Insider attack in Afghanistan kills 4 U.S. troops

  HEIDI VOGTKABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan police killed four American soldiers coming to their aid after a checkpoint attack Sunday, the third assault by government forces or insurgents disguised in military uniforms in as many days.

The escalating violence - including a NATO airstrike that killed eight Afghan women and girls gathering firewood - is straining the military partnership between Kabul and NATO as the U.S. begins to withdraw thousands of troops sent three years ago to route the Taliban from southern strongholds.

The attacks drew unusually strong criticism Sunday from the U.S. military's top officer, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who called the problem of rogue Afghan soldiers and police turning their guns on allied troops "a very serious threat" to the war effort.

This year, 51 international service members have died at the hands of their Afghan allies or those who have infiltrated their ranks. At least 12 such attacks came in August alone, leaving 15 dead.

The surge in insider attacks is a sign of how security has deteriorated as NATO prepares its military exit from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The U.S. is days away from completing the first stage of its own drawdown, withdrawing 33,000 troops that were part of a military surge three years ago. The U.S. will remain with about 68,000 troops at the end of September.

NATO and U.S. forces are working with the Afghan government to tighten vetting procedures and increase security between the forces, but nothing has so far been able to stem the attacks on troops, which NATO frequently asserts are standing "shoulder by shoulder."

In unusually blunt remarks to the Pentagon's own news service, the American Forces Press Service, Dempsey said the Afghan government needs to take the problem as seriously as do U.S. commanders and officials.

"We're all seized with (the) problem," said Dempsey, after discussing the issue at a meeting in Romania with NATO officials. "You can't whitewash it. We can't convince ourselves that we just have to work harder to get through it. Something has to change."

"We have to get on top of this. It is a very serious threat to the campaign."

A weekend of deadly attacks began Friday night, when 15 insurgents disguised in U.S. army uniforms killed two Marines, wounded nine other people and destroyed six Harrier fighter jets at a major U.S. base in the south, military officials said. On Saturday, a gunman in the uniform of a government-backed militia force shot dead two British soldiers in Helmand province in the southwest.

On Sunday, an Afghan police officer turned his gun on NATO troops at a remote checkpoint in the southern province of Zabul, killing four American service members, according to Afghan and international officials.

"It was my understanding that it was a checkpoint," said Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for international military in Afghanistan.

One police officer was killed in the clash with NATO troops, he said. Other officers at the site fled; it was unclear if they were involved in the attack or not.

Two international troops were wounded and were receiving treatment, Graybeal said. He did not say how serious the injuries were.

Afghan officials said the checkpoint in Zabul's Mizan district came under attack first from insurgents sometime around midnight. American forces came to help the Afghan police respond to the attack, said Ghulam Gilani, the deputy police chief of the province.

International forces often work with Afghan police to man checkpoints as part of the effort to train and mentor the Afghan forces so that they can eventually operate on their own.

It was not clear if some of the Afghan police turned on the Americans in the middle of the battle, or were somehow forced into attacking the American troops by the insurgents, Gilani said.

"The checkpoint was attacked last night. Then the police started fighting with the Americans. Whether they attacked the Americans willingly we don't know," Gilani said.

He said all four of the dead were American, as did a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity because the information had not been officially released.

Dempsey said that the Friday assault on Camp Bastion, a British air base in Helmand province, should not be called an insider attack even though the attackers were wearing U.S. Army uniforms. An initial review found the attackers had no inside assistance, he said. It was not immediately clear how the attackers got the U.S. uniforms.

The latest deaths make at least 247 American troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year. Nearly 2,000 American troops have been killed in the conflict since the 2001 invasion.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the police who attacked were not affiliated with the Taliban insurgency.

"But they are Afghans and they know that Americans are our enemy," Ahmadi told The Associated Press. He said in an emailed statement. He said the police who fled have joined up with the insurgency.

The coalition said in a statement that they were investigating what happened.

The airstrike that killed the eight women and girls, meanwhile, drew an apology from the U.S.-led coalition, condemnation from Afghan President Hamid Karzai and cries of "Death to America!" from villagers who retrieved the bodies.

Afghan officials said NATO planes killed eight women and girls in the remote Laghman province who had gone out before dawn to gather firewood.

The International Security Assistance Force, as the U.S.-led coalition is known, acknowledged that civilians had been killed and expressed its regret over the airstrike. It insisted known insurgents had been the target.

"ISAF takes full responsibility for this tragedy," a statement said Villagers from Laghman's Alingar district drove the bodies, covered in white blankets, to the provincial capital, Mehterlam.

"They were shouting 'Death to America!' They were condemning the attack," said Laghman provincial government spokesman Sarhadi Zewak.

Seven injured females were also brought to area hospitals for treatment, some of them as young as 10 years old, said provincial health director Latif Qayumi.

NATO forces spokesman Capt. Dan Einert said that the strike killed as many as 45 insurgents, but may have also killed five to eight Afghan civilians.

"Protecting Afghan lives is the cornerstone of our mission and it saddens us when we learn that our action might have unintentionally harmed civilians," said Graybeal said.

Karzai "strongly condemns the airstrike by NATO forces which resulted in the deaths of eight women," a statement from his office said. It said the Afghan government was also investigating.

