Muslim Extremists

Egyptian security officials disclosed Wednesday that they are holding at least 750 suspected Muslim extremists linked to a group advocating the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak's government. Police sources said the suspects have been undergoing questioning for several weeks. The sources said the suspects will be charged soon with forming an illegal organization to overthrow the government.

Eight soldiers and a junior army officer are being tried in secret by a military court for a foiled plot to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak, military sources said Friday. The suspects, believed to be Muslim extremists, are accused of placing explosives at a military airport in northwestern Egypt shortly before Mubarak was to arrive en route to a Nov. 4 meeting with Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

Lebanese Muslim extremists said they killed a 52-year-old Lebanese Jew, kidnaped a year ago, in retaliation for the current Israeli raids on Muslim villages in southern Lebanon. The Organization of the Oppressed on Earth, believed to consist of Shia Muslims, reported killing Elie Hallak, a physician and vice president of the Higher Council of Lebanon's Jews, who was abducted last February in Muslim West Beirut.

Three militants were sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting to kill Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in a failed car bombing in 2002. Judges said the car did not explode as Musharraf's convoy passed in Karachi because a remote control device malfunctioned, according to state prosecutor Naimat Randhawa. The men were from the outlawed Harkat-ul-Mujahedin al-Almi militant group. The court action came as the president said he had ordered troops to shoot anyone trying to disrupt Feb. 18 elections.

More than 500 suspected Muslim extremists were rounded up in the Cairo area for questioning in the attempted assassination of Information Minister Safwat Sharif outside his home Tuesday. The minister's left hand was injured by flying glass, and his driver and bodyguard suffered serious bullet wounds.

The Philippine president assured a U.S. congressman that everything possible was being done to rescue an American missionary couple being held by Muslim extremists, an official said. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo met late Tuesday with Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), after he was briefed by the Philippine military about efforts to rescue Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kan., said the press undersecretary, Roberto Capco.

An Arab-American accused of funneling money to Muslim extremists in the occupied territories was released from jail Saturday under a plea bargain. Mohammed Jarad, 37, said his six months in prison would not break his determination to "continue his humanitarian funding." Israel detained Jarad and another Arab-American, Mohammed Salah, 39, in January and accused them of giving $600,000 to the outlawed Hamas organization. They were also charged with meeting with Hamas leaders.