♪ iraq's army launches a military operation to retake western anbar province from i.s.i.l. ♪ hello, i'm rochelle in doha and also ahead on the program a month after attacking the university in northeast kenya al-shabab gunmen return to the area to target police forces. the latest on the mass graves found in malaysia and our reporter is at the scene. smugglers who go fishing for fuel off the beefaches off togo.

♪ three suicide car bombers have launched attacks as iraq's military begins operation to try and retake anbar province from i.s.i.l. and shia malitia are involved in the operation which some say could raise sectarian tensions and anbar is a large mostly sunni province in the west and took control of ramadi the capitol last week sending iraqi troops running and rampty is 115 kilometers from the capitol baghdad and we are in baghdad and joins us now and what is going to be different about this operation to retake anbar as opposed to the fact it fell in the first place, what is going to be different? >> well what they are doing is pumping in a lot more resources than they have done previously and a lot more coordination between all of the various different forces and let's look

at what different forces we have. we have the regular iraqi army taking part and shia malitias who were supported by iran and iran supporters and coalition air strikes led by the u.s. and we have a situation where iran and the u.s. are going to be working together probably not in a coordinated fashion but certainly there will be some coordination going on between them so it's very much a big operation to try and take back the west of anbar and the biggest we have seen and anger and fear from many people. i was down at the last safe border crossing from anbar to baghdad and speaking to people there and they are telling me look there are a number of sunni people who want to fight i.s.i.l. but the government are not giving us help and giving no weapons and we feel isolated and without that you will not get the rest of the people who are left in anbar who are sunni to turn against i.s.i.l. and that is a real concern. >> tell us more about the

significance of anbar, why this particular area matters so much. >> it matters so much because it shares a border area with three countries jordan and saudi arabia and syria and i.s.i.l. controlled two key border crossings from syria to anbar and they are backing up and masking fighters in preparation for the battle to come. also it's one of the main trade links into jordan and syria and in saudi arabia so if you lose that you lose one of the land routes coming into anbar province and this is a battle for the roads of anbar province and it's predominately a desert and there are key highways that link this side and western iraq to the rest of the world effectively talking about the three countries so it's very important for trade reasons because it's largely a sunni province and the only way to defeat i.s.i.l. is to get the sunnis on your side and get them to defeat i.s.i.l. and also it's

very important because it's one of iraq's largest provinces and contributes masses to the economy. >> we are live from baghdad and thank you so much. professor is a senior fellow of the middle east center at the london school of economics and says the u.s. is responsible for what is happening in iraq. >> i think all these catastrophes are because of the united states' invasion and destruction of iraq and dissolvement of the army in 2003 and they have not done anything in iraq and left iraq without creating a real democratic or stability government. now they are unwilling to go inside because they say that they are unwilling to sacrifice their people but they were willing to sacrifice their people in 2003 to destroy without anybody asking them and they are not supporting the forces really in the right way. air coverage is not that

effective. air strikes and mr. mccain himself said are not that effective. the supply of armaments is very slow. i should think the united states should do what it has in power in order to restore the iraqi stage and stability and security in this country. >> activists say several people have been injured after syrian government planes dropped six barrel bombs on the marmook refugee camp and it lies south of the capitol damascus is home to 6,000 palestinian refugees and i.s.i.l. fighters attacked the camp last month and syrian government allegedly continues to use barrel bombs against civilian targets to find a u.n. resolution to stop their use. kenya's interior ministry says a policeman has been killed and four others hurt by al-shabab and earlier threatened to kill

25 police in the west and they are ambushed in the village and let's get the latest from catherine live on the phone from south sudan and catherine lots of conflicting information about what actually has happened. what do we know? >> reporter: i have just spoken of the ministry and that you mentioned mentioned. mentioned. >> as you can tell we are having a bit of a difficult time with our connection with catherine and we will follow the story through the day as al-shabab claims to have killed some kenya police officers and keep it here and the rest of the news taliban

