Texas

Missing workers found dead after warehouse explodes

An anguished fireworks warehouse owner expressed sympathy for three employees, including his own father, who were killed when explosions tore through the building in Kilgore, the second deadly fireworks accident this week.

“I ask you to pray for the peace and comfort of us and all that are hurting,” a teary-eyed Joe Lamb read from a handwritten statement. “Three wonderful people … tragically lost their lives doing something they truly loved to do.”

The three workers’ bodies were recovered early Friday, hours after the blasts at Pyrotechnics by Lamb Co.’s warehouse.

Atlanta

Officials fear return of mosquito-borne disease

Health officials on alert for the return of West Nile virus are concerned about the re-emergence of another mosquito-borne disease in the Southeast: eastern equine encephalitis.

A Georgia man died June 21 in the nation’s first human case of the disease this year.

Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina have seen the highest number of horse cases of eastern equine encephalitis in years. The disease, which has existed in the United States for decades, kills nearly all unvaccinated horses.

Although it rarely affects people, it can be more deadly than West Nile. Since 1964, there have been only 153 confirmed human cases of the disease.

Morocco

Casablanca attacks linked to al-Qaida lieutenant

The suicide bombers responsible for the May 16 attacks in Casablanca that killed 44 people had direct ties to al-Qaida and were part of a network of Islamic extremists planning other operations in the country, a Moroccan official said.

The official, speaking late Thursday on condition of anonymity, said an investigation has shown that the suicide bombers took orders from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian fugitive believed to be a lieutenant of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the attacks that targeted Jewish and European sites and a hotel.