ALGERIA
Suicide bombing kills 10 soldiers
ALGIERS — A suicide bomber blew up a refrigerated truck packed with explosives inside a military encampment southeast of the Algerian capital yesterday, killing 10 soldiers and wounding up to 35, a security official said.
The truck drove into the post on the edge of Lakhdaria, a town 48 miles southeast of Algiers in the restive region of Kabylie, as the doors opened in the morning for arriving personnel, the security official said.
Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for the attack.
PHILIPPINES
Convoy ambushed, 10 beheaded
MANILA — Muslim insurgents ambushed a Philippine marine convoy searching for a kidnapped Italian priest and killed at least 14 troops, beheading at least 10 of them, a military spokesman said yesterday.
The chaotic, seven-hour firefight took place in dense jungle on the southern island of Basilan. The government has touted Basilan as a success story in the war on terrorism since U.S. troops carried out yearlong counterterror training exercises there in 2002 aimed at helping oust the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
BRITAIN
Four failed bombers get life terms
LONDON — A judge yesterday sentenced four men he described as al Qaeda-inspired plotters to life in prison for trying to bomb London’s transit system in July 2005, two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 commuters.
Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29; Yassin Omar, 26; Ramzi Mohammed, 25; and Hussain Osman, 28, must spend at least 40 years in jail before becoming eligible for parole, the judge said. A jury on Monday found them guilty of conspiracy to murder.
CHILE
Judge denies Fujimori extradition
SANTIAGO — A Chilean Supreme Court judge yesterday ruled that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should not be extradited to Peru to face human rights and corruption charges.
The ruling now passes to the Supreme Court, which has the final say on whether Mr. Fujimori, who ruled Peru from 1990 to 2000, is sent to Lima. Meanwhile, the verdict is open to appeal by both Mr. Fujimori and prosecutors.
BRITAIN
Divorcee weds bin Laden’s son
LONDON — Omar bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader’s fourth son, has married a British woman he met in Egypt last fall, British newspaper and colleagues of the bride said yesterday.
Jane Felix-Browne, 51, of Moulton-Cheshire, in northwest England, was in Egypt for medical treatment of multiple sclerosis. She told the Times and Sun newspapers she met Mr. bin Laden, 27, while riding a horse near Egypt’s Great Pyramid.
This is the sixth marriage for Mrs. Felix-Browne, who has three children by previous marriages. It is Mr. bin Laden’s second marriage.
CHINA
SARS whistleblower banned from travel
BEIJING — A Chinese military surgeon who broke government secrecy to reveal the true scale of Beijing’s SARS outbreak in 2003 has been banned from leaving China to accept a human rights award, a rights watchdog said yesterday.
Dr. Jiang Yanyong, 76, wrote a letter to reporters saying Beijing had more than 100 unreported severe acute respiratory syndrome cases (SARS). The revelation was followed by embarrassing admission.
Dr. Jiang has been awarded the Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award by the New York Academy of Sciences. From wire dispatches and staff reports
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