gunmen attacking headquarters in southern afghanistan and 13 police and 7 soldiers have been killed in the siege in the province and the district police chief appealed for immediate help from the afghan government. the first hearing has ended in the trial of a "washington post" journalist in iran and the first day of jason rezaian's trial was behind closed doors and absence of the family and is charged with filing and cooperating with the governments and iran says the law must take its course. may are continuing the task of exhuming trafficking victims from shallow graves in the jungle. on monday they removed body parts from the site in the northern malaysia state and 139 graves were discovered in a grave that is by thailand and they called for help to solve

the migrant crisis and we have been to the jungle camps in the state. >> reporter: malaysia police have begun to exume graves close to the thai border and now police today took us to an area a burial site which they say has 37 suspected graves and the forensic team was there digging up one body and they found one body it was wrapped in cloth or an shroud indicating the person could have been buried in accordance with muslim rights. not far from that burial site about 200 meters away was a camp and police say it had been abandon by the time they found it and believe the camp could have been two years old and much of the structure was already falling down and we could make it out it was a camp to hold at least 200 people. now, in this camp there were traces of human activity that we saw. there were plates, crockery

thrown in an open pit and pieces of cloth hanging that could have been used as curtains and a watertank indicating the people who ran the camps probably knew they would be in the camps for a long time and traces of barbed wire on the ground nailed to trees saying that human trafficking trafficking sindicates wanted to keep their ka go there and tells you how they were held in and by now we know that human trafficking sindicates work and they bring in people from bangladesh and myanmar and say we will get you jobs in malaysia and trafficked through southern thailand into northern malaysia and these areas they are held in camps where family members and friends are made to pay an ransom before they are released. green peace going to court for the decision to block their bank accounts and cracking down

on nongovernmental organization who receive federal funding and green peace says it's a victim of paranoia and says they have broken the rules and they cancelled registration of 9,000 foreign funded ngos for failing to file annual return and the u.s. based ford foundation is on a security watch last last month and we have a board member of the green peace india society and told me green peace is being unfairly targeted. >> the ministry of home affairs seem to be nitpicking that particular ngos have not submitted their accounts on time but in the case of green peace i think they are on shaky ground. the courts ruled against the industry of home affairs and i think a big problem with the ministry of home affairs is they are paranoid and so paranoid it's kind of reminicent of grand

-- gandhi. >> they are harsh accusations and why do you say that? >> i will tell you. >> okay. >> you have ngos and blocked funding and what they receive in ionia is from ordinary people from india and not government entities and the government and rules of the law of the land has no right to block these funds but they have gone ahead and done it. the courts will eventually in my opinion will rule against the government. this is an example of intimidation and harassment. why? that is because green peace and supporters have been agitated against a power plant in india. green peace india has been in the forefront of telling the government that look if we have

a mine call mine it in an friendly manner and rehabilitate the people whose livelihoods are destroyed. >> politically motivated. >> against government policies. >> are you saying that? >> absolutely. in the 1970s, in the 1970s the then prime minister of india saw this foreign hand with everything that went wrong in this country. i mean i regret to say this but there are some individuals in the present government who seem to be you know i mean looking at ngos including green peace as the reason why india's economy is not growing. still ahead on al jazeera, european leaders immediate to discuss the worsening humanitarian crisis in central african republic. plus china's president vows to find and punish those responsible for a fire at a home for the elderly which killed at least 38 people. ♪

>> guardianship imposed by the state >> they lose more rights than someone who goes to prison... >> what's being done to protect liberties in texas? >> i'm just a citizen trying to get some justice for an old man... >> an america tonight investigation only on al jazeera america ♪ welcome back you are watching al jazeera and let's take a quick look at the headlines now iraqi army launched operation to recapture anbar province from i.s.i.l. fighters and para military forces made up of shia muslims are involved in the take which some think can raise sectarian tension and i.s.i.l. took control of the ramadi the capitol just over a week ago. several people injured after syrian government planes struck six barrel bombs on a refugee

camp and the camp is south of the capitol damascus is home to some 6,000 palestinian refugees. kenya's interior ministry says a policeman has been killed and four others by suspected al-shabab and the somali earlier claimed to killed 25 police officers in the village. government leaders in burundi say they will not vow to international criticism of the president's controversial bid for a third term. a protesters against the president has been killed after police opened fire in burundi province. protesters spreading to more areas of the capitol and our reporter harry is in one of them. >> reporter: dramatically this area is and has been tense. people on the streets protesting. the police then came in with guns and tear gas to protect themselves people picked up rocks and started throwing them on to the streets. the people opened fire and used

