Jerusalem: Israeli soldiers injured setting off bomb

Four Israeli soldiers were wounded Saturday when a bomb they were using to blow open the door of a Palestinian’s home exploded prematurely.

None of the soldiers, part of a contingent sent to arrest Palestinians wanted by Israel’s security service, was injured seriously and they were evacuated shortly after the incident, the army said.

When the explosion occurred, the soldiers were trying to enter the home of Amir Thoqan, who was not at home, according to his brother, who was inside the house at the time.

The army said it arrested eight Palestinians Saturday, five in and around Nablus, and three near Ramallah.

Afghanistan: Grenade blasts kill two at wedding

Two people were killed and 40 others injured after grenades were hurled at a wedding party outside Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, state television reported Saturday.

It was not known who carried out the attack Friday night at Morgh Beran village in Paghman district, 18 miles northwest of Kabul, or what prompted it, the report said. No arrests were made.

State TV said two grenades were tossed over a wall and into the compound where the wedding was taking place. The dead included a singer performing at the ceremony.

The former Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime banned music and other forms of entertainment, including television.

Uganda: Newspaper reopens, apologizes for report

On its first day back on the streets after being closed by police, Uganda’s leading independent newspaper ran a front-page apology for reporting that rebels shot down a military helicopter.

The Monitor was closed Oct. 10 after reporting that rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army, which is fighting a 15-year-old insurgency in northern Uganda, had shot down the helicopter. The army denied the report though intelligence sources told The Associated Press in neighboring Kenya, that it appeared a Ugandan helicopter had been shot down.

Two of the paper’s senior editors and a reporter have been charged with publishing false news and publishing information “prejudicial to national security.” All three pleaded innocent.

Moscow: Investigation continues into governor’s slaying

Moscow’s prosecutor insisted Saturday that police were making progress investigating the apparent “contract hit” assassination of a governor on a busy central Moscow street, Interfax news agency reported.

“I am optimistic about the solution of this murder,” Prosecutor Mikhail Avdyukov was quoted as telling Interfax. He also said “considerable progress” has been made in the investigation.

Valentin Tsvetkov, 54, the governor of the gold-rich Magadan region in Russia’s Far East, was killed with a single bullet to the head while walking with his wife and a deputy into his region’s Moscow office during early-morning rush hour, according to Moscow police.

Immediately after the killing, Moscow Police Chief Vladimir Pronin said, “Clearly it was a contract hit.” President Vladimir Putin characterized the killing as a “crime against the state,” the state TV network Rossiya reported.

Lebanon: Three killed in accident involving U.N. jeep

A U.N. jeep carrying four peacekeepers from Fiji overturned Saturday onto a car in south Lebanon, killing the car’s driver, his wife and their 1-year-old daughter.

The driver, Ahmed Jaffal, 45, and his daughter died instantly, while his wife was pulled from the wreckage with the four U.N. soldiers. The woman died later, officials said.

Gen. Lalit Tewari, the Indian commander of U.N. forces in Lebanon, ordered an investigation.

The jeep overturned about 25 miles south of Beirut.