At least 10 injured in Colorado hot air balloon crashes

DENVER (Reuters) - Gusty winds forced the crash landings of four hot air balloons in separate mishaps on Saturday northwest of Denver, leaving at least 10 people hurt, but none of the injuries was life-threatening, authorities said.

All of the aborted flights occurred in wide-open areas frequented by balloon enthusiasts, according to Dana Lewis, a spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Fire Protection District.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kalina said sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles an hour, with gusts of up to 35 mph, were reported in the area at the time of the crash landings.

Lewis said one balloon carrying 10 passengers and a pilot went down inside the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, injuring five people, one of whom suffered "a fairly significant ankle injury."

In Boulder County, a balloon with a pilot and 11 passengers "impacted the ground hard" inside a wildlife conservation area, said local sheriff's spokesman Deputy Mitch Rosebrough.

"The weather conditions were calm and warm early this morning, but changed to gusty winds at the time of the crash," Rosebrough said. Two passengers were transported to a local hospital with neck and back injuries, he said.

In neighboring Arvada, the pilot of a balloon was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and two passengers were treated at the scene after the aircraft crash landed, said Scott Pribble, spokesman for the Arvada Fire Protection District.

A fourth balloon went down in nearby Louisville, Colorado, but there were no reports of injuries.

Separately, a small airplane crashed on Saturday in a remote corner of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, about 230 miles southwest of Denver, killing one person aboard the aircraft and injuring two others, a park spokeswoman said.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Steve Gorman and Eric Walsh)

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Pa. building collapses, at least 13 injured

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities say 14 people were taken from a building collapse in central Philadelphia and 13 were taken to hospitals with mostly minor injuries.

Officials have declined to comment on the status of the 14th person.

Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers and Mayor Michael Nutter said Wednesday the rescue effort would continue with the aid of two search and rescue dogs until officials were assured no other victims remained.

Ayers says rescuers pulled a woman trapped amid the rubble of a Salvation Army thrift store after they heard her voice after the 10:45 a.m. collapse on the edge of the downtown area.

Rescuers used buckets and their bare hands to move bricks and rubble.

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New York crash kills 5, injures at least 8

After the crash Tuesday in western New York, eight people were taken to area hospitals, though more may have been hurt.Helicopters and ambulances arrive to assistThe accident involved a farm tractor and two automobilesThe cause of the crash is not immediately clear

New York (CNN) -- Five people were killed and at least eight injured Tuesday in an accident involving a farm tractor and two automobiles in western New York, the Yates County Sheriff's Office said.

Several helicopters and at least 10 ambulances were in the town of Benton to assist, according to a Sheriff's Office statement.

Eight people were taken to area hospitals, though more may have been hurt.

In an earlier statement, the Yates County Sheriff's Office said that between four and five people were caught in the wreckage. The Sheriff's Office made no mention of whether people were still trapped in a later statement.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

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At least 20 killed in suicide bombing in east Afghanistan (Reuters)

PULE ALAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) – A suicide car bomber killed at least 20 people, and possibly as many as 35, in an attack at a hospital in a remote district of eastern Afghanistan on Saturday that damaged its maternity ward, officials said.

Estimates of the casualties, which included patients and medical staff, varied widely in chaotic scenes outside the hospital in the remote Azra district of eastern Logar province, which is just south of Kabul.

Dozens more were wounded in one of the worst attacks this year.

Deen Mohammad Darwish, a spokesman for the Logar provincial government, said as many as 35 people were killed, although Afghanistan's Interior Ministry put the death toll at 20.

"The exact target is still not clear," Interior minister deputy spokesman Najib Nikzad said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied responsibility and said the Islamist insurgents never attack hospitals.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack in which he said "tens of civilians" were killed. The United Nations said the maternity ward was hit in the bombing.

