Briefly

PAKISTAN

Raids hit terrorists in tribal region

WANA — Pakistani forces pounded suspected Islamic militants with helicopter gunships and mortar fire yesterday, but have failed to find the mastermind of the kidnapping this month of two Chinese engineers.

The offensive began at 3 a.m. Thursday against a suspected militant hide-out in Kotkai, close to the scene of recent fighting, a military official said.

Abdullah Mehsud, a former inmate at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who masterminded the Oct. 9 kidnapping of two Chinese engineers, was not among the militants, the official said.

One of the engineers and all of the kidnappers were killed in an operation by Pakistani forces to end the standoff.

INDIA

Bandit’s death sparks rush for treasure

MADRAS — The death of India’s bandit king has sparked a treasure hunt for his fabulous wealth believed to be stashed in secret caves and tree holes deep inside a forest, officials said.

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, accused of killing more than 100 people and more than 2,000 elephants in three decades of banditry, was buried Wednesday in southern Tamil Nadu state after being killed in a police trap two days earlier.

Few dared to venture into the southern Indian forest during the years he was being hunted by the police, but cowherds and firewood gatherers are once again returning with an eye open for the treasure.

BANGLADESH

Elite police sent to lower onion price

DHAKA — Traders staged a one-day strike after members of an elite police squad were deployed at markets in southeast Bangladesh to drive down the price of onions, a report said Tuesday.

The deployment of the Rapid Action Battalion followed a public outcry at the recent spiraling cost of essential food items such as onions, chili, rice and oil.

The battalion, which is made up of police as well as members of the armed forces and paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles, was formed by the government as part of an initiative to reduce rising levels of crime.

INDIA

Tilting Taj Mahal causes concern

AGRA — Authorities in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state have started an urgent investigation after historians reported that one of the minarets of the Taj Mahal is tilting dangerously.

A committee is investigating whether the drying out of the nearby Yamuna River could have affected the 17th-century white mausoleum’s foundations, a state government official said.

“Dangerous tilts in its minarets, first noticed in 1942 and mentioned in various reports, have continued to increase over the years,” Ram Nath, former head of history at Rajasthan University, told the Hindustan Times newspaper.

From wire dispatches and staff reports