MOSCOW – Russian special forces who killed five people during an operation in the breakaway southern republic of Chechnya this week found that one of them was carrying Turkish identity papers, a military spokesman said, describing the dead man as a “mercenary.”

GROZNY -– The human rights envoy for the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles, has pledged to keep a close eye on Chechnya and hold Moscow to account over its policies there, after completing a visit to the war-torn republic this week.

MOSCOW – The prosecutor’s office in Chechnya has launched an investigation against three Chechen women charged with having links to “terrorists” and belonging to illegal groups, the federal security services said on Monday.

NAIROBI – Somali warlord General Muhammad Hersi ‘Morgan’ has fled fighting in southern Somalia and returned to Kenya where he is willing to resume talks aimed at ending anarchy in the chaotic African country, officials said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi national guard thwarted the kidnapping of six Turks on a highway north of Baghdad on Monday, when national guardsmen patrolling the area opened fire on the insurgents. Turkish nationals working in Iraq, often as truck drivers, have been a prime targets for kidnappers.

NOUAKCHOTT – Security forces carried out a late-night raid in the Mauritanian capital this week, searching several houses in an operation that unofficial sources said was aimed at catching the instigators of an attempted coup last year.

MOSCOW – One Russian officer and three security agents were killed in Chechnya’s capital Grozny, the Interfax news agency reported early on Sunday, quoting a source in Chechnya’s pro-Russian law enforcement agency.

ASMARA – The UN World Food Programme has expressed concern over the food situation in Eritrea, after the country’s long rainy season ended earlier than normal, in September.

BERLIN – Libya has transferred the first tranche of compensation worth millions of dollars for the victims of a Berlin nightclub bombing 18 years ago, one of their lawyers said on Wednesday.

AMMAN – Jordan is in contact with Israel to pave the way for the construction of a fifth minaret at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, according to ‘Al Diyar’ newspaper, quoting government spokeswoman Asma Khodr.

AMMAN – Libyan septuplets – five boys and two girls – born last month in Jordan have died from a congenital disorder, the Jordanian daily ‘Al Rai’ reported on Thursday.

JERUSALEM – An Israeli soldier was killed overnight in a grenade attack by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said on Thursday.

ANKARA – A Turkish soldier and five militants from an outlawed extreme left-wing group were killed early on Thursday in a clash in the northern province of Tokat, some 350 kilometers (about 220 miles) east of Ankara.

BERLIN – German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could cancel a planned October visit to Afghanistan if the violence there escalates, a government source said on Thursday, one day after four people were injured in a rocket attack on a German-run reconstruction team in Kunduz in the northeast of Afghanistan.

MANILA – The Philippines said on Thursday that it would seek the help of the United States in curbing the illegal entry of Filipino workers into Iraq. There were about 4,000 Filipino workers in Iraq, mostly legally employed in US installations, when Manila ordered a ban in July following the abduction of a Filipino driver.