Spain

Six suspected in Madrid attack

Police reportedly now suspect at least six Moroccans took part in the Madrid train bombings, and the United States is assisting a growing international investigation that is increasingly focused on Islamic militants possibly linked to al-Qaida.

A 45-year-old woman died of her injuries Tuesday, raising the death toll from Thursday’s bombings to 201. Of the more than 1,600 wounded, eight are in critical condition.

The main suspect in custody in the attacks, Moroccan immigrant Jamal Zougam, has already been identified by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon as a follower of Imad Yarkas, the alleged leader of Spain’s al-Qaida cell who is jailed on suspicion he helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Poland

Fear of terrorist attack grows among U.S. allies

From Poland to Australia, countries with troops in Iraq fear they could be the next terrorist target as signs increase that Islamic extremists were behind last week’s carnage in Spain.

Take Poland, a key U.S. ally in Iraq: Security officials here acknowledge they have virtually no experience dealing with terrorism, and leaders are warning citizens to wake up to the threat.

Most nations contributing to the Iraq mission say they will remain in the peacekeeping force despite Thursday’s Madrid bombings.

But Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that he would withdraw Spain’s 1,300 peacekeepers by June 30 unless the United Nations takes over in Iraq.

Honduras, which also was scheduled to end its mission at that time, said Tuesday it planned to bring home its 370 troops and would extend “only if the United Nations asks.”

Yemen

Suspects recaptured in Cole bombing

Nine suspects in the 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole have been arrested, the government said Tuesday, including eight who escaped from jail last year.

Interior Minister Rashad al-Eleimi said authorities were closing in on two suspects still at large following their April jail break in the southern port city of Aden, a major embarrassment to the Yemeni government. The bombing in Aden killed 17 U.S. sailors and has been blamed on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

Pakistan

Twenty-four killed in al-Qaida, Taliban hunt

Paramilitary troops stormed a fortress-like compound near Wana with mortars and machine-gun fire Tuesday, killing 24 suspects in a fierce crackdown on al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives in the rugged tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, the army spokesman said.

The operation, which left at least eight Pakistani troops dead and 15 wounded, was a stunning message delivered just one day after the military president promised to rid the territory of foreign terrorists.

Brig. Mahmood Shah, security chief in the tribal regions, said the raid was “the most deadly” in memory in the tribal areas.

“There will be more such operations,” he told The Associated Press. “We will continue these operations until it is assured that our tribal areas have been purged of foreign terrorists.”

Washington, D.C.

U.S. focuses fight against terror in Africa

Opening a new front in the war on terrorism, the United States has begun training and equipping armies in parts of Africa that U.S. officials see as an inviting refuge for terrorists as well as a long-term source of oil.

Soldiers of the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group are training troops in Mali and Mauritania, on the fringes of the Sahara Desert. And Marines are preparing for missions in Niger and Chad.

The effort, which began in November in Mali with almost no public notice, is an extension of the Bush administration’s anti-terror campaigns.

But the new focus on Africa also marks a shift for the United States, which had been reluctant to become involved militarily in a continent beset with instability. Now there are plans to rotate U.S. troops regularly into certain bases and airfields.