World in brief

4th bomb in 2 months rocks the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - A bomb exploded Saturday at a crowded market in a southern Philippine city, killing at least 13 people and wounding 26. The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility and warned of further attacks, the mayor said.

But the military said the bomb had the markings of a different extremist group than the Abu Sayyaf, which is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

It was the fourth deadly bombing in the southern Philippines in just more than two months and the second at the market in Koronadal, a largely Christian city of 140,000 people about 610 miles southeast of Manila.

The bomb went off at 3:30 p.m. near a motorcycle taxi terminal. The area was crowded because it was market day in Koronadal, capital of South Cotabato province.

A man who identified himself as Abu Solaiman of the Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility in a call shortly after the blast and warned of "more bombings in the days to come," Mayor Fernando Miguel said.

There was no independent confirmation the call came from Solaiman, who has been linked to bombings in General Santos, a city farther south. The U.S. State Department has put a $5-million bounty on his head.

KINSHASA, Congo - While Congolese military helicopters continue to search for bodies, conflicting reports of what, if anything, happened Thursday when a door on a crowded cargo plane swung open in flight are circulating the country.

Two officials at Kinshasa's international airport said the death toll was 129. A third official estimated the casualties were about half that, saying the exact figure could be difficult to determine because of an incomplete passenger list.

But Ukraine's defense ministry, which owns the plane and leases it for use in Congo, denied anyone died in the accident and disputed significant details of survivors' accounts.

Defense Ministry spokesman Kostiantyn Khyvrenko said about 40 seconds after takeoff from Kinshasa, the aircraft captain noted the cabin was depressurizing, requested a landing and returned to the airport. He cited officials of the state-owned company that operates the aircraft, Ukrainian Cargo Airways.

"Neither the people, nor the cargo, nor the plane itself were hurt or damaged," Khyvrenko said in Kiev, Ukraine.

Sgt. Kabmba Kashala, a police official who was onboard, said Saturday the aircraft took off with the door improperly fastened. Three attempts to shut it in mid flight failed, he said, and it sprung open.

NEW DELHI, India - Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage ended a four-day visit to South Asia on Saturday, hailing a new peace initiative by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India with neighboring Pakistan as an "act of statesmanship."

Armitage also emphasized that Vajpayee took the step to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals on his own and that it was not the work of U.S. diplomats.

"I'll let Indian officials speak for themselves," he said, when asked if Pakistan had made concessions India has demanded.

Armitage emphasized a go-slow approach on Saturday. He said he saw Vajpayee's initiative as a "step by step" process to reduce tensions. Pakistani and Indian officials have outlined no new proposals for ending the dispute over Kashmir.

"It's a long trip until one would get there," Armitage said on Saturday, referring to a final settlement.

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. helicopters and fighter jets fired missiles into a house in eastern Afghanistan late Friday after a U.S. soldier was wounded and an Afghan soldier killed in an ambush, a U.S. military spokesman said on Saturday.

The men who carried out the ambush were thought to have taken refuge in the house, local Afghan officials said.

The ambush was the latest in a series of attacks by presumed Taliban supporters opposed to the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

The ambush occurred late Friday in Khost province, which borders Pakistan. Gunmen open fired with a rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on a convoy of U.S. and Afghan troops.

MUSICAL DURING HOSTAGE CRISIS CLOSES: A romantic Russian musical closed nearly a year ahead of schedule Saturday, unable to win back audiences after a hostage-taking raid in Moscow last fall that left 129 people dead.

Chechen gunmen seized the theater on Oct. 23 during the second act of the musical extravaganza Nord-Ost and took about 800 people hostage.

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