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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Rockets strike Libyan rebels

Benghazi, Libya – A barrage of rocket fire from forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi killed at least 20 people Thursday in the besieged city of Misrata as rebels continued to send boats with humanitarian aid and weapons to try to tip the battle in their favor.

Gadhafi’s forces, controlling Misrata’s western and southern edges, launched a ferocious barrage of artillery starting at 6 a.m. Thursday.

The attacks, which targeted the Qasr Ahmed district near Misrata’s port, were apparently intended to halt the arrival of an aid ship.

Gadhafi’s loyalists recently warned that any attempt to deliver aid to the city, Libya’s third largest, without the regime’s approval would be met with violence.

Cover-up alleged over mass killings

Mexico City – Sixteen police officers have been arrested for allegedly providing cover to drug-cartel gangsters suspected in the grisly slaying of more than 120 people whose bodies are being pulled from mass graves in northeastern Mexico.

The federal attorney general’s office, in a statement, identified the 16 as members of the municipal police force in the town of San Fernando, near where the bodies were found.

On Thursday, officials in the border state of Tamaulipas said the number of dead who have been extracted from several pits about 90 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, had risen to 126.