US says IS suspect in Benghazi attack killed in airstrike

US says IS suspect in Benghazi attack killed in airstrike

WASHINGTON

An Islamic State operative suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, has been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday.

Ali Awni al-Harzi “operated closely with multiple ISIL-associated extremists throughout North Africa and the Middle East,” Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren said in a statement, using one acronym for the militant group. “His death degrades ISIL’s ability to integrate North African jihadists into the Syrian and Iraqi fight and removes a jihadist with long ties to international terrorism.”

Warren said al-Harzi, a Tunisian national, was killed last week in Mosul, which fell to Islamic State forces a year ago.

Suicide bombing kills 30 in Nigeria

BAUCHI, Nigeria

Two girls blew themselves up Monday near a crowded mosque in northeast Nigeria’s biggest city, killing about 30 people, witnesses said.

It is the fourth suicide bombing this month in Maiduguri, which is the birthplace of the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.

Fishmonger Idi Idrisa said one teenager exploded as she approached the mosque crowded with people from the nearby Baga Road fish market, performing afternoon prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

The second teen appeared to run away and blew up farther away, killing only herself, he said.

5 people rescued in Mich. from storm; other states hit

PORTLAND, Mich.

Five people were rescued from damaged buildings in a Michigan town, and thunderstorms packing strong winds caused damage in Iowa and Illinois as severe weather swept through parts of the Midwest on Monday.

A mother and two small children were rescued from a collapsed Goodwill store, and two others were helped Monday afternoon from a damaged pharmacy in Portland, 25 miles northwest of the Michigan state capital of Lansing.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Monday that Portland had been hit with a tornado rated EF1 with winds of around 100 mph.

Hundreds of firefighters join battle against blaze

LOS ANGELES

Air tankers and helicopters were helping hundreds of firefighters battle a wildfire south of Lake Tahoe where no structures have been damaged but the California mountain town of Marklee-ville remained on standby for possible evacuations.

About 500 personnel were expected to be on the fire lines about 20 miles west of the Nevada border, Sierra Front fire spokeswoman Jenny Ramella said Monday.

Israel, Gaza militants accused of war crimes

JERUSALEM

A U.N. investigation on Monday accused both Israel and Hamas militants of committing possible war crimes in last summer’s Gaza war, finding that Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings caused many civilian deaths and suggesting Israeli leaders knowingly endangered them.

The report, which Israel rejected as biased, further strained its already troubled relations with the world body and could provide new ammunition in a preliminary investigation of Israel at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Hamas, condemned for indiscriminately firing thousands of rockets at Israeli cities and its use of tunnels to infiltrate border towns, also rejected the report.

Associated Press