Today's other stories in brief
Maoist rebels kill at least 23 police in India
RAIPUR – At least 23 policemen, including a district police chief, were killed by Maoist insurgents in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh during routine patrolling yesterday.
“They [the police] drove into a trap laid by Maoists in a thickly forested area,” a senior police officer said in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state. “At least 23 policemen were killed.”
The attack took place in Rajnandgaon district, which borders the western state of Maharashtra. Police said they had undertaken a combing operation to trace the insurgents. – (Reuters)
Bombings outside churches in Iraq
BAGHDAD – Bombs exploded outside four Christian churches across Baghdad yesterday, killing one person and wounding more than 20, according to Iraqi police.
A car bomb exploded near a church on eastern Baghdad’s Palestine Street, killing one and wounding 14, including eight Christians, yesterday evening.
Earlier, three bombs placed in cardboard boxes went off near the gates of the churches in Ghadir and Karrada districts of central and eastern Baghdad. One wounded seven people, but no one was injured by the others. – (Reuters)
Two more hurt by Pamplona bulls
MADRID – Two men were seriously injured during the traditional running of the bulls in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona yesterday.
Television showed one man being gored in the neck before he was trampled under the hooves of bulls charging through the city’s narrow streets surrounded by dozens of runners trying to get as close as possible to the animals.
Daniel Jimeno (27), from Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, was fatally gored in the neck on Friday. – (Reuters)
UK official to go on trial in Iran
TEHRAN – A detained British embassy employee in Tehran is to be put on trial as the supposed orchestrator of the mass protests that followed last month’s bitterly disputed Iranian presidential election, despite Britain’s insistence that the charges against him are false.
Hossein Rassam (44) is accused of being the "kingpin" and key strategist behind a purported embassy attempt to foment street demonstrations after the June 12th poll, which resulted in the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. – (Guardian service)
13 die in clashes in North Caucasus
MOSCOW – Thirteen armed men were killed in clashes with police in Russia’s regions of Dagestan and Chechnya yesterday in the latest outburst of violence in the turbulent North Caucasus, local media and police said.
On Saturday, security forces in the nearby region of Ingushetia killed four militants, including a rebel leader. – (Reuters)