Colombia car bomb wounds 17, "calamity" averted (Reuters)

BOGOTA (Reuters) – A car bomb wounded 17 people in Colombia's colonial-era city of Popayan, but a "calamity" was averted when police intercepted the vehicle before it reached its target in the main square, authorities said on Sunday.

Acting on a tip, police stopped the car late Saturday night in an outlying neighborhood before it reached its intended destination, where soccer fans were celebrating a victory.

When officers suspected an explosive device was inside, they hauled out the driver and warned passers-by to leave the area before it exploded, police said.

The car was packed with 70 kg (154 pounds) of explosives and went off seven minutes after the auto was intercepted.

"Dozens of people would have been killed ... it would have been a calamity," a police officer in Cauca said of the potential casualties if the bomb had gone off as planned.

The blast injured 17 people, two seriously, according to the presidential administration in Bogota. Thirty-five homes and 12 motor vehicles were damaged and the explosion knocked out power in parts of Popayan, a city of about 300,000 people.

A Reuters photographer said the blast ripped off roofs and knocked down walls in several nearby homes. Police said windows were also blown out of buses in the area.

The driver of the car, who was arrested, told police he belonged to the National Liberation Army (ELN), according to police commander Orlando Pineda, who said the bomb could have been in retaliation for anti-narcotics operations.

The ELN is Colombia's second-biggest guerrilla group behind the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC.)

Police say both groups seek to benefit from the cocaine trade in Cauca, a region of mountains and jungles dotted with coca farms and refining centers, and the area has long been a focus of U.S.-backed anti-drug sweeps.

The Popayan blast is the first car bomb set off in a major Colombian city since August 12, when an explosion in a vehicle wounded eight people in Bogota outside the offices of a leading broadcast network.

That attack was widely seen as a FARC rebel challenge to President Juan Manuel Santos, who took office five days earlier. A former defense minister, Santos vowed to continue the U.S.-backed campaign against the FARC and other leftist guerrillas.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Lebanon blast wounds peacekeepers

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the U.N. will work with Lebanon to investigate an explosion on a UNIFIL convoy.NEW: The U.N. Security Council condemns "this terrorist attack," its president saysSix peacekeepers and two civilians are injuredThe attack comes on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers1,780 Italian soldiers have been deployed in Lebanon since 2006

(CNN) -- At least six Italian peacekeepers and two civilians were wounded on Friday after an explosion targeted a convoy of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, a U.N. spokesman said.

A UNIFIL logistics convoy had been headed along the main highway near Saida when the explosion occurred. Italy's Defense Ministry said the peacekeepers are among the 1,780 Italian soldiers who have been deployed in Lebanon since 2006.

Of the six, one was seriously injured, U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Nick Birnback said.

Birnback called the act "despicable" and announced the bolstering of security measures. The attack was meant to undermine U.N. efforts to foster stability in southern Lebanon, he said.

"It is important that the perpetrators of this attack are identified and brought to justice. UNIFIL's forensics and investigation teams are at the location and are working in close cooperation with their counterparts in the Lebanese army to determine all the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident," Birnback said.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he hoped the injured would recover quickly.

"I have learned the dramatic news from Lebanon, which cause me great grief and feelings of deepest condolences," he said.

Gerard Araud, France's ambassador to the United Nations and the presiding security council president, said on Friday night: "The members of the U.N. Security Council condemn in the strongest terms this terrorist attack (and) condemn all attempts to threaten the stability and security of Lebanon."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that the attack came on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. He said the United Nations will work with Lebanon to investigate.

UNIFIL was created by the U.N. Security Council in March 1978 "to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security, and assist the Lebanese government in restoring its effective authority in the area."

After the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the council "enhanced the force" and decided to "monitor the cessation of hostilities (and) accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the south of Lebanon."

It also helps ensure "humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons."

Ban cited the dangers and difficulties of peacekeeping.

"I pay tribute to the 120,000 United Nations military, police, civilians who are working under the blue flag around the world for the cause of peace."

CNN's Richard Roth, Hada Messia, and Nada Husseini contributed to this report

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NATO incursion into Pakistan wounds two troops: officials (Reuters)

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – A NATO helicopter from Afghanistan intruded into Pakistan's North Waziristan region on Tuesday, wounding two troops, local intelligence officials said, adding to tensions between Islamabad and the West.

"It happened early morning," a Pakistani intelligence official in the region, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "The helicopter hit a Pakistani check post on the border in the Datta Khel area."

Another intelligence official said several Pakistani helicopters took off from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, toward the site of the attack. The purpose of the Pakistani mobilization was unclear.

The Pakistani military was immediately unavailable for comment.

Lieutenant-Commander Colette Murphy, a spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said in Kabul that the coalition was aware of the reports and looking into them, but had no immediate comment.

North Waziristan is the base of the Haqqani network blamed for the insurgency in eastern Afghanistan. U.S.-led drone aircraft have repeatedly targeted the area over the past year.

Many militants, including foreign fighters loyal to al Qaeda, are based in Datta Khel. It is a stronghold of fighters loyal to Hafiz Gul Bahadur and has been a frequent target of U.S. drone strikes.

Pakistan's Express 24/7 television channel said the checkpost targeted in the latest attack was located right on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It quoted officials as saying that the helicopters were just about to intrude into Pakistani territory when aerial gunshots were fired. They subsequently moved back but fired a retaliatory shot due to which rubble fell from the nearby mountains and wounded the security personnel.

The reported incursion came a day after unmanned U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles in Datta Khel killing 12 militants, Pakistani officials said.

An intelligence official said that one of the dead militants, an Arab, was the son of an al Qaeda operative identified as Abu Kashif. There was no way to verify the death toll. Militants often dispute official accounts of drone attack

Relations between the U.S. and Pakistan have been pushed almost to the breaking point after the secret May 2 raid on Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden, embarrassing and humiliating the powerful Pakistani Army and intelligence service.

Before that, in late January, undercover CIA contractor Raymond Davis killed two Pakistanis in Lahore, resulting in a six-week standoff over diplomatic immunity.

A previous incursion on September 30, 2010, killed two Pakistani troops and wounded four more when NATO helicopters crossed the border while pursing insurgents. Pakistan retaliated by shutting down the supply route for NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Washington sees the rugged border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a critical battleground against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

(Writing by Chris Allbritton; Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad and Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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