NATO crash kills 4; Taliban begin offensive
KABUL, Afghanistan – A NATO plane crash in southern Afghanistan killed four international troops on Saturday, the same day the Taliban announced its spring offensive and said it will target military and diplomatic sites with suicide bombers and infiltrate enemy forces to conduct deadly insider attacks.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said its security forces were prepared for the Taliban’s new campaign, which was to start today.
The Taliban did not immediately claim responsibility for the plane crash. Coalition personnel secured the site and were investigating the cause of the crash.
Italy forms government after stalemate
ROME – Center-left leader Enrico Letta forged a new Italian government Saturday in a coalition with former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s conservatives, an unusual alliance of bitter rivals that broke a two-month political stalemate from inconclusive elections in the recession-mired country.
Letta will be sworn in today as premier along with the new Cabinet. Serving as deputy premier and interior minister will be Berlusconi’s top political aide, Angelino Alfano.
Rebels attack air base in northern Syria
BEIRUT – Syrian rebels attacked a sprawling military air base in the country’s northwest Saturday, while opposition forces assaulted a string of army checkpoints and positions in the south, activists said.
The raids came after nearly two weeks of advances by Syrian troops, mostly in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, and in areas near the Lebanese border in the central province of Homs.
Hunger strike up to 100 at Guantanamo Bay
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A hunger strike among prisoners at Guantanamo Bay keeps growing. Lt. Col. Samuel House said Saturday that 100 of 166 prisoners at the U.S. base in Cuba have now joined the strike.
House said 19 are receiving liquid nutrients through a nasal tube to prevent dangerous weight loss.
Prisoners began the hunger strike in February to protest conditions and indefinite confinement.
Gunmen kill 10 in Iraq near protest camp
BAGHDAD – Gunmen killed 10 people in Iraq, including five soldiers near the main Sunni protest camp west of Baghdad, the latest in a wave of violence that has raised fears the country faces a new round of sectarian bloodshed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed his government would not keep silent over the killing of the soldiers. Iraqi officials have claimed repeatedly that insurgent groups, such as al-Qaida in Iraq and supporters of former Iraqi leader Saddam regime, have infiltrated the Sunni demonstrations.
Associated Press
