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Iraq

Radical cleric easesthreat of showdown

BAGHDAD — Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for an end to Iraqi bloodshed on Friday and said his threat of an "open war" applies only to U.S.-led foreign troops — stepping back from a full-blown confrontation with the government over a crackdown against his followers.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, took a hard line against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and other illegally armed groups, setting conditions for stopping military operations against them that included surrendering weapons.

Al-Sadr's new message, which was read during prayers and posted on his Web site, eased fears that the anti-U.S. cleric was planning to lift a nearly 8-month-old cease-fire, a move that would jeopardize security gains.

"If we have threatened an open war until liberation, we meant a war against the occupier," the cleric said in the statement. Al-Sadr is believed to be in Iran.

Mahdi Army fighters have clashed daily with U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces since al-Maliki launched a crackdown against militias on March 25. Last week, al-Sadr issued what he called a "final warning" to the Shiite-led government to halt its offensive or face an "open war until liberation."

But Friday's sermon appeared to be an attempt to ease the showdown.

In brief

Egypt

U.S.-contracted ship fires warning in Gulf

CAIRO — A civilian ship contracted by the U.S. military fired warning shots at two small boats that approached it in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy said Friday, the latest in a string of similar incidents to trigger concern in Washington.

The U.S. military has been wary of small boats operating near its ships since an explosive-laden vessel rammed the USS Cole as it refueled off Yemen in 2000, killing 17 sailors.

Those fears were heightened in recent months by several incidents in the Persian Gulf's narrow Strait of Hormuz, where small Iranian boats have approached American warships despite warnings to alter course. Senior U.S. military officials have warned Iran about the risk of triggering an unintended conflict if its boats continue to confront American ships.

The Navy said it does not know whether the two boats that approached the Western Venture cargo ship on Thursday were from Iran. Iranian officials have denied their vessels were involved.

Last month, a U.S. Navy-contracted ship fired warning shots at approaching motor boats in the Suez Canal, accidentally killing an Egyptian citizen.

Pakistan

Government, Taliban to pursue peace talks

PESHAWAR — Pakistan's new government and Taliban militants said Friday they would press ahead with peace talks despite American skepticism and a militant bombing that killed three people at a police station.

A spokesman for an umbrella group of Pakistani militants defended the car bombing by saying the militants maintained their right to carry out revenge killings, a glaring exception to a cease-fire declared by the group in response to the peace talks.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Umar also insisted the group would continue to support attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan, even though a senior Pakistani intelligence official said the proposed peace deal would forbid them.

A U.S. State Department spokesman compared the talks to previous deals between militants and President Pervez Musharraf, deals that broke down last year amid sharp criticism from U.S. officials that militants were only regrouping and plotting more attacks.

"We'll see what this policy proposal yields," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "There have been attempts in this regard that have not succeeded."

After the deals broke down, Musharraf used heavy firepower against Taliban militants and their al-Qaida allies. Pakistan's 5-week-old civilian administration is seeking to distance itself from that U.S.-backed approach, which many here argue only fueled militancy.

Austria

U.S. criticized over Syrian nuclear effort

VIENNA — The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency chastised the United States on Friday for withholding information on what Washington says was a nuclear reactor being built secretly in Syria with help from North Korea.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei also criticized Israel for bombing the alleged nuclear facility site seven months ago.

ElBaradei issued a strongly worded statement that reflected his anger about being kept out of the loop about Washington's investigation of the site and the alleged North Korean assistance.

ElBaradei and the Bush administration have clashed before.

In the runup to the Iraq war, he challenged U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. In 2005, Washington made a failed attempt to prevent ElBaradei's re-election.

Sri Lanka

24 killed in bomb blast on busy bus

COLOMBO — A bomb hidden on the baggage rack of a packed, rush-hour bus exploded Friday evening outside Colombo, killing 24 people in an attack the military blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels.

Ambulances with sirens wailing flooded a nearby hospital, where off-duty doctors and nurses ran in to help the 40 people who were wounded in the blast. One hospital was so overwhelmed, it had to divert some of the injured to a second medical center.

Among the dead brought to the morgue was a Buddhist monk and a child.

—From wire reports