"This is a despicable attack against civilians who were seeking medical care, as well as visiting family members and health workers," Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. chief in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Tensions have flared over civilian casualties, with insurgents and the Afghan government alike criticizing NATO-led forces for killing innocent Afghans while hunting for militants.

United Nations figures however show that insurgents are responsible for three-quarters of civilian deaths.

Military and civilian casualties hit record levels in 2010, the most violent year of the war since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

This year is following a similar trend, with violence growing across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

U.S. commanders had already said they expected a rise in attacks as insurgents hit back after U.S. and NATO forces made gains during operations in the Taliban heartland in the south over the past 18 months.

The United Nations said two weeks ago that May had been the deadliest month for civilians since it began compiling statistics four years ago.

It said it had documented 368 "conflict-related" civilian deaths, 82 percent of them caused by insurgents.

The latest violence comes as seven areas across the country prepare to take over security responsibilities from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fighting an increasingly unpopular war that has dragged on for 10 years.

That will coincide with the start in July of a gradual drawdown of U.S. troops. U.S. and NATO troops plan to hand over security responsibility for all of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, although critics warn the handover date is premature.

While most of the ISAF gains have been in Taliban strongholds in the south, the insurgency in eastern provinces like Logar and Kunar near the border with Pakistan is much more fragmented.

Taliban fighters often slip across the border from safe havens in Pakistan's largely lawless northwest but other groups like the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network also operate extensively in the area.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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At least 15 killed in suicide bombing in east Afghanistan (Reuters)

PULE ALAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) – A suicide car bomber killed at least 15 people, and possibly as many as 35, in an attack near a hospital in a remote district of eastern Afghanistan Saturday, government and security officials said.

Estimates of the casualties, which included women and children, varied widely in chaotic scenes outside the hospital in the remote Azra district of eastern Logar province. Dozens more were wounded.

Deen Mohammad Darwish, a spokesman for the Logar provincial government, said as many as 35 people were killed, although Afghanistan's Interior Ministry put the death toll at 15.

"The exact target is still not clear and the death toll is expected to rise," Interior minister deputy spokesman Najib Nikzad said.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack in which he said "tens of civilians" were killed.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied responsibility and said the Islamist insurgents never attack hospitals.

Tensions have flared over civilian casualties, with insurgents and the Afghan government alike criticizing NATO-led forces for killing innocent Afghans while hunting for militants.

United Nations figures however show that insurgents are responsible for three-quarters of civilian deaths.

Military and civilian casualties hit record levels in 2010, the most violent year of the war since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

This year is following a similar trend, with violence growing across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

U.S. commanders had already said they expected a rise in attacks as insurgents hit back after U.S. and NATO forces made gains during operations in the Taliban heartland in the south over the past 18 months.

The United Nations said two weeks ago that May had been the deadliest month for civilians since it began compiling statistics four years ago.

It said it had documented 368 "conflict-related" civilian deaths, 82 percent of them caused by insurgents.

The latest violence comes as seven areas across the country prepare to take over security responsibilities from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fighting an increasingly unpopular war that has dragged on for 10 years.

That will coincide with the start in July of a gradual drawdown of U.S. troops. U.S. and NATO troops plan to hand over security responsibility for all of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, although critics warn the handover date is premature.

While most of the ISAF gains have been in Taliban strongholds in the south, the insurgency in eastern provinces like Logar and Kunar near the border with Pakistan is much more fragmented.

Taliban fighters often slip across the border from safe havens in Pakistan's largely lawless northwest but other groups like the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network also operate extensively in the area.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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At least 21 dead in Libyan fighting

A man at a shop in Misrata, Libya, looks at photos of those killed in fighting.NEW: The deaths occurred in Dafniya and Zawiya, officials sayRebels claim a confiscated document details Gadhafi's plans for MisrataThe document was confiscated a month ago from Gadhafi forces, rebels sayThe authenticity of the "battle plan" can't be confirmed

Misrata, Libya (CNN) -- Six people died Sunday in fighting in the town of Dafniya, Libya, near the beseiged city of Misrata, according to a hospital spokesman.

