Iraq: U.S., British planes attack sites in southern no-fly zone

U.S. and British warplanes on Sunday bombed Iraqi installations in the southern no-fly zone, an Iraqi military spokesman told Iraq’s official news agency.

The agency report did not say whether the raid in Dhi Qar province, about 210 miles south of Baghdad, caused any damage or casualties.

The U.S. military confirmed the attack. A statement released by U.S. Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida said coalition aircraft responded to Iraqi ground fire by launching precision-guided weapons to strike an air defense communications facility.

China: Food-poison deaths reported

Government officials and hospitals refused to give an account of deaths in the poisoning of hundreds of students and workers sickened after eating breakfast snacks in eastern China.

More than 200 people had been poisoned and “a number” had died, according to reports in the government-controlled official media. There was no immediate word Sunday on the cause of the poisonings, first reported early Saturday in Tangshan county, a rural district of Nanjing city.

Newspapers in Hong Kong said the death toll was at least 41 and possibly as high as 80.

Reports said victims became sick after eating fried dough sticks, sesame cakes and glutinous rice bought at a branch of the Heshengyuan Soybean Milk Shop. Most of the victims were students at the nearby Zuochang Middle School and migrant construction workers.

Afghanistan: Fuel tanker carried explosives

Afghan security forces discovered explosives aboard a fuel tanker Sunday in the capital, preventing a possible terrorist attack in the city, state television said.

Police arrested several people aboard the truck after they stopped to search it in eastern Kabul, the report said. The driver was released, but others remained in custody.

“They wanted to bring it into Kabul for a terrorist action,” state TV said of the tanker, giving no other details.

Vehicle searches are common in Kabul, which has been on edge since a Sept. 5 car bombing killed 30 people and injured over 150.

Authorities blamed al-Qaida terrorists for that blast, but police have made no progress in hunting down those responsible.