest month of the revolt, with well over 300 people killed so far.
The latest death toll was compiled by sources including British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Local Coordination Committees activist coalition and morgue officials.
Killed in ambush

Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the observatory, confirmed that 34 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising that began in mid-March, inspired by successful revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and later Libya.
Although activists say the protests have remained largely peaceful, with demonstrators calling for the regime's downfall, an armed insurgency has developed in recent months targeting Assad's military and security forces.

Assad is facing the most severe challenge to his family's four-decade rule in Syria, with former allies as well as Western nations using increasingly harsh rhetoric in urging him to stop his bloody crackdown. On Tuesday, Turkey said it no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime and warned Assad that his brutal crackdown threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood."

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's comments were a blow to Syria, because the countries once cultivated close ties. But Turkish leaders have grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus over its refusal to halt the attacks on protesters.
On Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Assad should step down for the good of his country, the first Arab leader to publicly make such a call.

That prompted pro-government protesters to converge on Jordan's embassy in Damascus, with three of them scaling the fence and ripping down the Jordanian flag -- the latest in a string of attacks on foreign missions. Jordan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Kayed said no one entered the embassy and no injuries occurred.

Monday's bloodiest attacks were in Daraa province, along the Jordanian border, including the attack that killed 34 soldiers. According to the observatory, 12 defectors and 23 civilians also killed in the area.
Hours of gunbattles

A resident near the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh in Daraa province said he heard more than four hours of intense gunfire. He asked that his name not be used for fear of government reprisals.

Another witness, who is an activist in the area, said he counted the bodies of 12 people, believed to be civilians killed by security forces' fire.
"I saw two army armored personnel carriers, totally burnt," he told The Associated Press by telephone. He also asked for anonymity out of fear for his safety.

In the restive city of Homs, the morgue received 19 corpses, all of them shot.

Other activist groups had slightly different figures of those killed, a common occurrence because the Syrian government has prevented independent reporting and barred most foreign journalists. Details gathered by activist groups and witnesses are key channels of information.

Syria's crackdown has brought international condemnation, but Damascus generally had been spared broad reproach in the Arab world. That changed Saturday, with a near-unanimous vote by the 22-member Arab League to suspend Syria, and the situation appeared to be spiraling out of Assad's control.

Earlier Monday, Syria struck back at its international critics, branding an Arab League decision to suspend its membership as "shameful and malicious" and accusing other Arabs of conspiring with the West to undermine the regime.

The sharp rebuke suggests Damascus fears the United States and its allies might use the rare Arab consensus to press for tougher sanctions at the United Nations.
Assad says extremists pushing a foreign agenda to destabilize Syria are behind the unrest, not true reform-seekers aiming to open the country's autocratic political system.

Turkey cancels Syrian oil plans

Turkey on Tuesday canceled plans for oil exploration in Syria, while also threatening to cut electricity supplies after a spate of attacks by supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad on its diplomatic missions.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz announced that Turkey had shelved plans for Turkey's petroleum company, TPAO, to jointly explore oil with Syria's state oil company in six wells within Syria. Yildiz also threatened that Turkey could review supplies of electricity to the troubled country if tensions continue.
"Right now, we are providing electricity (to Syria)," Yildiz said. "If (Syria) continues on this course, then we might have to reconsider these decisions."

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Assad for his brutal crackdown on opponents and attacks by his supporters on Turkish diplomatic missions on Saturday.
Turkey no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime, Erdogan said, warning Assad that his brutal crackdown on opponents threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood."

The Associated Press

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Huge blast kills 17 at Iran military base

A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday killed 17 Revolutionary Guards and wounded 15, a spokesman for the elite fighting force told the semi-official Fars news agency.

Blast at Iran military base Credit: AP

Officials said the blast was an accident which happened as troops were moving munitions at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar, some 45 km (28 miles) west of Tehran.
The explosion shook homes and rattled windows for miles around, at a time of mounting tension with Israel over Iran's nuclear program.

"Today at 13:30, (0900 GMT), an explosion happened in one of the Revolutionary Guards' bases while a consignment of explosive devices was being moved out from the arsenal, besides that some munitions in the arsenal exploded which created a terrifying sound," Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif told state

Sharif initially said 27 people had been killed but later revised that figure down to 17.
Residents in western suburbs of Tehran told Reuters they had felt the blast, some assuming it to be a moderate earthquake.
The explosion started a fire at the base which raged for hours. Surrounding streets were closed and reporters were kept away from the scene.
Some media reported there had been two explosions and the head of Iran's Red Crescent organization said there was a risk of further blasts.

Mahmoud Mozafar told the Mehr news agency that only six paramedics had been allowed into the Amir Al-Momenin military base and that thick smoke was hampering the rescue operation.
There were no reports linking the blast to any air strike or other attack. Tension has risen in recent weeks between Iran and its enemies Israel and the United States, which have not ruled out attacking facilities whose occupants they believe are working toward making nuclear weapons.
Sharif denied what he said was speculation in the Western media that the military base was linked to Iran's nuclear program.

"This blast is not related to any nuclear tests that some foreign media have reported," he told Mehr.

Tehran denies Western accusations, that were given some credence by a report from the UN nuclear agency this week, that its nuclear program has military ends.
On October 12 last year a similar blast at a Revolutionary Guards munitions store killed and wounded several servicemen in Khoramabad, western Iran. Authorities said that explosion was an accident too.

