In Short

Other world news in brief

Bicycle bomb kills five in Iraqi market 

BAGHDAD – A bicycle loaded with explosives killed five people and wounded 37 at a popular market yesterday in the centre of the town of Mussayab, south of Baghdad, police said.

The explosives were stored in a water cooler attached to the bicycle, and women and children were among the dead and wounded, police said. Mussayab, 60km south of Baghdad, is home to both Sunni and Shia Muslims, but the town centre is mostly Shia. The attack carries the hallmarks of Sunni Islamist insurgents such as al-Qaeda, who often attack crowded Shia areas. – (Reuters)

Two women die in Tenerife landslide 

TENERIFE – Two people died after a landslide on to a beach yesterday on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The victims were a 34-year old local woman and a British woman aged about 57, emergency services said.

Rescue crews, including sniffer dogs and medical teams, were working last night to clear the Los Gigantes beach but a spokeswoman from the emergency services said it was very improbable more people were under the debris. – (AP)

Father kills three children with axe 

HARARE – A man killed three of his children with an axe and wounded two others in what police described as Zimbabwe’s most brutal crime in recent years.

The Sunday Mail newspaper quoted police as saying Elmon Mupombwa (41) also burned his home in eastern Zimbabwe on Thursday and killed his livestock before hanging himself. Police said Mupombwa had attended a tribal ritual conducted by a spirit medium, also known as a witch doctor. – (AP)