4 killed in suspected drone strike

Based on a CNN count, Wednesday's suspected drone strike was the 33rd this year compared to 111 in all of 2010.NEW: Ten militants killed, sources sayA suspected U.S. drone strike happened in Pakistan, officials saidThe strike was in Wana, South Waziristan

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region killed 10 suspected militants on Wednesday, two intelligence officials told CNN.

The suspected drone fired four missiles on two militants' hideouts in the area of Wana in South Waziristan, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Based on a count by the CNN Islamabad bureau, Wednesday's suspected drone strike was the 33rd this year compared to 111 in all of 2010.

The intelligence officials asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

CNN's Nasir Habib contributed to this report.

CNN

Egypt detains suspected Israeli spy (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt arrested an Israeli man on Sunday suspected of spying and recruiting agents to destabilize Egypt and sow strife after President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down on February 11, the prosecutor and judicial sources said.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of the case.

Judge Hesham Badawi of the supreme state security prosecution ordered the man to be detained for 15 days on suspicion of "spying on Egypt with the aim of harming its economic and political interests," MENA news agency reported.

Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, has experienced months of political upheaval since protesters overthrew Mubarak, who had maintained close ties with Israel.

The detention may add to tensions raised by a row over the halting of Egypt's gas exports to Israel after a pipeline blast and Cairo's easing of restrictions at a Gaza border crossing that Mubarak had kept very tightly controlled.

Egypt resumed pumping gas Friday.

MENA said the man worked for Israel's Mossad intelligence service. It named him as Ilan Chaim Grabel and said he was arrested at his hotel in central Cairo.

Detention orders of 15 days are often renewed in Egypt if further questioning is deemed necessary.

One judiciary source said the man had been active in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolt against Mubarak, after the former president stepped down.

"He was there on a daily basis inciting youths toward sectarian strife. He was distributing money to some of them," the source said, adding he had been encouraging some youths to clash with the army. He said youths reported the man's actions.

A statement issued by Egypt's public prosecutor said the suspect had been sent to Egypt to recruit agents "trying to gather information and data and to monitor the events of the January 25 revolution."

The prosecutor also said that the suspect was "present at demonstration sites, inciting protesters to carry out riots and that would disturb public order and trying to stir strife between the army and the people with the aim of spreading chaos and a return to the state of security breakdown."

Officials at Egypt's Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment.

(Writing by Edmund Blair and Sami Aboudi, editing by Tim Pearce)

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Suspected suicide bombing kills 34 in Pakistan (Reuters)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – At least 34 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing in the Pakistani city of Peshawar late Saturday, the latest attack since Osama bin Laden's killing last month.

The bombing took place near a building that houses several newspaper offices as well as apartments. The attack occurred when a large number of people were dining in the nearby restaurants.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban militants have vowed to avenge the killing of al Qaeda chief bin Laden by U.S. SEALS in a secret raid in the northwestern town of Abbottabad on May 2.

A small blast preceded a big one, which senior police official Banaras Khan said police suspected was carried out by a suicide bomber.

"After the second blast, a fire broke out. Several charred bodies were lying on the ground while some wounded people were crawling away from the site," witness Naeem Ahmed told Reuters.

Television footage showed twisted window frames, shards of broken glasses and fallen electricity cables strewn on roads as rescue workers were loading wounded men on stretchers into ambulances.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of the northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhuwa (KP) province, told reporters that doctors had said the death toll was 34, "but it may rise as many wounded people are in critical condition."

Peshawar is the capital of KP, which borders Afghanistan.

Hospital officials said 100 people were wounded, 21 of them seriously. Several journalists and policemen were among the wounded.

"As I arrived here, one of the wounded man cried 'please take me to hospital, I am alive'," another witness told Express television at the site of the attack.

Since bin Laden was killed, militants have attacked a heavily guarded naval base in Karachi; killed nearly 100 people in twin suicide bombings at the headquarters of a paramilitary force in the northwest; attacked U.S. consulate convoy in Peshawar and killed a Saudi diplomat in Karachi.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Greek police hold suspected FBI hacker

An 18-year-old is detained on suspicion of attacks on the FBI and Interpol, Greek police sayHe is also accused of illegally obtaining credit cards through hackingHe is charged with computer fraud and forgery as well as illegal weapons possession

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greek police arrested an 18-year-old suspected of having hacked into the electronic systems of the FBI and Interpol, they announced Wednesday.

He reportedly also took over the computers of unsuspecting users, accessed their data and used it to obtain new credit cards in their names. A raid on his home turned up over 120 credit cards and thousands of euros in cash, police said.

He faces charges of computer fraud, forgery, illegal violation of privacy, and illegal weapons possession.

The teen, who was not named, was arrested at his home in Athens, according to the Greek police electronic crime squad.

They seized computers and related equipment as well as flares, shotgun cartridges and a homemade incendiary device, they said.

Greek police said they had been seeking the youth for two years, after attacks that took place in February 2008 and February 2009.

