WORLD
BAGHDAD — Gunmen ambushed travelers on a highway leading from Baghdad to Shiite areas to the south today, killing 14 people, while mortar rounds slammed into an area near the Iraqi prime minister's office in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in the capital, a government official said.
The attacks against the travelers began at 6:45 a.m., when gunmen took aim at a minibus, killing 11 Shiites and wounding three, as it passed near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad in a predominantly Sunni area dubbed the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent insurgent violence.
About 45 minutes later, a group of gunmen standing on the highway opened fire at civilian cars, killing three people and wounding five near Latifiyah and about 6 miles north of the site of the initial attack.
The attacks occurred on the main highway linking the capital to predominantly Shiite southern provinces. Farmers often use the road to transport goods and Shiite pilgrims use it for treks to the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, but they have to go through the dangerous areas closer to Baghdad.
No casualties were reported in the mortar attack — the second strike against the sprawling complex in about 12 hours — but it underscored heightened concerns about security in an area that is home to the U.S. and British embassies and thousands of American troops, as well as the Iraqi government.
SANGIN VALLEY, Afghanistan — British troops pushed into a Taliban stronghold awash with opium poppies Monday, drawing mortar and machine-gun fire, in the latest NATO drive to help the government take control of southern Afghanistan.As Operation Silicon got under way, the U.S. military reported killing 136 rebels during three days of clashes in the once-stable west, the deadliest fighting in the country since January.The operation in the southern province of Helmand and the bloodshed in the western province of Herat show how Taliban militants have been able to regroup in the five years since a U.S.-led invasion drove them from power.But it also shows how the growing number of foreign troops and Western-trained Afghan forces are confronting the militants in their rural heartlands.The British soldiers came under fire as they filtered among the mud-walled compounds and deep irrigation ditches of the militant-held lower Sangin Valley in Helmand. An Associated Press reporter saw the troops respond with artillery and fire from helicopter gunships.There were no immediate reports of casualties in what NATO said was the latest installment of Operation Achilles, its biggest-ever anti-Taliban maneuver, which began in March.However, the separate U.S.-led coalition forces said they killed 87 militants during a 14-hour engagement, including airstrikes on Taliban positions, in the Zerkoh Valley of Herat province on Sunday.Another 49 suspected Taliban were killed two days earlier by a combination of gunfire and an airstrike, it said. One U.S. soldier also died.
TOKYO — A group of Japanese magicians sued TV broadcasters today for revealing closely guarded secrets behind a series of coin tricks, a news report said.Forty-nine magicians are seeking $16,000 in damages from Nippon Television Network Corp. and TV Asahi Corp. for airing shows last year that revealed how magicians perform tricks involving coins, according to Kyodo News agency.In a suit filed with the Tokyo District Court, the magicians claim the programs infringed on their common property, Kyodo said.
