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80 Taliban killed by Marines in 3 weeks

KABUL, Afghanistan - In the bloodiest fighting this year, U.S. Marines killed more than 80 insurgents in a three-week offensive against a Taliban stronghold in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday.

The U.S. military insisted the battle was a victory that will help secure fall elections - rather than a sign of the resilience of Taliban-led militants.

Two Marines were wounded, the military said.

"The Marines have been aggressive, relentless and successful," Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager said. "They have demonstrated that there is no refuge for the terrorists."

Some 2,000 Marines were sent to Afghanistan this spring, swelling the U.S.-dominated force to 20,000 - its largest yet - in an attempt to put rebels on the defensive ahead of September elections.

Militants have stepped up their operations, feeding a spiral of violence that has left more than 450 people dead across the country this year.

In another operation, U.S. troops on Friday detained an expert bombmaker about 40 miles south of Kabul, Mansager said. He described the suspect as a "medium-value target" but declined to give more details.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia made a rare trip Saturday to the Gaza Strip to confer with security officials and political and militant leaders about the future of the volatile region after a planned Israeli withdrawal.

Before the meeting, a top Hamas leader said the group would continue attacks on Israelis, despite the withdrawal plans.

The meeting came less than a week after Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet approved a plan to evacuate settlements and soldiers from Gaza, where 1.3-million Palestinians live in crowded poverty, by the end of 2005. Under the plan, Israel would maintain control of Gaza's coast, airspace and border with Egypt.

Mahmoud Zahar, the Hamas official, said the continued Israeli presence was unacceptable.

"We do not trust the Israelis, and we do not trust that the Israelis are going to withdraw from Gaza while they are speaking of controlling the sea and the air. Until the occupation completely ends, our resistance will continue," he said.

Israel has said it would retaliate if attacked from Gaza after a pullout.

Egypt has offered to send security advisers to Gaza to help train and equip Palestinian forces to deal with the aftermath of an Israeli withdrawal.

Qureia said the heads of the various Palestinian security branches and the leaders of Palestinian political and militant groups whom he met with Saturday welcomed the Egyptian efforts and agreed to work together to maintain order.

DUBLIN, Ireland - Voters have overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to tighten Ireland's liberal citizenship laws, partial results showed Saturday.

With a third of ballots counted, nearly 80 percent of votes from Friday's referendum supported an amendment to stop granting automatic citizenship to anybody born on the island of Ireland, a rule unique among the 25 nations of the European Union.

NAPLES, Italy - Three U.S. Navy sailors were killed and two suffered serious injures in a car crash early Saturday.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, Lt. Cmdr. Lisa Braun said. U.S. naval and Italian authorities were investigating.