N. Korea's Kim, China's Hu to meet

(News Today) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is expected to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on Thursday in a move that some hope will trigger the return of six-party denuclearization talks, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

Kim is believed to have arrived in China early Monday by train via the border city of Dandong, Yonhap reported earlier this week, citing unnamed sources in Seoul and Beijing.

His trip to the country comes as North Korea is seeking a conditional return to the six-party talks, Yonhap said, citing the terms as a peace treaty with the United States to end what North Korea considers a state of war on the Korean Peninsula, and the lifting of U.N. sanctions against North Korea.

"It is predicted that the summit talks between North Korea and China will be held on Thursday," Yonhap quoted an unnamed a source in Beijing as saying.

North Korea last year cut off the six-party talks also involving the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, in anger over international criticism of its nuclear and missile tests.

Yonhap said Thursday's expected meeting may lead Pyongyang to rejoin the stalled talks in return for heavy economic aid from Beijing.

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Russian oil tanker crew freed from pirates

(News Today) - A Russian warship has freed the crew of an oil tanker seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden a day earlier, the European Union naval force said Thursday.

No one was injured in the early morning rescue operation by the Marshal Shaposhnikov.

"The Marshal Shaposhnikov was ... fired upon by the pirates holding the ship. The Russian warship ... returned fire," the naval force reported. "Eventually the pirates surrendered and a boarding team from the Marshal Shaposhnikov arrived onboard the tanker, captured all the pirates and freed the crew."

The Russian-operated tanker Moscow University, which sails under the Liberian flag, has a crew of 23. It was on its way to China when pirates hijacked it Wednesday, the naval force said.

The captured pirates could face charges of group piracy with the use of violence and weapons, an offense carrying a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison, according to Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigation Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Farther south off the coast of Tanzania, pirates failed in their attempt Wednesday to hijack a South Korean-flagged vessel, the naval force said. All those on board are reported to be well, it said.

EU NAVFOR escorts merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid in the region and protects other vulnerable vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

Pirate attacks are frequent in the Gulf of Aden, which lies between Yemen and Somalia at the northwest corner of the Indian Ocean.

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Pakistan drone strategy originated with Bush, official says

Washington (News Today) - When the latest apparent U.S. drone strike was conducted this week against militants in Pakistan, the obvious question appeared to be: Did the United States get a "big fish" in the Taliban or al Qaeda organizations?

But a U.S. counterterrorism official says that's now the wrong question to ask, and chances are those hit were not major players. He wouldn't discuss the specifics of the latest strike, but with the official backing of his bosses, he sought to explain how U.S. strategy has changed in the crucial effort to attack targets inside Pakistan with missiles fired from drones.

The plan now is to attack a broader set of terrorist targets far beyond the original effort to strike and kill top al Qaeda leaders, the official said.

The strategy originated not with President Obama but with the previous administration, he said.

Although the United States is the only country in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones, which are controlled remotely, U.S. officials normally do not comment on suspected drone strikes.

The more expansive target set was approved in the final months of the Bush administration in late 2008 but has been stepped up under the Obama White House, the official said. It is seen as a key strategy to help protect the growing number of U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan from insurgents operating in Pakistan's border region.

Drone-launched missiles are now hitting lower-level al Qaeda and Taliban personnel, camps, training areas, bomb makers, buildings and other targets in the remote region.

"You've had an expanded target set for time now, and given the danger these groups pose and their relative inaccessibility, these kinds of strikes -- precise and effective -- have become almost like the cannon fire of this war. They're no longer extraordinary or even unusual," the official said.

"The enemy, to be sure, has lost commanders, operational planners, weapons specialists, facilitators and more. But they've also lost fighters and trainers, the kinds of people who have killed American and allied forces in Afghanistan," he said. "Just because they're not big names doesn't mean they don't kill. They do. Their facilities -- where they prepare, rest and ready weapons -- are legitimate targets, too."

Success in using the drones depends on larger intelligence efforts, said Frances Fragos Townsend, a former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush and now a CNN intelligence analyst. Drones are just one tool in larger strategy, she said.

It requires other tools -- intelligence, military and diplomatic -- to support it, she said.

The administration has been sensitive to accusations that a large number of civilians have been killed since the stepped-up raids began. Statistics kept by the New America Foundation indicate that 30 percent of those who died in drone strikes in Pakistan since 2004 were not militants.

The U.S. counterterrorism official disputed that, saying, "We believe the number of non-combatant casualties since this campaign intensified is under 30 -- those being people who were near terrorist targets, often by choice -- while the total for militants taken off the battlefield exceeds 500."

The official said those figures are based not only on intelligence but also on visual observations before and after strikes.

"The terrorists, who have a real incentive to spread stories of atrocities from the air, haven't done so because they can't do so," the official said. "They'd have to produce names, dates, photos and witnesses, the kinds of things you see almost instantly if the coalition makes a mistake in Afghanistan. But you just don't see that sort of thing coming out of the tribal areas. Instead, even press accounts from the area speak of militants cordoning off places that have been struck and of local and foreign fighters being hit."

