World briefs 9A

Central China's lake rises past danger mark

YUEYANG, China -- The water level in central China's Dongting Lake surged well past the danger mark Saturday as forecasters predicted a new round of showers could further swell rivers flowing into the lake.

The storms, expected over the next three days, could strain dikes on the lake and along the rivers, threatening six cities and dozens of villages in Hunan province.

An official in Hunan's anti-flood headquarters said Dongting's water level was about six feet above the danger mark on Saturday.

West Bank clashes leave militant dead

JERUSALEM -- Israeli troops patrolling the West Bank city of Jenin killed one Palestinian militant and wounded two others in a shootout Saturday, hospital officials said, in one of several clashes overshadowing an agreement turning some Gaza Strip security duties over to Palestinians.

A member of the Al Aqsa Brigades, linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said the three militants opened fire on the troops, who then returned fire.

Atta believed to have trained at al-Qaida camps

BERLIN -- Investigators of Germany's Federal Criminal Office said Saturday they believe that Mohamed Atta and two other Sept. 11 hijackers trained at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000, providing their most detailed evidence yet of a link between the Hamburg terror cell and Osama bin Laden's network.

Atta, the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, was in Afghan training camps at about the same time as four other Arabs from Hamburg, said Federal Criminal Office spokesman Norbert Unger.

U.S. team arrives to look for MIAs in N. Korea

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Forensic experts arrived in North Korea Saturday to search for the remains of American soldiers listed as missing in action from the Korean War.

The team will be searching two locations in this reclusive communist nation, said Lt. Col. Orlando Lopez of the Defense POW Missing Personnel Office.

More than 8,100 U.S. troops are unaccounted for from the 1950-53 Korean War. Since 1996, U.S. teams have recovered 159 sets of remains in North Korea, 13 of which have been identified.

The monthlong search starting Saturday is the second of three the United States plans in North Korea this year.-- From wire reports

The Pentagon said this week that in the first search, U.S. teams recovered remains believed to be those of seven missing American soldiers.

-- From wire reports

202 illegal Iraqi Kurds land in southern Italy

ROME, Italy -- The coast guard caught a boat carrying 202 Iraqi Kurds arriving in southern Italy on Saturday -- the latest in a heavy week of illegal landings that prompted prosecutors to accuse Italian fishermen of helping migrants get ashore.

On board were 202 Iraqi Kurds. They were expected to be sent home unless any qualified for political asylum, a port official said. Italian news reports said the boat originated from Izmir, Turkey.