KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops used airstrikes against a compound suspected of housing al-Qaida militants in eastern Afghanistan, and seven children were believed to be among the dead, the coalition said in a statement today.
Coalition and Afghan troops conducted the operation Sunday in Zarghun Shah district in Paktika province at a compound that also contained a mosque and a “madrassa,” or Islamic school, the statement said.
“Early reporting” suggests that seven children at the madrassa died as a result of the strike, the statement said. Several militants also were killed, it said.
“Coalition forces confirmed the presence of nefarious activity occurring at the site before getting approval to conduct an airstrike on the location,” the statement said.
Montenegro: Arrest in war crimes
A former Serbian police general wanted for more than three years was arrested Sunday on charges of murder and persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal said. Vlastimir Djordjevic, once a close aide to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, is accused of planning and instigating the killing of hundreds of ethnic Albanians who had “no active part in hostilities,” according to his indictment. He is also charged in the forced deportation of 800,000 Kosovars.
Israel: Town hit by rockets
Militants in Lebanon fired at least two rockets into northern Israel on Sunday, causing no casualties and little damage, but raising the possibility of a new flare-up on the volatile border less than a year after Israel’s bloody monthlong war against Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group. Hezbollah denied involvement, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert it was mostly likely the work of “a small Palestinian movement.”
Italy: Pope visits saint’s birthplace
Pope Benedict XVI made a pilgrimage to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, on Sunday, lamenting the violence in the Middle East and decrying “the illusion” that force could resolve conflicts. The pope marked the 800th anniversary of the conversion of Francis of Assisi, who, as Benedict put it, turned away from a materialistic life as the “king of partying” to one of simplicity and spirituality.
China: 84 rare tigers born recently
Eighty-four Siberian tigers, among the world’s rarest animals, have been born since March at a northeastern China breeding center, an official said Sunday. Fewer than 400 Siberian tigers are believed to survive in the wild, about 20 of them in China and the rest in Russia. They are the largest tiger species, weighing up to 600 pounds.
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