The attacks come amid an international uproar about an Internet video mocking the Prophet Muhammad that many fear could further aggravate Afghan-U.S. relations. The video has sparked protests throughout the Muslim world and the Afghan government blocked the YouTube site that hosts the video and its parent company, Google Inc., over the weekend in a move to prevent violent protests.

The Taliban claimed that Friday's assault on Camp Bastion was revenge for the video insulting Prophet Muhammad, but protests in Afghanistan have so far remained peaceful.

In the capital on Sunday, several hundred university students chanted "Death to America!" and "Long life to Islam!" over several hours to protest the video. Riot police cordoned off the area and the protest ended without incident in the early afternoon. A smaller protest went forward in the western city of Herat.

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Khan reported from Kandahar, Afghanistan. Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washing and Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.

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Last Troops From Iraq Back in U.S.

By ANGELA K. BROWN Associated Press FORT HOOD, Texas December 24, 2011 (AP)abcnws_fw_params = {siteSectionId: 'nws_us', siteSectionIdType: 0, siteSectionNetworkId: 168234, siteSectionFallbackId: 109523, customVisitor:'', keyValues:'pageType=wirestory'}; pc.fwSeg();pc.fwAppendKeyValues('show=2020');pc.getSWID();pc.subsectionOverride();function fw_config(){return abcnws_fw_params;}if (tq.videoOverrideContext != null) {jsvideoViewEventProp16Value = tq.videoOverrideContext;} else {jsvideoViewEventProp16Value = "none";}if (jsvideoViewEventProp16Value == "none") { jsvideoViewEventProp16Value = ""; }jsvideoViewEventEvar20Value = jsvideoViewEventProp16Value;kdp_embed_default = {doKdpEmbed : function() {// Should only be changed if you are running Kaltura On Prem / Kaltura CE:var service_url = "http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/";// logic cascade for deciding which entry to loadvar entry_id = this.getEntryIdFromUrl() || this.getEntryIdFromDataAttr() || this.fallback_entry;flashembed(this.placeholder_id,{// attributes and params:id :"kaltura_player_default",src : service_url + "/index.php/kwidget/wid/_" + kdp_embed_default.partner_id + "/uiconf_id/" + kdp_embed_default.uiconf_id + "/entry_id/" + entry_id,height :361,width :640,bgcolor :"#000000",allowNetworking : "all",version :[10,0],expressInstall :"http://cdn.kaltura.org/apis/seo/expressinstall.swf",wmode: "transparent"},{// flashvars (double-quote the values)externalInterfaceDisabled : "false",jsInterfaceReadyFunc :"jsInterfaceReady",contentType: "video",//"restrictUserAgent.restrictedUserAgents": "GoogleTV",referer : "http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/troops-military-home-holidays-us-15226070","omniture.videoViewEventEvar15Value" : "player|storypage","omniture.videoViewEventProp18Value" : "player|storypage","omniture.videoViewEventProp16Value" : jsvideoViewEventProp16Value,"omniture.videoViewEventEvar20Value" : jsvideoViewEventEvar20Value,"omniture.adStartEvar15Value" : "player|storypage","omniture.adStartEvar20Value" : jsvideoViewEventEvar20Value,noThumbnail: true,"abcnews.displayEndCard":false,"shareBtnControllerScreen.enabled" : "true",//"video.stretchThumbnail":true,//"volumeBar.initialValue":0.75,//"volumeBar.forceInitialValue":true,debugMode: true})},onFail : function() {alert("FLASH EMBEDDING FAILED");},getEntryIdFromUrl : function() {if(location.hash.indexOf(kdp_embed_default.url_param_name) != -1) {// get the entry id from the url document fragment (aka hash):return location.hash.split("#")[1].substring((kdp_embed_default.url_param_name.length+1));}else if(location.search.indexOf(kdp_embed_default.url_param_name) != -1) {// get the entry id from the url parameters (aka querystring):return location.search.split("?")[1].substring((kdp_embed_default.url_param_name.length+1));}else {// use the default video defined in "fallback_entry" below://return kdp_embed_default.fallback_entry;return false;}},getEntryIdFromDataAttr : function() {var data_attr_val = document.getElementById(this.placeholder_id).getAttribute("data-entryid");if(data_attr_val && !(data_attr_val

1st Sgt. Scott Dawson has spent several Christmases overseas during four deployments to Iraq, but he arrived home for this holiday Saturday — and he and his family hope it's for good.

Dawson was among the very last U.S. combat soldiers to leave Iraq a week ago. Members of his brigade having been arriving Fort Hood in Texas over the past week, and he was in a group of nearly 200 that landed Saturday. Only about a dozen are still overseas, along with members of another brigade that was in the final convoy to cross the border into Kuwait.

The soldiers' families waited for two hours in drizzling rain and chilling wind on Christmas Eve morning, some wrapped in blankets and holding signs decorated with ornaments and candy canes. They screamed upon seeing the troops from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division arrive in buses and march onto a field at the Army post.

When the announcer yelled "Charge!" at the end of the brief welcome-home ceremony, wives, children and parents ran to the soldiers, hugging and kissing them.

Dawson's wife, Capt. Jessica Dawson, said his absence has been difficult even though she may have a better understanding than other spouses. She deployed with her husband in 2009.

"He's missed a lot of birthdays and holidays, but you don't dwell on what you missed, and they are little enough that they won't remember he wasn't here," Jessica Dawson said. "The biggest thing is that he made it (back). Like I told the kids, even if he doesn't get back in time, this will be the best Christmas ever because he's out of Iraq."

