Basque's ETA militants set to dissolve
MADRID -- The Basque militant group ETA is ready to announce its final dissolution early next month, putting an end to a decadeslong violent campaign for independence from Spain, according to the region's public broadcaster.
ETA will announce the step on the first weekend of May, Basque regional broadcaster ETB reported late Wednesday. The broadcaster has in the past had access to ETA's plans. Also, the Basque newspaper Gara, which often reflects separatist views, had earlier reported that ETA would be dissolving before the summer.
ETA killed more than 800 people including police, politicians and entrepreneurs, before giving up its armed campaign for Basque independence in 2011 and getting rid of its arsenal a year ago. Its dissolution will mark the end of one of Europe's last violent nationalist conflicts.
Both France and Spain, where the group committed most of its deadly actions over more than 40 years, have demanded it take a further step and disband.
The Spanish government said ETA, which it classifies as a terrorist organization, had been defeated without achieving any of its goals. Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido added that authorities will continue to investigate unresolved ETA-related cases.
3 Pakistani women doused with acid
ISLAMABAD -- A group of men on motorcycles hurled acid at three female university students Thursday in the city of Gujrat, Pakistani police said.
Officer Umair Hayat said one of the three men was arrested after the attack, which occurred near a bus stop in the Dinga neighborhood as the women were on their way to school.
Hayat said one suffered burns to her face while the other two have burns on their arms. Two of the victims are sisters, the third is their friend.
Hayat said the attack apparently followed a family dispute over the refusal of a marriage proposal and that the sisters' uncle was among the attackers, who had come from Islamabad to take revenge on one of the sisters.
Matrimonial refusals within families often trigger feuds in conservative Pakistan.
Italy: Nabbed 21 associates of Mafioso
MILAN -- Italian police claimed progress Thursday in closing in on Italy's most-wanted Mafia fugitive, Matteo Messina Denaro, arresting 21 suspected associates in western Sicily, including family members to whom he had given leadership roles in the clan.
Investigators said the complex investigation revealed the depth of reverence for Messina Denaro in the Trapani province, with particular affection expressed after the recent death of the "boss of bosses," Salvatore "Toto" Riina.
Messina Denaro, 55, has been on the lam since 1993 and is wanted for his role in the bombing assassination of magistrates in the 1990s, along with other Mafia hits and crimes. He is considered a prime successor for Riina, who died in November while serving 26 life sentences.
Investigators say the Trapani mafia was, and still is, active in extortion and controlling public contracts, and often resorted to destroying the property of anyone who tried to stand up it.
"We have arrived truly close to the heart of the fugitive, in the literal sense in that we have detained members of his own family," prosecutor Paolo Guido said Thursday at a news conference.
Houthi rebels, Yemenis in deadly battle
SANAA, Yemen -- Heavy fighting between Yemeni pro-government forces and Shiite Houthi rebels has killed at least 25 people since Tuesday in the southwestern province of Taiz, Yemeni security officials said Thursday.
Yemen has been embroiled in a war between the Iran-backed Houthis and the internationally recognized government, which is allied with a Saudi-led military coalition, since March 2015. The coalition aims to restore the government of self-exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Houthi rebels carried out an attack with heat-seeking, shoulder-fired missiles against pro-government forces led by the nephew of Yemen's late President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the western al-Burj district in Taiz, the officials said.
More than 10 fighters of Brig. Gen. Tareq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh's forces were killed in the attack and another eight were wounded, they said.
In a separate battle in southern Taiz, pro-government forces carried out a fierce attack against the rebels aimed at seizing the town of al-Rahda, military spokesman Ahmed el-Naqib said. The Saudi-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes against the rebels there.
The fighting killed more than 15 fighters from both sides in the past 24 hours, security officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the press.
A Section on 04/20/2018