Russian airplane crashed near Donetsk, 170 people killed

ST. PETERSBURG, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Uncertainty remains over the number of passengers and crew who lost their lives when a Russian airliner crashed in stormy weather in eastern Ukraine Tuesday.

The Russian Emergency Situation Ministry and Ukraine's transport minister reported earlier Thursday that 171 bodies had been recovered from the crash site.

But Pulkovo Airlines, which owned the three-engine Tu-154 jet, reiterated Thursday that a total of 170 people were on board the plane when it came down and exploded in Ukraine Tuesday. It previously announced the figure on Wednesday.

The St.-Petersburg-based air company said: "According to our data, 170 passengers and crew had checked in for the flight."

The Soviet-designed Tu-154 was flying from the popular Black Sea resort of Anapa to Russia's second city, St. Petersburg, when it crashed 30 miles from the city of Donetsk with the loss of all the passengers - including 45 children - and crew.

Pulkovo said it was unlikely that a passenger had boarded the plane bypassing check-in, but promised to double-check the possibility the same day.

With a lightning strike being considered to be a possible cause of the tragedy, aviation officials also said Thursday they would start work to decipher the plane's flight recorders later on the day.

Thursday has been declared a day of mourning in Russia.

Passenger describes scene aboard diverted plane

WASHINGTON - A Northwest Airlines plane flying from Amsterdam to India was escorted back to the airport by Dutch F-16 fighter jets Wednesday, and police arrested 12 passengers whose behavior had aroused the crew's suspicion.

Coincidentally, among the 149 passengers aboard Northwest Flight NO0042 was the tipster who first alerted the FBI to al-Qaida operative Zacarias Moussaoui's odd behavior at a Minneapolis-area flight school five years ago.

Tim Nelson, who was seated in the forward business-class section, said by phone from Amsterdam that he watched the plane dump fuel as it circled back toward the airport, while several federal air marshals appeared in the front of the cabin, hanging their badges around their necks to keep order.

"It was tense," Nelson said, but he said the marshals never flashed weapons. He praised the marshals and flight crew for doing "an outstanding job."

Nelson said it remained unclear whether the flight crew was responding to a serious terrorist incident or "it was just a misunderstanding, where you had unsophisticated people flying."

U.S. government officials, who requested anonymity, said crew members and air marshals observed the passengers in the rear of the wide-bodied DC-10 trying to use cell phones and passing them around during and shortly after takeoff from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Cell phone use is barred on both U.S. and international flights. Some of the passengers also were trying to change seats, they said.

The Dutch Defense Ministry said that while the plane was over German airspace just after takeoff, the pilot radioed for permission to return to Schiphol and asked for an escort of jet fighters, the Associated Press reported. It said two F-16s scrambled from a northern military airfield, and routine security measures were swiftly put in place.

Nelson and a fellow flight-school program manager have been hailed as heroes for their phone calls that led to Moussaoui's Aug. 16, 2001, arrest and brought the FBI tantalizingly close to uncovering the Sept. 11 terror plot.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty to six conspiracy counts in 2005 and, after a jury narrowly spared him the death penalty last spring, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of release from a "supermax" prison in Colorado.

Dutch police spokesman Rob Staenacker told the AP that he couldn't disclose the nationalities of those arrested Wednesday or the nature of the suspicions against them. Nelson said he watched Dutch police come aboard in threes and escort a dozen men, 10 of them appearing to be of Pakistani or Middle Eastern descent, from the plane one by one in a remote parking area at the airport.

"Some they handcuffed before they took them out," he said. "One guy was a white guy, with a tie-dyed shirt, a beard and dreadlocks. He looked like a hippie. There was an older man who appeared to be of Indian descent."

A few of the others had beards, and some were dressed in shalwar kameez - traditional long shirts and baggy pants, Nelson said.

The incident was the latest of several terror alerts and flight diversions in the two weeks since British police shut down an alleged Islamic plot to smuggle liquid explosives aboard aircraft and detonate them, possibly with cell phones.

Nelson said he was with a flight crew for a Northwest subsidiary, Classic Aviation, en route to Bombay, India, to ferry a plane with a mechanical problem back to an Amsterdam repair facility.

About 15 minutes into the flight, he said, members of the cabin crew hurried past him and stood in the front of the cabin, pointing to the rear.

Nelson said the lead flight attendant then made an announcement over the plane's broadcast system advising everyone to remain in his or her seats.

"They needed to get a head count. People were moving around in the back, and they needed to get back in their proper seats," Nelson said.

Then the flight attendant made a second announcement, saying that something was going on and that air marshals were aboard.

Nelson said several marshals stood near him at the front of the cabin, but he couldn't see what was going on behind him. Nelson said he and his fellow crewmembers advised flight attendants that they were available to help if needed, but that was unnecessary because everyone remained calm.

