16 Iraqis are slain in attacks in 2 cities
BAGHDAD -- Attacks overnight in two Iraqi cities killed at least 16 people, officials said Monday as authorities struggle to stop the Sunni militants' offensive that has left huge areas in northern and western Iraq outside government control.
In one of the attacks, mortar rounds rained down on Shiite neighborhoods in the town of Mahmoudiya on Sunday night, killing 11 civilians and wounding 31, a police official said. The mixed Shiite-Sunni town is about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
In Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, a roadside bomb struck an army patrol, killing two soldiers and three volunteers who took up arms amid the Sunni militant push across Iraq in recent weeks. Eight people were wounded in that attack, said the police official.
Blasts, gunbattles kill 41 in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber targeted a police convoy in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on Monday, killing a policeman and a civilian, a local official said.
The attack took place in the Helmand provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, said Omar Zwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor. He said the explosion also wounded 15 people -- eight policemen and seven civilians. The police convoy was en route to the district of Sangin for an operation there, he added.
In northern Afghanistan, Taliban fighters ambushed a local police checkpoint in the Qaysar district of Faryab province, an official said. At least eight local policemen and 27 Taliban fighters were killed in the firefight that ensued, according to the provincial governor, Mohamadullha Batash.
In southern Uruzgan province, four Afghan policemen were shot to death at a checkpoint in Shahid Asass district, said Dost Mohammad Nayuib, spokesman for the Uruzgan governor. The attackers were two other policemen from the same unit who fled the scene, Nayuib said. Another policeman was wounded in the attack.
Cambodian rival parties to talk again
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Cambodia's ruling and opposition parties said Monday that their leaders will hold a fresh round of talks to end the year-long political deadlock after last year's contentious election.
Both parties said in a joint statement released to the media Monday that Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy will hold talks for the third time in the past year to "defuse political tension."
Lawmakers from Sam Rainsy's Cambodia National Rescue Party have boycotted their seats in the Parliament since last July's election, which they alleged was rigged, and are demanding overhaul measures and new elections.
Today's talks come after the arrest last week of seven opposition lawmakers and another party activist after violence broke out when party members tried to stage a rally at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh.
The Cambodia National Rescue Party said Monday that the talks will focus on the agreement they reached in April, including conditions under which a new electoral commission will be set up with the approval of the two parties.
Typhoon's death toll up as it hits Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam -- A typhoon that barreled into northern Vietnam killed at least 11 people and left several missing, state media said Monday, while in China the death toll from the strongest storm to strike the country's south in four decades rose to 33.
Typhoon Rammasun made landfall in Vietnam over the weekend, triggering heavy floods, destroying homes and crops, and blocking roads with landslides, said the Vietnam News, an English-language daily published by the official Vietnam News Agency.
Rammasun had earlier battered southern China, killing 33 people and destroying tens of thousands of homes, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
It was the strongest typhoon to hit China's southern region in 41 years, damaging roads and ports, cutting electricity and water supplies, and hampering rescue efforts as it swept through dozens of coastal cities.
Worst hit was the island province of Hainan, where the storm made landfall Friday. By Monday, 51,000 houses and 100,300 acres of crops had been destroyed.
The typhoon wreaked havoc in the northern Philippines last week, leaving 94 people dead.
A Section on 07/22/2014