World briefs 3/12/06

Spain marks second anniversary of bombings

MADRID, Spain -- Spain observed a low-key remembrance of the Madrid terror bombings on Saturday's second anniversary of the attacks, as a delegation from Morocco -- home to many of the suspects -- fell silent at a station targeted in the massacre. The 70-member delegation stood in silence, holding a red Moroccan flag next to the red-and-yellow one of Spain inside the Atocha train station, one of four sites where 10 backpack bombs exploded exactly two years ago, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,500. The ceremony was the first of several scheduled for a day in which the normally festive atmosphere of a weekend in Spain was replaced by heartbreaking memories of the morning of March 11, 2004.

Hamas: Legislators to be a minority in Cabinet

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Incoming Palestinian prime minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that a majority of the ministers in the Cabinet he was assembling would come from outside the newly elected legislature. Haniyeh has been negotiating with different Palestinian factions to put together a coalition government by the end of this month in the wake of the Islamic militant group's overwhelming victory in Jan. 25 parliamentary elections.

Indian police detain eight suspects in bombing

VARANASI, India -- Police questioned eight men Saturday in the bombings that killed 20 people at a temple and train station in Hinduism's holiest city, a police official said. Two of the men resembled police sketches of suspects, said Yashpal Singh, director-general of Uttar Pradesh state police. The other six were their acquaintances, he said. All eight were detained Friday night in Uttar Pradesh. The eight have been taken to Varanasi, where the bombings occurred Tuesday, for identification by eyewitnesses, Singh said.

-- From wire reports

Two police kidnapped, beheaded in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Two policemen were beheaded and their bodies dumped in a desert after being kidnapped from their homes, an official said Saturday. The two low-ranking policemen were abducted late Friday from their houses on the outskirts of Lashkargah, Helmand's provincial capital, said Ghulam Muhiddin, the provincial administrator. Their decapitated bodies were discovered outside the city Saturday, he said.

-- From wire reports