'Insider' kills 2 U.S., 3 Afghan troops
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 11 (UPI) -- A man dressed as an Afghan police officer opened fire Monday and killed two members of the U.S. military and three Afghan security troops, officials said.
Officials said several other people were wounded in the so-called insider attack at a police station, the BBC reported.
Abdul Razaq Quraishi, the deputy provincial police chief, and NATO officials confirmed the deaths, Khaama Press reported.
The killings in Wardak province came a day after U.S. special forces withdrew from the province. The Afghan government had demanded the withdrawal after allegations of disappearances and torture by Afghan troops working with the Americans, the BBC said.
Officials told the BBC the shooter either was a local police officer or an insurgent posing as one.
The police station incident was the latest "green-on-blue" attack, those against coalition members by people wearing Afghan police or army uniforms.
On Friday, a coalition contractor was killed when people in Afghan National Army uniforms fired on ISAF members, NATO said.
S. Korea's Yun: Situation becoming 'grave'
SEOUL, March 11 (UPI) -- Tensions between North and South Korea are creating a "very grave" security situation, new South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Monday.
Yun said his goal is to "turn this era of confrontation and mistrust into an era of trust and cooperation with North Korea," Yonhap reported.
"The security situation on the Korean Peninsula for now is very grave as the unpredictability surrounding North Korea is rising following its third nuclear test," Yun said in his first address since becoming foreign minister.
North Korea has taken a more strident position on the U.N. Security Council adoption of a new round of sanctions in response to the reclusive country's third nuclear test last month. North Korea also said it nullified the 1953 cease-fire to the Korean War and threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against South Korea and the United States.
North Korea cut off a Red Cross hotline with South Korea earlier Monday as South Korea and the United States began their annual joint military drills, Yonhap said. The two-week computer-simulated exercise, called Key Resolve mobilizes 10,000 South Korean forces and 3,500 U.S. military personnel.
India gang rape suspect kills himself
NEW DELHI, March 11 (UPI) -- Ram Singh, one of the suspects in the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman, committed suicide Monday morning, authorities said.
Singh was found hanging in his Tihar Jail cell about 5 a.m. sources told the Press Trust of India.
India TV reported jail officials said Singh used his shirt to hang himself from the grills of his cell. He was taken to a hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
Singh and four other defendants were to have been brought before the fast track court Monday, India TV said.
The Hindustan Times said Singh, the 33-year-old driver of the bus where the victim, a college student, was raped and her boyfriend beaten Dec. 16, faced 13 criminal charges that could have resulted in him receiving the death penalty if convicted.
The Times said authorities considered him the one who instigated the brutal attack.
Capriles: Maduro seeks Chavez death gain
CARACAS, Venezuela, March 11 (UPI) -- Venezuela's opposition leader said he'll run to succeed Hugo Chavez and accused acting President Nicolas Maduro of using Chavez's death for political gain.
Henrique Capriles, 40, accused Maduro in remarks broadcast on state television Sunday night of lying to the country about the timing of the death of the president -- who hadn't appeared in public since December.
"Nicolas, already in [the] campaign, has been lying to Venezuelans," Capriles said.
"Who knows when President Chavez died?"
Maduro, 58, responded by going on national television to declare that Chavez, who Maduro said last week would be embalmed and put on display at Caracas' Museum of the Revolution, would now be displayed at the National Pantheon, given the popular outcry for having Chavez's final resting place be with Venezuelan heroes including Simon Bolivar, champion of independence from Spain.
Capriles -- a law graduate and former national legislator who is now governor of Miranda, Venezuela's second most-populous state -- said Sunday night he would formalize his candidacy Monday and start touring the country Tuesday.
Venezuela's election commission during the weekend set the vote for April 14.
