Guerrillas

At least 130 rebels have been killed and 500 have surrendered as Bhutan presses its campaign to flush out Indian guerrillas holed up in the tiny Himalayan kingdom, officials said Saturday. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and his son are personally "leading the troops" on the offensive, which began last week, a Bhutanese official said. "The king and his son are leading the troops in flushing Indian rebels out of Bhutanese soil," said the government official, who did not want to be identified.

Vietnamese gunners poured artillery and tank fire on Cambodian guerrillas Tuesday, a day after Thai and Vietnamese troops clashed. A Thai army officer predicted that heavy fighting between the rebels and the Vietnamese occupation forces will persist for months. It was the eighth day of combat in and around resistance camps inside Cambodia.

President Reagan met today with Afghan guerrilla leaders and said the presence of Soviet troops in Afghanistan remains a "major impediment" to improved superpower relations. Reagan, whose Administration is preparing for the third U.S.-Soviet summit next month, also scored the Soviets for remaining silent to his call for setting a date for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Reagan called the brief Oval Office meeting with members of the Afghan resistance "useful . . .

Protestant guerrillas killed a pregnant Roman Catholic woman in her bedroom Sunday, but left her five children unharmed. In a telephone message to a radio station, the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force admitted murdering Kathleen O'Hagan. O'Hagan, 38, who was six months pregnant, was killed when gunmen broke into her house overnight in a rural area known for its hard-line support of unification with Ireland.

This letter carries a message that I hope might stir a reaction. I see a greater challenge for the President of the United States and the many organizations trying at the moment to help the brave people who are fighting for democracy and freedom in Nicaragua. On June 20, a very interesting article appeared in The Times, "Colombia's M-19 Guerrillas Becoming a Major Force in Urban Slums," where correspondent Juan de Onis informed us about the organizing role that the M-19 movement is fulfilling.

Colombian police captured a suspected Marxist rebel commander wanted in connection with the kidnapping and slaying of a Japanese executive, a police spokesman said. The man, believed to be Wilmar Antonio Marin, known by the alias "Hugo," was nabbed in the capital, Bogota, the spokesman said. He gave no other details. Chikao Muramatsu was found shot dead last month.

A Greek court convicted the mastermind, chief assassin and 13 other members of the November 17 guerrilla group for a nearly 30-year killing spree against prominent Greeks and U.S., British and Turkish diplomats. The convictions were touted by the government as evidence of Greece's commitment to fighting terrorism ahead of the 2004 Summer Olympics. November 17, a group of radical Marxists, took its name from the date of a 1973 student uprising crushed by Greece's ruling military junta.

President Boris Trajkovski pardoned 11 jailed ethnic Albanian guerrillas, launching an amnesty regarded as crucial to sustaining an August peace settlement. Justice Ministry sources said the 11 were freed from the Sutka Detention Center in Skopje, the capital. In coming weeks, 77 others on the pardon list are expected to be released, sources said. The amnesty is aimed at defusing ethnic mistrust and returning disaffected fighters to society.

Greece said it has found the main hide-out of the elusive November 17 leftist guerrillas and was holding a suspected member. "We have found the den of the terrorist group November 17," Fotis Nasiakos, the chief of Greek police, said after police raided an apartment in central Athens. It had been rented by a suspected member of the group who was injured in a botched bomb attack at the port of Piraeus on Saturday.

Philippine government negotiators and Muslim separatist guerrillas wrapped up fresh peace talks in neighboring Malaysia but failed to reach an expected agreement on developing war-ravaged regions and resolving Muslim claims to ancestral lands. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed a cease-fire in August, but the MILF claims that the military has violated the truce at least 12 times, resulting in sporadic skirmishes.