Around The World

Ambushes kill 2 American soldiers\nBAGHDAD, Iraq -- Attackers killed two U.S. soldiers in a clash outside the northern city of Kirkuk late Saturday, and others blasted a broken-down convoy in the western flashpoint city of Fallujah, setting off spectacular explosions from an ammunition truck.\nOne Iraqi civilian was killed by the blast and at least four were wounded in Fallujah, either from the blasts or from gunfire from American troops as they sped away, hospital officials said.\nIn the attack near Kirkuk, 160 miles north of Baghdad, an American mounted patrol was ambushed by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire at 10:45 p.m. Saturday, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, 4th Infantry Division spokeswoman. The patrol returned fire, but no additional enemy contact followed, she said.\nIn addition to the two killed, a third American was wounded, Aberle reported.\nTony Blair treated for irregular heartbeat\nLONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been under increasing political pressure because of the war in Iraq, was admitted to a hospital Sunday after suffering an irregular heartbeat, but was released after several hours of treatment, his office said.\nBlair, 50, was taken to London's Hammersmith hospital, treated and released after five hours, his office said. The prime minister was feeling "fine" after returning home, his office at No. 10 Downing Street said in a statement.\n"This was completely successful. He was in hospital for four to five hours and is now back at Number 10. The hospital says this is a relatively common condition and is easily treated," it said.\n"He has suffered no damage and he is fine. There is no reason why this should reoccur. They have advised him to rest for 24 hours."\nBlair was expected to return to work full-time on Tuesday, his office said.\n3 Israeli soldiers killed in ambush \nEIN YABRUD, West Bank -- Palestinian gunmen ambushed an Israeli army patrol in a West Bank town sundown Sunday, killing three soldiers, Israeli security sources and rescue services said, the most serious attack in the area in months.\nThe deadly attack came a few hours after Palestinians in Gaza fired rockets at Israeli towns, and Israeli forces wound up a phase of a wide-ranging operation in a Palestinian refugee camp on the Egyptian border.\nSecurity sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Palestinians ambushed an Israeli army foot patrol in the Palestinian village of Ein Yabrud, east of the West Bank town of Ramallah. Three soldiers were killed and another was seriously wounded, they said.\nA spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, loosely linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, told The Associated Press its members carried out the ambush.\nVoice said to be bin Laden threatens U.S. \nCAIRO, Egypt -- In a new audiotape aired Saturday, a voice purported to be Osama bin Laden vowed suicide attacks "inside and outside" the United States and threatened nations that are helping the American occupation of Iraq.\nThe speaker in the tape, broadcast throughout the Arab world by the Al-Jazeera television station, also warned Iraqis against cooperating with U.S. forces and urged youth in neighboring nations to join a jihad, or holy war, against the Americans.\n"We reserve the right to respond at the appropriate time and place against all the countries participating in this unjust war, particularly Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland, Japan and Italy," the voice said.\nIt was the first tape since one released on the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks -- and the new message came as President Bush was on a tour of Asian nations rallying allies in the anti-terrorism campaign.