Iraq: U.S. and Iraqi forces intensified the search for two missing American soldiers today (Sunday) amid witness reports the troops were captured by insurgents.
The soldiers and their team came under attack Friday at a checkpoint south of Baghdad in Yusufiyah. One U.S. soldier died in the attack.
Local residents told Western news media (the Associated Press and "New York Times") masked gunmen carried the soldiers away after the attack. The accounts could not be confirmed, but a senior military official told CNN intelligence from the area indicates the soldiers may have been captured alive rather than killed.
Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan police say suspected Tamil rebels have killed three police officers in a landmine attack in the north of the country.
A senior Sri Lankan police official " hspace=2 src="/lao/images/ap_sri_lanka_soldiers_Pamunuwa_17jun06_eng_195.jpg" width=210 align=right vspace=2 border=0>
(Deputy Inspector General of Police Gamini Silva) says the three policemen were in a vehicle hit by anti-personnel mine today (Sunday) in the northern district of Vavuniya.
The official says the officers were transporting supplies of drinking water for security personnel. He blamed the attack on Tamil rebels.
Meanwhile, ethnic Tamil villagers say Sri Lankan forces went on a shooting rampage in the northwest of the country Saturday, killing five civilians and wounding more than 40 others.
Iran Nuclear: Iran's Foreign Ministry says the government refuses any pre-conditions for negotiations on its nuclear program.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference today (Sunday) such pre-conditions narrow the scope of possible talks and make it more difficult to reach a solution.
Asefi reiterated Tehran's position that it has the right (under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) to enrich uranium, a process that could produce nuclear fuel and also an atomic weapon.
The spokesman says Iran has formed committees to study a Western package of incentives offered in exchange for Tehran suspending uranium enrichment and returning to talks.
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