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Analysis: 'Slain' Taliban leader garners attention in Pakistan

(News Terupdate) - For three months, Hakimullah Mehsud was supposedly dead, killed in a U.S. drone attack in the mountains of Pakistan, according to Pakistani officials.

Then word came last week from intelligence sources in Pakistan that he had not after all been killed, that he had been injured but not seriously.

And within days of that news, not one but two messages followed from Mehsud himself, both purportedly recorded in April. They warned of imminent attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, on unspecified targets in the United States.

U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials remain very skeptical about any TTP involvement in the weekend's attempted car bombing in New York. One senior official said it would be "an enormous surprise" if they were involved.

The TTP has shown little appetite or capability for operating beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan, though it was linked to a suicide bombing plot that unfolded in Spain and was broken up in 2008.

But Mehsud is back in action, courting publicity again.

Whether he is still the leader of the TTP is an open question.

Last week, while U.S. officials said they still weren't sure whether he was dead or alive, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said, "I certainly have seen no evidence that [Mehsud] is operational today or is executing or exerting authority over the Pakistan Taliban as he once did. So I don't know if that reflects him being alive or dead, but he clearly is not running the Pakistani Taliban anymore."

But in light of the video that surfaced over the weekend, that assessment may have to be revisited.

Mehsud's résumé reads like that of the "fast-track" jihadist.

He is about 30 years old and charismatic on camera in a way similar to fugitive U.S. preacher Anwar al-Awlaki. He comes from a clan in the restive South Waziristan area of Pakistan that has a long record of involvement in jihad.

The FATA Research Center in Pakistan, which has tracked his career closely, says his two brothers were killed fighting Pakistani troops in South Waziristan in 2008.

Mehsud himself joined the TTP in 2003 and fought in Afghanistan before becoming spokesman for the leader of the group, Baitullah Mehsud, say analysts in Pakistan.

But in the age of drone attacks, the life expectancy of a Taliban commander is uncertain. Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a drone strike in 2009, and Hakimullah Mehsud succeeded him.

He had shown considerable flair for military operations, and according to Mansur Khan Mahsud, director of the FATA Research Center in Islamabad, he had a fearsome reputation.

"Temperamentally, Hakimullah was a hothead. He angered very easily, did not tolerate opposition and was reputed to be arrogant and prone to emotional outbursts," Mahsud wrote in Foreign Policy. "He was rumored to have shot several men, including some in the Taliban, who disagreed with his orders."

As leader of the TTP, Mehsud's greatest "achievement" was orchestrating the suicide bombing of the CIA base in Khost at the end of last year, which killed seven CIA employees and contractors. A man identified by Pakistani officials as Mehsud appeared with the suicide bomber in a video that was released soon after the attack.

"This is a message to the enemies of the [Muslim] nation: the CIA and Jordanian intelligence services," the bomber said, with Mehsud at his side.

Mehsud's well-documented love of the camera nearly cost him his life. He became a top target for retribution by the United States.

On January 15, he was wounded in a drone attack. Subsequently, U.S. and Pakistani officials said intelligence reports indicated that it was virtually certain that he had died of his wounds. Local tribal chiefs even reported attending his funeral. The Taliban persistently denied that he had been killed.

At the time of the reports, U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said of Mehsud: "He's a very bad person. He either is or was a very bad person, and either way, he's as bad a person as there has been in this region for a long time."

For now, it seems, we need to revert to the present tense in describing Hakimullah Mehsud.

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Al Qaeda tape allegedly of suicide bomber who killed 7 CIA officers

(News Terupdate) - Radical militant Islamist websites posted a new video Friday containing an audio message purported to be by Humam Al Balawi, the Jordanian doctor turned suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents in eastern Afghanistan in December.

The audio message, which was produced by as-Sahab, al Qaeda's media arm, is played over a picture of Al-Balawi and English subtitles with on-screen text that reads: "A message that was delivered on the night before his martyrdom operation against the American intelligence in Khost."

For nearly 30 minutes, the speaker in the message makes various arguments addressing those who are "undecided" and "hesitant" to join the armed fight, or jihad, against Western forces in Muslim lands.

In the message titled "O Hesitant One, It Is An Obligation," the speaker talks about "heroic stories," sometimes using personal references such as, "I lived among you for such a long time." In other passages, he speaks to those who may have "hidden" love for jihad. Near the end of his message, the speaker challenges those "undecided brothers" by appealing to their "manhood and chivalry."

"We shall send you coded messages" through media outlets to continue the call for jihad, he said.

The message was alleged to have been recorded on December 29, 2009. Al-Balawi struck the U.S. base the following day.

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Pakistani officials: Taliban's Mehsud alive despite death reports

Islamabad, Pakistan (News Terupdate) - Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is alive and was recently seen in Pakistan's tribal region, officials said Thursday contradicting recent reports he was killed in a drone strike.

A Pakistan intelligence official and a senior military official told CNN that Mehsud survived the aerial strike in January.

He has been spotted in North Waziristan, one of seven districts in Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border, the military official said.