U.S. and French authorities cooperated with the investigation, they said.

CNN

Turkey: 10 suspected al-Qaida affiliates detained (AP)

ANKARA, Turkey – Police on Tuesday arrested 10 people suspected of links to an al-Qaida terrorist network in southern Turkey, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Police captured nine of the suspects in simultaneous raids in the southern city of Adana and another one in the city of Hatay, near the Syrian border, it said. Police would not say whether the suspects were preparing to stage an attack but no weapons or explosives were seized in the raids.

Adana is home to the Incirlik Air Base, which is used by the United States for the transfer of non-combat supplies to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Authorities have said Islamic militants tied to al-Qaida planned to attack Incirlik in the past but were deterred by high security.

Homegrown Islamic militants tied to the al-Qaida attacked the British consulate, a British bank and two synagogues in Istanbul, killing 58 people in 2003. In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead.

Turkish authorities have said dozens of Islamic militants have received training in Afghanistan.

However, Al-Qaida's austere and violent interpretation of Islam receives little public backing in Turkey.

Several other radical Islamic groups are also active in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but officially secular country.

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Iranian diplomat suspected of spying leaves Cairo (AP)

CAIRO – An Iranian diplomat who was arrested by Egyptian security agents on suspicion of spying has left Cairo for Iran.

Qassem al-Husseini, third secretary at Iran's diplomatic mission in Cairo, was arrested on Saturday and questioned on suspicions of illegally gathering intelligence and trying to set up spy rings in Egypt and Gulf countries, Egypt's state news agency said.

He was released Sunday because of his diplomatic immunity and left Cairo on Monday on an Emirates airline to Dubai.

In an ironic twist, al-Husseini's plane was also carrying a 45-member delegation from the Egyptian-Iranian friendship society, which aims to restore political ties between the countries.

Relations between Iran and Egypt have been frosty since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and Egyptian-Israeli peace accord.

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Mexico captures suspected drug gang leader

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Federal police have captured a suspected drug gang leader in a central Mexican state where relentless violence prompted hundreds of citizens to set off in a days-long protest march that arrived in the capital Sunday.

A woman helps to create a human chain alongside a protest march against gang violence in Mexico City on Sunday.

Jose Zarco Cardenas, 22, had recently begun heading operations in Morelos state for a gang that broke off from the Beltran Leyva cartel following the death of leader Arturo Beltran Leyva in December 2009, the Public Safety Department said in a statement Sunday. He was arrested in Mexico City on Friday along with an alleged accomplice.

His capture was announced just as thousands of people were marching into Mexico City to protest gang violence in Morelos, which borders the Mexican capital. The marchers, who set off Thursday, are led by a Mexican poet whose son was killed by suspected drug traffickers in the Morelos capital of Cuernavaca. They were expected to arrive in Mexico City's Zocalo square Sunday afternoon.

The Public Safety Department said Zarco was 17 when he joined the Beltran Leyva cartel, taking orders from Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villareal, a U.S.-born capo who was captured in August 2010. Zarco was in charge of paying off municipal police in the resort city of Acapulco, the statement said.

Valdez Villareal allegedly started his own cartel after Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed in a shootout with marines in Cuernavaca. Authorities say the Valdez Villareal faction is still fighting a gang led by Hector Beltran Leyva, the only Beltran Leyva brother not captured or killed.

The Public Safety Department said Zarco was put in charge of operations in Morelos following the April 27 capture of his predecessor, Miguel Angel Cedillo. Zarco had been trying to seek a truce with rival gangs La Familia and the Gulf cartel, which authorities say are trying to encroach on the Beltran Leyva territory, the statement said. He allegedly met several times with Servando Gomez Martinez, alias "La Tuta," the alleged boss of La Familia.

The break up of the Beltran Leyva cartel has led to a surge in gruesome violence in the region southwest of Mexico City, with the rivals hanging mutilated bodies from bridges along highways connecting Mexico City, Cuernavaca and Acapulco.

Thousands have joined the anti-violence protest since a few hundred set off from Cuernavaca on Thursday. The marchers, carrying signs reading "Stop the War," Mexican flags and photos of poet Javier Sicilia's slain son, have been marching silently along the 50-mile (80-kilometer) route.

Sicilia's son Juan Francisco was killed March 28 along with six other people. Three alleged drug gang members have been arrested in the slayings.

One of the suspects, Rodrigo Elizalde Mora, allegedly belonged to the gang led by Hector Beltran Leyva, now know as the Southern Pacific cartel. Authorities say Elizalde killed Sicilia and the other over an argument at a bar. However, Sicilia's family has questioned that claim, saying no such argument ever occurred. Elizalde, who was bruised when police presented him to the news media, said four gunmen had kidnapped him and handed him over to authorities.

Meanwhile, violence continued in the region. At least six men were found shot to death in Acapulco between Saturday and Sunday, according to state police in Guerrero state, where the resort city is located.

