KABUL, Afghanistan – Militants attacked a U.S. patrol in eastern Afghanistan on Monday and killed an American service member, while a suspected insurgent was killed and two police officers were wounded in a separate clash involving U.S. forces, the military said.
The U.S. service member was killed near the central city of Mihtarlam, a military statement said. The patrol returned fire after being attacked and called in air support, but the militants fled, it said.
The death brought to 210 the number of U.S. troops killed in and around Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted in late 2001 by an American-led invasion.
In a separate clash in Khost province, Afghan and U.S. forces killed a suspected militant and wounded another near a crossing point on the border with Pakistan, the military said. Two border police officers were wounded and flown to a nearby base for treatment.
Yemen: Escape assistance probed
Investigators are looking into the possibility that Yemeni intelligence officers helped 23 al-Qaida prisoners – including Jamal al-Badawi, a militant convicted in the 2000 USS Cole bombing – escape from an underground prison located beneath a heavily guarded security headquarters, officials said Monday. The prisoners escaped Friday, apparently by digging a tunnel about 180 yards long that emerged at a mosque, the security officials said.
Austria: Iran seeks monitoring end
Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove surveillance cameras and agency seals from sites and nuclear equipment by the end of next week in response to referral to the U.N. Security Council, the Vienna-based agency said Monday. Iran’s demands came two days after the IAEA reported Tehran to the council over its disputed atomic program.
Canada: Prime minister sworn in
Stephen Harper, who promises to mend Canada’s frayed relations with the United States, was sworn in as the nation’s 22nd prime minister Monday in Toronto, marking the first time in more than 12 years that the Conservative Party will rule this traditionally liberal nation. The 46-year-old economist has pledged to cut taxes, clean up government corruption and reconsider such hot-button issues as gay marriage.
N. Ireland: Power-sharing talks
Negotiations to revive a Catholic-Protestant administration for Northern Ireland resumed Monday after a 14-month hiatus caused by the IRA’s alleged record-breaking robbery of a Belfast bank. After Monday’s meeting, officials in both governments said they would reconvene talks Feb. 20 and set an April target for a deal to revive power-sharing.
England: Museum bans klutzy visitor
A British visitor who tripped on his shoelace and shattered three 300-year-old Chinese vases at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge called it a “regrettable accident” Monday, adding that he has been indefinitely banned from returning to the museum. Nick Flynn, 42, said he was surprised the Qing dynasty artifacts – reported to be worth $175,000 – had been left on an open window ledge. The vases, among the museum’s best-known artifacts, had been sitting on a window sill beside a staircase for 40 years.
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