Dawson kissed his wife and scooped up his two young daughters as they ran into his arms. Like many soldiers, he said he just wanted to spend time with his family over the holidays and hadn't made elaborate plans.

"It's great ... but it's odd because usually I don't get to stay home for very long," said Dawson, who is staying in the Army and isn't sure if he will be deployed to Afghanistan or somewhere else.

The troops slipped out of Iraq a week ago in heavily armored personnel carriers that moved under cover of darkness and in strict secrecy to prevent any final attacks. Dawson said the significance of being among the last to leave hadn't yet sunk in.

"In the future I'm sure this will really hit me," he said.

Col. Douglas Crissman, the 3rd Brigade's commander, also just returned home and said it was a privilege that the brigade was the last to leave Iraq. Preparing for the final exit took a year, he said.

"Fort Hood has given a lot — blood, treasure, time and sacrifice — like many Army installations, so being part of the closing days in Iraq is fitting," he said Saturday as he watched soldiers hug their families. "It's great to be part of the end. There's closure. We were the last vehicles to roll out, and that was a privilege."

Fort Hood has about 46,500 active-duty soldiers. Since 2003, more than 565 have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to officials at the Army post.

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President Obama welcoming troops home

  Eyewitness NewsWASHINGTON -- Obama marked the end of the Iraq war earlier in the week, and welcomes troops home.

"There's a reason our military is the most respected institution in America," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "They don't see themselves or each other as Democrats first or Republicans first. They see themselves as Americans first.

"For all our differences and disagreements, they remind us that we are all a part of something bigger, that we are one nation and one people."

Obama marked the end of the Iraq war earlier in the week, meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in advance of the last American troops leaving Iraq by Dec. 31. The withdrawal caps a war in which nearly 4,500 Americans were killed, about 32,000 were wounded and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent.

"Our troops are now preparing to make their final march across the border and out of the country," Obama said. "Iraq's future will be in the hands of its own people."

The president met with troops at Fort Bragg, N.C., on Wednesday to discuss the end of the war and to honor the military's sacrifice. Obama opposed the war as a state lawmaker and then made ending the war in Iraq a key part of his 2008 presidential campaign.

Obama said the nation needs to enlist soldiers returning home in the rebuilding of the nation's economy, noting that his grandfather's generation returned home from World War II "to form the backbone of the largest middle class in history."

"This is a moment for us to build a country that lives up to the ideals that so many of our bravest Americans have fought and even died for," Obama said. "That is our highest obligation as citizens. That is the welcome home that our troops deserve."

Republicans said in their weekly address that soldiers returning home are most concerned about finding a good job and cited the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline as an example of a project that could put people back to work.

Republicans have pushed for a swift decision on the pipeline proposed from Canada to Texas. Obama recently announced he was postponing a decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 elections to allow for more time to study the environmental ramifications of the proposal. An agreement reached by Senate leaders Friday night on a two-month extension of a Social Security payroll tax cut and jobless benefits would require Obama to decide within 60 days whether to grant a permit for the pipeline.

The pipeline would carry oil from western Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. The project is expected to create up to 20,000 jobs.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the project would transport 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada and the "steady source of energy from our friend and ally here would make us less dependent on energy from the volatile Middle East - and that is good for America."

Environmentalists have opposed the project but some unions have supported the plan, complicating Obama's decision.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Activists say Syrian troops kill 100 in village

  By BASSEM MROUEBEIRUT -- Government forces surrounded residents of a restive Syrian village in a valley and killed all those trapped inside - more than 100 people - in a barrage of rockets, tank shells, bombs and gunfire that lasted for hours, a witness and two activist groups said Wednesday.

The attack on Tuesday pushed the death toll for two days of violence across Syria to more than 200, and was one of the deadliest single events of the entire nine-month uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian rule.

The White House reacted by renewing its call for Assad to step down, saying his regime does not deserve to rule.

The offensive targeted the village of Kfar Owaid, about 30 miles from the northern border with Turkey. It is part of the rugged mountainous region of Jabal al-Zawiyah, which has been the scene of clashes between troops and army defectors and intense anti-government protests for weeks. Syrian troops began attacking the region on Saturday, residents said.

"It was an organized massacre," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The troops surrounded people then killed them."

Syrian officials have not commented on the allegations.

The White House said Assad's regime has no credibility and has "flagrantly violated" its commitment to end violence. The statement said the Obama administration is deeply disturbed by continued reports of government-backed violence against the Syrian people.

One villager who is an anti-government activist told The Associated Press by telephone that scores of residents and activists fled Tuesday morning to the nearby Budnaya Valley, where they were completely surrounded by troops. The forces bombarded them with tank shells, rockets and heavy machine gun fire. The man, who identified himself only as Abu Rabih for fear of government reprisal, said troops also used bombs filled with nails to increase the number of casualties.

"What happened yesterday was a crime against humanity," Abu Rabih said. He said 110 people were killed in the attack and 56 of the dead were buried in Kfar Owaid on Wednesday. Others were buried in villages nearby.

According to activists, all of those in the valley were unarmed civilians and activists, there were no armed military defectors among them.

Abu Rabih said the Jabal al-Zawiyah region has been under intense attack by government forces since Saturday.

