World Scene

AFGHANISTAN

3 U.S. troops killed in south

KANDAHAR | Clashes with insurgents killed three U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan, where roadside bombs also killed nine civilians, officials said Tuesday.

A Polish soldier, 22 Taliban insurgents and two Afghan soldiers also died in violence nine days ahead of the country’s presidential election. A record number of U.S. and NATO troops are working to protect the country ahead of the Aug. 20 vote, which Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt.

NATO said the Americans died in separate “hostile fire incidents.” It did not disclose the exact location of the attacks. The first died of wounds suffered in an incident that occurred Saturday, another died Sunday and the third died Monday, NATO said.

THAILAND

U.S. extradition request rejected

BANGKOK | A Thai court Tuesday rejected a U.S. request to extradite a purported Russian arms smuggler dubbed the “Merchant of Death,” dealing a setback to U.S. efforts to try him on charges of plotting to supply weapons to Colombian rebels.

Viktor Bout, 42, was arrested in March 2008 at a luxury hotel in Bangkok as part of an elaborate sting in which U.S. agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization. He is being held in a Bangkok prison, but could be set free if no appeal is filed.

Judge Chittakorn Pattanasiri said the court rejected the extradition request because Mr. Bout had not been accused of committing any crimes against Thailand, which has not listed FARC as a terrorist group.

RUSSIA

Chechen activist, husband found dead

MOSCOW | The bullet-riddled bodies of a Chechen activist and her husband were found in the trunk of their car Tuesday, a day after they were kidnapped, police and Russian rights groups said.

Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov, were abducted Monday from the office of her group, Save the Generation, just weeks after rights activist Nataliya Estemirova was kidnapped and killed in the southern Russian region.

Rights activists have long blamed the forces of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov for abductions, killings and torture. Mr. Kadyrov blamed the latest killings on unspecified forces that want to destabilize the republic.

SOMALIA

4 aid workers, 2 pilots released

PARIS | Four European aid workers and two Kenyan pilots were released Tuesday after nine months as hostages in Somalia thanks to efforts by officials, religious leaders and businessmen to free them, Somalia’s national security minister said.

French aid group Action Against Hunger said gunmen seized the six in November in the city of Dhusamareb as they were heading to the airport to fly to Kenya.

The Bulgarian government said the workers were two French citizens, a Belgian and a Bulgarian.

PAKISTAN

Musharraf faces arrest upon return

ISLAMABAD | Police say if Pakistan’s former president returns to the country, he could be arrested for ordering the arrest of judges while he was in power.

Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in 2007, firing the chief justice and dozens of judges, apparently to avoid challenges to his rule. His party lost a 2008 election, and he moved to London this year after the ruling coalition forced him to resign.

Police official Hakim Khan said Tuesday that a case has been opened against Mr. Musharraf who faces up to three years in prison if convicted of illegally detaining the judges.

INDONESIA

Slain militant not Noordin

Indonesian police say DNA tests show that the body of a suspected terrorist killed in a 16-hour siege last week is not Noordin Top, one of the region’s most-wanted men.

Police official Eddy Saparwoko said Wednesday that results showed the man killed in a shootout with anti-terrorism forces last week was not the wanted man, despite early media reports that he may have been slain. The Malaysian has been blamed for a series of deadly attacks in Indonesia since 2003 and is the prime suspect in the twin suicide hotel bombings in Jakarta on July 17 that killed seven people.

Mr. Saparwoko said “the DNA test didn’t match with Noordin’s family.”

From wire dispatches and staff reports