U.S. officials were skeptical of the report. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters he had "certainly seen no evidence that the person you speak of is operational today or is executing of exerting authority over the Pakistan Taliban as he once did. "So I don't know if that reflects him being alive or dead, but he clearly is not running the Pakistani Taliban anymore."

In February, a U.S. intelligence official and three Taliban sources told CNN that Mehsud had been killed in the January drone strike. But the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Azam Tariq, had always denied reports of Mehsud's death.

The officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Taliban leaders have denied leaders' deaths in the past. Tariq always maintained that Mehsud was alive, but never provided any proof. When former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year, cell phone video of his body was aired on Pakistani TV.

However, the militants never changed their stance that Hakimullah Mehsud had survived, though they would not let reporters interview him. TheTaliban never named his successor, fueling rumors that he was still alive.

Hakimullah Mehsud got Washington's attention when he appeared in a video with Humam Al Balawi, the Jordanian doctor turned suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents in eastern Afghanistan in December last year.

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Thai forces, protesters clash in Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand (News Terupdate) - Thai security forces fired on crowds of anti-government protesters just outside the capital, Bangkok, Wednesday as tensions flared in the latest round of confrontations between the two groups.

"This is a very tense and intense standoff," CNN's Arwa Damon reported. "There is row upon row of riot police."

Live ammunition and rubber bullets were being used by security forces, according to Damon.

The Erawan rescue agency said eight protests were injured in the clashes. One soldier was killed by friendly fire, authorities said.

Riot police and government troops had massed along a major highway to stop the progress of an anti-government convoy headed toward a location where demonstrators have gathered in the past.

Security forces and riot police were trying to disperse protesters, while the demonstrators along other portions of the highway stood in the way of troop reinforcements.

Rainfall cooled the conflict for a time, stopping the advance of riot police and government troops.

iReport: Are you there? Share your story, images

Under government rules of engagement that have been published, troops are allowed to used tear gas on demonstrators that come with 100 meters (just over 100 yards), and live ammunition on those that come within 30 meters (about 100 feet).

Thousands of anti-government protesters have brought Thailand's capital to a standstill as they seek to unseat Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government, which they say is illegitimate and undemocratic -- accusations that Abhisit on Monday called "unfounded."

The demonstrators -- known as "Red Shirts" because of their clothing -- support Thaksin Shinawatra, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, before he was ousted in a bloodless coup.

More than two dozen civilians and military personnel have died since protesters began occupying key tourism and shopping areas in Thailand's capital.

Explainer: What are the protests in Thailand about?

The latest fighting came as the British Foreign Office warned British citizens against traveling to Thailand unless absolutely necessary, citing the ongoing political unrest there.

"This advice reflects our concern that violence could break out during the increasingly volatile political crisis," the Foreign Office said in a message posted on its website Wednesday.

Last week, the U.S. State Department issued a similar advisory for Americans.

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Report details allegations of torture at Iraqi secret prison

Baghdad, Iraq (News Terupdate) - A report released Tuesday by a human rights group details allegations of horrific torture and abuse at a secret prison in Iraq where detainees say they were routinely beaten, shocked and sodomized by their interrogators.

The report by Human Rights Watch was based on interviews conducted Monday with 42 prisoners who had been held at a secret facility in west Baghdad's old Muthanna airport since late 2009.

The men were among 300 detainees who were transferred in recent weeks to another detention center after the existence of the Muthanna prison was revealed, Human Rights Watch said.

Allegations of torture and abuse at Muthanna were first reported by The Los Angeles Times on April 19. Amnesty International has urged Iraqi officials to investigate the claims.

CNN could not immediately reach U.S. or Iraqi officials for comment on the Human Rights Watch report Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch said three Iraqi army officers have been arrested in the alleged abuse after the Times report surfaced.

Tuesday's report by Human Rights Watch said the Muthanna prison operated under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, citing unidentified sources.

"What happened at Muthanna is an example of the horrendous abuse Iraqi leaders say they want to leave behind," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch. "Everyone responsible, from the top on down, needs to be held accountable."

Al-Maliki told the Times he was unaware of any abuse and ordered the prison shut down after the allegations were revealed to him by human rights officials earlier this month.

"Prime Minister al-Maliki's claim that he was unaware of abuses cannot exonerate the authorities from their responsibilities and their duty to ensure the safety of detainees," Amnesty International said in a statement calling for accountability in the wake of the Times report.

Detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch this week said that while at the secret facility, they were handcuffed, blindfolded and hung upside down using two bars, one placed behind their calves and the other against their shins. They said they were then kicked and beaten with heavy cables by their interrogators, who also are said to have placed plastic bags over detainees' heads to close off their air supply.

"They would suffocate me with a bag until I passed out and would wake me with an electric shock to my genitals," one unidentified detainee told Human Rights Watch. "Even after they forced me to confess that I killed 10 people, the torture never stopped."

Detainees said they were called terrorists and Baathists by their interrogators during such beatings, a reference to Saddam Hussein's former regime. Detainees said they were forced to sign fake confessions, with the promise the abuse would stop. However, many said it persisted, according to the report.

