Saturday, October 29, 2005
Assailants attack, behead3 school girls in Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Unidentified assailants attacked a group of high school girls Saturday in Indonesia's tense province of Central Sulawesi, beheading three and seriously wounding another, police said. The students from a private Christian high school were ambushed while walking through a cocoa plantation in Poso Kota subdistrict on their way to class, police Maj. Riky Naldo said. The area is close to the provincial capital of Palu, about 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta. Naldo said the heads of three victims were found several miles from their bodies. Two were left near a police station and another in front of a newly built Christian church. In Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered police to track down the killers. National police spokesman Brig. Gen. Arjanto Boedihardjo said the wounded student told police that there were six masked attackers who were wearing black shirts. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but Central Sulawesi has a roughly equal number of Muslims and Christians. The province was the scene of a bloody sectarian war in 2001-02 that killed around 1,000 people from both communities.
Spanish Civil War martyrsbeatified at Vatican event
VATICAN CITY -- Seven priests and a nun who were killed during the Spanish Civil War were beatified as martyrs Saturday at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, praised for having refused to betray their faith when faced with death. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints, presided over the late afternoon ceremony, saying in an opening prayer that the eight had "sacrificed their lives for the Gospel." All eight were killed in 1936, in the opening days of Spain's civil war. The Catholic Church claims 4,184 clergy were killed during the war by the government, or Republican, side, which accused the church of backing fascist Gen. Francisco Franco. Pope John Paul II honored several clergy killed in the war during his 26-year pontificate and had approved the beatification of the eight honored Saturday before he died. Pope Benedict XVI, who presides over saint-making ceremonies but not beatifications, appeared at the end of the Mass and gave a brief blessing. The seven priests came from the diocese of Urgell: Jose Tapies Sirvant, Pascual Araguas, Silestre Arnau Pascuet, Jose Boher Foix, Francisco Castells Brenuy, Pedro Martret Moles and Jose Juan Perot Juanmarti. The nun, Maria de los Angeles Ginard Marti, was killed in the anti-Catholic fervor of the time. By declaring the eight martyrs, the Vatican was able to proceed with a beatification ceremony without having to confirm a miracle that was attributed to each of their intercessions. Each of the candidates would need to have a miracle confirmed for them to be declared saints.
Police: Teen killed 3, self,in shooting rampage
ALISO VIEJO, Calif. -- A 19-year-old in a black cape and helmet went on a shooting rampage Saturday in his upscale Southern California neighborhood, killing a man and his daughter before committing suicide, authorities said. William Freund also fired shots into another house and confronted a neighbor outside, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. There was no known link between the teen and his victims, police said. Freund left his home about 9 a.m. and drove less than 100 yards to a house where he killed Vernon Smith, 45, and daughter Christina Smith, 22, with a shotgun, Amormino said. A 20-year-old son escaped after hearing shots. Freund then walked across the street and fired into another house, Amormino said. A person inside suffered cuts from broken glass. Another neighbor heard the commotion, came outside and was confronted by the teen, who tried to fire his weapon. When it misfired, Freund went back to his own house and committed suicide, Amormino said.
U.S. soldier, Briton diein violence in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. paratrooper and a British soldier died in attacks Saturday as Afghan officials prepared to announce final results from last month's historic legislative elections amid some of the worst bloodshed since the polls. Violence over the last week killed 23 people, including 14 suspected militants and two worshippers dragged from a mosque and shot, underlining the challenges of bringing stability and strengthening Afghanistan's fledgling democracy four years after the ouster of the Taliban. In the latest fighting, an American paratrooper was killed Saturday when his patrol came under fire in volatile eastern Khost province, a U.S. military statement said. The death brought to 203 the number of U.S. troops killed in and around Afghanistan since a U.S.-led coalition toppled the Taliban's hard-line Islamic regime in late 2001 after it refused to close Al-Qaida bases and turn over Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Associated Press