U.N. OFFICIAL URGES IRAN TO COOPERATE WITH PROBE

U.N. official urges Iranto cooperate with probe
VIENNA, Austria -- In comments suggesting exasperation with Iran, the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency urged it today to replace foot-dragging with "full cooperation" with his agency's probe of suspicious nuclear activities.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke outside a meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, which will review Iran's record of working with the agency.
An Iran resolution will likely be presented during the meeting, which began today. The gathering will review an agency report that notes Iran's cooperation in granting IAEA inspectors access to sites but otherwise gives it low marks in eliminating concerns about activities that the United States and its allies say point to attempts to make nuclear weapons.
The two major IAEA concerns are contradictory, missing or withheld information on the scope of Iran's enrichment program and the source of enriched uranium found inside the country -- problems addressed by ElBaradei just minutes before the meeting opened.
"These are two issues where we need accelerated and proactive cooperation on the part of Iran," ElBaradei told reporters. "The way they have been engaging us on these issues has been less than satisfactory."
One person injured in blast
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A small bomb exploded today outside a bank in Istanbul, injuring one person, police said.
The blast came as foreign ministers from the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference met in the city. The conference was being held more than six miles away.
Police said one person was injured in the attack outside a private Turkish bank in the Kadikoy district, but provided no other details. The Anatolia news agency said the bomb had been placed in a garbage bin and a custodian was injured.
There were no claims of responsibility. Militant Islamic, Kurdish and leftist groups are active in the city and have carried out past attacks.
Security in Istanbul has been heightened since four truck bombings blamed on a Turkish Al-Qaida cell killed more than 60 people last year.
Istanbul is also scheduled to host a NATO summit between June 28-29 that U.S. President Bush and other alliance leaders are expected to attend.
Army ends its operationagainst Al-Qaida suspects
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani troops have ended a major operation to flush out Al-Qaida suspects and their local supporters from hide-outs in a remote region near Afghanistan. An army spokesman said today that 72 people died, including 17 security personnel.
The United States military in Afghanistan praised the operation, but said it was not aware that any Al-Qaida leaders had been captured.
Even as the five-day operation ended in South Waziristan, two Pakistani soldiers and a driver were killed and three injured today in the bombing of a vehicle carrying paramilitary forces in neighboring North Waziristan. Also, Pakistani intelligence agents exchanged gunfire with Al-Qaida suspects near a northern city, killing one militant.
The operation was launched after foreign militants killed 15 security personnel near the town of Shakai, 210 miles west of the capital, Islamabad, last Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.
Army soldiers, backed by artillery, helicopter gunships and jet fighters, targeted rebel hide-outs. The operation left 55 militants dead, he said. Two more soldiers were killed during the action.
"The operation concluded Sunday evening," Sultan told The Associated Press.
Another plane crashesat Arizona flight school
PEORIA, Ariz. -- A single-engine plane crashed at a suburban Phoenix flight school Sunday afternoon, killing the pilot. The crash came less than six months after a fatal collision involving two other planes that had taken off from the school.
The plane had been towing a glider as part of a ride offered at the Turf Soaring School when it went straight up in the air, then fell nose first and crashed at the end of the school's runway, Peoria police Lt. Scott Lekan said.
The glider detached from the plane before the crash and landed safely.
Authorities did not immediately release the 24-year-old victim's name but said he worked at the school.
Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to look into the crash, Lekan said.
In December, four people, including the son of the school's founder, were killed when a glider and plane that had taken off from the school collided in mid-air.
Associated Press