Troops sent to halt Mafia violence

September 24, 2008

ROME - Italy ordered the deployment of a military task force yesterday to fight a wave of violence by the Neapolitan Mafia that culminated last week in the killings of six African immigrants in a suspected feud over drug turf. The decision to send the military to the province of Caserta, north of Naples, shows that the ruthless clans of the Camorra, as the Mafia in Naples is known, pose a formidable challenge to the government. The last time soldiers were used to combat organized crime was after Sicilian gangsters assassinated two top anti-Mafia judges in 1992. (Los Angeles Times)

GAZA CITY - Two bodies have been pulled from a collapsed smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt, and three people are still missing, Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said yesterday. Palestinians said Egyptian forces blew up the tunnel yesterday, trapping the five. Palestinians use dozens of tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border to smuggle in weapons, cash, and contraband. In recent months, 42 people have been killed in tunnel collapses. (AP)

MEXICO CITY - A five-ton elephant escaped from a circus and wandered onto a busy highway, where it was hit by a bus. Both the driver and pachyderm were killed, and four passengers were hospitalized after the pre-dawn collision yesterday in Ecatepec, just north of Mexico City. The Notimex news agency said the elephant named Indra escaped as its keeper arrived to feed it. It knocked down a metal door and wandered through two neighborhoods before trying to cross the highway. (AP)