Thousands of people fled Chad’s capital Monday as government troops and rebels battled for a third day. Gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the N’ Djamera, a United Nations official said. The U.N. Security Council condemned the rebel offensive and authorized France and other nations to send troops to help defend President Idriss Deby’s government. Casualties were believed to be high, and the violence threatened peacekeeping and aid operations intended to stabilize a wide swath of Africa that borders the war-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan.
A Palestinian bomber blew himself up Monday in the desert town of Dimona near Israel’s nuclear reactor, killing an Israeli woman and wounding 11 people in the first suicide attack inside Israel in a year. Police killed a second attacker after a doctor found a suicide vest while treating him for wounds suffered in the blast. The attack fueled Israel’s fears that Gaza militants would exploit a border breach with Egypt to sneak into Israel. Militants claimed the bombers entered Israel through the porous Egyptian border and said more militants were inside Israel waiting to strike.
At least three Iraqis were killed and one child was injured after American soldiers stormed a tiny one-room house north of Baghdad and opened fire, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Tuesday. Iraqi police, relatives and neighbors said a couple and their 19-year-old son were shot to death in their beds late Monday. But the U.S. military said soldiers came under fire and killed two suspected members of a terrorist cell in self-defense. It said it did not know who shot the woman or the child.
Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan said Monday the Kenyan government and governing party have rejected his choice to lead mediation efforts in talks to end a deadly postelection crisis. Cyril Ramaphosa, a South African businessman who had played a leading role in talks in his own country to end apartheid, withdrew “in the face of reservations by the government and Party of National Unity,” and his withdrawal was accepted with regret, Annan said in a statement.
The U.S. Peace Corps said Tuesday it had temporarily suspended its operations in Kenya following weeks of violence over a disputed election. While no Peace Corps volunteers have been targeted in the violence that has engulfed Kenya since the Dec. 27 elections, the Washington-based group has decided to pull out its remaining 58 volunteers, said spokeswoman Amanda Beck. Another 144 volunteers were sent home in January after the violence first erupted, she said.
Israel killed eight Hamas militants Tuesday, firing missiles into the sandy courtyard of a Hamas police station as the Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for a bold strike inside Israel, the first suicide mission in over a year. The latest round of violence followed two weeks of anarchy on the Gaza-Egypt border that has heightened Israeli concerns that Islamic militants could use the chaos to infiltrate into Israel to carry out attacks.
