Monday, December 14, 2009 GAZA CITY: The Islamic militant group Hamas is marking the anniversary of its 1987 founding with celebrations in the Gaza Strip. The organization hopes to show it still has support despite four years of rule that have led Gaza into war, poverty and isolation. Gaza is decked out in Islamic green, with Hamas flags fluttering from roofs and lampposts. Hamas' radio and TV stations are exhorting Gazans to attend a mass rally after midday prayers.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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