Bombers targeted U.S. flights; Terrorists planned to use drink bottles: U.S

Bombers targeted U.S. flights; Terrorists planned to use drink bottles: U.S

CAROLINE MALLAN

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

British tactical officers stand guard outside London's
Ministry of Defence Aug. 10. The entire British capital
was in a heightened state of readiness after this
morning's terror arrests.


British police carry out forensic investigations at a
house in the Waltham stow area of north London,
during a raid by British police

Thursday Aug. 10, 2006.

LONDON - The terrorist attack foiled by British authorities today was aimed at blowing up as many as 10 airplanes on transatlantic flights and plotters had hoped to stage a dry run within the next two days, U.S. intelligence officials said.

The actual attack would have followed within days. Early reports allege the involvement of the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, or LeT.

The test run was designed to see whether the plotters would be able to smuggle the needed materials aboard the planes, the officials said. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.

As a result of the revelations, much of the world was plunged into a full-scale terror alert.

British authorities arrested 24 people based partly on intelligence from Pakistan, where authorities detained up to three others several days earlier. More arrests were expected, the official said. The suspects were believed to be mainly British Muslims, at least some of Pakistani ancestry, and the official said some had gone to Pakistan recently.

A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said the suspects, whose ages ranged from 17 to the mid-30s, were looking to sneak at least some chemicals on the planes in sports drink bottles. Teams of at least two or three men were assigned to each flight, the schedules for which they had researched on the Internet, the official said.

A U.S. law-enforcement official in Washington said at least one martyrdom tape was found during continuing raids across England on Thursday. Such a tape, as well as the scheme to strike a range of targets at roughly the same time, is an earmark of al Qaeda.

Raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England. Searches continued throughout the day and police cordoned off streets in several locations. Police also combed a wooded area in High Wycombe.

Hamza Ghafoor, 20, who lives across the street from one of the homes raided in Walthamstow, northeast of London, said police circled the block in vans Wednesday and they generally swoop into the neighbourhood to question “anyone with a beard.”

“(He) didn’t do nothing wrong,” Ghafoor said, referring to a suspect.

“He played football. He goes to the mosque.”

“He’s a nice guy.”

U.S. counter-terrorism officials said United, American, and Continental airlines bound for New York, Washington and California were targeted by the terrorists. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the individuals plotted to detonate liquid explosive devices on as many as 10 aircraft bound for the United States.

A British police official said the suspects were “homegrown,” though it was not clear if they were all British citizens. He said authorities were working with Britain’s large South Asian community.

In Paris, French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy said the group “appears to be of Pakistani origin,” but did not provide the source of his information. Britain’s Home Office, which announced the arrests, refused comment.

In Pakistan, an intelligence official said an Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago provided a lead that played a role in “unearthing the plot” that helped British authorities arrest suspects in Britain.

A senior Pakistani government official said “two or three local people” suspected in the plot were arrested a few days ago in Lahore and Karachi.

Early news reports in the U.K. singled out Continental, American and United airlines as the targeted carriers for the waves of simultaneous attacks, 10 of which were allegedly planned in total.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the terrorists planned to use liquid explosives disguised as beverages and other common products and detonators disguised as electronic devices.

In response, many world airports _ including Canada - banned carry-on luggage. And no liquid - bottle water, soda pop, coffee - save for baby formula is being allowed into the cabin.

Heathrow was closed to most flights from Europe, and British Airways cancelled all its flights between the airport and points in Britain, Europe and Libya. Numerous flights from U.S. cities to Britain were cancelled.

There are also delays at Toronto's Pearson International Airport as new security measures forced back-ups in loading passengers.

Planes to New York, for example, were being delayed by up to an hour because of the increased security, the Star's Sunaya Sapurji reported from New York.

"The problem in Toronto was that the flight crew also had to go through increased security and that held up our plane," she said from New York's LaGuardia Aiport.

"Here in New York, it's insane. The lineup to go through the security gates is so long that it's stretched almost out to the baggage claim area, although a security officer I spoke to said domestic flights are only delayed about 30 minutes at this point."

Sapurji said security personnel at Pearson were going around the terminal, as well as making announcements over the loudspeakers, asking passengers checking in to get rid of any liquids they might have in their carry-on luggage.

"People had to either finish or throw away bottled water or coffee before they were allowed to board."

Canadian officials said the increased security measures would be in effect for at least 72 hours.

Tony Douglas, Heathrow’s managing director, said the airport hoped to resume normal operations Friday, but international passengers would still face delays and a ban on cabin baggage "for the foreseeable future."

British authorities only began publishing the perceived risk of a terror threat last month – a year after London’s transportation system was targeted by suicide bombers who killed 52 commuters - and yesterday raised the alert to critical, the highest possible level. That effectively means that police consider the country to be under attack.

