World briefs 3/28/04

Pakistan vows to keep up its anti-terror offensive

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani forces have seriously wounded a senior al-Qaida leader, a military spokesman said Saturday, vowing that the country will not abandon its war on terrorism despite the most recent taped threat by Osama bin Laden's right-hand man. Recently gathered intelligence indicated that al-Qaida commander Tahir Yuldash has been badly wounded and is in hiding somewhere in western Pakistan, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said. He admitted, though, Pakistani forces are not close to capturing him. Yuldash is the leader of an Uzbek terror group which Pakistani officials say has been subsumed by al-Qaida since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Two killed in rocket attack in Iraq's north

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Rebel rockets slammed into a government building in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, killing two civilians and wounding 14 others, and an explosion rocked central Baghdad in a roadside bomb attack on a convoy, wounding five Iraqis. The Mosul attack brought to 21 the number of people killed in two days of explosions and shootings across the country. In the country's south Saturday, a gunman shot and killed the Iraqi driver of a civilian truck carrying supplies to Japan's military, Japan's Kyodo News agency said. In central Baghdad Saturday, a bomb exploded on a street as a convoy of sport utility vehicles passed, wounding five Iraqis, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Peter Jones said. It was not clear who was in the cars.

Officials say Arab summit meeting postponed

TUNIS, Tunisia -- An Arab summit was postponed Saturday two days before its start because of differences on peace overtures to Israel and plans for political reforms, the Tunisian hosts announced. The decision reflects deep divisions after Monday's Israeli assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin and U.S. efforts to pressure authoritarian Arab states into providing greater freedoms. No new date for the summit was announced. The Tunisians announced the postponement after acrimonious discussions by Arab foreign ministers over the agenda to be presented to the heads of state.

IAEA inspectors return to Iran after being barred

TEHRAN, Iran -- U.N. nuclear agency inspectors returned to Iran Saturday for the first time since Tehran reversed a decision to bar them because of allegations the country was hiding some banned activity. The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will inspect two nuclear facilities and quiz top Iranian officials on the country's atomic program. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told The Associated Press in Vienna that the inspectors have already begun their work.

Police find prints of prime Madrid bombing suspects

MADRID, Spain -- Spanish police searching a rural house believed to have been used to prepare the Madrid commuter train bombs found fingerprints from two prime suspects currently detained for the March 11 attacks, according to news reports Saturday. Police also recovered detonators and traces of dynamite inside the house near Morata de Tajuna, 20 miles southeast of Madrid, Spanish media reported. The fingerprints found in the house were from Jamal Zougam and Abderrahim Zbakh, two Moroccans considered prime suspects in the bombings, radio station Onda Cero and Spanish national television reported. Zougam and Zbakh were arrested in the first week after Spain's worst terror attack.

-- From wire reports