The deaths include a woman who died when a Grad rocket landed in her home, said Khaled Abu Falgha of Misrata's Hekma hospital.

Elsewhere, 15 rebels and about 100 Gadhafi forces were killed Sunday in fighting in Zawiya, according to Ahmed al-Hawary, rebel spokesman in Zawiya.

Dafniya was quiet Sunday evening, said Ibrahim Beit-elmal, a spokesman for the Misrata military committee. On the southern front of Abdul Rauf, the rebels were able to capture 10 Gadhafi forces and a few vehicles after an ambush was set for them, he said.

Also Sunday, rebels in Misrata released a document they claim is a battle plan confiscated last month from forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

CNN obtained the 15-page document -- titled, in part: "Battle plan to cleanse the city of Misrata from militant gangs" from rebels in the city Sunday. The words "top secret" is written at the top of every page. The name of Gadhafi's son, Khamis Moammar Gadhafi, appears on page 10 as commander of the theater.

CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the document. The rebels said it was confiscated from a high-ranking official near Misrata between May 18 and May 20.

"This document was very useful but only for a short period of time because as soon as Gadhafi brigades found out that we confiscated them, they tried to change their plans," said Abdallah al-Kabeir, a rebel spokesman.

The documents says Misrata is to be "attacked from six different directions with 11,350 fighters, 4,000 of whom are organized troops, (the rest volunteers). The six directions cover the east and the south."

The "mission" is stated as: "To destroy mercenary elements and deceive youth in Misrata using nine brigades. ..."

Al-Kabeir called portions of the document "exaggerated."

"I think the number of troops and equipment mentioned in the document are definitely exaggerated because they wanted to lift their soldiers' low morale. Also, our intelligence on the ground indicated that Gadhafi forces have a lot less people than what this document says."

The Libyan government has not acknowledged the document.

About 130 miles (209 kilometers) east of Tripoli, Misrata has been the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting in Libya's civil war.

Since the conflict began in early February, the death toll is believed to be more than 1,000 people in Misrata, including hundreds of civilians, Dr. Khaled Abu Falgha, a spokesman at Misrata's Hekma hospital, said earlier this month. In April, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Tim Hetherington and photojournalist Chris Hondros were killed in Misrata.

The town has been under seige for months from Gadhafi's forces, who have cut off all land acesss, leaving the sea as the only escape route. On May 11, rebels said they seized the Misrata airport. Heavy shelling has been reported in Misrata in recent days as Gadhafi's forces wage a campaign to seize the town back.

CNN's Amir Ahmed and Sara Sidner contributed to this report.

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Bombers kill at least 5 in Iraq

An Iraqi officer inspects the bullet-racked car of the police chief of the town of Dibia, near Kirkuk, on Wednesday.NEW: Three bombings within two hours in Baghdad wound several, police sayA police officer in ethnically tense Kirkuk is killedThree people were slain in southwestern BaghdadA police officer died in Ramadi when a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol

Baghdad (CNN) -- Bombings in three restive Iraqi cities over the last 24 hours killed five people and wounded several others, police told CNN.

A roadside bomb killed Col. Hussein Namat, authorities said.

Namat was driving from his home in Kirkuk to the town of Dibia, where he served as the commander of the police force. Dibia is about 12 miles north of Kirkuk, which is in the country's north.

There has been longstanding sectarian tension among Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen people in Kirkuk. Namat is Kurdish, but there was no immediate information on whether the bombing was tied to ethnic hostilities.

Over a two-hour period in and around the capital, Baghdad, on Wednesday, three attacks wounded several people, police said. Attackers shot and critically wounded a police colonel while he was driving near Shaab stadium in the east. Five people were wounded in a roadside bombing north of the city in Taji. And a police commissioner was wounded when a sticky bomb attached to his car exploded.

