2 shot dead, 5 hurt after biker melee

2 shot dead, 5 hurt after biker melee

SEATTLE

Authorities say two men were killed and five other people were injured after a shootout at a motorcycle club south of Seattle.

The King County Sheriff’s office said the two men, age 24 and 36, died early Sunday after a large fight broke out in the Family Motorcycle Club parking lot where bikers had gathered.

There were two other people hospitalized with gunshot wounds, but they are expected to survive.

Meanwhile, three others were taken to the hospital for other injuries, including one person who crashed his car while fleeing the scene and two people traumatized by the melee.

Police said the men were shot at the scene but were then found dead at separate locations.

Comey dismisses report that found no Russia collusion

WASHINGTON

Former FBI Director James Comey is dismissing a House Intelligence Committee report that found no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Comey said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he considers the report, issued Friday by Republicans, to be a “political document.” He says the most important investigation is being done by special counsel Robert Mueller.

He says his understanding of the facts at the time of his firing last May don’t support President Donald Trump’s assertion that there’s zero evidence of collusion and that the Russia investigation is a hoax.

Israel: 3 Palestinian infiltrators killed

JERUSALEM

Israeli troops fatally shot two Palestinians who infiltrated the country from Gaza and attacked soldiers with explosives Sunday night, and in a separate incident killed another Palestinian who tried to breach the border, the military said.

Another Palestinian was detained in the latter incident, and two more were caught trying to cross the border in a third case, the military said.

The Gaza border has been tense in recent weeks, with the Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza urging mass Palestinian protests there every Friday as part of a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The protests have turned violent and 39 Palestinians have been killed during the unrest, which began March 30.

Israel says that it is defending its sovereign border, including nearby communities, and that its troops target only instigators. Israel accuses Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, of trying to carry out attacks under the guise of the mass protests.

Syrian troops take villages east of Euphrates river

BEIRUT

Syrian government forces Sunday briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, then lost the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides that had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State extremist group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Hours later, Syrian state television reported airstrikes it described as a “new aggression,” with missiles targeting a number of military outposts in northern Syria.

Syrian TV reported early today that the missiles targeted outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

Associated Press