World Briefs

KENYA

Troops enter Somalia to attack terrorists

NAIROBI — Kenyan troops have crossed the border into war-torn Somalia to attack Islamist al-Shebab terrorists they accuse of kidnapping foreigners, Kenyan officials said Sunday.

A senior al-Shebab leader later warned Keyan soldiers they will feel the “pain of bullets” for invading Somalia.

The assault comes a day after Kenya’s Internal Security Minister George Saitoti branded Somalia’s al Qaeda-inspired al-Shebab rebels “the enemy” and vowed to attack them “wherever they will be”.

In just over a month, a British woman and a French woman have been abducted from beach resorts in two separate incidents, dealing a major blow to Kenya’s tourism industry. On Thursday, gunmen seized two female Spanish aid workers.

Sheik Hassan Turki, a senior al-Shebab leader, denounced the Kenyans for crossing the border.

“Kenya violated the territorial rights of Somalia by entering our holy land, but I assure you that they will return disappointed, God willing,” he said. “Mujahedeen fighters will force them to test the pain of the bullets.”

THAILAND

Flood barriers protect Bangkok from rising waters

BANGKOK — Barriers protecting Bangkok from Thailand’s worst floods in half a century held firm Sunday as the government said some water inundating provinces just north of the capital had begun receding.

That fueled hopes that Bangkok, a city of 9 million, could escape unharmed. But outside the capital, thousands of people remain displaced, and hungry residents are struggling to survive in half-submerged towns.

On Sunday, the military rescued terrified civilians from the rooftops of flooded buildings in the swamped city of Ayutthaya, one of the country’s hardest hit.

LIBYA

Bulldozers raze Gadhafi’s compound in capital

Story Continues →