On Tuesday night, three people were killed in Baghdad when a car bomb exploded on a commercial street in the southwestern Saydiya neighborhood. City police said 15 others were wounded.

In Ramadi, more than 60 miles west of Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol, and one police officer died. Ramadi is in the predominantly Sunni Arab Anbar province, an area engulfed by violence during the height of the Iraq war.

This comes after a deadly Sunday, when 17 bombs exploded across Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 80, Iraqi authorities said.

These attacks were the latest in a spate in recent weeks that have raised concerns about Iraq's ability to protect itself.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he plans to meet with Iraqi political leaders this month to discuss whether to request that U.S. troops remain in Iraq beyond the January 1, 2012, withdrawal deadline.

The United Nations office in Iraq has expressed concern about recent violence targeting government and security officials.

Al-Maliki has said al Qaeda and other terrorists are behind the killings, but he also has blamed political movements and security guards, and he has promised to pursue the attackers.

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Suicide bomber kills at least 6 in Kabul hospital (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 23 more at a military hospital in a heavily-guarded area of the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The bomber struck at 12:30 p.m. local time (5 a.m. EDT) in the cafeteria of the hospital where medical students were eating lunch, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the police crime investigation unit. He added the dead were students.

The hospital is located in a high-security area near the U.S. embassy and where several other foreign embassies and international organizations operate.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement that the group had sent two suicide bombers into the hospital and killed many. The Taliban launched a long-awaited "spring offensive" last month.

Despite escalating violence in the 10th year of an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, Kabul is relatively peaceful. In early April, a suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army bus on the outskirts of the capital, wounding 10 soldiers and civilians.

The Taliban, which often inflates the number of casualties it inflicts, vowed last month to carry out attacks, including suicide bombings, on foreign and Afghan troops and government officials.

Despite the presence of up to 150,000 foreign troops, violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S.-backed Afghan forces, and last year saw record casualties on both sides.

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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At least 44 Syrians killed in another bloody Friday (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian security forces shot dead at least 44 civilians in attacks on pro-democracy demonstrations that erupted across Syria on Friday, the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said on Saturday.

Prominent rights campaigner Ammar Qurabi, who heads of the organization, said more than half were killed in the northwest province of Idlib, where tanks deployed on Friday to crush large demonstrations against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The protests broke out in defiance of a military crackdown that another rights group says has killed more than 800 civilians in the past nine weeks.

The 45-year-old Assad had largely dismissed the protests as serving a foreign-backed conspiracy to sow sectarian strife.

Syrian authorities blame most of the violence on armed groups, backed by Islamists and outside powers, who they say have killed more than 120 soldiers and police. They have recently suggested they believe the protests have peaked.

Syria said on Saturday armed groups killed 17 people on Friday in the provinces of Idlib and Homs to the south.

Echoing language used in previous similar statements, the state news agency said the civilians, police and security forces were killed after armed groups exploited the commitment of police forces to specific instructions by the Interior Ministry "not to shoot, to preserve the lives of civilians."

It said saboteurs burned public buildings and police stations in Idlib, injuring eight policemen.

Syria has barred most international media since the protests broke out two months ago, making it impossible to verify independently accounts from activists and officials.

U.S. CRITICISM

The unrest has posed the gravest challenge to Assad's rule. In response, he has lifted a 48-year state of emergency and granted citizenship to stateless Kurds, but also sent tanks to several cities to suppress the protests.

Friday's violence came a day after the United States, which had at first muted its criticism Assad's handling of the unrest, told him to reform or step down.

"The president can still try to redeem himself by doing what a few leaders in Eastern Europe did, which is leading immediate transformation to a democracy and running himself in a fair elections if he wants," opposition figure Walid al-Bunni said.

"With all the blood the regime is spilling the protests have been growing and expanding in geographical scope ... The Syrians have been humiliated and they will no longer shut up," he added.

The main weekly Muslim prayers on Fridays are a rallying point for protesters because they offer the only opportunity for large gatherings, and have seen the worst death tolls.

