BEIRUT
Troops kill militants at refugee camp
Lebanese troops stormed an Islamic militant hideout in a Palestinian refugee camp Saturday, killing eight fighters, state-run media reported.
A Lebanese army commander said the final assault to crush the remaining Fatah Islam fighters was “imminent.” The army pounded Fatah Islam’s remaining positions with artillery, tank fire and rocket-propelled grenades, the National News Agency and witnesses said.
The five-hour bombardment created plumes of heavy black smoke above the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, witnesses reported.
BELGRADE, Serbia
Man held in deadly shooting spree
Police on Saturday arrested a man suspected of killing nine people and injuring two others in a shooting spree in an eastern Serbian village.
Nikola Radosavljevic, 38, was found in a local cemetery hours after the Friday night rampage in Jabukovac, near the border with Bulgaria, police said. Serbian TV said he reportedly tried to kill himself by his parents’ grave but police stopped him.
KABUL, Afghanistan
Afghan elders join talks over hostages
Several Afghan elders and a former member of the Taliban joined talks Saturday with the hard-line militia over the fate of 22 South Korean hostages.
No progress was reported by either side, but Afghan officials appeared hopeful that the inclusion of more elders would increase the pressure on the Taliban to release the hostages.
“My message to the South Koreans, in particular to the families of these men and women being held by the Taliban, is this: We are optimistic. Don’t worry. We are doing our best. … Please be patient,” said Ghazni lawmaker Habib Rahman, who attended the gathering.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Report: Rivals discuss power-sharing deal
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf held secret talks with opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a government minister said Saturday. Media reported that the once-bitter rivals discussed a power-sharing deal.
Such an alliance could strengthen the increasingly embattled Musharraf by bringing the secular, liberal opposition into his government amid growing concern about a rise in Islamic militancy.
Analysts said Pakistan’s Western allies would welcome that.
MONROVIA, Liberia
Diamond-trade moratorium lifted
The Liberian government said Saturday that it had lifted a six-year moratorium on the diamond trade, put in place after former President Charles Taylor was accused of using “blood diamonds” to fuel civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.
The U.N. lifted the sanctions in April, citing Liberia’s efforts to meet conditions of an international program that ensures diamonds were mined legally.
