World Briefs: Soldier, 2 terrorists killed in attacks

SANAA — Two al Qaeda terrorists and an army officer were killed in separate attacks, a Yemeni military official said Wednesday.

In Sanaa, an army officer supporting former President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed while leading an assault on the house of a general who defected to the opposition last year during the uprising against Mr. Saleh.

In southern Yemen, armed tribesmen ambushed a group of al Qaeda militants, killing two and wounding three, the official said.

The clash took place in an area seized by the army and tribesmen last month in heavy fighting with the terrorists. Al Qaeda took control there during last year’s internal political turmoil.

AFGHANISTAN

Taliban kills 14, destroys NATO fuel tankers

MAZAR-I-SHARIF — A Taliban bomb attack Wednesday destroyed 22 fuel tankers carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, local officials said, as 12 Afghan soldiers and two NATO troops died in escalating insurgent attacks.

A pre-dawn explosion triggered a fire that engulfed the trucks, parked in the northern province of Samangan overnight on their way from Uzbekistan towards NATO forces in the south, Samangan Deputy Gov. Ghulam Sakhi Baghlani said.

NATO was forced to make greater use of more expensive northern supply routes after Pakistan banned its convoys following a botched U.S. air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

Taliban insurgents fighting to overthrow the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai claimed responsibility for the tanker attack, saying several private guards were killed.

Pakistan lifted its blockade on NATO supplies earlier this month, but only a few trucks have actually crossed the border.

In southern Afghanistan, nine Afghan soldiers were killed in an attack by Taliban insurgents on an army post, and two NATO soldiers died in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said.

HUNGARY

Suspected Nazi charged with war crimes

BUDAPEST — A 97-year-old Hungarian man suspected of abusing Jews and helping deport thousands of them during the Holocaust was taken into custody Wednesday, questioned and charged with war crimes, prosecutors said.

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