KENYA
Troops enter Somalia to attack terrorists
NAIROBI — Kenyan troops have crossed the border into war-torn Somalia to attack Islamist al-Shebab terrorists they accuse of kidnapping foreigners, Kenyan officials said Sunday.
A senior al-Shebab leader later warned Keyan soldiers they will feel the “pain of bullets” for invading Somalia.
The assault comes a day after Kenya’s Internal Security Minister George Saitoti branded Somalia’s al Qaeda-inspired al-Shebab rebels “the enemy” and vowed to attack them “wherever they will be”.
In just over a month, a British woman and a French woman have been abducted from beach resorts in two separate incidents, dealing a major blow to Kenya’s tourism industry. On Thursday, gunmen seized two female Spanish aid workers.
Sheik Hassan Turki, a senior al-Shebab leader, denounced the Kenyans for crossing the border.
“Kenya violated the territorial rights of Somalia by entering our holy land, but I assure you that they will return disappointed, God willing,” he said. “Mujahedeen fighters will force them to test the pain of the bullets.”
THAILAND
Flood barriers protect Bangkok from rising waters
BANGKOK — Barriers protecting Bangkok from Thailand’s worst floods in half a century held firm Sunday as the government said some water inundating provinces just north of the capital had begun receding.
That fueled hopes that Bangkok, a city of 9 million, could escape unharmed. But outside the capital, thousands of people remain displaced, and hungry residents are struggling to survive in half-submerged towns.
On Sunday, the military rescued terrified civilians from the rooftops of flooded buildings in the swamped city of Ayutthaya, one of the country’s hardest hit.
LIBYA
Bulldozers raze Gadhafi’s compound in capital
TRIPOLI — Libyans using bulldozers have begun tearing down the walls surrounding Moammar Gadhafi’s main Tripoli compound, known as Bab al-Aziziya.
Ahmad Ghargory, the commander of a revolutionary brigade, said forces had been busy with the war but now it is time “to tear down this symbol of tyranny.”
He said the area will be turned into a public park. The compound has long been seen as the symbolic heart of Col. Gadhafi’s four-decade rule.
The sprawling, fortresslike compound was one of the main targets for NATO airstrikes during the months leading to Col. Gadhafi’s ouster in late August.
AFGHANISTAN
Police fatally shoot bombers in eastern region
KABUL — Police fatally shot three suicide bombers attempting to target mayoral offices in the east of the country on Sunday, but a car bomb set up for the attack blew up, killing one worker, an official said.
“At around noon, three suicide attackers with an explosives-packed vehicle tried to enter the municipality building in Gardez and target the city hall, but they were stopped and killed by the police,” said Rohullah Samoon, spokesman for Paktia provincial governor.
He said the attackers left their bomb-rigged vehicle, which detonated before foreign troops were able to arrive to defuse it, killing one worker.
PHILIPPINES
Man kills wife, children, maid, then himself at breakfast
MANILA — A man shot his wife, three of his children and their maid with a pistol while having breakfast Sunday in a central Philippine town and then killed himself, police said. But he spared his favorite daughter, they said.
Emmanuel Ponce, a 55-year-old former merchant seaman, shot his family in their home in Cebu province, police said.
Mr. Ponce told his youngest daughter to leave and call police before shooting his son for the second time and then killing himself, police investigator Mike Espina said.
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