Iraqi extremists may have slain Nepalese hostages
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A gruesome video posted on a Web site purported to show militants beheading a Nepalese worker and shooting 11 others in the first mass slaying of foreign hostages during the Iraqi insurgency.
If confirmed, it would raise the number of foreign workers known to have been slain by extremists to at least 22 in a terror campaign aimed at forcing foreign troops and contract workers out of the country.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi promised retribution.
"The only solution with this unjust group is to make them face justice," he angrily told the Arab-language Al-Arabiya television station.
In Nepal, relatives grieved after hearing the news.
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"What sins have I committed to deserve this?" said Jit Bahadur Khadka, the father of one of those reportedly killed, 19-year-old Ramesh Khadka.
Suicide bomber kills 10 in Moscow subway
MOSCOW (AP) - A woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a busy Moscow subway station Tuesday night, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 50 in the second terrorist attack to hit Russia in a week, officials said.
Seven days earlier, almost to the hour, two Russian jetliners crashed within minutes of each other in what officials determined were terrorist bombings. All 90 people aboard were killed, and the investigation has focused on two Chechen women believed to have been passengers.
A militant Muslim Web site published a statement late Tuesday claiming responsibility for the subway bombing on behalf of the "Islambouli Brigades," a group that also claimed it caused the jetliner crashes with suicide teams in retribution for Russia's war with Islamic rebels in Chechnya.
The veracity of neither claim could be confirmed.
The statement said Tuesday's bombing was a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin "who slaughtered Muslims time and again."
Putin has firmly refused to negotiate with the rebels in predominantly Muslim Chechnya, saying they must be wiped out.
16 passengers killed in attack on Israeli buses
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) - Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses in this Israeli desert city Tuesday, killing 16 passengers and wounding more than 80 in an attack that ended a six-month lull in violence.
The buses exploded into flames just seconds apart and about 100 yards away from each other in the center of Beersheba - the deadliest suicide strike in nearly a year.
Israel had attributed the lull to its separation barrier, arrest sweeps and widespread network of informers.
The Hamas militant group claimed responsibility, issuing a leaflet in Hebron - the closest Palestinian city to Beersheba - saying it was avenging Israel's assassinations of two of its leaders earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with his security advisers to plan a response, expected to include a military operation in Hebron.
Just hours before the attack, Sharon presented his hardline Likud Party with the most detailed timetable yet for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Despite the bombings, Sharon promised to push forward with the Gaza pullout, while insisting Israel would keep fighting terrorism "with all its might."
