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Two Spanish aircraft joins search for Air France jet
MADRID: Two Spanish aircraft Monday joined the search for an Air France passenger jet that is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, the government said. An interior ministry spokesman said a reconnaissance plane from Spain's paramilitary Civil Guard police force left the Senegalese capital of Dakar where it was taking part in a European operation against illegal immigration. Defence ministry sources also said that an air force Fokker search and rescue aircraft was headed for the Cape Verde islands to take part in the operation. A French military reconnaissance plane also flew out of Senegal to take part in the search for the Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board. The Brazilian air force said its planes had scrambled to search for the jet off its northeast coast. Amid mounting fears that it had crashed into the the ocean, Air France said the Airbus A330 jet was probably hit by lightning during a storm.

Four NATO soldiers killed in Afghan bombing
KABUL: Four NATO soldiers were killed in two bomb attacks in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the alliance's International Security Assistance Force said.

Missing jet 'probably struck by lightning': Air France
PARIS: A missing Air France passenger jet with 228 people on board was probably struck by lightning and suffered an electrics failure as it flew through a fierce Atlantic storm, Air France officials said on Monday.

Five Somali policemen killed by roadside bomb
MOGADISHU: Five Somali policemen were killed on Monday when a roadside bomb in the south of the capital Mogadishu hit their car, an official said."The roadside bomb hit the car near K-4 junction, close to the African peacekeepers camp. "Five of the policemen have died, including (senior) officers," Abdullahi Shiref, a police official said.A witness, Liban Ali, said the bodies were burnt beyond recognition while five survivors were sustained serious injuries. "I saw the burnt bodies of five policemen, they were not recognisable and some of them were cut into pieces," said Ali. No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack yet. The attack came a few hours after government forces overran a police station controlled by insurgents following fierce fighting in northern Mogadishu. The police station fell into rebel hands in the early days of the latest round of fighting to have hit the horn of African nation last month. More than 200 people have died and tens of thousands others forced to flee their homes due to the unrest. Hard-line Islamists opposed to the moderate government of Sharif Sheikh Ahmed launched bloody raids against Somali government positions in the country on May 7 taking control of key positions including police stations and in some cases entire towns.

US military deaths hit eight-month high in May
BAGHDAD: The US military suffered its highest death toll in Iraq for eight months in May, with 24 troops dying just weeks ahead of the planned American pullout from major towns and cities this month.The figures contrasted sharply with statistics released on Sunday by Iraqi ministries showing that 124 civilians, six soldiers and 25 policemen were killed last month -- the lowest since the US-led invasion of March 2003. Several attacks targeted US soldiers in May, including a roadside bomb near a market in southern Baghdad on May 21 that killed three American troops.According to an independent source 4,306 American troops have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that ousted now executed dictator Saddam Hussein but sparked a deadly insurgency.

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