Assad agreed Monday to allow foreign monitors under an Arab League plan aimed at stopping the bloodshed. But the huge toll from the crackdown on Monday and Tuesday has reinforced opposition suspicions that Assad is just playing for time to stall a new round of international condemnation and sanctions. The crackdown has already left Assad internationally isolated and under tremendous pressure from the Arab world as well as the west.

The Arab League plan calls for Syria to halt its crackdown, open talks with the opposition, withdraw military forces from city streets and allow in human rights workers and journalists Despite intensified violence, the Arab League appeared to be going ahead with its plans to send the monitors.

In Cairo, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby appealed to the Syrian government to shoulder its responsibilities to protect civilians in compliance with its pledges to abide by the League's plan. He expressed deep concern about reports of an escalation of violence, especially in the provinces of Idlib, Homs, Daraa and Deir el-Zour.

The 22-member Arab League has also suspended Syria's membership and leveled economic and diplomatic sanctions.

The White House warned Damascus that additional steps will be taken to pressure Assad's regime if the Arab League initiative is not fully implemented.

In Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said "everything must be done to stop this murderous spiral into which Bashar Assad is leading his people more every day." He added: "It is urgent that the U.N. Security Council pass a firm resolution demanding the end to this repression."

The German government's human rights commissioner, Markus Loening, called for an immediate end to violence against deserters and demonstrators. "It is dreadful to see how Bashar Assad and his helpers are clinging onto power and trampling on the Syrian population's wish for dignity and freedom."

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said "it is unacceptable" that so many people were killed even after Assad's regime agreed to an Arab League plan to halt the bloodshed.

Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Council described the attack as "brutal massacres and genocide" saying the group has sent messages to members of the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Syria. The SNC also urged the international community in a statement for international protection of the Syrian people.

Assad's regime agreed to allow the monitoring mission after Arab leaders warned they would turn to the U.N. Security Council to try to end the crackdown.

The Syrian conflict, which began with peaceful protests in March, has become increasingly militarized in recent weeks, with clashes nearly every day between troops and army defectors who have joined the movement against Assad. Idlib province has witnessed some of the most intense clashes. The U.N. says more than 5,000 people have died in unrest since March.

On Wednesday, the Observatory said security forces shot dead three people in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani and one in the northern town of Saraqeb. It added that troops stormed the town of Dael in the southern province of Daraa wounding dozens of people.

The LCC said 12 people were killed Wednesday, five of them in the central province of Hama.

Activists said this bloody crackdown may be an attempt by the regime to crush defectors before the monitors arrive in the country. On Monday, security forces killed up to 70 army defectors as they were deserting their military posts in Idlib near the Turkish border, activists said.

"The regime is trying to control the situation before the Arab League send its observers but it's over. The regime will go," Abdul-Rahman said.

Abdul-Rahman corroborated the account of the witness in Kfar Owaid. He said troops on the outskirts of the village surrounded and fired on crowds of civilians and activists trying to flee out of fear they would be detained. The group, which uses a network of local activists to collect information on the crackdown, said 111 were killed in Kfar Owaid Tuesday.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, also said more than 100 people were killed. The accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has banned most foreign journalists and places heavy restrictions on the work of local reporters.

In Damascus, the Iranian embassy said Wednesday that five Iranian engineers who work at an electricity station in the central Syrian city of Homs have been kidnapped. It said the engineers were kidnapped Tuesday in the restive city that has witnessed intense anti-regime activities.

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Interior Ministry troops patrol Moscow after protests

  Eyewitness NewsMOSCOW -- Police clashed with demonstrators protesting alleged election fraud in Moscow and at least two other major Russian cities on Tuesday as anger boiled over against strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party.

At least 250 people were detained by police at a protest in downtown Moscow that included flare-type fireworks thrown at a group of pro-Kremlin youth, said city police spokesman Maxim Kolosvetov.

Russian news agencies reported about 200 were arrested at a similar attempt to hold an unsanctioned rally in St. Petersburg and another 25 in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The Moscow protest ended after around 3 1/2 hours and the others were broken up by police.

It was the second consecutive night of large protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg, an unusually sustained show of indignation as Russian police routinely crack down hard on unauthorized rallies, and protesters generally take time to regroup for a new attempt.

The demonstrations follow Sunday's parliamentary election, in which United Russia lost a large share of the seats it had held in the State Duma. The party maintains a reduced majority, but opponents say even that came because of vote fraud.

Local and international election observers reported widespread ballot-stuffing and irregularities in the vote count.

The protesters appear to be both angered by the reported fraud and energized by the vote's show of declining support for Putin and his party, which has strongly overshadowed all other political forces in Russia for the past dozen years.

But pro-Kremlin supporters also put on a pair of large rallies in Moscow, attracting thousands and showing vehement divisions in Russian society.

The Moscow protest demonstrated the violent potential of those divisions.

Several hundred young men with emblems of United Russia and its youth wing had gathered with police at Triumphal Square in the city center ahead of the planned opposition rally. Police waded into several groups of opposition supporters, pushing them away from the square - roughly grabbing many and throwing them into police vehicles. Detainees included prominent opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Eduard Limonov, but Russian news reports said both were released from custody late Tuesday.

After the protesters were pushed back, they and government supporters shouted at each other - "Shame, shame" was the call from the opposition, while the others, some of whom beat drums, shouted "Putin victory." Members of the pro-authorities group gravitated toward the nearby Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, continuing to chant and bang drums. Then at least two flare-type fireworks were thrown into their midst.

