Israeli missiles kill 3 Palestinians in raid

GAZA CITY -- An Israeli drone fired two missiles into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis early today, killing three Palestinians, two of them Hamas militants, witnesses and medics said. The identity of the third dead man was not immediately known. Six other Palestinians were wounded in what Israeli military sources said was a raid to root out militants who regularly fire mortar bombs and rockets at nearby Jewish settlements. Clashes erupted when Israeli tanks and troops pushed into Khan Younis shortly after midnight with tank fire and two missile strikes from a drone hovering overhead. An Israeli military source said the missiles targeted two groups of militants while a tank launched a shell to drive back other gunmen trying to close in on soldiers. (Reuters)

West Bank

Abbas calls for razing of separation barrier

TULKAREM -- Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas made a campaign run yesterday through West Bank towns living in the shadow of Israel's separation barrier, urging Israel to tear down the huge structure that he said would never help peace. Abbas, the front-runner in the Jan. 9 presidential election, made the appeal in Tulkarem, a town of 40,000 on the line between Israel and the West Bank, blocked on two sides by the 25-foot-high concrete slabs of the barrier. Israel began building it to stop a wave of Palestinian suicide bombers who were infiltrating unhindered from the West Bank. The complex of walls, fences, trenches, barbed wire and electronic devices, still under construction, roughly follows the "Green Line," the 1949 cease-fire line that divided Israel from the West Bank until 1967, when Israel captured the territory. (AP)

Uganda

Rebels, government set to sign cease-fire

KITGUM -- Uganda's government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army are to sign a landmark cease-fire tomorrow, opening the way for an end to a bloody 18-year insurgency, the chief negotiator said yesterday. The LRA, whose only stated aim is to rule the east African country by the biblical Ten Commandments, has rampaged through the north of Uganda, attacking civilians, kidnapping children, and forcing 1.6 million people to flee to refugee camps. (Reuters)

Sudan

Darfur rebel group suspected in attackKHARTOUM -- Khartoum said yesterday the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement, which is bound by a cease-fire in Darfur, was involved in an attack this week on government forces near the troubled western region. A new rebel group, calling itself the Sudanese National Movement for the Eradication of Marginalization, claimed responsibility for Monday's attack on Ghubeish, a town in Western Kordofan state that borders Darfur. Darfur watchers say the new group may be a front organization for the SLM to continue its campaign against the government without appearing to break the cease-fire. (Reuters)

Russia

Pro-Moscow Chechen awarded highest honor

MOSCOW -- A pro-Moscow Chechen leader accused by rights groups of kidnapping and murder earned Russia's highest award yesterday for "valour and heroism." Opponents reacted with disbelief to the news, with the Helsinki Group's Tatyana Lokshina saying it "discredits the award Hero of Russia. If Russia has such heroes, it is hard to say what our state has sunk to." Ramzan Kadyrov is the first deputy prime minister in Chechnya's pro-Moscow government and is key to Russian efforts to defeat rebels who have resisted Moscow's rule for a decade. He said the award showed Moscow's appreciation for efforts to stabilize Chechnya started by his father Akhmad, a former rebel who switched sides to head Chechnya's pro-Moscow government until his assassination in May. (Reuters)