U.S. soldier killed in Pakistan town
Militants killed a U.S. soldier and a Pakistani on Monday after a meeting held in a Pakistani frontier town.
The attack at Teri Mangal produced a rare American casualty inside Pakistan, which is a U.S. ally in the fight against terrorist groups but has uneasy relations with Afghanistan on how to deal with insurgents. The meeting sought to calm clashes between Afghan and Pakistani troops policing a border crossed daily by Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents.
Two U.S. and four Pakistani soldiers were reported wounded, along with two civilians working for the NATO force in Afghanistan.
An Afghan army brigade commander, Gen. Akrem, who attended the meeting, said gunmen fired on the participants – including approximately 15 Americans – as they left the talks. He said Afghan soldiers at the meeting had been disarmed, but U.S. soldiers returned fire.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip
Palestinian security chief steps down
The top Palestinian security official quit in exasperation Monday after a second day of firefights among Palestinian factions left four people dead, including a truck driver delivering bread.
Residents holed up in their homes, leaving Gaza City’s streets largely deserted while rival security forces took up positions on rooftops and hundreds of gunmen put up checkpoints and stopped cars. Eight people were killed and 70 wounded Sunday and Monday.
The two-month-old Hamas-Fatah unity government reached an agreement with warring factions for a truce late Monday, the second such agreement in as many days, said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad.
But rival sides continued to battle each other throughout the night, leaving one Hamas man dead in fighting early today, Palestinian security officials said.
With the casualty toll mounting, Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh resigned and accused leaders on both sides of thwarting his efforts to halt the violence.
SYDNEY, Australia
Stallone admits HGH possession
Actor Sylvester Stallone pleaded guilty today to bringing vials of restricted muscle-building hormones into Australia and faces sentencing next week.
Lawyers for the 60-year-old star of the “Rocky” and “Rambo” movies entered the guilty pleas on behalf of the actor, who did not appear before Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court.
Stallone was accused of bringing banned substances into Australia after a customs search of his luggage during a Feb. 16 visit to Sydney revealed 48 vials of the human growth hormone product Jintropin.
The maximum penalty for bringing Jintropin into Australia illegally is a fine of $91,500 and five years in prison, but Stallone faces a maximum penalty of just $18,000 on each of the two charges because the matter is being heard by a local, not federal, court.