It was unclear who threw the devices or if anyone was injured.

The confrontation lasted more than three hours before pro-government youth began leaving the area.

About a half-mile away, around 100 demonstrators chanting against Putin held a short march from the U.S. Embassy toward the Russian White House, but scattered when police arrived in buses.

A heavy police presence was visible throughout the city, including several police trucks parked around Pushkin Square, another popular demonstration site.

United Russia won slightly less than 50 percent of Sunday's vote, according to nearly complete preliminary results. Although that gives the party an absolute majority in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, it is a significant drop from the 2007 election when the party got a two-thirds majority, enough to change the constitution unchallenged.

Sunday's election results reflect public fatigue with Putin's authoritarian streak and with official corruption in Russia, signaling that his return to the presidency in next March's election may not be as trouble-free as he expected.

Putin, meanwhile, called his party's reduced number of seats in Sunday's parliamentary election an "inevitable" result of voters always being dissatisfied with the party in power. He also dismissed allegations of corruption among his United Russia party members, calling it a "cliche" that the party had to fight.

Russia's beleaguered opposition has been energized by the vote.

Late Monday, thousands marched in Moscow chanting "Russia without Putin!"

That demonstration apparently caught authorities by surprise, and police and troops on Tuesday substantially increased their visibility in an apparent effort to discourage more gatherings.

Police detained about 300 protesters in Moscow on Monday and 120 participants in a similar rally in St. Petersburg. Two of the Moscow rally's leaders, Ilya Yashin and Alexei Navalny, were sentenced to 15 days in jail Tuesday.

Putin's comments Tuesday appeared to aimed at saving face and discouraging the opposition from seeing United Russia as vulnerable.

"Yes, there were losses, but they were inevitable," Putin said at a meeting of party supporters. "They are inevitable for any political force, particularly for the one which has been carrying the burden of responsibility for the situation in the country."

Putin also rejected the popular characterization of United Russia as "the party of crooks and thieves," saying corruption was a widespread problem not limited to a single party.

"They say that the ruling party is associated with theft, with corruption, but it's a cliche related not to a certain political force, it's a cliche related to power," he said during a meeting with provincial officials.

"What's important, however, is how the ruling government is fighting these negative things," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the Russian vote for a second straight day, saying Tuesday that "Russian voters deserve a full investigation of electoral fraud and manipulation."

Konstantin Kosachev, a senior United Russia member, described her statement as "one of the darkest pages in Russian-U.S. relations" and warned Washington against supporting the opposition.

Russia's only independent election monitoring group, Golos, which is funded by U.S. and European grants, came under heavy official pressure ahead of Sunday's vote after Putin likened Russian recipients of foreign support to Judas. Golos' website was incapacitated by hackers on election day, and its director Lilya Shibanova and her deputy had their cell phone numbers, email and social media accounts hacked.

The Russian election even drew criticism from one of Putin's predecessors.

"There is no real democracy here and there won't be any, if the government is afraid of the people," former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

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Vladimir Isachenkov and Jim Heintz contributed to this report.

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Obama thanks troops at July 4 party on South Lawn

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama welcome military families to an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 4, 2011. (AP Photo / AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

  By STACY A. ANDERSONWASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is marking the Fourth of July holiday by thanking service men and women for their sacrifices and service in protecting American freedoms.

Obama and his wife and two daughters are hosting a barbecue and concert on the South Lawn of the White House for more than 1,200 troops and family members.

The president told those at the Monday night celebration, "America is proud of all of you."

This is the third year the first family has celebrated July Fourth with service members and their families.

Providing the music: rock band Train, singer-songwriter Amos Lee and the U.S. Marine Band.

The concert is being presented by the USO, the United Service Organizations, now in its 70th year of providing support for Americans in the military.

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British, French helicopters strike Gadhafi troops

  By HADEEL AL-SHALCHIBENGHAZI, Libya -- British Apache and French attack helicopters struck targets for the first time in NATO's campaign in Libya, hitting Moammar Gadhafi's troops early Saturday near a key coastal oil city, the alliance said.

The action was a significant step-up in NATO's operations and a major boost to Libyan rebels, just a day after rebel fighters forced government troops from three western towns and broke the siege of a fourth in yet another erosion of Gadhafi's power since the eruption in mid-February of the uprising to end his 42-year rule.

NATO said the helicopters struck troops trying to hide in populated areas, military vehicles and equipment. Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of the Libya operation, said the engagement "demonstrates the unique capabilities brought to bear by attack helicopters."

Until now, NATO has relied on attack jets, generally flying above 15,000 feet (4,500 meters) - nearly three miles (five kilometers) high - and pounding Gadhafi targets in relentless overnight bombings.

The helicopters give the alliance a key advantage in close-up combat, flying at much lower altitudes.

The Apaches hit two targets near the eastern oil city of Brega, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense in London. It said they took off from HMS Ocean, stationed off the Libyan coast and returned safely after completing their mission in the early morning hours.

British Maj. Gen. Nick Pope said the Apaches targeted a radar installation and a military checkpoint. "Hellfire missiles and 30mm cannon were used to destroy the targets," he said.

Separately from the helicopters, Royal Air Force aircraft destroyed another military installation near Brega and two ammunition bunkers at the large Waddan depot in central Libya, Pope said.

