U.S. apologizes to Iraqis for Islamic banner case

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military apologized to the people of a Baghdad neighborhood Thursday for an incident in which a man was killed after a Black Hawk helicopter blew down an Islamic banner.

In the southern city of Basra, a bomb killed one British soldier and wounded three others, British military spokesman Capt. Hisham Halawi said. It was the first British combat death in nearly two months.

On Wednesday, American forces fired into a crowd of 3,000 demonstrators in Sadr City, a Shiite Muslim slum, after a man shot a rocket-propelled grenade at the soldiers. The shooter was killed and four bystanders were wounded.

"Our intent is not to alienate the Shiite people," said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

"Apparently, the helicopter blew down the flag or somehow the flag was taken down, and we are taking steps to ensure that doesn't happen again," he said, answering a barrage of reporters' questions about why the Black Hawk was hovering above the communications tower.

"There is no policy on our part to fly helicopters to communication towers to take down flags," Sanchez said, insisting the banner was mistakenly blown down by the force of the helicopter blades.

Some Sadr City residents seemed calmed by the U.S. apology.

Militants plan revenge for Jihad leader's death

HEBRON, West Bank -- Islamic Jihad threatened revenge after Israeli troops killed one of the militant group's leaders Thursday, another sign that a truce by Palestinian militants was unraveling.

Israeli soldiers killed Mohammed Sidr, leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank city of Hebron, after they surrounded the small warehouse where he was hiding. Sidr fired his assault rifle and lobbed grenades, the military said, and troops fired shots and an anti-tank missile after calling on him to surrender. His bloody body was pulled from the rubble after daybreak.

"I assure our people that this crime in Hebron will not go unpunished," said Bassam Sadi, leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank.

The truce, declared June 29, dramatically reduced violence that has plagued the region for nearly three years. It was part of efforts to push forward a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, but work on that has also stalled.

Germany opens second Al-Qaida operative trial

HAMBURG, Germany - Germany opened its second trial of an alleged member of the Hamburg terror cell that investigators say led the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a proceeding that promises to be more politicized and protracted than the country's first, successful prosecution of an al-Qaida functionary.

Moroccan student Abdelghani Mzoudi, 30, is charged with 3,066 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization for allegedly providing critical logistical support to cell members who carried out the suicide hijackings.

Defense attorneys signaled Thursday that they plan an aggressive defense that will demand that the United States turn over key witnesses who are in secret custody, and will force prosecutors to prove through physical or other explicit evidence what the state calls basic accepted facts, such as the presence of cell member Mohamed Atta on the first plane that hit the World Trade Center.

The defense said it may use the courtroom to explore theories that the hijackings served the foreign policy goals of U.S. conservatives by creating a pretext to transform the U.S. military posture in the world.

"It appears the U.S.A. was aware of the political advantages of the attack on the World Trade Center, as an idea, in advance," defense attorney Michael Rosenthal said.

-- From wire reports