IN BRIEF

Taiwan pilots rescued after plane crash

TAIPEI: Two military pilots were rescued after their twin-seat trainer aircraft went down in the south of Taiwan during a routine training mission, the island's defence ministry said yesterday. The AT-3 trainer collided with a plane of the same type in Pingtung county at about 4 pm, but the pilots managed to eject before it crashed, the ministry said in a statement. They parachuted to the ground with minor injuries and were rushed to a local hospital for treatment, it said.

Seven Pakistani soldiers killed

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN: Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed and three others wounded in a Taliban attack on their check post in the country's northwestern tribal belt, security officials said yesterday. The overnight attack on Shidano Dand post in the Kurram region triggered clashes in which 18 militants were also killed, according to a senior military official.

Sri Lankan migrants trickling home: IOM

GENEVA: Some of the 209 Sri Lankans who were detained in Togo after being abandonned by human traffickers are set to go home, the International Organisation for Migration said yesterday. "Following their arrest, the 209, which included 18 women and 11 children, were detained in a Lome stadium in the care of the Togolese Red Cross," IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy said at a press briefing.

NATO moves to curb Taliban infiltrators

BRUSSELS: NATO military commanders will beef up security measures to prevent insurgents from infiltrating the Afghan army after French troops were killed by a renegade soldier, the alliance chief said yesterday. NATO defence ministers endorsed a French proposal to task military authorities with devising new plans before the end of the month as they wrapped up two days of talks focused on the decade-old war.

Nepal begins releasing Maoist ex-rebels

KATHMANDU: The first of thousands of former Maoist fighters to accept pay-offs to leave camps that have housed them since the end of the country's civil war in 2006 moved out yesterday. Their departures follow a new peace deal struck late last year with former rebels offering the 19,000 fighters a way out of the camps. They have three options - voluntary retirement payoff, integration into the army, or a rehabilitation package. Agencies