World Scene

IRAQ

Sunnis drafting constitution killed

BAGHDAD — Gunmen yesterday assassinated two Sunni Arabs involved in the drafting of Iraq’s constitution, dealing another blow to U.S. and Iraqi efforts to draw members of the disaffected community away from the insurgency and into the political process.

Mijbil Issa, a committee member; Dhamin Hussein al-Obeidi, an adviser to the group; and their bodyguard died in a hail of gunfire from two vehicles as they left a restaurant in Baghdad’s Karradah district, police said.

Mr. Issa, a prominent lawyer, was among 15 Sunni Arabs appointed last month to the 55-member constitutional committee. Insurgents had threatened Sunnis who help draft the constitution, and two committee members resigned earlier because they feared for their lives.

JAPAN

10,000 protest U.S. Army exercises

NAHA — About 10,000 people staged a demonstration yesterday against U.S. Army exercises using live ammunition in the town of Kin in Okinawa prefecture.

The protesters, including Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine, highlighted the danger posed by the exercises at a new combat facility at the Marine Corps’ Camp Hansen, which is 300 yards from residential areas.

Marching up to the front gate of Camp Hansen, the demonstrators called on the U.S. Army to stop the exercises and remove the facility, arguing that people living in the vicinity risk being hit by stray bullets.

TURKEY

General says U.S. OK’d capture of Kurds

ISTANBUL — A top Turkish general said yesterday that the United States had given direct orders for the capture of rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leaders in Iraq, Turkish press reported.

Gen. Ilker Basbug, second in command at Turkey’s politically influential General Staff, said Turkey has the right to stage an incursion into Iraq against PKK guerrillas as a last resort if no action was taken.

“The United States has given the order for the capture of the leadership of the PKK terror group,” state-run Anatolian news agency quoted the general as telling senior press executives.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara declined to comment, and no confirmation was available from Washington.

PAKISTAN

Dozens arrested in anti-terror sweep

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan detained 25 Islamic militants in raids linked to investigations into the deadly bomb attacks in London this month, officials said yesterday.

The latest detentions were made overnight in Punjab province and included members of outlawed Islamist movements.

Four bombs on London subway trains and a bus killed 56 persons on July 7.

In the southwestern city of Quetta, police rounded up nearly two dozen militants, but officials said those detentions were not linked to the London bombings.

FRANCE

Rebel imams risklosing their nationality

PARIS — Tough-talking French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy promised “zero tolerance” yesterday for Muslim leaders who encourage attacks such as the bombings in London on July 7 and said he would strip them of their French nationality.

“We have to be much stricter against those who indoctrinate young suicide bombers,” he told the newspaper Liberation.

Intelligence officials told Agence France-Presse that about 10 imams have been identified and are being monitored in Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

From wire dispatches and staff reports