Activists said protests broke out this Friday in the Damascus suburbs, Banias and Latakia on the Mediterranean, the oil producing region of Deir al-Zor, Qamishli in the east and the southern Hauran Plain.

Syrian human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouna said on Friday at least 12 civilians were killed in Maaret al-Numan, in Idlib province, after tanks entered the town to disperse protesters. She said 11 were killed in the central city of Homs, while seven died in Deraa, Latakia, the Damascus suburbs and Hama.

Rights campaigners said Idlib, a relatively prosperous agricultural province, took the brunt of the crackdown on Friday, during which hundreds of Syrians were arrested.

They said those killed included at least five protesters shot by security forces while they were marching from the town of Ariha to join other protests in Idlib.

"They took their dead and went back to Ariha and burned security and Baath Party headquarters and a Syriatel office," said one rights campaigner in the area.

Syriatel, Syria's largest mobile phone operator, belongs to Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf, who has expanded his control on various sectors of the economy since Assad succeeded his late father 11 years ago.

SLOGAN

Security forces arrested 12 members of the Assyrian Democratic Party, from Syria's Christian minority, in a raid on their headquarters in Qamishli on Friday, rights activists said.

Two witnesses said security forces fired at demonstrators and chased them in the streets of the Barzeh district of Damascus. Plain clothes police conducted house to house arrests, a resident said.

Security forces also fired live ammunition at a night demonstration in the besieged hill town of Zabadai west of Damascus, a rights campaigner in the area said, adding tanks had deployed at the southern entrance of the nearby town of Madaya.

Activists reported shooting in Banias and the Damascus suburb of Saqba on Friday. Both were subjected to security sweeps earlier this month aimed at crushing dissent.

A witness said security forces fired teargas on protesters in Hama, where around 20,000 had gathered in two separate areas. They also used teargas to disperse around 1,000 protesters in the town of Tel, just north of Damascus, another witness said.

Some protesters called on Friday for freedom, activists said. Others demanded "the overthrow of the regime," the slogan of uprisings which toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

(Writing by Dominic Evans and Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Militants kill at least 6 in Pakistan

Pakistani Shiite Muslims gather during a road block protest in Quetta on Friday following the attack.The militants fire at a graveyard in Balochistan provinceAt least nine people are injured

(CNN) -- Militants in two vehicles fired a rocket and guns at people in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, leaving six dead and nine injured, a senior police official said.

The militants targeted a graveyard in Hazara area, said Muhammad Dawood Junejo, a Quetta police officer.

"Initially, they fired a rocket and then started firing on people in the graveyard," the officer said.

The officer said the incident seems to be an act of sectarian attack.

Quetta is the capital of the Balochistan province, which has had militant attacks in the past.

Last year, about 50 minority Shiites were killed when a suicide bomber struck an Al Quds rally in September.

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Storms, tornadoes kill at least 17 across South

Storms, tornadoes kill at least 17 across the South By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Flood warnings were issued across portions of western Alabama SaturdayNEW: Hazardous weather warnings were taken down in Mississippi, the weather service reportedNEW: Survey teams spread out across Alabama, conducting aerial evaluations NEW: Tornado warnings remained in effect for the Carolinas until later Saturday afternoonIf severe weather happens near you, we want to hear your story. Share your photos and videos with CNN iReport, but please be careful.

(CNN) -- A band of fast-moving storms brought reports of more than one hundred possible tornadoes across the South on Saturday, toppling trees, snapping power lines and bringing the two-day death toll to 17.

Emergency crews in Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama worked to assess the damage as the storm system moved north into the Carolinas and southern Virginia, according to the National Weather Service.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency Friday after reports of tornado touchdowns in at least six counties.

Multiple injuries were reported in Sumter and Marengo counties, with at least one fatality in the latter, he said.

Three people were also killed in Autauga County after fallen trees crashed into mobile homes in the area, police said.

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