Detainees also described to Human Rights Watch multiple incidents of alleged sexual abuse. The detainees said interrogators and security officials sodomized them using broomsticks and pistol barrels or forced other prisoners to molest one another. Some of the men said they were forced to perform oral sex on prison officials.

Human Rights Watch said such torture was conducted for hours at a time every three or four days.

More than 430 men were held at Muthanna before they were transferred to other facilities.

The men were arrested by the Iraqi army between September 2009 and December 2009 in raids around the northern city of Mosul, Human Rights Watch said.

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U.S.: N. Korean torpedo likely sunk warship

Seoul, South Korea (News Terupdate) - A North Korean torpedo attack was the most likely cause for the sinking of a South Korean warship last month, according to a US military official.

The US believes the ship was sunk by the blast of an underwater explosion, but that the explosive device itself did not come in contact with the hull of the South Korean ship, the official said.

This is the same conclusion expressed by South Korean military officials.

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Hamas animated video shows family of captured Israeli soldier

(News Terupdate) - In a move aimed at increasing pressure on Israel to agree to a prisoner exchange in return for the freedom of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Hamas on Sunday released an animated video showing a character depicting Shalit's father aging as Israeli leaders vow his son's return.

In the video, posted on the al-Qassam website, the Noam Shalit figure is seen walking the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel, carrying a picture of his son and looking at billboards and street banners that show former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising the release of Shalit. The solder has been held by Palestinian militants since he was captured in a raid in June 2006.

The video features audio from Gilad Shalit released a couple of months ago, telling his family he misses them and saying the lack of interest by the government and the army in his case is "regrettable." Shalit says he hopes the government under Netanyahu will not waste their opportunity "to reach an exchange agreement, for the result of which I can achieve a long-awaited dream for my release."

As Noam Shalit walks in the animated video, he grows older, and a storm darkens the sky. He pauses in front of a building labeled "Ministry of Prisoners and Missing" in both English and Hebrew, with the Israeli state seal.

He disappears over the horizon and the screen fades to black, with writing in Hebrew and Arabic that says, "Finally ... the efforts of the Israeli government succeed, after the prisoners exchange deal, and Noam meets his son Gilad."

The video shows a prisoner entering Gaza holding a victory sign. But Noam Shalit encounters a casket draped in an Israeli flag.

He is seen awakening from that dream, sitting in front of the prime minister's office. The camera zooms in on Gilad Shalit's photo, then fades to black, with the message, "There is still hope."

Asked about the video, a Hamas spokesman said, "We are not going to talk. We are not going to issue any leaflets. We are just sending this cartoon with music to tickle their feelings."

However, the video drew harsh reaction from Israel, as well as from Noam Shalit.

"It's better if Hamas leaders would focus less on video presentations and would be more concerned about the interests of their prisoners and the public in Gaza," the elder Shalit told the popular Israeli news website Ynet.

Last week, the young daughter of Faithi Hamad, Hamas interior minister, was transferred to Jordan for an urgent operation. The girl left Gaza with her mother and received initial medical care at a medical center in Ashkelon, Israel, before being flown to Amman.

Netanyahu spokesman Nir Hefez referenced that in his reaction to the video Sunday.

"The Hamas leadership's cynical use of the Shalit family's sensitivities two days after Israel allowed a little girl to be flown for life-saving surgery outside Gaza attests more than anything to the character of this terrorist organization," Hefez said.

The Palestinian Ma'an news agency had reported that Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, would release a message Sunday, and that it was expected to "provide a response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most recent demand to release Shalit unconditionally, resulting in an easing of the Israeli imposed siege on Gaza.

"The announcement follows reports of French mediation to break the stalemate reached on swap talks between Israel and Shalit's captors."

The al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement the previous mediator "would have come close to finalizing the deal 'had the Israeli government not been so stubborn,' " Ma'an reported. Egyptian efforts in a prisoner swap deal were thwarted because Israel refused to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and other long-serving prisoners, the al-Qassam said, according to Ma'an.

However, Hefez said Sunday that "for months, the Hamas leaders have avoided responding to the proposals for a humanitarian deal, which was tabled by the [previous] mediator, under Egyptian aegis. This proposal, which was formulated vis-a-vis both sides, would bring about the immediate return of Gilad Shalit, safe and sound to his family and his people."

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Taliban suspected of sickening female Afghan students

(News Terupdate) - Afghan authorities will investigate the sudden illness of students and staff at three schools in the past week in northern Afghanistan, the Afghan Human Independent Rights Commission said on Sunday. Local doctors suggested the Taliban may be the perpetrators of possible poison attacks.

"During the last seven days three cases of poisoning [have] occurred in Kunduz Province," said Syed Karim Talash, the director of the commission office in the province.

At least 88 girls and teachers became ill in separate cases at three girls' schools.

The cause of the illnesses was not known, but Talash said poison gas was suspected.

"It is really big concern for us, and big concern for the family of the girls," Talash said.