A shootout broke out in Zihuatanejo, another resort city in Guerrero, police said. One of the cars involved in a shootout was left on the streets, stained with blood and riddled with bullets. The occupants had apparently fled.

Shortly afterward, fliers threatening police were thrown from several cars at the Zihuatanejo city hall.

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AP: U.S. screening blocks 350 suspected terrorists

By Josh Reynolds, AP

A TSA employee checks documents for passengers in line at a security checkpoint at Logan Airport in Boston last January.

EnlargeCloseBy Josh Reynolds, AP

A TSA employee checks documents for passengers in line at a security checkpoint at Logan Airport in Boston last January.

The tighter security rules — imposed after the attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas 2009 — reveal a security threat that persisted for more than seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Until then, even as commercial passengers were forced to remove their shoes, limit the amount of shampoo in their carry-on luggage and endure pat downs, hundreds of foreigners with known or suspected ties to terrorism passed through security and successfully flew to the United States each year, U.S. officials told the AP. The government said these foreigners typically told Customs officers they were flying to the U.S. for legitimate reasons such as vacations or business.

Security practices changed after an admitted al-Qaeda operative from Nigeria was accused of trying to blow himself up on a flight to Detroit on Christmas 2009. Until then, airlines only kept passengers off U.S.-bound planes if they were on the no-fly list, a list of people considered a threat to aviation.

Now before an international flight leaves for the U.S., the government checks passengers against a larger watch list that includes al-Qaeda financiers and people who attended training camps but aren't considered threats to planes. The government was checking this list before, but only after the flight was en route. If someone on the flight was on the watch list, the person would be questioned and likely refused to enter the country after the plane landed.

"As terrorists keep adapting and changing their approach, so must we," Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told the AP. During a Senate hearing shortly after the attempted Christmas attack, Rockefeller raised concerns about divisions among the different watch lists.

Hundreds of people linked to al-Qaeda, Hamas, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror groups have been kept off airplanes under the new rules. They include what U.S. officials described as a member of a terrorist organization who received weapons training, recruited others, fought against American troops and had a ticket to fly to the U.S. Another traveler prevented from boarding a U.S.-bound flight was a member of a terrorist organization whom intelligence officials believe had purchased equipment for terrorism.

A third case, in January, involved a Jordanian man booked from Amman, Jordan, to Chicago, who was considered a threat to national security, according to a law enforcement official. The State Department had already revoked his visa. He was on the terrorist watch list but not the no-fly list. He was not considered a threat to aviation.

After U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers performed the now-routine check, the man was kept off the flight. Before the change, he would have arrived in Chicago, where he would have likely been stopped at customs, questioned and sent home.

The law enforcement official and other U.S. officials insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues. They would not provide the names of the people suspected of terror ties or some key details about the cases for security reasons.

"We've gotten better with our techniques and applying them predeparture, ensuring we're looking at as broad a section of potential risk as possible," said Kevin McAleenan, deputy assistant commissioner of field operations at Customs and Border Protection.

CBP said the gap in U.S. security practices wasn't obvious until after the attempted Christmas attack. Officials were prepared to question the accused bomber when he landed in Detroit — but that turned out to be too late.

"We had the skill set, the systems and the techniques, and we needed to move backwards in time," McAleenan said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the terror watch list and its derivative, the no-fly list, became some of the government's best-known counterterrorism tools. They also became some of the most criticized, as innocent travelers were inconvenienced when they were mistaken for terrorism suspects. Outrage forced the government to pare the lists, which airlines checked before allowing people to fly.

After the attempted Christmas attack, the intelligence community took a closer look at the names on the terror watch list and set new standards for adding names. The watch list and no-fly list are constantly reviewed, and names are added and removed each day. There are about 30,000 people on the no-fly list and a companion list for people who must receive extra screening at airports, a counterterrorism official told the AP.

The more expansive terror watch list includes about 450,000 names of people the U.S. intelligence community believes are, or could be, a threat to national security because of terrorist ties. Some of the people on the watch list are still being investigated, and there is not enough information for the government to arrest them.

The new policy has not turned the 450,000-person terror watch list into the no-fly list. Simply being on the terror watch list does not mean a person won't be allowed to enter the U.S., McAleenan said. When CBP reviews passenger lists and matches someone on the terror watch list, CBP will review information available on the person before it recommends to the airline whether the person can board the plane, McAleenan said. In most cases, if CBP recommends against allowing the passenger to board, it's because the person would be turned away upon arrival inside the United States due to security concerns.

Most people on the watch list are foreigners. About 6,000 are U.S. citizens.

American citizens who are not considered threats to aviation but are on the terror watch list cannot automatically be prevented from flying to the U.S.

Customs officers will likely question a U.S. citizen who is on the terror watch list when he or she comes into the country. But without grounds for arrest, the officers must let them arrive. This also applies to a U.S. citizen who is on the no-fly list but who walks or drives back into the U.S. through land-border crossings.

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