World in brief

Israeli missiles hit car carrying Hamas leaders

GUSH KATIF, Gaza Strip - An Israeli helicopter fired missiles at a car in Gaza City carrying senior members of the militant group Hamas, the Israeli military said Tuesday, while the latest government figures show that the number of Jewish settlers in the area continues to grow.

A military spokesman declined to comment on any casualties in the nighttime attack in Gaza City, but news agencies reported that one of the men had been wounded and as many as 10 bystanders had been injured. The spokesman said the men had been "actively engaged in planning terror attacks, including the launching of Qassam rockets."

The Israeli Interior Ministry released figures on Tuesday showing that the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had increased by 16 percent in the last three years, to 236,381 - about double the number when Israel signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.

100 DETAINED: U.S. forces have wound up the largest combat operation in more than a year, a monthlong operation involving 2,000 troops across the south and east of Afghanistan. More than 100 people were detained during the operation and 10 suspected Islamic militants killed, Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, the U.S. military spokesman, said Tuesday in a statement at Bagram air base north of Kabul.

VOTING DELAYED: Afghan leaders suspended voting on the country's first post-Taliban constitution Tuesday after failing to close an ethnic split over issues from power-sharing to recognition for minorities. Delegates to the grand council, or loya jirga, were dismissed and told to return today.

2 INJURED IN HAITI: Police hurled tear gas and fired warning shots in Haiti's capital Tuesday to break up a protest by thousands of government opponents, wounding at least two people.

AVALANCHE KILLS 4: An avalanche swept across Mount Tasman, one of New Zealand's tallest mountains, on Wednesday, killing four climbers and injuring two, rescuers said. Identities of the climbers were not immediately available.

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