In brief: U.N. outlines mission in Sudan

UNITED NATIONS – A new U.N. peacekeeping mission for South Sudan will have up to 7,000 military personnel and 900 international police with a mandate to keep peace and help promote development in the world’s newest nation, according to the draft U.N. resolution obtained late Thursday by the Associated Press.

The U.N. Security Council held intensive discussions this week to reach agreement on a resolution that would authorize the new mission and ensure its adoption before South Sudan officially becomes independent from Sudan’s Khartoum-ruled north on Saturday.

The council scheduled a meeting this morning, when diplomats said the draft resolution is almost certain to be approved unanimously.

The draft resolution would establish a new United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan on July 9 for an initial period of one year, with military personnel, civilian police and civilian staff.

U.S. confirms June 3 drone kill

WASHINGTON – The U.S. has confirmed that a key al-Qaida planner and trainer was killed in a drone strike in the tribal areas of Pakistan in June, a U.S. intelligence official said.

Ilyas Kashmiri led a militant group in Pakistan and in recent years had been brought into the leadership of al-Qaida, running a training camp and planning attacks against targets in India and Europe, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

News reports had indicated that Kashmiri was killed in a Predator strike in South Waziristan on June 3, but the U.S. government was not certain until recently that Kashmiri was among the dead. U.S. intelligence agencies analyzed human intelligence and electronic surveillance and are now confident Kashmiri was killed in the strike.

American soldiers slain in Baghdad

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers Thursday outside the main American military base in Baghdad in what U.S. officials said appeared to be another attack by militias hoping to drive U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Thursday’s bomb in Baghdad, which was detonated near a checkpoint outside Victory Base Camp, was a powerful armor-piercing explosive known as an EFP, according to two military officials with knowledge of the attack.

Victory Base Camp serves as the headquarters of the U.S. military in Iraq, and is home to thousands of American soldiers and contractors.