EASTERN EUROPE

RUSSIAN FORCES KILL SEVEN SUSPECTED ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS

Hundreds of police and soldiers stormed an apartment building in southern Russian yesterday, killing seven suspected Islamic extremists linked to Chechen rebels after a two-day standoff. Black smoke billowed from the building in Nalchik, the regional capital of the province of Kabardino-Balkariya, near Chechnya, as police and Interior Ministry troops fired automatic weapons and hurled grenades. The gunmen returned fire, wounding two police officers, the Interior Ministry said.

After a five-hour shootout, authorities found seven bodies, Interior Ministry spokesman Alexei Polyansky said. The ITAR-Tass news agency said that the wife of one of the insurgents and their 8-month-old child were among those killed. Some police officials said up to four of the dead were women. Nikolai Shepel, Russia’s deputy prosecutor general, denied that a child’s body had been found.

Security officials said the rebels were believed to belong to Yarmuk, a radical Islamic group affiliated with Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev and the target of previous law-enforcement efforts in Kabardino-Balkariya. Nikolai Shepel, Russia’s deputy prosecutor general, said one of the dead was the leader of Yarmuk, Muslim Atayev. Officials said the suspects, who had been holed up in two apartments, had been seeking safe passage out of Nalchik in the North Caucasus, 870 miles south of Moscow. It was unclear whether there were other demands. About 600 residents of the building and adjacent blocks had been evacuated.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

FRANCE WORRIED FRENCH INSURGENTS IN IRAQ COULD STRIKE

PARIS – French terrorists who travel to Iraq to fight in the insurgency against American led forces could strike terror elsewhere, including France, the defense minister warned yesterday in an interview. The warning followed the detention this week of 11 people in Paris as France’s domestic counterterrorism agency moved to break up a network suspected of seeking to funnel young French Muslims to Iraq. Ten suspects remain in custody; one woman was released Wednesday. French officials have said the arrests were aimed partly at ensuring that suspected would-be rebels do not receive combat training and experience in Iraq that could make them a threat at home if they survive.

“These French citizens who are prepared to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq are people who could one day carry out suicide attacks elsewhere,” said Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie. “That worries us. There are movements, groups, that can threaten our territory as well as others.” Ms. Alliot-Marie said she did not know how many French citizens were involved in the insurgency in Iraq. Some French youths have been taken in by Islamic leaders and receive religious training in preparation for suicide attacks, she said.

– Associated Press

BRITISH TROOPS JOKED AS IRAQIS IMITATED SEX, COURT TOLD

British troops laughed and joked as they made two Iraqi men simulate sex acts after detaining them for looting, a soldier testified yesterday at the court-martial of three comrades accused of mistreating civilians. Fusilier Gary Bartlam, who photographed the alleged abuse at a British base outside Basra in 2003 – sparking the scandal – seemed nervous at first and spoke haltingly as he faced his former colleagues for the first time in court.

The photos, taken after soldiers rounded up looters who stole humanitarian aid stockpiled at the base, included images of naked detainees and of a tied-up Iraqi hoisted on a forklift, shocking Britain when they first emerged in court.

Mr. Bartlam, 20, said he went to his quarters after the roundup. When he reemerged, he saw two naked Iraqis with soldiers around them being forced into sexual poses, he said. “People were laughing, bantering, joking around about what they were doing,” he said. Those watching included Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, the highest-ranking of the three defendants and the commander of Mr. Bartlam’s anti-tank platoon, Mr. Bartlam said. About 15 minutes earlier, he said, Kenyon was standing next to a bound Iraqi lying on the dusty ground and asked Mr. Bartlam to get some water. Mr. Bartlam said he complied, then poured water on the man to refresh and clean him. Another defendant, Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, drove the forklift, Mr. Bartlam said.

– Associated Press

SOUTHEAST ASIA

INDONESIAN OFFERS SEPARATIST REBELS IN ACEH AUTONOMY

Indonesia’s president yesterday offered rebels in tsunami-hit Aceh province autonomy and an amnesty in exchange for a cease-fire, the brightest hope in years of ending a three decade separatist conflict that more recently has threatened to disrupt massive relief efforts. Moves were also under way in Sri Lanka to ease tension between Tamil Tiger rebels and the government. The two sides agreed to meet to resolve disagreements over the distribution of aid to rebuild tsunami-damaged areas under guerrilla control. Japan, meanwhile, kicked off its largest ever relief effort as two of its military’s hovercraft arrived in Aceh, bringing a water purification unit and medical supplies. The Japanese troops will try to fill the gap left when American forces scale back their relief operations. Indonesia was hardest hit by the tsunami with close to 100,000 killed, followed by Sri Lanka where more than 30,000 died.

– Associated Press