Suicide bomber kills 9, injures 30

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt Saturday among U.S.-allied Sunni paramilitaries collecting their salaries at an army base, killing nine and wounding about 30, Iraqi officials said.

The attack in the town of Jbala, about 35 miles south of Baghdad, follows a bloody week of bombings that killed more than 50 people in the capital. Five U.S. soldiers died Friday in a bombing in Mosul – the deadliest attack against American troops in more than a year.

Those attacks have raised concern about the capability of Iraqi forces to control security after U.S. soldiers withdraw from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by June 30.

QUITO, Ecuador

Volcano imperils Galapagos wildlife

Ecuador officials said a volcano is erupting in the Galapagos Islands and could harm unique wildlife.

The Galapagos National Park said La Cumbre volcano began spewing lava, gas and smoke on uninhabited Fernandina Island on Saturday after four years of inactivity.

The park said in a statement the eruption is not a threat to people living on nearby Isabela Island.

But it said lava flowing to the sea will likely affect marine and terrestrial iguanas, wolves and other fauna.

The Galapagos are home to unique animal and plant species that became the basis for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Scientists say Fernandina is the island with the most volcanic activity in the archipelago. La Cumbre last erupted in May 2005.

LIMA, Peru

Ambushes leave 13 soldiers dead

Suspected guerrillas have killed 13 Peruvian soldiers in ambushes on two patrols in a jungle region known for coca production and lingering rebel activity, the government said Saturday.

Four more were wounded and two are still missing from Thursday’s attacks in the Apurimac-Ene River Valley of southeastern Peru, according to the military.

The guerrillas apparently first attacked one of the patrols with explosives, killing one and wounding three, and then tracked and ambushed the other group.

The Maoist Shining Path once boasted 10,000 fighters and rocked the capital with nearly daily car bombings before fading after the capture of its founder in 1992. Officials say the guerrillas number about 500 today and survive through drug trafficking.