Brega is of strategic importance to Libya's oil industry and lies on the coastal road along the Mediterranean that leads to the capital, Tripoli. In the early days of the uprising against Gadhafi, it went back and forth between rebel and loyalist hands, but later the front line settled to the east of the city, leaving Brega under Gadhafi's control.

Waddan lies southwest of Brega, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) from the coastline.

The French Gazelle and Tiger model attack helicopters took off from the helicopter transport ship Tonnerre in the Mediterranean, said Col. Thierry Burkhard. He said they struck 15 military vehicles and five military command buildings, without identifying the sites or their location.

Burkhard said the French helicopters came under light-arms fire but were not hit or damaged. The operation was aimed at putting "additional pressure on the Gadhafi forces who continue to threaten the civilian population," he said.

British Defense Secretary Liam Fox said Saturday that the "use of the attack helicopters is a logical extension" in NATO's campaign and indicated more would be used in the future.

"We will continue with the methods we have to degrade his (Gadhafi's) command and control, to degrade his supplies," Fox said from Singapore, where he was attending an Asian security conference.

The helicopter strikes came after Libyan rebels on Friday won control of four towns in the western Nafusa mountain range, where government forces have besieged and randomly shelled rebel-held areas for months.

The small rebel force in the western mountains is unlikely to threaten Gadhafi's hold on Tripoli, 45 miles (70 kilometers) northwest, but the victories could bring relief to local residents by opening up roads between their communities. The western mountain population is tiny compared with the large rebel-held territories in east Libya.

The head of the rebels' Transitional National Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said the NATO attacks were in accordance with the U.N.

resolution that authorized the international air campaign, but emphasized that the Apaches launched outside Libya.

"We welcome any measures to expedite the departure of Moammar Gadhafi but at the same time we maintain the sovereignty of the Libyan state," Abdul-Jalil told reporters on Saturday.

Abdul-Jalil and other rebel political leaders were to meet with visiting British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who arrived Saturday in the rebels' de facto capital, Benghazi. Hague and another British Cabinet minister, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, were also expected to meet with Libyan citizens in a visit that Hague said was meant to show support for those fighting Gadhafi's rule.

Hague is one of the highest-ranking foreign officials to visit rebel-held territory in eastern Libya.

The conflict in Libya appears at a stalemate after nearly four months. NATO airstrikes have kept the outgunned rebels from being overrun, but the rebels have been unable to mount an effective offensive against Gadhafi's better equipped armed forces.

Gadhafi's regime has been slowly crumbling from within. A significant number of army officers and several Cabinet ministers have defected, and most have expressed support for the opposition, but Gadhafi's hold on power shows little sign of loosening.

Gadhafi has been seen in public rarely and heard even less frequently since a NATO airstrike on his compound killed one of his sons on April 30. Questions are arising about the physical and mental state of the 69-year-old dictator, who has ruled Libya since 1969.

Rebels have turned down initiatives calling for cease-fires, insisting that Gadhafi and his sons must relinquish power and leave the country.

---
Associated Press writers Alex Kennedy in Singapore, David Stringer in London, Jamey Keaten in Paris and Don Melvin in Brussels contributed to this report.

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Pakistani troops hunt militants on naval base

  By ADIL JAWADKARACHI, Pakistan -- Pakistani commandos were close to regaining control of a naval base Monday as they hunted for any last holdouts among a team of Taliban militants who attacked and occupied the base for 15 hours, destroying two U.S.-supplied planes and killing 12 security officers.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault in the city of Karachi, which was a humiliating and costly blow to the army. The militants said it was revenge for the May 2 American raid that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and the insurgents were under orders to fight until the death.

"They do not want to come out alive, they have gone there to embrace martyrdom," said spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan.

Between 10 and 15 insurgents armed with grenades, rockets and automatic weapons stormed Naval Station Mehran late Sunday before splitting into smaller groups, setting off explosions and hiding in the sprawling facility.

The raid was one of the most audacious in years of militant violence in Pakistan. The insurgent's ability to penetrate the high-security facility rattled a military establishment already embarrassed by the unilateral American raid on bin Laden, and raised the possibility they had inside help.

It will also likely lead to more questions over the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. In 2009, Islamist terrorists stormed army headquarters close to the capital, holding hostages for 22 hours. But unlike the attack Sunday in Karachi, the attackers then failed to deeply penetrate the complex.

By Monday afternoon, another navy spokesman, Salman Ali, said that "apparently there is no more militant resistance." He said commandos would not announce an end to the operation until all the buildings in the sprawling complex had been searched.

At least 11 navy personnel and one paramilitary ranger were killed, while 14 security forces were wounded, Haq said, adding it was unclear how many militant casualties there were.

The attack resembled the 2008 siege of Mumbai, India, and a number of other similar raids in Pakistan in which heavily armed squads of insurgents go out in teams, occupy a property and fight to the death. It was one of the first such strikes in Karachi, the country's largest city and economic hub.

Haq earlier denied reports the militants had taken hostages and said by Monday morning they were confined to an office building, trading fire with commandos. Navy helicopters were flying over the base, and snipers were seen on a runway control tower.

"Because of the presence of several assets on the base, the operation is being carried out in a cautious, smart way," Haq said, referring to military aircraft. "That's why it's taking so long."

