World briefs 9A

Four charged with murder in death of boy

LONDON -- Four people were charged Saturday with murdering a boy whose body parts were found scattered around a town in central England, police said.

A boy's severed arm, wrapped in a plastic bag, was found last week in the Grand Union Canal in Loughborough, 110 miles north of London. Two more sets of body parts, including his legs, were discovered in a street and playing fields in the town.

Leceistershire Police identified the victim as a local boy, 14-year-old Adam Morrell.

The suspects, who have not been named, are three men ages 26, 19, and 18; and a girl of 16. They were scheduled to appear at Loughborough Magistrates' Court later Saturday.

River accident kills 58 in Central African Republic

BANGUI, Central African Republic -- The baggage-laden roof of an overloaded river taxi collapsed on passengers, crushing 58 people in this central African nation, an official said.

The dugout canoe -- with a 50-passenger capacity -- was carrying 76 when the accident occurred, said Abel Goumba, a parliamentarian representing Kouango, a town near the scene of the Nov. 11 accident on the Oubangui River.

The 18 survivors struggled out from under the fallen roof and swam to shore, he said Friday.

Pakistani army airlifts people injured in quake

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Army helicopters airlifted hundreds of injured to field hospitals Saturday and delivered tents to thousands of villagers living outside in bitterly cold conditions after an earthquake in northern Pakistan.

The quake Thursday destroyed most of five villages in the remote Astore Valley in the Himalayan foothills, killing at least 25 people and injuring hundreds. Officials said about 1,000 homes were destroyed.

Aftershocks rumbled through the region for more than 24 hours, leaving many residents too scared to return to their houses.

Military helicopters have been ferrying medical aid, food and other supplies to the area after roads were cut by landslides caused by the temblor.-- From wire reports

Government officials said at least 14 children were among the dead, and that the death toll may rise as relief crews sift through the rubble.

Information Minister Nisar Memon, who visited the area by helicopter Friday, said many of the victims were crushed when their houses collapsed as they slept.

Kashmir land mine blast kills 12, 10 others die in separate violence

SRINAGAR, India -- Suspected Islamic militants triggered a land mine on a highway in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday, killing eight soldiers and four civilians, and wounding 24 other people, police said.

Separate rebel violence Saturday left eight others dead, police said.

The killings and a deadly attack on an army barracks Friday came after a lull of several weeks in fighting over the fate of Kashmir. The 13-year insurgency has killed 61,000 people.

Police Inspector-General H.K. Sareen said Muslim militants in Kashmir are "bent upon creating terror" in the province. "Two days of violence is evidence that there is a large militant presence in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir," he said.

The land mine blew up when a bus and truck passed over it on a busy road about 45 miles south of Srinagar, a local police official said on condition of anonymity. Both vehicles plunged 30 feet into a gully.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Mukhtiar Singh said the death toll from the mine explosion was expected to rise because several of the wounded were in a critical condition. The civilians killed were two women and two children.

-- From wire reports