News in Brief

Gunmen attack Kenyan church; 4 killed
Afp, Nairobi

Attackers shot dead four worshippers yesterday when they burst into a church service near the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, spraying the congregation with bullets, police said. The attack also left about 17 people wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents are likely to stage the attack.

US landslide kills three, traps victims
Afp, Los Angeles

Rescuers clawed through piles of mud, rocks and trees early yesterday trying to reach survivors of a giant landslide that killed three people in the northwestern United States. At least eight people were injured when the face of a rain-saturated mountainside slid down Saturday, destroying six homes in the rural community of Oso, northeast of Seattle, local police and firefighters said.

India arrests key terror suspect
Afp, New Delhi

Indian police yesterday said they had arrested a key terror suspect of the home-grown Islamist militant group the Indian Mujahideen. Ziaur Rehman alias Waqas, was arrested along with three of his aides in the western Indian state of Rajasthan on Saturday. Waqas, 24, is accused of conducting a series of bombings across the country, including the 2011 blasts in Mumbai that killed at least 21 people.

Nigeria Islamists kill 17 in market attack
Afp, Kano

At least 17 people have been killed by an explosion in a village market in Borno state of northeast Nigeria in an attack blamed on Boko Haram Islamists, a local police chief said yesterday. So far in 2014 some 700 people have been killed in more than 40 incidents, according to Human Rights Watch.

N Korea test-fires 16 more rockets
Afp, Seoul

North Korea test-fired 16 short-range rockets into the sea yesterday, the South's military said -- the latest of dozens launched in recent weeks in apparent protest at joint drills between Seoul and Washington. About 70 short-range rockets have been fired into the sea this month, including 30 on Saturday.

Egypt court bails prominent leftwing activist
AFP, CAIRO

An Egyptian court released a leading leftwing activist on trial for joining an unsanctioned and violent protest on bail yesterday, as the army-installed regime seeks to quell political unrest. Alaa Abdel Fattah and 24 others are accused of taking part in a violent protest last November outside the senate, where a panel drafted a new constitution giving the army broader powers.