Rebels

North Carolina had the hot hand in the opening half. The top-ranked Tar Heels couldn't get anything going in the second. Chace Stanback had a career-high 28 points and added 10 rebounds to help UNLV beat North Carolina 90-80 on Saturday night in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational. "Needless to say, we are extremely disappointed. I would like to congratulate coach Rice and his team," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "They did a nice job. We could never get our focus offensively the entire game.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - African Union and Somali forces captured new territory outside Mogadishu that has long been controlled by militant fighters, officials said Wednesday. Tanks are tearing through the thorny scrubland to the northwest of Mogadishu, where tens of thousands of internal refugees live in informal camps in an area known as the Afgoye corridor. Troops on Wednesday were about 6 miles from Afgoye town following the launch of the operation on Tuesday. African Union and Somali forces pushed Al Shabab militants out of Mogadishu in August.

Even Colombians accustomed to treachery and deceit after more than a half-century of civil conflict and drug violence were stunned by the arrest of a one-time provincial lawmaker for allegedly helping plan the mass kidnapping of 11 colleagues later slain by leftist rebels. Even more remarkable, the alleged traitor was among the kidnapped, and "miraculously" survived seven years later when the others were killed in murky circumstances. "I can't get it in my head that this could actually have been possible," Interior Minister Federico Renjifo said after last week's arrest of...

Mohamed Nizar says he and his fellow rebels have the will, the fervor and the money to bring down Syrian President Bashar Assad. What they lack, he says, is the firepower. "If I make a phone call, I'll have maybe 2,000 Stingers," Nizar said, then acknowledged he could not get the shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles because the government is choking off all the main smuggling routes into Syria. Small arms purchased on the black market are being smuggled in, but for all the international community's talk of helping the rebels to bring down Assad, no government is known...

GALLE, Sri Lanka -- Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels posing as fishermen blew up two boats in a suicide ambush on a Sri Lankan naval base yesterday, killing at least one sailor in the first such attack on the southern coast popular with tourists, the military said. A pro-rebel website said 15 rebels took part in the attack. Military officials could not confirm the number of insurgents involved, but it said all were killed. Two other sailors were left missing and 12 were wounded in the attack, which damaged two navy fast boats and another small boat in the resort town of Galle,...

TRIPOLI, Libya — A delegation of African leaders said Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy has accepted their plan for a cease-fire with rebels, who will be given the proposal today. The leaders met with Khadafy’s representatives yesterday, hours after NATO airstrikes battered Libyan tanks and artillery, helping the rebels push back government troops who had been advancing quickly toward the opposition’s eastern stronghold. A rebel battlefield commander said four NATO airstrikes yesterday largely stopped heavy shelling by government forces of the eastern city of...

GATUMBA, Burundi -- Attackers armed with machetes and automatic weapons raided a UN refugee camp in western Burundi, shooting and hacking to death at least 180 men, women, and children, UN officials said. Burundian Hutu rebels claimed responsibility, insisting the camp for Congolese Tutsi refugees fleeing tribal fighting was a hideout for Burundi Army soldiers and Congolese tribal militiamen. But most of the victims appeared to be women and children. Their charred remains lay among the cooking utensils and the...

BOGOTA - Colombia's main rebel group said yesterday it is abandoning the practice of kidnapping and will soon free its last remaining "prisoners of war," 10 security force members held for as long as 14 years. The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, announced on its website that it would no longer kidnap civilians "for financial ends. " It was the first time the rebels have unequivocally renounced a tool they have long employed against Colombia's well-heeled.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Thousands of Somalis attended a rally yesterday to celebrate the withdrawal of Islamist rebels from bases in the Somali capital, even as the militants executed three men accused of spying in a de-facto court. Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali addressed the rally at Mogadishu's Konis stadium, which was a training ground for the insurgents until they pulled back from their bases earlier this month. He said Somali troops had overcome many difficulties to drive Al Shabab rebels from the capital.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Rebels in the tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh accused the government of abandoning an informal cease-fire after the military said yesterday that it had killed scores of suspected guerrillas to protect aid deliveries. The rebels disputed the military's claim of killing 120 of their fighters in the past two weeks, saying only 20 of its fighters had died in skirmishes. The rebels said 100 others killed were unarmed civilians. The renewed hostilities in the nearly three-decade separatist conflict called into question the security of efforts to aid...

