Israel buries remains of returned soldiers

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel buried two soldiers Thursday whose remains were returned in an exchange with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah the day before.

Friends and relatives in the coastal city of Nahariya watched as soldiers lowered the wooden coffin of Sgt. Maj. Ehud Goldwasser into the ground.

And in Haifa, thousands of mourners attended the funeral at the military cemetery for 1st Sgt. Eldad Regev.

Goldwasser and Regev were captured after Hezbollah militants crossed into Israel on a raid in July 2006.

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Brother of convicted Lebanese killer says he's innocent

(CNN) -- The brother of Samir Kuntar, a notorious militant who was released this week from Israeli custody, proclaimed the convicted killer's innocence in the deadly attack that landed him in prison for nearly three decades.

Kuntar, 46, was released as part of a controversial prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah, after serving almost 30 years of a 542-year sentence.

In exchange for Kuntar, who is regarded as a national hero in Lebanon, and four other militants, Hezbollah released the remains of two Israeli soldiers who were abducted in a 2006 raid.

Kuntar was 16 years old when he crossed the border into Israel on a mission with his brother and two Lebanese militants in 1979. The incursion left a policeman, a young father and his 4-year-old daughter dead.

But Kuntar's brother, Bassam Kuntar, said Danny Haran, 28, and his daughter did not die at Kuntar's hands.

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Women at Pakistan's Red Mosque vow babies for jihad

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - About 2,000 Islamist women gathered at the radical Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital on Wednesday and vowed to raise their children for holy war, days after a suicide bomber killed 18 people after a similar rally.

Chanting slogans of "jihad is our way", burqa-clad women, some with babies, listened to fiery speeches from the daughter of the mosque's jailed cleric on the eve of the anniversary of a commando raid on the complex in which more than 100 people died.

"Our mujahideen (fighters) laid down their lives for the enforcement of the Islamic system in Pakistan. We are left behind to carry forward their mission," the daughter of cleric Abdul Aziz told the tightly guarded rally in the mosque compound.

Several thousand men attended a similar rally on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the July 10 commando raid that ended a week-long siege that began when gunmen from the mosque clashed with police.

Shortly after the Sunday rally ended, a suicide bomber attacked police who had been guarding the gathering killing 18 people, all but three of them policemen.

The attack highlighted the danger posed by militants in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where a new coalition government has been preoccupied with what to do with the unpopular President Pervez Musharraf, a staunch U.S. ally who has been isolated since his allies were defeated in a February election.

The blast in the centre of the capital also compounded gloom on Pakistan's financial markets, where stocks have been sliding because of economic worries and the rupee has set new lows.

"AL JIHAD"

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Jerusalem bulldozer 'terrorist' kills 3 in rampage

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli authorities are investigating why a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem rammed his bulldozer into several cars and buses Wednesday, killing three people before Israeli police shot him dead.

Israeli authorities are labeling it a terrorist attack, although they say there is no clear motive and the man -- a construction worker -- acted alone. It is not known if he had links to any terrorist organization. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN the bulldozer operator drove down a busy thoroughfare in West Jerusalem, crashing into four cars and two buses, before heading toward a crowded market.

"We believe he acted on his own and tried to kill as many people as possible," Rosenfeld said.

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