A US helicopter opened fire on an elementary school in Diyala province May 8, killing seven students and wounding three, according to Iraqi security sources and local residents. Iraqi sources said the helicopter was fired on from the ground and hit the school when it returned fire. Spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said the military was investigating the reports.

An air raid killed 21 civilians in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand May 8, the provincial governor charged. "Twenty-one civilians, including women and children, were killed" in the raid on a village in Sangin district, Gov. Assadullah Wafa said. AlJazeera TV said it was not clear whether the raid was by NATO's International Security Assistance Force or the separate US-led coalition. NATO denied knowledge of the raid.

Transitional government security forces in Somalia have begun seizing and burning women's face veils in Mogadishu in an attempt to stop insurgents disguising themselves in order to carry out attacks. When the city was under the control of the Islamic Courts Union in the second half of 2006, women were ordered to cover their heads; now they are being ordered not to. Police spokesman Ali Nur told Reuters: "Every policeman and government soldier has orders to confiscate veils from veiled women." (AlJazeera, May 9)

Another bloody entry in Ansar al-Islam's bid to extend the "insurgent" terror campaign to Iraq's (relatively) stable Kurdish autonomous zone. The need to mollify these thugs may explain the increasing conservative Islamist tilt of the supposedly secular Kurdish regional authorities of late. From AlJazeera, May 9:

From AlJazeera, May 7:

Two Palestinian were killed and four wounded during clashes between rival factions in Lebanon's main refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh.

Veracruz state prosecutors have concluded that 73-year-old grandmother Ernestina Ascencio* wasn't raped or beaten by Mexican federal army soldiers but died of natural causes, spokesmen said at a news conference in the state capital, Xalapa. Juan Alatriste Gómez, a special prosecutor assigned to review the case, said there were no witnesses to the alleged crime and that an anal tear originally cited as evidence of an assault could have come from any number of "diverse reasons." State prosecutor Emetrio López, who filed the original charges against the soldiers, said he agreed with Alatriste's findings. The original investigators in the case have been suspended temporarily.

Major General Rick Lynch, who commands US forces south of Baghdad, told reporters May 7 recent history indicates that it takes an average of nine years to put down internal insurgencies, and there is "no instantaneous solution" in Iraq. "You can't just build a government overnight," said Gen. Lynch. "I can't see significant advances in that sphere in the same timeframe. Bringing stability to Iraq could take years."

From AP, May 6:

GREENSBURG, Kan.— The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state’s governor.