Dr. Mohammad Qasam Khamoosh, who treated girls from two schools, said "unknown gases" were responsible for the mass illnesses.

These are "terrorist activities against education in the country," he said.

Girls were not allowed to attend school during the Taliban's rule. Girls' schools have been open in the region since 2001.

Khamoosh said authorities were able to gather a sample of the gas, which has been sent off for testing.

Kunduz province has seen a drastic influx in terrorist activity, particularly by the group known as Hizb-e-Islami, led by the notorious leader Gulbudeen Hekmatyar. It's an independent group that has increasingly worked under the Taliban umbrella in recent years.

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Iranian foreign minister meets with IAEA chief

(News Terupdate) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday met with the head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency to discuss a plan to swap uranium for a nuclear research reactor in Tehran.

The meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano in Vienna, Austria, would "revolve around a fuel exchange deal, which was partly proposed by (Amano) himself," Mottaki told reporters upon arrival in the city, according to Iran's official Press TV.

Under the U.N.-backed plan, Iran would send its uranium abroad for further enrichment. Iranian officials have said the nation has the right to produce highly enriched uranium for the Tehran medical reactor under the supervision of the IAEA.

"We had a series of meetings with member states of the U.N. Security Council a few months ago as a follow-up to a proposal by the IAEA on the delivery of fuel for an Iranian reactor. We have since brought them up to date on recent developments regarding our nuclear activities," Mottaki said.

IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said the meeting "provided an opportunity to discuss issues related to the IAEA's relations with Iran, including the implementation of Iran's NPT (non-proliferation treaty) Safeguards Agreement with the agency."

"The director general and the minister discussed the issue of the provision of fuel for the Tehran research reactor and exchanged views on the possible modalities for its realization," Tudor said in a statement.

"The minister informed the director general about the recently held conference on nuclear disarmament that took place in Tehran."

U.S. President Barack Obama has been pressing the Security Council to impose tougher sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions.

Iran has long claimed that its nuclear program is intended for civilian purposes, but the United States and other Western nations fear it aims to build a nuclear bomb.

A nuclear swap, Mottaki said Sunday, could build trust on both sides.

"Given the current circumstances, the role of the U.N. nuclear agency and its director can be even more positive and efficient in finding a solution to the deadlock over Iran's uranium enrichment," he said, according to Press TV.

Mottaki said he also plans to meet his Austrian counterpart, Michael Spindelegger, in Vienna in order to get Spindelegger's take on the Iranian nuclear issue, Press TV said.

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Al Qaeda confirms death of 2 top leaders

Baghdad, Iraq (News Terupdate) - Al Qaeda in Iraq has confirmed in a statement posted online that two of its two most senior leaders have been killed.

The confirmation, posted late Saturday night on Islamist websites, comes a week after U.S. officials announced the deaths of Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

The two men were killed in a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation in a strike on April 18 near Tikrit, U.S. officials said.

"We find it quite difficult that we are announcing the news of the loss of the Islamic nation once again. The loss of two great Jihadi leaders who are known for their heroism on the path of struggle," said the statement signed by Abu Al-Walid Abdel Wahab Al-Mashadani, the minister of the Religious Committees in the Islamic State of Iraq.

The U.S. military has said the deaths dealt a "potentially devastating blow" to the terrorist group.

"The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency," the commander of U.S. Forces-Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, said in a news release last week.

In an interview with CNN, Odierno said it would be "very difficult" for the al Qaeda network to replace the two men.

Al-Masri, a native of Egypt, was military leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Al-Baghdadi was leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq.

The U.S. military said al-Baghdadi held the title "Prince of the Faithful."

Odierno said al-Masri was the link in Iraq to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda -- "that was the foreign element of al Qaeda that was established here."

Al-Masri became the head of al Qaeda in Iraq in 2006 after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. attack.

Al-Masri's assistant and al-Baghdadi's son, who also were involved in terrorist activities, were killed as well, the U.S. military said.

A U.S. soldier was killed during the assault when a U.S. helicopter crashed, the military said in the news release.

An Iraqi intelligence cell pursuing high-level leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq gathered information for the operation, said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The two men were hiding in a hole within a house, where their bodies were eventually found by security forces, he said.

The arrests of other senior leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq in the past couple of days led authorities to discover the safe house, al-Maliki said.

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Iran reportedly tests five new missiles

Tehran, Iran (News Terupdate) - Iran said Sunday it fired five new types of locally-made coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles in the last stage of its "Great Prophet 5" military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf.

The missiles were fired simultaneously and struck a single target at the same time -- a feat the Revolutionary Guard Corps described to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting as "very important."

The military exercises on Sunday also included high-speed boats waging a "war" against a warship.

The maneuvers fell on the 31st anniversary of the elite force and were designed to demonstrate new weapons systems.

Iran begins war games

Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy chief of the Revolutionary Guard told Iranian media that the exercises were aimed at demonstrating Iran's "strength, will and national resolve to defend independence and territorial integrity."

