World Scene

RUSSIA

Regional president survives bid on life

VLADIKAVKAZ — A suicide attacker blew up a car laden with explosives yesterday near the motorcade of the president of a Russian republic bordering rebel Chechnya, lightly injuring the regional leader.

Murat Zyazikov, president of Ingushetia, suggested the attack was an attempt by Chechen rebels to expand the fighting into his small republic, which is home to tens of thousands of Chechen refugees and already the scene of spillover violence.

Human rights groups, however, pointed to growing mistrust of Mr. Zyazikov, a former official in Russia’s Federal Security Service.

GEORGIA

Russian commander hurt in bombing

TBILISI — The commander of Russian forces in the former Soviet republic of Georgia was injured in a bomb blast last night, officials said.

The blast occurred as Gen. Alexander Studenikin was walking to his home from the Russian military’s headquarters in the capital, Tbilisi, on territory under Russian control. His injuries were not life-threatening, officials said.

Russia maintains two bases and about 5,000 troops in Georgia as holdovers from the Soviet era. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia withdrew troops from two other bases and Georgia has been pushing for the withdrawal of the remaining two.

CUBA

Jailed dissident in critical condition

The Association of Cuban-American Women made an urgent appeal yesterday on behalf of Leonardo Miguel Bruzon Avila, a Cuban dissident arrested last February in the Cuban government’s roundup of political opposition.

According to the group, Mr. Bruzon Avila vomits blood, weighs less than 90 pounds and is bedridden in a section of Combinado del Este prison, where he is denied medical treatment.

His body trembles constantly, as if he had Parkinson’s disease. His teeth are falling out in pieces, and he is currently being kept alive through intravenous feeding. The group says Mr. Bruzon Avila will die soon if the Cuban government does not give him medical treatment.

PAKISTAN

9 Islamists held in bombing

KARACHI — Pakistani police arrested nine suspected Islamist militants, including a man who purportedly sent suicide bombers to carry out an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi almost two years ago, authorities said yesterday.

The suspects — all members of the outlawed militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Almi — were captured Sunday in Karachi.

MEXICO

Woman performs own Caesarean

LONDON — A woman in Mexico gave birth to a healthy boy after performing a Caesarean section on herself with a kitchen knife, doctors said yesterday.

The unidentified 40-year-old woman, who lived in a rural area without electricity, running water or sanitation and was an eight-hour drive from the nearest hospital, performed the operation when she could not deliver the baby naturally.

“She took three small glasses of hard liquor and, using a kitchen knife, sliced her abdomen in three attempts … and delivered a male infant that breathed immediately and cried,” said Dr. R.F. Valle of the Dr. Manuel Velasco Suarez Hospital in San Pablo, Mexico, in a report in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Before losing consciousness, the woman told one of her children to call a local nurse for help. After the nurse stitched the wound, the mother and baby were transferred and treated by Dr. Valle and his colleagues at the nearest hospital.