A roundup of today's other world news in brief
Policemen die in Ingushetia suicide bomb
KARABULAK – A suicide bomber killed two policemen in Russia’s Ingushetia region yesterday, the latest in a spate of attacks that underscores the threat from an Islamist insurgency on Russia’s southern flank.
More than 50 people have been killed and 100 injured by suicide bombers over the past week in the Moscow metro and the mainly Muslim regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia, which flank Chechnya in Russia’s restive North Caucasus.
Monday’s bombing in Ingushetia came exactly a week after twin suicide attacks in the Moscow metro raised concerns of a new wave of strikes by militants from the North Caucasus.
– (Reuters)
Congo rebel attack repulsed
KINSHASA – Dozens of unidentified fighters attacked a provincial capital in northern Democratic Republic of Congo in a battle that has so far left one UN peacekeeper dead, officials said.
Some 30 fighters crossed the Congo river by boat to Mbandaka, capital of Congo’s northern Equateur province, attacking the governor’s residence and taking control of the city’s airport in a surprise assault.
Congolese government forces backed by UN troops retook the airport later yesterday, an army officer said. – (Reuters)
Peruvian clashes lead to deaths
LIMA – Six people died in Peru when police tried to clear a roadblock erected by miners on a wildcat strike protesting at the government’s push to impose environmental controls on them, officials said yesterday, in the latest round of conflict over natural resources.
The violence broke out on Sunday in the southern province of Arequipa, injuring 20 protesters and nine police near Chala, 600km (372 miles) south of the capital, Lima.
Two of the dead were bystanders, including a taxi driver struck by a stray bullet and a woman who suffered a heart attack. – (Reuters)
Sports stars face marriage problem
HYDERABAD – Indian police yesterday seized the passport of the Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik – soon to marry Indian tennis player Sania Mirza – and questioned him in connection with allegations that he already has a wife. Two of South Asia’s best known sports personalities, Malik and Mirza planned to marry this month. But a woman called Ayesha Siddiqui has filed a case claiming she and Malik married in 2002. – (Reuters)