BAGHDAD

Two attacks by insurgents leave four policemen dead

Four policemen were killed in two separate attacks in Iraq on Sunday in the latest strikes by insurgents against security forces, officials said.

A police officer in Ninevah province said gunmen opened fire on a security checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, killing three policemen. The gunmen escaped unhurt after the attack.

Hours earlier, a car bomb exploded on a police patrol in the Iraqi capital, killing one policeman and wounding five people, including three policemen, said Baghdad police.

Hospital medics confirmed the death and injury toll. All officials spoke under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Violence has ebbed in Iraq, but security forces are frequently targeted by insurgents. Many attacks are attributed to al-Qaida’s local wing in Iraq, which seeks to undermine the government and reclaim areas where U.S. forces and their local allies drove them out.

EL-ARISH, Egypt

Militants storm border post, kill up to 16 Egyptian officers

As many as 16 Egyptian police officers were killed Sunday when militants stormed a police post near the border with Israel and hijacked two armored vehicles in a brazen attack against security forces in the increasingly lawless north Sinai peninsula.

The assault, which wounded at least seven police officers and border patrolmen, came around dusk when gunmen rushed an outpost after officers had broken their Ramadan fast. The Israeli army said militants stole two armored vehicles and began driving toward the Israeli border.

One of the vehicles, which may have been deployed as a suicide bomb, exploded before it entered Israel. The second vehicle was targeted by an Israeli airstrike. Some militants escaped the wreckage and were rounded up by Israeli forces. It was not clear how many gunmen were killed or wounded.

The nationality of the attackers was not immediately disclosed, but in recent months north Sinai has become a recruiting ground for Palestinian militants connected to Hamas and other radical groups in the Gaza Strip. Hamas denied involvement in the ambush and said in a statement that it “condemns the ugly crime” against Egyptian forces.

PORT ROYAL, Jamaica

Jamaica braces for winds, heavy rain from Ernesto

PORT ROYAL, Jamaica – Fishermen near Jamaica’s capital tied wooden skiffs down along a rocky shore Sunday as a poorly organized Tropical Storm Ernesto spun past the Caribbean country’s southern coast on a path expected to carry it by Honduras and across the Yucatan Peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico.

Emergency officials said some eastern parts of Jamaica were drenched by rain from Ernesto and that more heavy rainfall and gusty winds were likely as the rapidly moving storm passed by, though U.S. forecasters said it was becoming less organized.

Jamaica’s emergency management agency urged people in flood-prone areas to be on alert and avoid flooded waterways and submerged roads. The government earlier ordered fishermen on outlying cays to evacuate and move to the main island.

Forecasters said Ernesto could dump up dump 2 to 4 inches of rain on the island of less than 3 million people before moving on to begin drenching the coast of Honduras late Monday.

JACKSON, Miss.

Official seeks all-county ban on wearing of saggy pants

As a Jackson City councilman, Kenneth Stokes failed to pass a ban on saggy pants. Now he’s a Hinds County supervisor, and pushing for a countywide ban.

The supervisors will hold a public hearing about the proposal Monday morning. The American Civil Liberties Union plans a protest before the hearing.

Stokes said saggy pants can be a bad influence on younger people.

The civil liberties group says such bans unfairly target black men and are unconstitutional restrictions of freedom of expression.

— From news service reports