World briefs 04/04/03

Land mine destroys bus in Chechnya, killing six

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- A bus was blown apart by a remote-controlled mine in Chechnya Thursday, killing at least six people just weeks after a referendum touted as the start of a peace process.

The explosive was hidden in a pile of trash in the capital Grozny, said Yuri Miroshnichenko, a duty officer at the Emergency Situations Ministry's office for southern Russia.

A Chechen Justice Ministry official said on condition of anonymity the bus had come from Kankala, the Russian military's main base in Chechnya, about one mile from Grozny.

Miroshnichenko said the blast killed six people and wounded 11. The Justice Ministry official said eight were killed.

Police arrest suspect in Kenya terror attacks

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Police have arrested an Islamic preacher suspected of involvement in the Nov. 28 suicide attacks on a hotel that killed 11 Kenyans and three Israeli tourists, authorities said Thursday.

Police picked up Aboud Rogo, 34, on Wednesday in the Likoni district of Mombasa and were taking him to Nairobi for questioning, police spokesman Gideon Kibunja said.

Last month, Mohamed Kubwa, who also is in police custody, told The Associated Press that his cousin Rogo had introduced his family to Abdul Karim -- believed to be fugitive al-Qaida operative Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.

Fazul has been indicted for the simultaneous car bombings outside American embassies in Kenya and neighboring Tanzania in 1988 that killed some 230 people, including 12 Americans.

Mohamed Kubwa identified Fazul in an FBI photo, in the clearest indication yet of a link between the Nov. 28 attacks and the embassy bombings.

Israeli troops kill six, demolish homes

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli troops looking for suspected Palestinian militants made raids into the Gaza Strip and West Bank Thursday, killing six Palestinians including one who was unarmed and picking vegetables.

The Israeli military said soldiers thought two men were planting a bomb on the Israel-Gaza border and fired at them, killing one. Later, the military admitted they had no weapons. Palestinians said the two were harvesting crops.

Early Thursday, troops searching for weapons-smuggling tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border raided a Gaza refugee camp, killing four armed Palestinians in exchanges of fire and demolishing five houses.

The Rafah camp has been a flashpoint of fighting in the past 30 months, with troops destroying dozens of homes allegedly used for covering tunnels or as firing positions.

The sixth death was in the West Bank city of Nablus when Israeli troops shot and killed a local Hamas leader, the army said.

Strike snarls transport, business across France

PARIS -- Government workers angered by plans to overhaul pensions went on strike Thursday, hobbling air and rail traffic and slowing business activity across the country.

Tens of thousands of the civil service workers, who make up about a fourth of France's work force, packed Paris' Place de la Republique in eastern Paris and marched 2 1/2 miles across town. Marches also were held in more than 100 other towns and cities.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin remained determined in the face of the one-day work stoppage, which forced many commuters to trudge to work.

"We are going to reform the pension system. I'm sticking to it," he said. "I'll see this to the end. I have this mission."

Officials argued that drastic changes in the plans are needed to avoid the government pension system's collapse within 20 years. They argue for changes to cope with a growing population of retirees who are also living longer.

-- From wire reports