Five ultras killed

JAMMU: Forces killed at least five suspected Islamic rebels during a raid on their hide-out in Jammu-Kashmir on Sunday, police said. Army and police were searching for another three guerrillas believed to be hiding in the forested area near Jamola-Khavillage, 170 km north of Jammu. — AP

Tamils’ bodies found

COLOMBO: The bullet-riddled bodies of two ethnic Tamil men were found on Sunday in Colombo, police said. The identities of the men were yet to be established, said police. Also Sunday, another ethnic Tamil man was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in Jaffna, police said. — AP

Afghan rebel killed

KANDAHAR: Troops in Afghanistan killed a suspected insurgent and captured three others after the militants attacked a patrol in southeast of the country, US military said on Sunday. The militants attacked an Afghan and US-led patrol on Friday near Qalat in Zabul, it said in a statement. — AFP

Isa is oppn dy chief

KUALA LUMPUR: Nasharudin Mat Isa, a 42-year-old former lecturer of Islamic law and a Western-educated scholar, was elected on Sunday as the deputy leader of Malaysia’s Islamic opposition. Isa was elected the new deputy president of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party in internal polls conducted on Saturday. — AP

Drug dealers get death

BEIJING: China has sentenced 13 members of a well-organised drug trafficking gang in southern Guangxi province to death or life in prison, state media said on Sunday. — AFP

China detains journo

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong-based journalist detained in China for alleged spying has been formally arrested, the newspaper said on Sunday. Ching Cheong’s wife received a notice for his detention from the Chinese government on Friday in Hong Kong, said Irene Ngoo, a spokeswoman for the reporter’s employer, Singapore Press Holdings, which publishes The Straits Times. — AP

Defence chiefs meet

SINGAPORE: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Yoshinori Ohno, Japan’s minister of state for defence, have agreed to do everything possible to conclude a final report by the end of the year on how US forces in Japan will be realigned, a US defence official said on Sunday. — AFP