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

In brief: Weekend attacks leave 18 dead

From Wire Reports

BEIJING – A city government said today that six more civilians died and five terrorist suspects were killed by police in one of China’s most troubled ethnic regions, raising the death toll from weekend violence to 18.

Xinijang region in China’s far west has been on edge since nearly 200 people were killed in fighting between Uighurs and Han Chinese in 2009 in Urumqi, the regional capital.

Police killed five suspects Sunday after “a group of armed terrorists” stormed into a restaurant in Kashgar city center, killing the owner and a waiter and then setting the restaurant on fire, the Kashgar city government said.

They then ran out of the restaurant and stabbed people indiscriminately, leaving another four dead and 12 injured, it said.

Police then opened fire and killed four suspects at the scene, while another suspect died later in a hospital, the government said.

Vietnam War-era shell kills farmers

HANOI, Vietnam – A Vietnam War-era artillery shell exploded, killing three farmers who were cutting it up for scrap metal in central Vietnam.

Two of the men died at the scene and another died on the way to a hospital following the incident Saturday, according to police.

Tieu Viet Thanh, police chief in Binh Chau village in Quang Ngai province, said today that the men, ages 52 to 55, had collected the 105-millimeter shell near a beach in the village. The village, a former stronghold of North Vietnamese communist forces, suffered bombardment and artillery fire from American and South Vietnamese forces during the war.

Vietnamese government figures show unexploded ordnance has killed more than 42,000 people and wounded some 62,000 since the war ended in 1975.

Strong quake off Papua New Guinea

SYDNEY – A strong earthquake has struck off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami alert has been issued.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-6.8 quake struck today 81 miles east of the town of Wewak at a depth of 10 miles.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami alert.

N. Korea wants nuke talks to resume

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea says it wants to see nuclear disarmament talks resume soon “without preconditions.”

A Foreign Ministry spokesman says Pyongyang’s willingness to return to international nuclear talks remains unchanged. He says North Korea is prepared to carry out the 2005 agreement signed by six nations to dismantle the North’s nuclear arms programs in exchange for aid.

Today’s comments were the first from Pyongyang since a high-ranking North Korean diplomat visited New York last week for talks with U.S. officials on restarting the negotiations.