Egypt security forces arrest top Sinai militant
CAIRO – Egyptian security forces said they arrested Saturday a top wanted militant in the Sinai Peninsula suspected of killing 25 off-duty policemen in one of the restive area’s deadliest attacks.
Meanwhile, authorities arrested another top figure from former President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group, whose supporters have held near-daily protests against the Islamist’s ouster in a July 3 coup.
In a sign authorities are responding to an easing of those pro-Morsi rallies, the government once again shortened a military-imposed curfew by two hours, making the evening lock-up in nearly a dozen Egyptian provinces only seven hours.
However, the full 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew will remain in place for Fridays, when supporters of Morsi usually organize large rallies. Hundreds of his supporters, including leading Brotherhood members, have been arrested in a crackdown on the group.
Suspected U.S. drone kills three militants
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A pair of missiles launched by a suspected U.S. drone killed at least three foreign militants in an abandoned seminary near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan on Saturday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Two militants were also wounded in the strike in Mussaki village in North Waziristan, the officials said, adding that militants from Turkmenistan or China were among those at the seminary but the nationality of those killed was not immediately known.
North Waziristan is a tribal region home to a mix of Pakistani, Afghan and al-Qaida-linked foreign militants.
The U.S. drone program has caused extreme tension between Pakistan and the United States. Washington says it needs to use the unmanned aircraft because Pakistan refuses to engage fighters militarily.
Tunisians protest Islamist government
TUNIS, Tunisia – Thousands of Tunisians marched through their capital on Saturday, calling for the Islamist-led government to resign as the nation’s political crisis deepens.
The assassination of an opposition politician in July, the second in six months, has sharply polarized the country and prompted a walkout by some 60 opposition assembly members.
The march was the culmination of a week of protests organized by a coalition of opposition groups known as the National Salvation Front, calling for the resignation of the government and the dissolution of the assembly elected in 2011 to write the constitution.
Tunisians overthrew their dictator in January 2011, kicking off pro-democracy demonstrations of the Arab Spring around the region and beginning a difficult transition to democracy.
At least 18 killed in Afghanistan attacks
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a police checkpoint and a bank in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, one of two attacks in the heartland of the insurgency that killed 18 people over 24 hours. Separately, a NATO service member was killed by insurgents in the country’s east, according to a military statement.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai blamed the bombings on the Taliban. The militants have escalated their activity as U.S.-led foreign forces reduce their presence in the country and are in the final phase of handing over responsibility for security to Afghan troops.
Another 12 people were killed in an ambush involving a roadside bomb in Sangin district in Helmand province, also in the south, on Friday evening, said Omer Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Sangin is the scene of an ongoing operation by Afghan forces against the Taliban.
Athlete tries swimming from Florida to Cuba
HAVANA – The Florida Strait, a dangerous stretch of sea that is home to sharks, jellyfish, fickle currents and sudden, violent storms, has stubbornly resisted Diana Nyad’s repeated attempts to conquer it.
Yet the Florida-raised endurance athlete was back in the water once again Saturday, launching her fourth bid in three years to become the first person to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys without a protective shark cage.
“I admit there’s an ego rush,” Nyad said. “If I – three days from now, four days from now – am still somehow bringing the arms up and I see the shore ... I am going to have a feeling that no one yet on this planet has ever had.”
She expects to take about 80 hours to arrive somewhere between Key West and Marathon, more than 110 miles from Havana.
Nyad, who recently turned 64, tried three times in 2011 and 2012. Her last attempt was cut short amid boat trouble, storms, unfavorable currents and box jellyfish stings that left her face puffy and swollen.
Associated Press
