World briefs 7/23/05

Activist says dissidents detained in Cuba Friday

HAVANA -- Several dissidents were detained Friday, including three organizers of a hotly contested opposition meeting, according to a longtime human rights activist. Martha Beatriz Roque, who spearheaded the May 20 gathering of dissidents, was among those rounded up by state security agents, said Elizardo Sanchez of the non-governmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. He said as many as 20 dissidents were detained. He said they were detained after government supporters helped prevent a protest called for Friday morning.

Continued violence in Iraq leaves 16 dead

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen fired on a car carrying a newlywed couple and their families on Friday, killing the 23-year-old bride and wounding the Iraqi army captain she had just married. They were ambushed in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood. Four people -- one Iraqi soldier and three civilians -- were killed in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, during clashes there, police said. The other 11 victims were Iraqi police or soldiers killed in scattered, small-scale attacks throughout Baghdad. Also Friday, the U.S. military announced that a Marine was killed the day before in a roadside bombing while conducting combat operations west of Baghdad.

-- From wire reports