The World in Brief

The World in Brief

Pakistani police commandos carry out an operation at a militant hideout in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, July 17, 2014. Officials said police fought for more than 10 hours with militants planning to attack the prime minister's home in eastern Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Pakistani police commandos carry out an operation at a militant hideout in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, July 17, 2014. Officials said police fought for more than 10 hours with militants planning to attack the prime minister's home in eastern Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Shootout leaves 3 dead in Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan -- A gunfight between Pakistani security forces and two suspected militants broke out early Thursday about a mile from the country estate of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, killing a policeman and the suspects, Pakistani officials said.

Police and government officials said the militants might have been plotting an attack on Sharif, who was not at the estate, in retaliation for a military operation against Taliban militants in the tribal district of North Waziristan.

The raid started early Thursday, when the security forces, acting on an intelligence tip, surrounded a house just outside Lahore, the eastern city that is Sharif's political base.

A gunfight with the people inside the house ended after 10 hours, with the deaths of the police officer and the suspected militants, and injuries to three officers. Ammunition, suicide vests, grenades and guns were found inside the house, said the city's police chief, Zulfiqar Hameed.

Police officials described the militants, believed to be in their 20s, as "takfiris" -- extremists who brand as heretics those who do not share their conservative interpretation of Islam.

Filipinos to hunt militants holding 2

MANILA, Philippines -- Two German tourists who have been missing for three months had been abducted by Abu Sayyaf militants and were being held "unharmed" by the al-Qaida-linked gunmen in their jungle encampments in the southern Philippines, security officials said Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, commander of the military's Western Mindanao Command, said the government has ordered troops to locate the Germans in Sulu province and ensure their safe recovery but he declined to say what the military intends to do.

German officials have declined to comment on the reported abductions, in line with a policy of not discussing kidnapping cases.

Stefan Okonek and his female companion, Henrike Dielen, were taken at gunpoint from a yacht between Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo Island and western Philippines sometime in April, then taken by boat to Sulu, a jungle province in the south where the Abu Sayyaf has held other hostages, four military and police officials said.

The officials, who have helped deal with Abu Sayyaf kidnappings, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to reporters.

Flooding, landslides kill 45 in China

BEIJING -- Heavy rains and landslides over the past week have killed at least 45 people in southern China and left 21 others missing, the country's Ministry of Civil Affairs and an official said Thursday.

Southern China was also bracing for the arrival of Typhoon Rammasun around midday today, with wind gusts expected to surpass 90 mph. The typhoon left at least 40 dead in the Philippines, where it damaged homes and knocked out power Wednesday.

In Sichuan province, a landslide Thursday afternoon killed 11 people and injured 19, according to an official in the province's Maoxian county, who only gave her surname, Li.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a statement that heavy rains and associated floods and landslides over the past week had killed 34 people and left 21 others missing in seven southern provinces. The bulk of these deaths and missing people were in Guizhou and Hunan provinces.

The ministry said nearly 9,300 houses had collapsed in the rains, and 63,000 had been damaged. The rains had also affected about 950,000 acres of crops and caused direct economic losses of $840 million, it said.

5 on copter die after ferry-site search

SEOUL, South Korea -- A fire department helicopter returning from a search for victims from the April ferry sinking that left hundreds of South Koreans dead crashed Thursday in the city of Gwangju, killing all five people on board.

The helicopter crew, from the fire department of Gangwon province in the northeast, had joined a search in southwestern South Korean waters for 11 victims still missing from the April 16 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which killed more than 290 people.

The helicopter crew had joined the search Monday; on Thursday, it ended its mission early because of rain and poor visibility, and it had begun the trip home when it crashed in Gwangju, a southwestern city of about 1.5 million.

Officials at the National Emergency Management Agency said the helicopter crashed near an apartment complex. A high school student waiting for a bus was injured by shrapnel, but no one on the ground was killed, officials said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS

A Section on 07/18/2014

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