The suspects were “homegrown,” though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a British police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian community, the official said.

The suicide bombing assault on London subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, was carried out by Muslim extremists who grew up in Britain.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is on vacation in Barbados and reportedly phoned U.S. President George W. Bush overnight to tell him about the terror sweep that was underway.

At Heathrow this morning, travelers were coping with the prospect of long delays and heightened security with considerable understanding.

Janet Kellogg, her husband Dennis and daughter Katelyn were lining up to check in for their American Airlines flight home to Chicago after spending 10 days on a cruise around the British Isles.

"They’re telling us what they can and they’re doing the best they can and you can’t ask for much more," Janet Kellogg said of the large number of airline and airport security staff on hand to answer questions from beleaguered passengers.

Kellogg said she and her family will not be deterred from flying despite the abrupt end to the holiday.

"When it’s your time, it’s your time and these people aren’t going to stop us from living our lives. It’s as simple as that from my point of view," she said.

All hand luggage was banned from all flights taking off in Britain. Only passports, small wallets and essential medication and eyeglasses were allowed on the planes. Permitted items had to be put in clear plastic bags being distributed by security staff.

At security, each passenger was being hand-searched and all shoes were removed for inspection.

All liquids were banned with the exception of bottled baby milk and formula, which parents were required to drink in front of security staff before being allowed to board the plane.

Similar new security measures were being enacted in airports across North America.

Even airline staff, including pilots, were carrying their passports and security tags in clear plastic bags.

Michael and Anne Marie Gibbons were waiting for news on their cancelled flight from London to Donegal in Ireland.

Traveling with two small children, Anne Marie Gibbons said not being able to take games, books and toys on board the plane would be a challenge.

"We’re lucky it’s only a short flight, so we’ll be fine once we eventually get going," she said, adding that she feels for parents facing long-haul flights with no way to amuse their children.

The security operation in London extended beyond the city’s four airports to major train stations as well.

At London’s Paddington station, where passengers catch an express train to Heathrow, armed police were inspecting passports and luggage on the platforms before allowing passengers to board the trains.

At all airports, police sniffer dogs were visible, as were armed tactical unit officers.

At Heathrow’s Terminal 1, where most flights for the day were cancelled, police had to block off the entrances to the terminal because of the number of people filling the departure hall.

At the Air Canada check-in at Heathrow’s Terminal 3, students Hilary Weddell and Jordan Schriner, both 19, were hoping to board their flight home to Vancouver after spending a year in Britain volunteering at local schools.

The pair said they heard the news on the radio first thing this morning and were waiting to phone their families in Kamloops once they had a better idea of what was going on.

"I’m pretty nervous and I am really looking forward to getting home, it’s been a year," said Weddell of the long delay ahead of her. "I don’t want to worry my family until I know more, so I’ll hold off and call once it’s morning there."

Dorothy and Paul Ryan from Birmingham were in the snaking line-up for a flight to Toronto for their first trans-Atlantic trip and a two-week vacation touring Canada.

"I figure this is one of the safest days to fly, they’re being very careful," said Paul Ryan of the trip ahead of them.

Dorothy Ryan said while the news was upsetting, she and her fellow travelers understood that the security precautions needed to be taken.

British Home Secretary John Reid made the dramatic announcement about the terror arrests in a televised early morning address, an extremely unusual step for a British cabinet minister.

"Overnight, the police have carried out a major counterterrorism operation to disrupt what we believe to be a major threat to the U.K. and international partners," a stone-faced Reid told reporters. "The police, acting with the security police MI5, are investigating an alleged plot to bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life."

The deputy commissioner at Scotland Yard, Paul Stephenson, went even further, saying that the plans amounted to "mass murder on an unimaginable scale."

"We believe that the terrorists’ aim was to smuggle explosives onto airplanes in hand luggage and to detonate these in-flight," Stephenson told reporters.

Early reports allege the involvement of the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and say that some of the accused may have travelled abroad for training.

The home of the group’s former leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, was raided this morning. But officials did not connect this raid and Saeed’s house arrest with the London case.

Saeed is being detained for what Pakistani officials say are “security reasons.” He led LeT until the group was banned in 2002 and is currently the leader of the Jamaat al-Dawat group.

Saeed was expected to lead a rally at a public park in Lahore on Saturday to mark Pakistan’s independence from British rule on Aug. 14, 1947, Associated Press reports.

LeT was formed as a Pakistani separatist group fighting for independence in Kashmir against India. India’s intelligence agency has accused the group of orchestrating last month’s synchronized train bombings that killed 182 people in Bombay and claim the group is internationally funded with a base in London.

In recent years, Western intelligence agencies have warned that the group intends on taking its fight beyond the borders of Kashmir, and have aligned with the Taliban and support an “Al Qaeda ideology.”