tear gas and got the upper hand. but people started coming back and put cars there along the roads to protect themselves. this is how they stopped the police coming on foot or vehicles in areas of their neighborhoods. it is still quite tense and people adamant they will get and keep protesting and don't want the president to run for a third term and under pressure not to run for a third term which is unconstitutional and the people say they will stay on the streets until he announces he is not going to hang on to power and right now he is adamant and telling people who do not want him to stay he is not going anywhere. people escaping arrest in burundi with no one to look after them and they are leaving and taking a boat to a small town in tanzania and erica wood has their story. >> reporter: mothers and children boarding boats to get

as far as way from the fighting in burundi as they can and among the 50,000 who traveled to tanzania in the last month. many are children who have lost their parents like 16-year-old maria, after they landed in tanzania she and her two siblings were taken to the stadium for shelter. >> translator: the security situation in our country is getting worse everyday we have no parents and nobody to protect us and people werekied and beaten up and that is the reason we decided to leave. >> reporter: 1200 unaccompanied children have been registered in this camp alone. >> this is largely a crisis facing children. 83% of the population on the move that had been registered in tanzania is children. >> reporter: cholera is a major problem in the refugee camps, more than 30 people have already died in the past two weeks and aid groups rasing to provide

sanitation medical supplies and psychological care. >> unicef is deploying on the ground 30 social well fair officers that have been trained in child protection with the identifications, the documentation and the identification of the alternative care options for these children. >> reporter: while they seek shelter here the refugees say they have little faith in finding a peaceful solution back home and burundi had a turbulent test of mass killings and for her it's not the first time they have been a victim of violence back home and her parents were killed by malitias when she was just nine years old and she and many more refugees want to do what they can to make a new life in tanzania because they have little reason to return home erika woods al jazeera. agreement reached in nigeria

to end fuel shortages and motorists have long cues at stations and many people buy the cans on the black markets and businesses banks, hospitals airlines had to scale back operations because they rely on diesel generators but now the government promised to pay oil importers money that is owed to them the deal reached days before the new president is to be sworn in. and going without fuel some of the country's petrol is sold in togo and illegal traders smuggling it across the border and making huge profits and we report from the capitol. >> reporter: these containers filled with fuel from nigeria and both arrive nearly everyday. the smugglers throw the containers overboard and the tide brings them in. this is the beach on togo's border. the fuel smuggling business here is thriving. we have to film in secret

because the people here don't want outsiders to see this. traders come from all over togo to buy fuel here. in the capitol they sell it along the roadside. bike riders are the main customers. it's the way most people get around in togo. on a good day this seller says he can take home $40. he doesn't want us to show his face. >> translator: i know it's illegal but if it weren't for this maybe i would be on the streets or worse and my life would be meaningless and good for nothing at least now i'm focusing on my own business. >> reporter: his customers tell us it's not just because of the price he buys from the roadside. >> translator: how the filling stations treat you i prefer to buy from the roadside because i can see the amount of fuel i'm getting for my money. >> reporter: this is how many people buy fuel and cheaper than

going to the filling stations and from time to time the police come and seize all sellers' goods but it doesn't deter them. one of them said it's also about convenience because in some parts of the country it's hard to find a fuel station. >> translator: from the border there are no fuel stations. if a car run out of fuel the driver must push its car to the border town before fueling and along the roadside you are see people selling prohibited fuel and go to villages in the country and you will not see a petrol station at all. >> reporter: the government needs to build more fuel station or regulate sellers so they operate safely and can pay tax, that is an idea that sellers do not like. they say that in the absence of other legitimate work they would rather stay on the ground and make many this way, al jazeera, lomay. european leaders meeting in brussels to address the humanitarian crisis in central

african republic and nearly 1 million people displaced by sectarian violence and aid agencies do not have enough money for food and medical aid that is needed there and jackie roland reports. >> reporter: it may not be on the headlines but they are volitile and look for peace after two years of fighting between rival malitia and half a million are homeless in their country and christians forced out by muslims and muslims forced out by christians. the muslim minority in particular is paying the price of the intercommunal violence and a half million to chad cameroon and the democratic republic of congo. here they are living in refugee camps entirely dependent on international aid. this is the lean season in central africa and food stocks