Fighters from Colombia's main leftist rebel movement staged an attack from Venezuelan territory Monday on an army patrol that was guarding a telecommunications tower, killing at least 12 soldiers and wounding four others, Colombian officials said. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez responded quickly, saying he had sent additional troops to the region where the attack occurred to ensure no rebels passed into his country's territory. "We are not going to permit irregular groups of whatever stripe to use Venezuela as a place to camp, train or attack forces of other countries, in this...

Even Colombians accustomed to treachery and deceit after more than a half-century of civil conflict and drug violence were stunned by the arrest of a one-time provincial lawmaker for allegedly helping plan the mass kidnapping of 11 colleagues later slain by leftist rebels. Even more remarkable, the alleged traitor was among the kidnapped, and "miraculously" survived seven years later when the others were killed in murky circumstances. "I can't get it in my head that this could actually have been possible," Interior Minister Federico Renjifo said...

A Myanmar negotiator says ethnic Shan rebels have agreed in a second round of talks to end fighting with army troops in the country's east, the latest reported deal between the new reformist government and various ethnic separatist movements. Negotiator Aung Min, who is also the country's railway minister, said he discussed enforcing a December cease-fire and eradicating drugs in eastern Myanmar in talks with Yawd Serk, leader of the Shan State Army (South). He told reporters Saturday night after the talks in the Shan State capital, Kengtung,...

Nearly six years have passed since U.S. authorities took the unusual step of rounding up a group of Sri Lankan immigrants and charging them with breaking terror financing laws by raising money and trying to get weapons for the Tamil Tigers rebel forces. Since then, 14 defendants charged in New York have been convicted. Some were given 25 years in prison. Back home, the Tamil Tigers were finally vanquished after a bloody civil war. But there's still no finality to the criminal case.

TRIPOLI, Libya - Libyan militias armed with machine guns and mortars tried Tuesday to storm the prime minister's office, triggering a gun battle with security forces that left one guard dead, government officials said. Government spokesman Nasser al-Manei said the armed protesters tried to push their way into the building, some of them carrying mortars. The building was evacuated as the firefight with the security guards developed, leaving one guard dead and four wounded, he said.

A Sudan news agency says Sudanese armed forces have repulsed an attack by Darfur rebels in a town in South Darfur. Nine soldiers and an unknown number of rebels were killed. The semiofficial Sudan Media Center quoted government spokesman Ahmed al-Tayebas Wednesday that rebels attacked the town of Gereida, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Nyala, capital of South Darfur, to "steal food and intimidate residents. " He said troops drove the rebels from Sudan Liberation Movement out. He said battles were still in progress, and the government has sent reinforcements to area.

TRIPOLI - The Libyan capital yesterday enjoyed its calmest day since the rebel takeover nearly a week ago, and hundreds celebrated with a march chanting: "Hold your head high! You are a free Libyan. " The more relaxed atmosphere was one of the strongest signs yet that Moammar Khadafy and his loyalists have largely been driven out of the capital. As the fighting waned, the International Red Cross in Geneva expressed concern about treatment of detainees on both sides. Associated Press reporters saw eight wounded men, apparently Khadafy supporters, who had been abandoned in a...

MISURATA, Libya — Inside the besieged city of Misurata, spent rockets protrude from the pavement of a parking lot, unarmed teenagers prepare plastic crates of Molotov cocktails, and fighters at roadblocks sit inside empty shipping containers outfitted with furniture, carpets, and generator-powered TVs and watch Al Jazeera reports of their war with Moammar Khadafy. For nearly two months, Khadafy’s forces have laid siege to the only major city in western Libya still in opposition hands, and its residents said the attacks have been relentless and hundreds of...

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish troops have killed five Kurdish rebels in an overnight clash in southeast Turkey. The Anadolu Agency said Tuesday the clash took place near the town of Tatvan in Bitlis province. Kurdish rebels have been fighting for autonomy in the largely Kurdish southeast. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since the rebels took up arms in 1984.

Libyan militias armed with machine guns and mortars tried Tuesday to storm the prime minister's office, triggering a gunbattle with security forces that left one guard dead, government officials said. Government spokesman Nasser al-Manei said the armed protesters tried to push their way into the building, some of them carrying mortars. The building was evacuated as the firefight with the security guards developed, leaving one guard dead and four wounded, he said. Libya has been hit by lawlessness since the ouster last year of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with militiamen who...