The unilateral U.S. raid on bin Laden's compound in the northwest Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad has triggered a strong backlash here against Washington, as well as rare domestic criticism of the armed forces for failing to detect or prevent the American operation. Pakistani leaders insist they had no idea the al-Qaida boss had been hiding in Abbottabad.

This is the third major attack the group has claimed since the bin Laden killing, including a car bombing that slightly injured American consulate workers in the northwest city of Peshawar and a twin-suicide attack that killed around 90 Pakistani paramilitary police recruits.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack, saying such a "cowardly act of terror could not deter the commitment of the government and people of Pakistan to fight terrorism."

The raid began with at least three loud explosions, which were heard by people who live around the naval air station.

It was unclear what caused the explosions, but they set off raging fires that could be seen from far in the distance. An Associated Press reporting team outside the base heard at least six other explosions and sporadic gunfire.

Authorities sent in several dozen navy and police commandos to battle the attackers, who responded with gunfire and grenades, said Salman Ali, another navy spokesman. At least two P-3C Orions, maritime surveillance aircraft given to Pakistan by the U.S., were destroyed, he said. The U.S. Navy puts the cost of the planes at $36 million each.

The United States handed over two Orions to the Pakistani navy at a ceremony at the base in June 2010 attended by 250 Pakistani and American officials, according to the website of the U.S.

Central Command. It said by late 2012, Pakistan would have eight of the planes.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said no Americans were on the base at the time of the raid.

Karachi, a city of around 18 million people, has not been spared the violence sweeping the country, despite being in the south and far from the northwest where militancy is at its strongest. In April, militants bombed three buses taking navy employees to work, killing at least nine people.

The Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have little direct public support, but the army and the government have struggled to convince the people of the need for armed operations against them. The militants' identification with Islam, strong anti-American rhetoric and support for insurgents in Afghanistan resonates with some in the country.

---
Associated Press writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar contributed to this report.

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US military: 2 troops killed in Iraq

  BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military says two American soldiers have been killed while conducting operations in central Iraq. They were the first to die this month.

The military statement released Sunday gave no further details about the deaths. The soldiers were killed on a day marked by a wave of deadly explosions around Baghdad that killed at least 16 people most of them Iraqi security forces.

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The military said the incident is being investigated.

The deaths raise to at least 4,454 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

That's according to an Associated Press count. Eleven were killed in April, a 15-month high.

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Syrian troops fire during protests

  By ZEINA KARAMBEIRUT -- Syrian security forces opened fire on protests around the country Friday in the latest sign the conflict could be moving toward a long and bloody stalemate as President Bashar Assad shrugged off tighter sanctions and U.S. calls to step aside. Human rights activists said at least 27 people were killed, including a 10-year-old boy.

The clashes indicate neither side appears able to tip the scales in the two-month uprising. Assad's forces have waged a relentless crackdown on the opposition, but protesters continue to face down security forces with marches seeking to break the Syrian leader's authoritarian rule.

Human rights groups say more than 850 people have been killed in the clashes and clampdowns.

Witnesses reported protests Friday in the central cities of Homs and Hama; outside the capital of Damascus, and the Mediterranean ports of Banias and Latakia.

Like most witnesses contacted by The Associated Press, the residents asked that their names not be used in fear of reprisals from the government.

Last week, mass arrests and heavy security kept crowds below previous levels seen during the uprising, suggesting Assad's sweeping campaign of intimidation was working. But the marches Friday suggested that opposition forces could be trying to regroup.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, directory of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Friday's protests were more widespread and larger than the previous week.

"There were large numbers from the south to the north to the suburbs, and there were protests in besieged cities and towns," he said. "Despite the heavy security and military presence in almost all these places, people staged protests calling for freedom. This is very significant."

Syrian human rights activist Mustafa Osso said witnesses also were reporting that the army deployed tanks around the northern town of Maaret al-Numan, which has seen intense protests. The Local Coordination Committees in Syria, which help organize the protests, said dozens of people were wounded in the town and hospitals were calling for blood donations.

Friday's death toll was reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group said 10 were killed in Homs, 11 in Maaret al-Numan, one in Latakia, two in the northeastern town of Deir el-Zour, one each in the southern villages of Sanamein and Harra and one in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

A 10-year-old boy was among the dead in Homs, Osso said.

Syria is coming under increasing pressure to end the crackdown, but the government has brushed off the criticism and new U.S. sanctions that have targeted Assad and senior aides.

In an address Thursday on the Arab world uprising, U.S.

President Barack Obama said that Assad should lead his country to democracy or "get out of the way."

Syria's official news agency said Obama's speech amounted to "incitement." Syria has blamed the unrest on armed thugs and foreign agitators.

Also Friday, leading Sunni Muslim cleric Sheik Karim Rajeh, the imam of Damascus's Al-Hassan mosque, said he will no longer lead Friday sermons because security forces have been preventing people from going to prayers. The weekly demonstrations mostly kick off after prayers.

Syria has banned foreign journalists and prevented local reporters from covering trouble spots, making it nearly impossible to independently verify witness accounts.

