Twelve headless bodies found

Authorities found the decapitated bodies of 12 men in the southern state of Guerrero on Sunday, and some of the victims have been identified as soldiers.

State Public Safety Secretary Juan Salinas Altes said nine bodies were found on a major boulevard in the state capital, Chilpancingo, three more were found Sunday on the outskirts.

Officials estimate that more than 5,300 people have died in organized crime-related slayings so far in 2008.

Jerusalem

Long-range rockets draw warning

Israel’s top security official warned Sunday that Gaza militants can hit more Israeli cities with longer-range rockets, on a day when rockets exploded in border towns and a coastal city after an Israel-Hamas truce expired.

Only one Israeli was lightly wounded in the barrage of 19 rockets and three mortars by nightfall. But after a weekend of heavy rocket attacks – and two Israeli airstrikes in response – Israel’s government threatened to strike back hard.

“The scenarios are clear, the plans are clear, the determination is clear, and so are the ramifications of each of the steps,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at his Cabinet’s weekly meeting. “A responsible government is not happy to go to war, but does not evade it.”

Bogota, Colombia

Rebels offer to free six hostages

Colombia’s FARC guerrillas are offering to free an ex-governor, a former lawmaker and four other hostages to help jump-start talks on a prisoner swap, a left-wing news agency reported Sunday.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said in a statement that the release would happen soon but did not give a date, the ANNCOL agency said.