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By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 21, 2006

Gunmen fire on convoy with Hamas leader 

Palestinian gunmen on Friday opened fire on Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's convoy in the Gaza Strip, destroying one vehicle in a burst of flames in the latest violence between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements. Nobody was injured.

Hamas accused Fatah-affiliated gunmen of carrying out the attack. Fatah denied involvement.

Tensions have been steadily rising since Hamas, an Islamic militant group, defeated the long-ruling Fatah party in parliamentary elections early this year.

Military says navy attacks rebel boats

Sri Lanka's navy destroyed two Tamil rebel boats Friday, killing at least 20 insurgents, after the guerrillas launched an attack that triggered a fierce gunbattle in the volatile north, the military said.

Navy patrol boats intercepted about 15 rebel boats off the village of Nagarkovil on the Jaffna peninsula, setting off a battle that lasted about 90 minutes, a Defense Ministry spokesman.

A rebel spokesman said no insurgents had been killed.

President ends offer for prisoner swap

President Alvaro Uribe on Friday withdrew his offer to negotiate a humanitarian prisoner exchange with leftist rebels after blaming the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for a car bomb that wounded 23 people.

Uribe said intercepted phone calls established that Thursday's attack was planned by a top leader of the group, which is known as the FARC and has been fighting the government for more than four decades.

Elsewhere ...

AFGHANISTAN: Gunmen am-bushed a car carrying Afghan civilians working on a remote U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan and killed eight of them execution-style, a police official said Friday.

WASHINGTON: The FBI removed an al-Qaida explosives expert linked to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa from the most wanted terrorists list Friday after learning he was dead. Muhsin Musa Matwali Atwah was killed in an April 12 gunfight with Pakistani authorities, the FBI said.

[Last modified October 21, 2006, 01:50:41]