Globetrotting

Lankan toll

COLOMBO: A battle for a bridge in eastern Sri Lanka left at least 18 fighters dead, rebel radio reported today.

The Voice of Tigers, the clandestine radio of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, reported 14 Tigers were killed in Sunday8217;s failed attempt to destroy the bridge. The fighting occurred in Batticaloa district, 220 km west of Colombo. The radio, monitored in the eastern city of Vavuniya, said two government soldiers and two members of a former rebel group were also killed in the fighting.

Egypt hanging

CAIRO: Two Egyptian brothers convicted of killing nine German tourists and their Egyptian driver in a terrorist attack last September were hanged in Cairo on Sunday, security sources said.

Saber and Mahmoud Mohamed Farahat, convicted of killing thetourists on September 18 by opening fire and throwing petrol bombs at their bus in front of Cairo8217;s Egyptian museum, were hanged in prison early morning.

Prisoners escape

BOGOTA: Leftist rebels in Colombia attacked a prison early on Sunday near the southwestern city of Popayan, where a guard and two prisoners were killed and 320 inmates escaped after a three-hour battle, authorities said. 8220;The guerrillas, about 200 of them, arrived with dynamite and heavy arms, surrounded the jail and later seized it,8221; the local governor, Cesar Negret, told the Radionet network.

Bandits strike

DHAKA: Bandits killed five bus passengers and injured 15 others in southern Bangladesh8217;s Khulna district, news reports said here today. About 10 bandits on Sunday pretended to be bus passengers when they held up the vehicle as it travelled from Mongla to the capital Dhaka.