World datelines

Afghanistan

KANDAHAR — Gunmen kidnapped six government soldiers in a former Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan and dumped their bullet-ridden bodies in a canal, a local official said Thursday.

Colombia

BOGOTA — A U.S.-donated military helicopter crashed Thursday while flying in thick fog during a nighttime counternarcotics mission in southwest Colombia, killing all 20 soldiers aboard, the army said.

Germany

FRANKFURT — German police arrested three more suspected Muslim extremists Thursday in connection with an illegal network that faked passports and recruited people for Islamic holy war, Munich prosecutors said.

Iran

TEHRAN — Iranian officials vowed to carefully watch for any attempted espionage by international inspectors, who on Thursday were visiting a military complex that the United States alleges may be involved in nuclear weapons research.

Ireland

DUBLIN — Police confirmed Thursday that a body found in a wooded ravine is that of an 11-year-old boy abducted last week, fanning fears among parents in Ireland, a country with little experience of deadly abductions of children. Robert Holohan's body was discovered Wednesday in a ravine near a beach 11 miles east of the boy's home in Midleton, County Cork.

North Korea

A U.S. congressional delegation met North Korean officials Thursday in an effort to persuade the communist regime to rejoin six-party talks over halting its nuclear weapons programs. The last talks were held in June.

Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — Authorities imposed a round-the-clock curfew in a second, remote town in northern Pakistan on Thursday to contain sectarian unrest that has left 17 people dead, officials said.

Russia

MOSCOW — A Russian passenger plane with 10 people on board went missing Thursday on a flight over Siberia, officials said.

Saudi Arabia