Philippines: 3 Abu Sayyaf rebels killed

At least three Muslim extremist guerrillas and one government soldier were killed in separate clashes Sunday in the southern Philippines, the military said.

Philippine elite troops encountered about 30 members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group outside a town on Basilan. A gunbattle lasted about two hours before the guerrillas escaped into the jungle, leaving one body behind, the military said.

In the second clash, government troops killed two guerrillas but lost one soldier in Zamboanga del Norte province where elite units have been pursuing guerrillas since rescuing American Gracia Burnham from Wichita, Kan., two weeks ago.

Israel: U.S. Muslims denied entry

Israel barred a group of 20 U.S. Muslims from entering the country Sunday, holding them under guard at the airport before putting them on a flight back to the United States, police and a member of the group said.

Margaret Zaknoen, program organizer for the group, American Muslims for Jerusalem, said her delegation arrived in Israel for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.

Israel police spokesman Gil Kleiman said the 20 were refused entry by the Interior Ministry staff and were being held at the airport for deportation, but he had no further details.

Zaknoen said an immigration official told her the group was denied entry because of “serious security concerns” and the belief that the object of their trip was to support the Palestinian Authority.

Sudan: Suspected al-Qaida returned to Saudi Arabia for trial

A suspected al-Qaida leader who claims to have fired a missile at a U.S. warplane leaving a Saudi Arabian base was returned to Saudi Arabia for trial, Sudan said Sunday.

The Sudanese man admitted firing a surface-to-air missile at a plane taking off from Prince Sultan Air Base, south of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, an Interior Ministry statement said. The unidentified man then sneaked back into Sudan, although the statement did not say how.

Fears that a missile was fired at a U.S. plane in the oil-rich Persian Gulf state surfaced in May after Saudi security guards found a missile launcher tube about two miles from a runway at the desert air base.

India: Pakistan talks ruled out

India’s interior minister on Sunday ruled out dialogue with Pakistan as attacks by suspected Islamic militant flared up in Kashmir, killing 12 people in 24 hours.

The attacks, which began Saturday afternoon, came as tensions had begun to ease along the border that divides India and Pakistan.

Children, Hindu pilgrims and police officers were among those killed in the grenade explosions and gunfire, a senior security official in Kashmir said on condition of anonymity. Indian security forces also killed five Islamic militants in two separate gunbattles Sunday in southwestern Kashmir.

“The terrorist infrastructure that Pakistan has built up inside its country and in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has to be dismantled,” Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani said. “Unless that is done, there is no point in any dialogue.”