In brief: Two NATO service members killed

KABUL, Afghanistan – The NATO military coalition on Sunday said two service members were killed in an insurgent attack in the west of the country, but it did not provide the nationalities of the dead. The coalition also denied as “incorrect” Pakistani claims that its military had informed NATO 52 times in recent months that insurgents were crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

“Whenever the Pakistani military has requested assistance, ISAF immediately dispatched the appropriate force to deal with the issue,” the coalition said in a statement. “In the spirit of recent improving relations with the Pakistani military, ISAF will continue to take every Pakistani military report of cross-border movement very seriously and will assist whenever and wherever possible.”

Earlier, Afghan officials said insurgents shot and killed a government official in eastern Afghanistan.

The Wardak province governor’s office said in a statement that the head of volatile Chak district was driving to his office Sunday when gunmen overtook his car. They shot both Mohammad Ismail Wafa and his adult son. The son was wounded.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message.

Quake rattles Mexico-Guatemala border

MEXICO CITY – A moderately powerful earthquake has shaken the Mexico-Guatemala border region, but there are no reports of damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7:22 a.m. quake had a magnitude of 6.0. Mexico’s seismology service calculates it at 5.7.

The quake was just a few miles off the coast at the border, with a depth of 22 miles.

Chiapas state civil defense spokesman Jose Manuel Aragon said there are no reports of damage.

Gunmen seize Yemeni security building

SANAA, Yemen – Gunmen loyal to Yemen’s ousted ruler seized a security building near the Interior Ministry in the capital for a few hours on Sunday before vacating it, a security official said.

The official said a former security official and a relative of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh sent the gunmen. After taking over the building in Sanaa, they blocked off the airport highway where it is located.

The incident highlighted how Yemen has yet to return to political stability, despite a U.S.-brokered transfer of power earlier this year.

Saleh, Yemen’s ruler for over 30 years, handed over power to an elected president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, in February after a yearlong uprising, as part of a U.S.-brokered deal that gave him immunity from prosecution if he relinquished power.

Over the past months, tens of thousands of protesters have continued to hold demonstrations against the deal.

On Sunday, gunmen kidnapped an Italian Embassy guard as he walked on a street near the mission’s building in Sanaa, an Interior Ministry official in Yemen said. In Rome, the Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the kidnapping and said officials were working to secure the guard’s release.

The Yemeni officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Train fire death toll rises to 47

HYDERABAD, India – A government official says the death toll from a fire on a train in southern India has climbed to 47.

District Collector B. Sridhar said 28 other passengers have been hospitalized with burns.

The fire was noticed by an official as the train passed through a railroad station early Monday.

The train was stopped and the coach that caught fire was detached from the rest of the train to prevent the blaze from spreading.

The fire was reported at Nellore, a town nearly 300 miles south of Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.

Sridhar told the Associated Press that the fire is believed to have been caused by a short circuit in the coach.