The U.S. military official noted there have been several Iranian exercises in the past, but this one received attention because the Revolutionary Guard Corps discussed it publicly in advance.

The U.S. Navy currently is operating several warships in the region, and commanders are often reminded not to let any encounters with Iranians inadvertently escalate.

Iran's missile development is being watched closely by the United States, which is pressing for tougher sanctions against the Islamic republic for its controversial nuclear program.

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Victims of Baghdad bombing mourned

Baghdad, Iraq (News Terupdate) - Shiites in Iraq on Saturday mourned the victims of Friday's bombings in Baghdad, a wave of attacks thought to be retaliation for the killings of two top militants.

The violence brought an offer from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- whose militia supporters fought Iraqi and U.S. forces during the war -- to help the Iraqi government provide safety for citizens.

Friday, bombers linked to al Qaeda in Iraq targeted Shiites across the teeming capital on the day of the week that Muslims customarily go to their mosques for prayers.

Dozens of caskets were brought to the holy Shiite city of Najaf south of Baghdad for Shiite preburial rituals. They were taken into the Imam Ali shrine to give the victims a traditional last visit before the bodies are buried.

Angry and sad relatives toted the caskets and chanted "No God but God " and "God is great."

Mourners paid their last respects to families of the victims in funeral tents across Baghdad, including the predominantly Shiite district of Sadr City where the deadliest of the attacks occurred. Car bombings killed at least 39 worshipers and wounded dozens more.

In all, police said, the strikes killed at least 55 people and wounded 124 others across the capital on Friday, prompting fears of a return of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that once engulfed Baghdad.

Another bombing in the Anbar province town of Khaldiya on Friday left six people dead. Anbar is predominantly Sunni.

No one has claimed responsibility for the Baghdad attacks, but authorities believe such coordinated bombings bear the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq, a predominantly Sunni group.

The bombings came days after Iraqi and U.S. officials announced they had killed the two most wanted al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called the bombings "cowardly terrorist attacks aimed to overshadow" the deaths Sunday of the two militants.

Al-Sadr -- an anti-American Shiite cleric with a political movement and a lot of grassroots support -- posted a statement on his website Saturday calling for restraint and offering help to security forces.

He asked Iraqis to not get drawn into what he described as the "malicious American plots" that want to pull Iraqis back into fighting, giving them an excuse to stay longer in Iraq.

"At the same time I offer my readiness to provide hundreds of believers ... to be official brigades in the Iraqi army and police so they can defend their shrines, mosques, prayers, markets, homes and cities in a way that saves face for the Iraqi government so it does not resort to the occupiers to protect its people and so Iraqis can live safely in their country," he said.

"If it refuses this, they are free to do so, but we will be fully ready to assist always."

Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia was blamed for much of the sectarian attacks on the Sunni population at the height of the violence in 2006 and 2007, and it was also involved in fierce fighting with Iraqi and U.S. forces in early 2008.

A freeze of the militia's activity by al-Sadr two years ago was credited as one of the main factors for the drop in violence across the country.

Sadrist politicians could be the kingmakers in Iraqi politics after last month's parliamentary elections, in which they fared well.

Al-Sadr has called for the formation of a "united Iraqi government that is non-sectarian, non-partisan and representative of all Iraqis far from the occupation, the Baath, terrorism and the militias."

The attacks came during the delay in the formation of a government, and many observers fear that a political vacuum could portend an increase in violence.

Al-Maliki, whose coalition lost the election by a hair to former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's bloc, has called for a recount, and a court has granted it. But the Independent High Electoral Commission board of commissioners on Saturday asked the judiciary for a clarification of the decision, such as what ballots need to be recounted.

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On TV, Thai PM speaks about tensions

Bangkok, Thailand (News Terupdate) - Thailand's prime minister has acknowledged he did not expect protesters would use weapons and apply violence toward authority.

Speaking on national television on Sunday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva made the admission a day after he rejected a call from anti-government protesters to dissolve the country's parliament in 30 days.Abhisit said other groups' political opinions must be taken into consideration before any such action is taken.

More than two dozen civilians and military personnel have died since protesters began occupying key tourism and shopping areas in Thailand's capital.

The demand from the anti-government protesters, known as the "Red Shirts," was the latest in a long list issued since the group stormed parliament in early April and Abhisit declared a state of emergency.

Red Shirt leaders offered Friday to return to the negotiating table -- but only if the government meets certain demands, including lifting a state of emergency and accepting responsibility for the deaths of protesters earlier this month, said Weng Tojirakarn, a co-leader of the group.

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On the government's side, spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told CNN Saturday that there was no counter-proposal to get the negotiations back on track.

"We need to make sure negotiations take place under a conducive environment," Panitan said, explaining that previous attempts to talk to opposition leaders had been derailed due to threats against government officials.

Other conditions that must be met before any negotiations could take place include having protest leaders make sure there will be no further expansion of demonstrations into other districts and no threats to government officers, the government spokesman said.

"These conditions are very critical for peaceful negotiations," Panitan explained. "Negotiation is the only way out in the end, but... we need to stabilize the situation first."