(Reuters)

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24 soldiers killed in attack in Turkey

Istanbul/Twenty-four soldiers were killed and 18 injured during an attack early Wednesday morning in southeastern Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Rockets were launched at security forces and military sites in the town of Cukurca, an official with the provincial governor's office and Turkish President Abdullah Gul said.

Gul blamed terrorism when he spoke about the attack during a televised address.

"Our determination is certain. Those who think that democratic improvements in Turkey are achieved as a result of terrorism are making a big mistake," Gul said. "It is our decision to continue the struggle against terrorism without giving any concessions."

He warned that "those who inflict this pain on us will endure pain many times over" themselves.

Erdogan said "wide-scale operations, including hot pursuit as defined by international law" were continuing in the region, as the military seeks those responsible.

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, he said the "Turkish state will breathe down the neck of those who secretly or openly support or aid terrorism."

He added: "Turkey always played an active role in the international fight against terrorism and it expects also the international community and all countries to give support and active cooperation in combating terrorism."

Urging the country's people to show unity, he said the process could be lengthy but that other countries had defeated terrorism in the end.

Erdogan canceled his trip to Kazakhstan, planned for Wednesday, in the wake of the attack.

"We changed our plans after hearing about the very sad incident that happened early this morning ... our heroes were killed during a cowardly attack," said Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. He earlier said 25 soldiers were killed.

While the government has not specified who it believes is responsible for the attack, it comes amid escalating tensions between the government and elements of the country's Kurdish minority.

Two weeks ago, lawmakers voted to extend authorization for the Turkish military to carry out cross border attacks against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Turkish police also arrested more than 100 people across the country, suspected of links to rebels with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

The Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party issued a written statement Wednesday, saying: "We are calling on both the government and the PKK to urgently stop the war without wasting one more second. Turkey's most urgent need is peace."

The Kurds represent the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. For decades, they were the target of repressive government policies, implemented by officials who sometimes referred to them as "mountain Turks."

Until just a few years ago, it was illegal to speak Kurdish on radio and television in Turkey. Under Erdogan, the government has tried to improve relations by launching a state Kurdish language TV station in 2009.

Some observers have sounded the alarm about escalating tension between Turkey and its Kurdish minority, warning it may re-ignite a conflict that has simmered since 1984 and claimed more than 30,000 lives.

(CNN)

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Women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to vote

(CNN) -- Women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to vote and run for office in future municipal elections, King Abdullah announced Sunday.

In an address on Saudi state TV, the king said women will be allowed to nominate candidates for the next set of municipal elections. Although he did not use the word "vote," allowing women to take part in the nomination process would amount to voting within Saudi Arabia's system.

The country is holding municipal elections Thursday for the only the second time in nearly 50 years. The changes the king announced would go into effect for the next set of elections -- and it is unclear when those might take place.

Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider called the announcement "great news."

"Women's voices will be heard finally," she said. "Now it's time to remove other barriers like not allowing women to drive cars and not being able to function and live a normal life without a male guardian."

The White House also hailed the announcement.

"We welcome Saudi King Abdullah's announcement today that women will serve as full members of the Shura Council in the next session, and will have the right to participate in future elections," it said in a statement. "These reforms recognize the significant contributions women in Saudi Arabia make to their society and will offer them new ways to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and communities." The move, according to the White House, is "an important step forward in expanding the rights of women in Saudi Arabia."

King Abdullah's announcement followed increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia to allow women to vote.

"Since we reject to marginalize the role of women in the Saudi society, in every field of works, according to the (Islamic) Sharia guidelines, and after consultations with many of our scholars, especially those in the senior scholars council, and others, who have expressed the preference for this orientation, and supported this trend, we have decided the following," the king said, according to an English translation of his remarks released by the Saudi government.

First, he announced, women will be allowed to participate in the Shura council, the Consultative Council appointed by the king.

The U.S. State Department says there are already some women on the 150-member Consultative Council. In 2010, "the number of female advisers on the Consultative Council increased from 10 to 13," the U.S. State Department said in its human rights report on Saudi Arabia, citing "local sources."

The king also announced Sunday that, "As of the next session, women will have the right to nominate themselves for membership of Municipal Councils, and also have the right to participate in the nomination of candidates with the Islamic guidelines."

Elections for those councils were held in 2005 for the first time since 1963. Only men were eligible to vote, the U.S. State Department says.

Another set of elections was scheduled for 2009 but was delayed repeatedly -- ultimately being scheduled for this week.

Earlier this year, Saudi women activists wrote the government requesting that women be allowed to vote and be candidates in the municipal elections, according to the U.S. Library of Congress.

Saudi Arabia's "Minister of Municipality and Rural Affairs declared that Saudi women will not be able to either run or vote in this election," the Library of Congress reported on its blog. "According to news reports, the Minister stated that the ban on women's participation is due to the lack of segregated voting facilities."

When election centers opened in April for voters to register, some groups of women turned up and were turned away. It was one of the first public acts of the "Saudi Women Revolution," a movement set up to campaign for the end of Saudi Arabia's discriminatory laws.

In June, a number of Saudi women took to the streets -- in cars -- to demand the right for women to drive and travel freely in the country.

There are no specific traffic laws that make it illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia. However, religious edicts are often interpreted as a prohibition of female drivers. Such edicts also prevent women from opening bank accounts, obtaining passports or even going to school without the presence of a male guardian.

Authorities stopped Manal al Sharif, 32, for driving a car May 21 and detained her the next day. She said she was forced to sign a form promising not to drive again and spent a week in jail. Her case became a rallying cry for women activists.

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