Briefly

PAKISTAN

Killer stalks town’s children

MURIDKE — When a 5-year-old boy ran home bleeding and weeping, his family first thought he had injured himself in a fall.

At the doctor’s office, they discovered Zainul Abideen had been stabbed, with wounds to the chest and abdomen requiring 20 stitches. Now they think the boy was attacked by a serial killer targeting young children in this small town, where three children have been killed with knives in the past three weeks.

Police say the slayings could be part of a black magic rite and have arrested about 20 suspects. One confessed to the first three assaults, including stabbing Zainul. Then, another child was slain while the suspect was in custody, leading police to think he has accomplices or gave a false confession.

Acts of random violence are rare in Pakistan, a deeply religious society where most killings are the result of feuds. Failure to stop the slayings have triggered protests against police, and one resident was killed by police gunfire during unrest.

UZBEKISTAN

Muslims blamed for street battles

TASHKENT — President Islam Karimov signaled no letup this week in a crackdown on Islamic dissidents and accused the West of double standards in criticizing his state as undemocratic.

Last month, Mr. Karimov’s 15-year rule of the former Soviet state suffered its biggest shock since a 1999 assassination attempt when militants fought street battles with police and set off bombs that killed 47 persons, most of them militants and police. Forty-five persons face trial over the violence, but Mr. Karimov said anyone who confessed would be forgiven.

Prosecutors say the violence was organized by Uzbek Islamic activists trained on the Afghan-Pakistan border who were seeking to overthrow the state. Western human rights groups say the attacks have been used as a pretext to detain and harass Muslims.

Weekly notes …

The United Nations refugees agency says Sri Lanka risks losing international financial support if it doesn’t pay more attention to resettling nearly 400,000 internally displaced people. Dennis McNamara, inspector general of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the agency expected the new government to pay “renewed attention” to resolve the problem of the displaced. … After five hours of talks at the house of Burma’s democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Central Executive Committee of her National League for Democracy decided Thursday to offer proposals to the ruling junta over a national convention in May. This week, the generals announced a national convention May 17 in Rangoon.

From wire dispatches and staff reports