In brief: Drug gang suspected in massacre

SAN BENITO, Guatemala – One of Guatemala’s worst massacres since the end of the country’s decades-long civil war was the work of the brutal Mexican drug cartel the Zetas, Guatemalan officials said Monday.

The gang’s violent signature could be seen in the manner and style in which the 29 bodies were found: bound, beheaded and strewn across a grassy field near their cut-off heads, said Guatemalan Interior Minister Carlos Menocal.

Two children and two women were among the dead, most of whom worked on the dairy ranch where the bodies were found, according to Luis Armando Garcia, 23, a survivor of the bloodbath, who talked to the Associated Press in the hospital in San Benito.

“I don’t know how I survived,” Armando Garcia said. He said he lay bound in the grass and pretended he was dead during the late Saturday attack until police arrived early the next morning.

A message written in blood on one of the ranch building’s walls said the killers were looking for the ranch owner.

Explosion kills four U.S. soldiers

KABUL, Afghanistan – Four American soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan died Monday in an explosion in the country’s south, NATO and a Defense Department official said.

The official said they were hit by an improvised explosive device. He spoke on condition of anonymity because relatives of those killed were still being notified. The latest casualties came as the second-ranking U.S. general in Afghanistan said Monday it was too early to tell if the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan will have an impact on the Afghan war effort.

Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, who is in charge of NATO’s joint command, said that al-Qaida as a movement was not based on bin Laden’s leadership alone, and that the military has been waiting to see how his May 2 death will affect the strength of the terror group and its influence in Afghanistan. Rodriguez said bin Laden’s killing had “no effects that we can see at this point. It’s too early to see that, but we are continuing to watch that over time.”

Thousands flee as fires sweep town

SLAVE LAKE, Alberta – Wildfires that blazed through a northern Canadian town forced the evacuation of nearly 7,000 people.

Slave Lake Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee said Monday that nearly one-third of the buildings were destroyed after strong winds suddenly turned the flames on the town.

All residents were ordered to leave Sunday afternoon, but evacuation proved difficult as smoke and fast-moving flames blocked some of the highways.

Some residents fled to a town 80 miles away. No deaths or injuries have been reported but rescue officials were knocking on doors to ensure that everyone ordered out had gone and no one was left behind.

Alberta Municipal Affairs said 95 percent of the town was empty and only essential or firefighting staff remained.