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U.S. stealth bomber crashes in Guam

YIGO, Guam, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Authorities say two U.S. Air Force pilots were in good condition Saturday after the crash of a B-2 stealth bomber in Guam.

The pilots from the 509th Bomb Wing ejected before the plane crashed at Anderson Air Force Base shortly after takeoff, CNN reported.

The pilots' names were not released and the cause of the crash remained under investigation.

It was the first time a B-2 bomber has crashed, a United States Air Force spokeswoman told the BBC. At a cost of $1.2 billion each, the stealth bomber is one of the world's most expensive aircraft. It can evade most radar signals and fly 6,0000 nautical miles without refueling. The stealth bomber has been used by the U.S. military for operations in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan..

The B-2 crash was the second of an Air Force plane in three days. An Air Force fighter pilot died Wednesday after two F-15C jets collided during training over the Gulf of Mexico, CNN reported. The planes were from the 33rd Fighter Wing, a combat-flying unit from Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, Florida.

Turkey reports dozens killed in Iraq

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Turkish military officials say fire from ground troops and helicopter gunships have inflicted heavy losses on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Turkey's army reported five Turkish soldiers dead and at least 44 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, killed in Friday's incursion, the BBC reported Saturday.

The PKK said that two Turkish soldiers killed. Neither report could be confirmed independently, the BBC said.

The United States and the United Nations have urged Turkey to use restraint during the incursion, which Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called limited in scale, the BBC reported.

"The target, purpose, size and parameters of this operation are limited," Erdogan said on Turkish television. "Our armed forces will come back in the shortest time possible as soon as they achieve their objectives" against the PKK.

More than 30,000 people have been killed since the PKK began fighting for an independent Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey in 1984. The PKK's main hideouts are in northern Iraq near the Turkish border.

Bomb explodes aboard bus in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A bomb blast blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels Saturday injured at least 18 people on a bus in Sri Lanka, authorities said.

The explosion occurred in the suburb of Mount Lavinia in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, the BBC reported Saturday.

The bomb exploded after a elderly woman spotted a suspicious package and passengers began evacuating the bus, the BBC said, noting several buses have been the targets of explosions since the government pulled out of a ceasefire agreement last month.

In combat clashes to the north, more than 1,000 rebel fighters and 83 government soldiers and police have been reported killed since the ceasefire ended, the BBC reported.

More than 180 civilians have been killed in violence so far this year, an International Red Cross spokesman told the BBC.

Report: Violence continues in Basra

BASRA, Iraq, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Authorities in Basra, Iraq, say at least 100 women have been killed in the last year and doctors and teachers are still disappearing.

Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, largely has been self-governing since British troops withdrew last September. Basra has Iraq's best economic base and little ethnic tension, yet the port city remains deeply troubled, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The women killed in the last year likely were deemed impious by fundamentalist Shiite militiamen, who also target doctors, teachers and other professionals, the Times said.

"Most of the killings are done by gunmen in police cars," said Sheik Khadem al-Ribat, a Basra tribal leader.

Two dozen Shiite political parties and their militias continue to compete for control of the region's oil, seaport profits and smuggling ventures across the Iranian border, the Times reported.

"They have these overlapping spheres of gangsterism and politics, militias and legitimate businesses, and legitimate politics," said Rob Tinline, a spokesman for the British Provincial Reconstruction Team.