NATO: Soldier in massacre acted alone
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 people in southern Afghanistan during a shooting spree acted alone, NATO said.
The soldier's motive in the Sunday shootings, which Afghan President Hamid Karzai said were "acts of terror and unforgivable," remained unclear.
The Los Angeles Times quoted a U.S. official as saying the assailant, who turned himself in after the shooting, apparently suffered a mental breakdown.
Afghan officials said the soldier, an Army staff sergeant, left his base early Sunday and went from house to house, breaking in doors and killing people. The incident occurred in Panjwai district in southern Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold.
The dead included three women and nine children. Five people were wounded.
Haji Agha Lali, a member of the Kandahar provincial council, told CNN the soldier attacked four houses in two nearby villages.
Capt. Justin Brockhoff, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the wounded Afghans were being treated at ISAF facilities. He said both NATO and Afghan officials were trying to determine the soldier's motive. Another spokesman said the soldier was acting on his own, CNN reported.
A U.S. military official told CNN the suspect is from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state and that he had been assigned to a Special Forces unit.
Gaza airstrikes, rocket attacks in 4th day
JERUSALEM, March 12 (UPI) -- Israeli airstrikes killed three Islamic Jihad operatives and wounded 38 Palestinians Monday and rockets exploded in southern Israel, officials said.
It was the fourth straight day of airstrikes and rocket attacks amid efforts to agree on a cease-fire.
More than 200,000 schoolchildren remained at home as a safety precaution, officials said.
The Israeli Air Force conducted six strikes in Gaza, targeting weapon storage facilities, rocket launchers and cells preparing to fire rockets, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, army spokesman, told Israel Radio.
More than 160 Qassam rockets and Grad missiles have been fired at southern Israel since the recent round of violence erupted Friday.
"Until now we have killed 20 armed terrorists, and a 12 year-old boy who was walking near where Islamic Jihad terrorists were about to fire rockets," Mordechai said.
He confirmed that Egypt is attempting to mediate a cease-fire but said as long as rockets are fired at Israel, "we will respond."
The Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committee in Gaza claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.
Mordechai said Israeli would halt its military actions if the rocket fire ceases but would continue pre-emptive operations to foil terror attack plans.
The military will "will continue to protect Israeli citizens and will strike all those who rise to attack us," Israeli Radio quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying. "Those who attack our civilians will be punished."
Yemen says U.S. strikes kill 64 insurgents
SANAA, Yemen, March 12 (UPI) -- U.S. drone strikes on hideouts and arms reserves killed at least 64 suspected al-Qaida militants over three days, Yemeni officials said.
"The United States did not inform us on the attacks. We only knew about this after the U.S. attacked," a member of Yemen's military committee told CNN.
Officials at U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon contacted Sunday declined to provide information about the attacks Yemeni officials said were carried out by unmanned U.S. aircraft, CNN reported Monday.
The U.S. government typically doesn't comment on drone operations.
The latest strike occurred Sunday in Abyan province in southern Yemen, two senior Yemeni security officials said.
The strike was the third on suspected al-Qaida targets in less than three days, the officials said. The United States was also involved in attacks Friday and Saturday, Yemeni defense ministry officials said.
Yemeni rights organizations condemned the airstrikes, calling them illegal.
Sarkozy: France may leave visa-free zone
VILLEPINTE, France, March 12 (UPI) -- President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull France from Europe's passport-free zone unless the European Union tightens its borders against illegal immigration.
"At a time of economic crisis, if Europe doesn't pick those who can enter its borders, it won't be able to finance its welfare state any longer," center-right Sarkozy, facing a tough re-election fight against a Socialist, told a campaign rally of 60,000 near Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.
He threatened to pull France out of the so-called Schengen treaties, which permit free travel within most EU borders, if the rules are not changed within a year to curb illegal immigration.
"We can't leave the management of migration flows to technocrats and tribunals," he said Sunday in what analysts said was a bid to capture the far-right National Front nationalist political party, whose big issues are economic protectionism, a zero tolerance on law-and-order issues and a strong opposition to immigration.
"We must undertake a reform of Schengen as structural as the reform we have just put in place for the euro," he told the rally.
Sarkozy's speech came five days after he declared there were "too many foreigners in France" and promised to cut the immigrant influx in half -- comments that sparked outrage among many French on the left and those of foreign descent.
