Jerusalem: Seven Israeli Arabs arrested as bombing accomplices

Seven Israeli Arabs have been arrested as suspected accomplices in a deadly suicide bombing, police said Monday, heightening concern of a growing alliance between members of their community and Palestinian militants.

The seven arrested, all members of the same family, were accused of involvement in an Aug. 4 suicide bombing on a bus at the Meron junction in northern Israel. The blast killed nine passengers and pedestrians.

Police said the suspects helped store explosives in a nursery school, dressed the assailant as a tourist and then scouted a target a bus filled with Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Russia: Probe shows helicopter shot down by rebel fire

Investigators have concluded that rebel anti-aircraft fire was responsible for the crash of a transport helicopter in Chechnya last week, Russian news agencies reported Monday. But a top prosecutor later said the cause of the nation’s deadliest military air disaster was still unclear.

The Mi-26 helicopter went down Aug. 19 in a minefield outside Khankala, Russia’s main military headquarters in Chechnya, killing 116 people. The rest of the 31 people aboard were injured, and some remain in grave condition.

The commission investigating the crash has concluded that a portable anti-aircraft missile was used to down the huge helicopter, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported Monday, citing unidentified sources in the commission.

Part of a missile launcher had been found close to the crash site. Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the crash.

Spain: Parliament takes steps to outlaw Basque party

Police stormed the offices of a Basque political party aligned with the outlawed ETA separatists Monday, hours after Spain’s parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of banning the party.

The fast-moving steps against the Batasuna party began earlier Monday when a judge in Madrid suspended its activities for three years, accusing it of complicity in terrorist acts carried out by the Basque ETA group.

Parliament’s lower house then voted 295-10 in favor of banning the party. The government is expected to ask the Supreme Court on Friday to outlaw the party.

If the justices endorse such a request, Batasuna would be the first political party banned since the 1939-75 dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.