He cited the fact that several demonstrations were taking place "by different 'shirts' and colors," and said that all demonstrators must observe the rule of law and "peace and civility will be restored first."

His remarks came as tension remained high on the streets of Bangkok, where a political standoff has gripped the country for several weeks. The Red Shirts have been clashing with the Thai military in a Bangkok area that serves as a financial hub. Another co-leader of the Red Shirts, Veera Muskapong, met with foreign diplomats Friday and told them he might meet with the government if it meets certain conditions.

Abhisit, meanwhile, huddled with the chiefs of the country's armed forces early Friday after a string of grenade attacks killed at least one person and wounded dozens of others.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said in a televised address that the grenades were launched from the area where the Red Shirts have been encamped for weeks, but the protesters denied any responsibility for the attacks.

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Suthep told Thai television earlier that three people died in the attacks, but Bangkok's Erawan Emergency and Rescue Center later revised the number to one. At least 87 people were wounded, the center said.

Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman for the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), said at his daily news conference Saturday that the protests remain manageable at this time and therefore, authorities would not try to disperse the demonstrations.

He did charge, however, that "terrorists" were interspersed among "innocent demonstrators." The official said authorities would suppress the terrorists at the appropriate time, but did not want to complicate the situation by trying to take action against them now.

Sansern also dismissed rumors of discord between the government, police and military forces, saying that representatives of all those entities were meeting daily to discuss the situation.

Explainer: What are the protests in Thailand about?

The Thai Department of Special Investigation warned Friday that those responsible for the grenade attacks could face the death penalty, the MCOT news agency reported. The attacks prompted the U.S. State Department to issue a travel alert advising American citizens of the escalating violence in Bangkok.

Suthep said riot police and helicopters were deployed to join Thai troops in the affected area, which was still littered with glass amid the standoff. Across the barricades, the Red Shirts were playing music and trying to encourage a festive atmosphere. Demonstrators told CNN late Thursday they wanted to drive home the point that their rallies are supposed to be peaceful.

Thrown into the volatile mix are a group of protesters who called themselves the Multicolored Shirts, made up of mainly middle-class city dwellers, who took to the streets in large numbers Friday. They are not pro- or anti-government, but simply want the government to shut down the Reds to end the violence and interruptions to daily life.

Some fear that the emergence of such groups could spark a civil war.

"I am so afraid that people will do the wrong thing and think they are brave and fight and they all have arms and that is what I am afraid (of)," said resident Josh Orajan. He said the Thai are all one people and this shouldn't be happening.

The Red Shirts support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006. They want Abhisit to dissolve the government, hold new elections and leave the country.

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2nd Navy SEAL found not guilty in Iraq

Baghdad, Iraq (News Terupdate) - A military judge Friday found Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, one of three Navy SEALs accused in the alleged beating an Iraqi detainee, not guilty, a military spokesman said. Keefe was accused of dereliction of duty for not preventing abuse of a prisoner.

The verdict comes a day after another of the other accused sailors, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, was found not guilty of dereliction of duty. Huertas was also charged with impeding an investigation by attempting to influence the testimony of another sailor.

In graphic testimony delivered in Huertas' court-martial earlier this week, the prisoner, Ahmed Hashim Abed, accused Keefe, Huertas and another Navy SEAL -- Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe -- of beating him.

Keefe had declined a jury and was found not guilty by a military judge, according to the military spokesman, Terry Conder, Public Affairs Officer for Joint Forces Special Operations Component Command.

Huertas was found not guilty Thursday by a military jury.

Abed is thought by U.S. authorities to be the mastermind in the slayings and mutilation of four U.S. contractors in Falluja, Iraq, in 2004, one of the war's most notorious crimes against Americans.

Last January, a military judge ruled that the trials of Keefe and Huertas be held on a base in Iraq.

McCabe, who is charged with assault, will be tried May 3 in Norfolk, Virginia.

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U.S. envoy in Israel amid settlement dispute

(News Terupdate) - The Obama administration's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, returned to the region Thursday, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that "there will be no freeze" on construction opposed by Palestinians and the United States.

Mitchell's visit comes in the wake of talks this week that included U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials.

"At the end of those discussions last night, we thought it was fruitful for George to travel to the region," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. He provided no details.

The talks, conducted in Israel, included Dan Shapiro of the National Security Council and David Hale, one of Mitchell's deputies, Crowley said. It was not clear who represented Israel and the Palestinians.

In an interview Thursday on Israel's Channel 2, Netanyahu said "there will be no freeze in Jerusalem."

The United States and Israel have been at odds over Israeli plans to build residences in East Jerusalem.

"This is what we are arguing about," Netanyahu said. "They are saying we have to stop building, and I say as prime minister of all the Israelis, there are red lines. This is a red line. I won't cross it. This is not a dispute with America."

Asked for a response to Netanyahu's comments, Crowley said, "I don't think that they necessarily are new.

"We understand that the Israelis have a long-standing position," he said. "But as [Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] has said repeatedly, the status quo is not sustainable."