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Israeli troops clash with protesters on borders

A Hamas security officer uses a club to prevent protesters from reaching Erez Crossing during a march heading towards the border with Israel in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 15, 2011. Palestinian medics say one person was killed and 40 others were wounded in the demonstration in the Gaza Strip, commemorating the mass displacement of Palestinians during the war surrounding Israel's establishment in 1948. (AP Photo / AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

  By JOSEF FEDERMANJERUSALEM -- Israeli troops clashed with Arab protesters Sunday along three hostile borders, including the frontier with Syria, leaving at least 12 people dead and dozens wounded in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations marking a Palestinian day of mourning for their defeat at Israel's hands in 1948.

In the most serious incident, the Israeli military said thousands of protesters approached Syria's border with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and hundreds burst through the fence. Soldiers opened fire to stop them, the military said. Dozens were wounded and four were reported killed.

It was a rare incursion from the usually tightly controlled Syrian side, and Israeli officials accused Damascus of fomenting the violence in an attempt to divert attention from the deadly crackdown on protests within its borders against the rule of President Bashar Assad.

"The Syrian regime is intentionally attempting to divert international attention away from the brutal crackdown of their own citizens to incite against Israel," said Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman.

Israeli media reported that the incident was over by early evening, but the military did not immediately confirm that.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to act with "maximum restraint."

"But nobody should be mistaken. We are determined to defend our borders and sovereignty," he added in a brief address broadcast live on Israeli TV stations.

Sunday's unrest - which came after activists used Facebook and other websites to mobilize Palestinians and their supporters in neighboring countries to march on the border with Israel- marked the first time the protest tactics that have swept the Arab world in recent months have been directed at Israel.

Deadly clashes also took place along Israel's nearby northern border with Lebanon, as well as in the Gaza Strip, near Israel's southern border. The Israeli military said 13 soldiers were lightly wounded in the Lebanon and Syria clashes.

In addition, hundreds of Palestinian threw stones at Israeli police and burned tires at a checkpoint outside Jerusalem before they were dispersed.

The unrest came as the Palestinians marked the "nakba," or "catastrophe," the term they use to describe their defeat and displacement in the war at the time of Israel's founding in 1948.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted, and the dispute over the fate of the refugees and their descendants, now numbering several million, remains a key issue in the Mideast conflict.

It also comes at a critical time for U.S. Mideast policy.

President Barack Obama's envoy to the region, George Mitchell, resigned Friday, and the U.S. president may now have to retool the administration's incremental approach to peacemaking. Obama is to deliver a Mideast policy speech in the coming week.

Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war, and Syria demands the area back as part of any peace deal. Despite hostility between the two countries, the border has been quiet since the 1973 Mideast war.

In Egypt, the army set up at least 15 checkpoints - guarded by tanks and armored vehicles - on the road between the Egyptian town of El-Arish and the Gaza border city of Rafah, turning back all who were not residents of the area.

Israeli TV channels broadcast scenes, taken from Arab stations, of what appeared to be thousands of people gathering along the Syrian border with the Golan. In a statement, the military said "thousands of Syrian civilians" breached the border.

Israeli officials confirmed two of those who crossed the Syrian border were dead on the Israeli side, and two were reported dead in Syrian territory.

The protesters were believed to be Palestinians who live in refugee camps in Syria. Israel's Channel 2 TV interviewed one of those who crossed, who identified himself as a resident of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria. "I am Palestinian from Nazareth," a town in northern Israel, the man told the station.

By late afternoon, Israeli military officials said about 100 people had been caught and were being sent back to Syria. It was not known how many remained on the loose.

"The residents are in shock, they had no idea this was going to happen," Dolan Abu Salah, mayor of Majdal Shams, told Channel 10 TV. He said the town's residents, members of the Druse Arab sect, were neutral and did not want to get involved.

About 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the west, Israeli troops clashed with a large crowd of Lebanese demonstrators who approached the border. The military said it opened fire when protesters tried to damage the border fence. Lebanese security officials reported six dead.

It was one of the most serious incidents along the volatile border since Israel fought Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas during a monthlong war five years ago.

The shooting erupted at the tense border village of Maroun el-Rass, which saw some of the fiercest fighting in 2006. Thousands of Palestinian refugees had traveled to the village in buses adorned with posters that said: "We are returning." Many came from the 12 crowded refugee camps in Lebanon where some 400,000 Palestinian refugees live.

"Israel may be 63 years old today but its days are numbered," said Abbas Jomaa, 50, who was carrying his 4-year-old son on his shoulders and holding a Palestinian flag. "Sooner or later we will return."

Hundreds of Lebanese soldiers, U.N. peacekeepers and riot police deployed heavily in the area, taking up positions along the electric border fence and patrolling the area in military vehicles.

Young Hezbollah supporters wearing yellow hats and carrying walkie-talkies organized the entry to the village and handed out Palestinian flags.

Palestinian medics also said one person was killed and 65 others were wounded when demonstrators in the Gaza Strip tried to approach a heavily fortified border crossing into Israel. A second Palestinian was killed in a separate incident. Israel's military said he was trying to plant a bomb along the fence.

Inside Israel, police were on high alert for disturbances among the country's large Arab minority. In a reflection of the jitters, a deadly traffic incident involving an Arab truck driver in Tel Aviv set off fears that an attack had been carried out.

The truck plowed through a crowded street, crashing into a bus, several cars and pedestrians, killing one and injuring 16 others.

Police said the 22-year-old driver claimed it was an accident, but said they were still investigating.

"Based on the devastation and debris, we're still examining if it was carried out deliberately," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

---
Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Maroun al-Rass, Lebanon, and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

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