LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “There is so much shooting in the streets. The ambulances do not stop.” Omnia al-Zangeer,

23, a customs worker in Port Said, Egypt, where death sentences for 21 soccer fans led to riots Article, 1A

2 Iraqi soldiers slain, 3 taken captive

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Gunmen killed two Iraqi soldiers and abducted three others in Fallujah on Saturday as hundreds of mourners gathered in the restive western city for the funeral of protesters killed during a shooting by army troops a day earlier, according to officials.

The attacks and kidnappings appeared to be in retaliation for the deaths of protesters in clashes Friday.

Fallujah police Maj. Rasheed al-Adeeli said one of the soldiers killed was hit by sniper fire on the outskirts of the city.

Another was shot dead when gunmen attacked a military post where soldiers were packing up their equipment on the northern edge of the city.

Gunmen ambushed the car of three off-duty soldiers on the outskirts of Fallujah and kidnapped them, according to state television and a provincial police official. The official said authorities have launched a manhunt for the missing men.

Also on Saturday, Iraqi lawmakers said the parliament has approved a law that would limit the terms of the prime minister, president and parliament speaker to a maximum of two. The measure, which must still be approved by Iraq’s president, could pose a challenge to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s plans to seek the post again in 2014.

At least 24 die in Pakistan valley fight

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Two Islamic militant groups clashed Saturday over control of a prized valley in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

Arshad Khan of the Khyber tribal region said the fighting between the two Islamic militant groups began Friday in Tirah valley, near the Afghan border, when the militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban captured the base of another militant group, Ansarul Islam. Ansarul Islam tried to retake the base and fighting continued into Saturday.

The Pakistani military has been battling a stubborn insurgency in northwest Pakistan in rugged tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

The remote valley, tucked in mountainous terrain, is valued by militant groups as a base of operations. It’s difficult for the Pakistani military to enter the area, which allows militants easy access to Afghanistan and other tribal areas of Pakistan.

Most of the dead were militants, but some local tribesmen also were killed, according to a Pakistani military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to disclose the information to the media.

11 policemen among Afghan dead

KABUL - At least 12 people were killed in bombings around Afghanistan on Saturday, including 10 policemen who died when a suicide bomber driving a motorcycle blew himself up in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province, officials said.

Another police officer was killed in a separate bombing in the eastern city of Ghazni.

In Kunduz province, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husseini said the policemen, including the head of the provincial counterterrorism department and the traffic police chief, were killed at an intersection in Kunduz city. He said 14 other policemen and five civilians were wounded in the explosion.

Saad Mukhtar, the head of the Kunduz health department, confirmed the death toll.

Earlier on Saturday, a remote-controlled bomb planted on a bicycle exploded, killing one police officer and one civilian in Ghazni. The provincial police chief, Gen. Zirawer Zahid, said another five people were wounded.

5 sailors kidnapped off Nigeria freed

LAGOS, Nigeria - Five Indian sailors kidnapped off Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta and held captive for more than a month have been released by their abductors, a spokesman said Saturday.

The sailors had been seized Dec. 17 as their ship, the SP Brussels, sat about 40 miles off the coast of the Niger Delta.

The men were in good health after their release and received medical checkups before being flown back to India, said a statement released Saturday on behalf of the ship’s operator, Medallion Marine.

Martin Baxendale, a spokesman for Medallion Marine, declined to comment Saturday on the exact circumstances of the sailors’ release. Typically, most foreign hostages are held for days or weeks until a ransom amount is negotiated.

Foreigners can attract ransoms into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 01/27/2013