World in brief: Protection ordered for Bhutto’s return

Pakistan will deploy 3,500 police and paramilitary troops to guard former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who faces death threats from Islamic militants on her return from self-imposed exile, an official said Saturday.

The elaborate security arrangements are being made after a court ruled that Bhutto be provided maximum protection, the official said.

Bhutto, who was prime minister twice before fleeing into exile in 1999 to avoid arrest in corruption cases, is planning to return Thursday to Karachi – a southern city that has been hit with terror attacks since Pakistan became a main U.S. ally after Sept. 11, 2001.

Since last month, when Bhutto announced plans to return to Pakistan to contest parliamentary elections due in January, a pro-Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mahsud has pledged to target her with suicide attacks.

Bogota, Colombia

Gold diggers start deadly landslide

A landslide triggered by local residents digging for rumored deposits of gold in an abandoned mine killed at least 21 people and injured another 26 Saturday in southern Colombia, authorities said.

Cauca provincial Gov. Juan Jose Chaux said the search for survivors at the mine, located near the town of Suarez, 220 miles southwest of Bogota, was suspended late Saturday because of darkness and bad weather.

It was unclear how many people were missing, but earlier police officer Jose Delgado had told the Associated Press that about 50 people may have been in the mine the time of the landslide.

Images broadcast by RCN news showed the mine as a pit about 25 feet deep and 160 feet in diameter. Rescuers waded waist-deep through the mire, and heavy machinery also worked to remove the mud.

Local residents had begun digging in the mine after it was reported that gold had been found underground, Delgado said. He added that many of them appeared to have little experience in tunneling or mining.