IRAQ
More graves found in killing field
ZAHAMM —The number of bodies found in shallow graves northeast of Baghdad neared 70 yesterday as volunteers from eight villages near the town of Himbus continued to excavate an abandoned pomegranate orchard said to have been an al Qaeda killing field.
The remains of seven people who appeared to have been executed late last year were found in two graves in the orchard on the outskirts of Zahamm village. One grave contained three bodies, the other four.
Like decomposing bodies or skeletal remains found earlier, the victims showed signs of having been bound and then shot in the head. Nine remains were found on Wednesday in the orchard.
AFGHANISTAN
Karzai hints at second term
KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai hinted yesterday that he plans to run for a second term, saying he still has goals to accomplish.
The comments were his first public indication that he will run for re-election next year despite discontent over his government, which is widely seen as weak.
Mr. Karzai, who was elected in 2004 to a five-year term in Afghanistan’s first post-Taliban vote, told a news conference that “every human” wants to complete the work that he has started.
YEMEN
Explosion hits foreigners’ complex
SAN’A — An explosion shattered windows late yesterday at a housing complex used by foreign companies in Yemen’s capital, but no one was hurt, security officials said.
The blast went off on the southern side of San’a in an upscale neighborhood that houses Western diplomats, including Americans, said three security officials.
An official who described himself as the head of security in the area said the blast was caused by multiple “projectiles.” The only damage was broken windows, he said, adding that no one was injured.
NORTH KOREA
Kim Jong-il praises military
SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong-il touted his country’s “invincible” army during a visit to a military base, state media reported yesterday as tensions with neighboring South Korea heightened.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Mr. Kim expressed satisfaction with the military’s combat readiness, saying his soldiers could “beat back the enemy’s invasion at a single stroke.”
Mr. Kim also called his isolated country a fortress and urged soldiers to become warriors during another inspection to a military boot camp, the news agency said in a separate report. It did not say when Mr. Kim visited the unit.
SUDAN
Civilian killed in soldiers’ protest
KHARTOUM — Angry Sudanese border guards killed one civilian and wounded three others in a market yesterday after opening fire indiscriminately in Darfur’s political capital, the local governor said.
Members of a notorious border guard unit, drawn from local Arab tribes, protested for about two hours at the local army headquarters in Al-Fasher and then drove downtown, firing into the air, furious about delayed wages.
The governor said military police escorted the protesters back to army headquarters, where commanders and tribal leaders persuaded them to surrender their weapons. The soldiers were then paid, he added.
From wire dispatches and staff reports
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