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Rebels kill 49 at remote police post

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 16, 2007

NEW DELHI, INDIA - Suspected communist rebels bombarded a police post in the remote jungles of eastern India with gunfire, hand grenades and gasoline bombs Thursday, killing at least 49 people in one of the bloodiest attacks of the decades-long insurgency.

The assault was the latest in a series of brazen attacks by the Maoist rebels, who hold sway over a wide swath of grindingly poor forest communities and farming villages largely left out of India's economic boom.

There's little fear the insurgency could destabilize all of India, but the rebels attacks are growing more sophisticated - and deadly.

Equipped with rifles, hand grenades and homemade gasoline bombs, the Maoists surrounded a remote police post around 2:30 a.m., apparently catching the 79 officers there by surprise, police officer N.K. Swarnkar said. At least 49 were killed and 12 were wounded, authorities said.

The post is near the isolated village of Rani Bodli in the state of Chattisgarh, nearly 930 miles southeast of New Delhi.

Comics echo Nazi ideas, critics say

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - A South Korean publisher agreed Thursday to withdraw a bestselling children's book from stores after meeting with a prominent anti-Semitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing Nazi propaganda.

The series of comic books, titled Far Countries, Near Countries, purports to teach children about the world and has sold more than 10-million copies since 1987.

One book on the U.S. contains a chapter claiming Jews were the driving force for the hatred that led to the Sept. 11 attacks, that they exert control over all U.S. media and also prevent Korean-Americans from succeeding in the United States.

Venezuelan leader claims aid title

CARACAS, VENEZUELA - Venezuelan financial aid to Latin America has surpassed U.S. commitments in the region, President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday, shortly after President Bush completed a tour of the region.

Chavez has used his government's booming oil revenue to finance infrastructure projects, oil shipments and donations in what he describes as a bid toward greater regional sovereignty. For the first time Wednesday, he provided the estimated value of oil deals with 17 Caribbean and Latin American countries - $1.6-billion a year. "Venezuela, as modest as it is, is helping Latin America much more than the United States," Chavez said on his weekday radio address.

Marine defends shooting 5 Iraqis

CAMP PENDLETON, CALIF. - A Marine charged with unpremeditated murder in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha admitted firing at five unarmed Iraqi men, but said it was justified.

Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told CBS' 60 Minutes that he had identified them as military-age males in a car close to where a roadside bomb had just detonated.

He said they tried to run from the car, instead of obeying an order not to.

"Normally the Iraqis know the drill. If something happens, get down, hands up," Wuterich told CBS. "They started to take off, so I shot at them."

[Last modified March 16, 2007, 01:24:27]