PERSIAN GULF

SUSPECTED TERRORISTS KILLED IN SAUDI ARABIA

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Three suspected Saudi terrorists armed with guns and hand grenades – including one terrorist on the country’s most-wanted list – were killed in a clash with Saudi security forces, officials said yesterday.

Seven police officers were wounded in the confrontation with the suspected terrorists, who were hiding on the second floor of a house in eastern Riyadh, according to an Interior Ministry statement. Officials identified one of the dead as Abdul-Majeed Mohammed Abdullah al-Moneea,No.18 on Saudi Arabia’s list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects. Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Mansour al-Turki said al-Moneea was a member of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group. Also killed in the raid was Abdul-Hamid al-Yehya, who Mr.al-Turki said provided safe houses for suspected terrorists. The third suspected terrorist was Issam al-Otaibi, who Mr. al-Turki said was extradited a few weeks ago for “carrying out unacceptable activities abroad.” He did not say from which country al-Otaibi was extradited or elaborate on the charges.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

GERMANY EXTRADITES SUSPECTED TERRORIST

ISTANBUL, Turkey – An Islamic terrorist suspected of devising a 1998 plot to crash an explosives-laden plane into a major Turkish landmark was extradited from Germany yesterday.

Muhammed Metin Kaplan will face treason charges in Turkey for allegedly trying to destroy the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the secular Turkish state. Turkish authorities allege Mr. Kaplan plotted in October 1998 to smash an explosives-laden executive jet into Ataturk’s mausoleum, which covers an entire hilltop in Ankara. The attack, officials say, was to happen when thousands of officers, students, and foreign dignitaries were visiting the site for a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the secular republic.

– Associated Press

NORTH AFRICA

LIBYA PROPOSES REFORMS, MILITARY SPENDING CUTS

TRIPOLI, Libya – The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi proposed a new plan for general reforms in which he said his country will move away from the Middle East and reduce spending on the military. “Libya has decided to separate from the so-called Middle East,” Seif al-Islam Gadhafi said at the opening session of a Tripoli conference for business leaders from Western countries. Mr. Gadhafi said he is proposing a new reform plan that will include major cuts in military expenditure.

“There is no need anymore to continue spending on the military field,” he said. “Instead, we will direct such spending to development.” The conference opened a day after the European Union ended 12 years of sanctions against Libya and eased an arms embargo to reward the North African country for giving up efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

– Associated Press

EAST ASIA

GROUP SUICIDES RAISE ALARM OF INTERNET DEATH PACTS

TOKYO – Police found seven young people slumped over dead in a van outside Tokyo yesterday in what was believed to be Japan’s biggest-ever group suicide, while also finding a pair of women dead in an apparent suicide pact in a car parked near a temple.

The cases – involving young people in their teens and 20s – raised alarm over suicide agreements, many of which are made by people who meet over the Internet. Authorities found a rented van in a deserted mountain lot after a friend of one of the seven who had received an e-mail hinting at suicide called the police, but officers failed to reach it in time, a police spokesman said. The van windows were sealed with vinyl tape from the inside and the seven were found slumped over in their seats, the spokesman said. Four charcoal stoves were found in the car, used by the group to take their own lives by carbon monoxide poisoning.

– Associated Press

SOUTH ASIA

EX-PRISONER THREATENS KIDNAPPED CHINESE

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A former Guantanamo prisoner thought to have forged ties with Al Qaeda since his release is leading a terrorist band whose members have strapped explosives on two Chinese engineers they kidnapped in a lawless region near the Afghanistan border. With Pakistani security forces deployed in the mountainous tribal area where the kidnappers holed up, local leaders sought yesterday to negotiate the release of the two Chinese, who were building a dam when they were kidnapped Saturday. The five kidnappers threatened to kill the hostages unless the terrorists are allowed safe passage to a nearby area where their one-legged leader, Abdullah Mehsud, is believed hiding, officials said.

– Associated Press