London: Al-Qaida terrorist chief reportedly plotted to kill pope

A top al-Qaida official suspected of having planned the Sept. 11 terror attacks also plotted to kill Pope John Paul II during a trip to the Philippines in 1999, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Quoting documents from Philippines intelligence services, The Sunday Times said Osama Bin Laden’s lieutenant, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, planned on killing the pope with a pipe bomb planted in a park where John Paul was to speak, or if that failed, with high-velocity rifles equipped with laser scopes.

The plot was aborted when the pope’s visit was canceled, the newspaper said.

Virginia: Attorney will fight teen’s confession in sniper case

Defense attorneys said Sunday they would seek to suppress a police interrogation of 17-year-old sniper suspect John Lee Malvo in which he reportedly confessed to some of the shootings.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported Sunday that Malvo admitted pulling the trigger on several of the shootings that left 10 people dead and three others seriously wounded during a three-week spree through metropolitan Washington and Virginia.

In McLean, Malvo’s defense lawyer, Michael Arif, criticized police Sunday for leaking the story and questioned the accuracy of what those sources told the Post. “The police are flooding the media and poisoning the jury pool with their own paraphrasing and subjective interpretations of statements made during an unconstitutional interrogation,” he said.

Israel: Both sides reel from attacks

At least one Palestinian gunman broke into an Israeli farming community late Sunday and went on a shooting rampage, killing five people, including a woman who tried in vain to protect her two children, Israeli officials said.

The attack at Kibbutz Metzer came just a few hours after a car exploded nearby, killing its two Palestinian occupants in what police believed was a failed attempt at a terror attack.

Two hours after the bloodshed on the kibbutz, Israeli helicopters fired rockets into a large car repair shop in Gaza City, touching off a huge fire. The shop was suspected of housing a weapons-making worksho