Nepal landslide kills 8; many missing
KATMANDU, Nepal -- A landslide killed at least eight people and blocked a mountain river in northern Nepal on Saturday, causing the water to form a lake that was threatening to burst and sweep away several villages, officials said.
Many houses were buried under piles of rock and soil or submerged by rising water, said police official Arun Chetri, adding that the number of missing people could not be immediately determined.
A man who was among the dozens of people injured by the landslide, which occurred about 75 miles east of Katmandu, said the death toll could be higher than 100, with dozens of houses in his and the neighboring village buried.
"There are nearly 100 people in the 60 houses in my village, and 20 more people in the neighboring village who were buried by the landslide. All of them are likely dead," Durga Lal Shrestha said from his hospital bed in Katmandu, the capital, where he was flown by helicopter.
About 40 people were injured. Besides Shrestha, 10 others were flown to Katmandu for hospital treatment.
Battles, bombing kill 17 Iraqi soldiers
BAGHDAD -- Authorities in Iraq said clashes and a suicide bombing have killed 17 soldiers in areas around the capital of Baghdad.
Hassan Fadaam, a member of the Babil provincial council, said Saturday that overnight clashes between security forces and Sunni militants in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar killed at least nine troops and dozens of militants.
Jurf al-Sakhar, located 30 miles south of the capital, is predominantly Sunni.
Meanwhile, police said a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a group of Iraqi soldiers in the town of Balad, north of the capital, killing eight soldiers and wounding 23.
A hospital official confirmed the causalities. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.
Hope dims as 88 still lost in India landslide
NEW DELHI -- Hopes are fading of finding scores of missing people three days after a landslide in western India buried a village, killing at least 76 people, an official said Saturday.
Intermittent rain over the past few days has turned the site of the landslide into a swamp, making it difficult for rescue workers to locate bodies in the mud, said Alok Awasthy, the official in charge of the rescue operation.
Wednesday's landslide engulfed Malin village, located in Pune district of Maharashtra state. Rescue workers have pulled 76 bodies from the more than 15 feet of heavy mud and debris that submerged the village.
Awasthy said at least 88 people were missing and that hopes of finding them alive were fading. The search will continue for another two days, he said.
Volunteers helped prepare funeral pyres and a mass cremation Friday for some of those who died in the disaster.
Landslides are common in the area during the monsoon season, which runs from June through September.
Azerbaijan-Armenia fighting kills 15 troops
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- A sharp escalation in fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has left 15 soldiers dead and prompted Russia to issue a call for calm.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Saturday that 12 of its troops have been killed in the past four days, including four overnight. Nagorno-Karabakh's armed forces said one of its soldiers was killed early Saturday, the third in recent days.
Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and some adjacent territory have been under the control of Armenian soldiers and ethnic Armenian local troops since 1994.
Both sides report frequent shootings and attempted incursions along the cease-fire line, but the latest outbreak of fighting is the worst in years. It was not immediately clear what set off the latest violence between the former Soviet republics, with Azerbaijan and Armenia each accusing the other of being the aggressor and claiming to have repelled a series of attacks.
Russia's annexation of Crimea, however, has contributed to the tensions. Armenia, which depends on Russia for economic and military support, has welcomed the takeover of Crimea and some Armenians have suggested it could be a model for Nagorno-Karabakh. This has rattled Azerbaijan, which, like Ukraine, has aligned itself with the West.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 08/03/2014