Crowley said the United States received "a number of ideas from the Israelis" in response to "specific steps" that the Obama administration asked them to take.

"Some of them address the concerns that we laid out in the initial conversation between Secretary Clinton and Prime Minister Netanyahu a few weeks ago," Crowley said. "Have they done everything that we'd like to see them do? No. But this is why ... we're continuing this conversation."

Crowley said Mitchell would meet with both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Senior State Department officials, however, said they didn't expect any major breakthroughs from the talks. They noted that Netanyahu does not see any incentive to take action on settlement activity in East Jerusalem until negotiations start, and Abbas is tentative about holding talks with Israel without any commitments on settlements, especially given Arab League demands that settlement activity stop before negotiations begin.

Netanyahu's comments are not likely to make ending the rift between the United States and Israel over East Jerusalem construction any easier.

In March, the Israeli government announced the construction of 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem as U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden was visiting the Jewish state. The announcement outraged the Obama administration and led to the Palestinian withdrawal from agreed-upon indirect negotiations with Israel.

In a visit later that month to the United States, Netanyahu was presented with a set of concessions the White House wanted to see the Israel make in an effort to restart negotiations with the Palestinians.

Neither government detailed what the exact nature of the concessions were, but sources on both sides said a halt in East Jerusalem construction was among the demands from the Obama administration.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Netanyahu had informed the White House over the weekend that Israel would not stop building in East Jerusalem.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli government, would not comment on the report other than to say that "the talks with the Americans are ongoing."

"We are working hard to find a framework that will allow for the resumption of talks," Regev said of negotiations with the Palestinians.

Israel seized East Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six Day War in 1967 and considers it part of its sovereign capital, a claim not recognized by the international community. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the future capital of their state.

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Iraqi officials: Gunmen kill family of Awakening Council leader

(News Terupdate) - Gunmen stormed a house north of Baghdad, killing the family of a local Awakening Council leader, police officials said Tuesday.

The attackers killed the man's wife, their 22-year-old daughter and their three sons, who were beheaded, according to police. The father was not home when the attack took place Monday night in the Salaheddin province town of Tarmiya, about 30 miles (45 kilometers) north of Baghdad, police said.

The attack is the latest targeting Awakening Council or Sons of Iraq members and their families.

Earlier this month, gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed houses and killed 25 people in a Sunni village near Baghdad.

Five of the dead were women. Most of the victims were shot in the head, and all were found handcuffed, police officials in Baghdad said.

The attack, involving at least 20 gunmen, took place in a village in Arab Jabour, a predominantly Sunni region about 15 miles southeast of the capital, authorities said.

The area was once a hotbed of insurgents until the birth of Awakening Councils or the Sons of Iraq, which were established to reduce violence and provide security for residents in certain areas of the country.

Most of the victims in the April 2 attacks were local Sons of Iraq members.

Authorities said at the time that the mass shooting appeared to be the work of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Iraqi security forces initially arrested 25 suspects but released several due to insufficient evidence, police said.

Military uniforms are relatively easy to purchase in Iraq. In Baghdad, several shops sell police and army uniforms for less than $15.

Officials said Monday that the two most senior leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq had been killed in a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation. The deaths of Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi deal "a potentially devastating blow" to the terrorist group, the U.S. military said.

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Market blast kills 22 in Pakistan

Islamabad, Pakistan (News Terupdate) - At least 22 people were killed Monday and 27 were injured when an explosion ripped through a crowded market in northwestern Pakistan, police and hospital officials told CNN.

The blast occurred shortly after 6:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET) in Qizza Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar, said Peshawar police official Akhtar Ali.

A suicide bomber approached the market on foot and detonated his explosives, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as North West Frontier Province.

Dr. Abdul Hamid Afridi, an official at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, said the death toll stood at 22.

Muhammad Iqbal, spokesman for the Muslim religious party Jamaat-e-Islami, said in an appearance on Pakistan's GEO-TV that the blast took place near a demonstration by party members who were protesting increases in load shedding -- the practice of creating intentional power outages aimed at saving electricity. The country is experiencing an energy shortage.

The deputy regional chief of the party, Haji Dost Muhammad, was among those killed in the explosion, Iqbal said.

Peshawar police chief Liaqat Ali said on Pakistani TV that militants in the city "were dormant" for roughly four months.

"Now they have reorganized and regrouped and they will try to hurt us and hit us," he said. "Nonetheless we are ready and we will put in our best."

The blast at the market came after another explosion in Peshawar killed a 7-year-old and injured seven other students outside a school on Monday, authorities said.

A suicide bomber also killed three people on Sunday at a police station in Kohat -- the same northwest Pakistani town where attackers targeted a camp for displaced people and killed at least 41 a day earlier.

Kohat is a town in the North West Frontier Province where the Pakistan military has stepped up its offensive against the Taliban in recent weeks.

The fighting has caused a flood of displaced people to pour into camps. More than 250,000 people are registered as internally displaced people in the towns of Kohat and Hangu after fleeing the fighting between government troops and the Taliban in Orakzai and Kurram, two districts in the country's tribal region.

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