Pakistan

Blast at bomb factory kills terror suspect

A clandestine bomb factory used by Islamic militants exploded Thursday in Karachi, killing at least five suspected terrorists — including one linked to the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl and the deadly bombing of a U.S. Consulate.

The explosion reduced the chemical storage warehouse in the eastern Korangi neighborhood to rubble, and police sifting through the wreckage found high-grade explosives and a rocket-propelled grenade.

The blast ended a months-long manhunt for Asif Ramzi, a suspect in both the Pearl killing and the June consulate bombing in Karachi that killed 14 people. Pakistani police had offered a $50,000 reward for his capture.

The four other bodies had not been identified.

Ivory Coast

Rebels seize city

Rebels captured Man, the leading city in Ivory Coast’s coffee-rich west, Thursday and vowed to continue their push until they reached the commercial capital, the key to controlling what had been West Africa’s most stable and prosperous nation.

As government soldiers fled, French Foreign Legion troops moved in force toward the rebels, ready for orders to intervene in a war.

Legionnaires 50 miles outside the rebel-captured western city of Man readied anti-tank missiles, rocket-launchers and heavy machine guns.

The government denied rebels had taken Man, 50 miles west of the border with Liberia. But residents and Western military officials confirmed insurgents had seized the city of 135,000 residents.

Afghanistan

Man detonates grenade at peacekeeper base

A man exploded a grenade Thursday at international peacekeeping headquarters in Kabul, the second attack on peacekeepers this week. A man presumed to be the assailant was killed, and two French citizens and two Afghans were injured.

Authorities overpowered and arrested a second man found with grenades before he could detonate them, said Abdul Raouf Taj, divisional police chief in Kabul.

No peacekeepers were wounded.

The attack sent a chill through the international community here, already on edge after a grenade assault Tuesday that injured two U.S. special forces soldiers and their Afghan translator.