are dangerously low. mothers and their children are most at risk of starvation. health workers say infant mortality has reached crisis levels and it's still several months until the next harvest. >> the security situation will undoubtedly deteriorate, when we see the basic necessities missing we see conflict and further displacement and people will move to where they believe they be get basic necessities and that movement in an international situation like the central african republic will lead to increased conflict. >> reporter: some of the armed groups have begun releasing children they recruited to fight with them. but the risk of renewed fighting is never far away the central african republic has few national resources so it's not high on the international agenda. without coordinated action now this conflict may rumble on, claiming more innocent lives.

jackie roland al jazeera. in the united states flash floods caused a state of disaster to be declared in 24 counties in texas and 12 died and 4 missing and compared the storm dizzy as tore a tsunami and wiping some homes completely off the map and tens of thousands of homes have been left without power and across the border in mexico 13 people were killed after a powerful tornado ripped through a border city. dozens of homes and cars have been destroyed, that is all in ciudad acuna and extreme heat wave killed 500 people in india and most died in the south where the forecasters say the heat wave could continue for another two weeks. 12 people arrested in connection with a fire at a home for the elderly in china. it is believed that those are the staff that is responsible for this at the facility. at least 38 people were killed at the privately-run home in the

central prove inls of honan and poor building and safety standards are often a factor in similar incidents and adrian brown has more. >> reporter: remains of a makeshift care home where so many seem to have perished. the evening meal had been eaten and most residents had gone to bed and some were in firm so would have had little chance at escape and others s ushgsubcomming to smoke and some residents made it to safety but by tuesday rescue crews were involved in an operation to recover bodies. confirmed death toll already makes in the most serious fire in china in two years. in the past lack safety standards have been blamed and china's president ordered an investigation promising anyone found responsible will be punished. adrian brown, al jazeera,

beijing. and peru and protester at a mine strike has been killed in san juan and fired tear gas who were against the workers at a mining company and state of emergency declared on saturday following a series of violent protests of a copper mining, project in the south of the country. inmates at brazil jail killed eight prisoners and held 70 hostage in an overnight stand off between two rival gangs and reportedly armed with knives and handguns. the riot broke out during family visiting hours and visitors including women and children were held hostage and negotiators finally brought the standoff to an end after about 18 hours. a volcano on one of ecuador's galapagos island is threatening an unique species of pink iguana and this volcano inactive for 33

years erupted on monday and this was on isabella island. chief prosecutor of the international criminal and tribunal is due in belgrade where he is expected to eksz plain why he ordered a far right leader back to the hague and he denies involvement in the massacre of hundreds of prisoners of war and sent home from the tribunal six months ago after being diagnosed with cancer and we have more. >> reporter: he getting a hero's reception at party headquarters in belgrade. the 60-year-old was temporarily released by the international criminal tribunal and the hague last year on humanitarian grounds. serbian doctors say he suffers cancer of the colon which spread to his liver and he himself insisted he will not return to the netherlands unless he is forced to. this footage shows him at the siege in croatia that ended in

the massacre of hundreds of croatia prisoners of war and civilians and they say he recruited a malitia that committed atrocities against non-serbs in bosnia and croatia between 1991-1993 and he has always denied charges. >> translator: in the last 12 years the hague tribunal failed to prove any kind of link between me and any atrocities. >> reporter: he surrendered to court custody voluntarily in 2003 but his trial got underway four years later. since then it has been hit by obstacles and delays. the verdict is due sometime this year and serbia guaranteed that he will be sent back to the nothingthe netherlands and judges say he breached the terms of compassionate release and he reappeared at antiwestern rallies and closer ties with

russia and influence with the ultra nationalists is strong and moves to extradite him could prove decisive al jazeera. be sure to visit our website, al jazeera.com. al jazeera.com for updates throughout the day on all the news. >> potentially life threatening conditions at severe weather across six states threatens to get worse. five dead, dozens missing and a dozen left homeless. houston rockets fans spent the night if the arena trapped from the flooding. >> a child or an american in secret in iran. a journalist accused of spying faces a closed court today 10 months after he was detained.