There are also unconfirmed reports of new camps run by the group in Bangladesh, close to the border with India.

Both Canada and Britain have designated LeT as a terrorist organization.
With files from the star's Michelle Shephard and the Associated Pre

France takes lead role on Lebanon

France is at the centre of intense diplomatic
efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Lebanon,
in the face of grave risks that the conflict could
spread out of control. Does France hold the key to
peace in the Middle East?

France now has the key role, with the US, in achieving a ceasefire agreement through the UN Security Council.

French diplomats speak of the need to take due account of Lebanese and other Arab states' objections to the draft UN resolution, as well as core Israelidemands. They face a painfully hard task to reconcile the wishes of
both sides.

France's big foreign policy idea also faces its toughest test yet: it is that the US has destabilised the Middle East through its mistakes, like the invasion of Iraq, and that France can do better as the champion of an alternative European strategy.

The reputation of French President Jacques Chirac is at stake, too. His dismally low support rating shows signs of improving thanks to recent high-profile French diplomacy.

Mr Chirac may hope to score a dramatic international success before next May, when his long political career is expected to end. Success or failure over Lebanon could spell the difference between glory and shame for him and his Gaullist ideas about shaping the world.

US challenged

So while the world watches in dismay the latest outbreak of a deep-rooted armed conflict across the Israel-Lebanon border, another long-standing rivalry is being played out from New York to Beirut - the diplomatic
struggle between the US and France.

The French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, revealed the huge importance Paris attaches to this contest.

"An important victory for French diplomacy" is how he described the 1 August agreement by EU foreign ministers to follow the logic of France, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

France insisted there could be no military solution to the crisis - so Israel must stop the shooting, as well as Hezbollah. The French also led European protests at what was called Israel's "disproportionate" military response to Hezbollah's provocation.

But the Americans, backed by Britain, placed top priority on allowing Israel to severely weaken Hezbollah for its own long-term security - by that logic an early ceasefire should not be imposed on Israeli forces before that goal is achieved.

The circumstances of this crisis uniquely favour a central role for France:

• France is the former colonial power in Lebanon, and a self-styled "friend of the Arab world"; it is the only Western power to have cultivated close links with Arab governments of all kinds, including the former regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq

• America is politically weakened: militarily stretched in Iraq, and widely seen as having lost the moral authority needed to dictate events
  
• Britain, the other ex-great power in the region, is seen in the Arab world as compromised by its closeness to the US. It has declined to send troops to a multinational force for Lebanon, leaving France as first choice to lead it.

This could just be a French win-win situation. Their Lebanon diplomacy is helping to mend bruised relations with the Americans.

But Mr Douste-Blazy has also openly fuelled the impression that his country is seeking to fulfil an old ambition - to replace US dominance in global affairs with a European alternative led by France.

He hailed recent events as proof that "a political Europe exists", and that we live in a "multipolar world" - a phrase much used by President Chirac to challenge American authority in 2003 over the invasion of Iraq.

EU support

The active French stance enjoys wide support in the European Union. Many leaders are frustrated or angry about what they see as America's culpable failure to advance the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians - the key element needed for the region's long-term stability.

Most Arab states would also welcome a bigger European say in the region's affairs.

Europe has also offered - yet again - to help rebuild Lebanon once the violence is over.

Informally, it is said that France might provide 5,000 troops for a multinational force of around 15,000 in southern Lebanon.

Yet France must also weigh up the acute military and diplomatic risks in taking on the lead role in any outside effort to sort out the Lebanon crisis on the ground:

• Peacekeeping: whatever UN resolutions may say about a ceasefire binding on Israel and Hezbollah forces, any peacekeeping mission in Lebanon will be dangerous. France lost 58 marines killed in a suicide bombing in Beirut in 1983, during an earlier attempt to impose order; the US suffered 241 deaths on the same day
  
  Like France, other nations including Turkey, Norway and Italy say any commitment to send troops to Lebanon would be conditional on satisfactory terms. Germany, the largest EU state, has ruled itself out because of other commitments and sensitivities towards Israel related to the Nazi-era Holocaust

Syria: France's traditionally strong ties with Damascus may be useless, after the two nations fell out over Syria's alleged role in last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the forced withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Yet without Syrian consent no long-term settlement will be secure

Iranian contradictions: France is committed, with the EU and US, to a tough stance towards Iran over its nuclear programme. Yet Iran, as Hezbollah's other main backer, has the power to wreck any agreement and to threaten Israel. The contradiction was plain when the French foreign minister met his Iranian counterpart in Beirut and lauded Iran as a "stabilising force" in the region

• The French homeland: Mr Chirac says he fears angry Muslim passions over the Middle East may be imported into France itself; that risk would grow if France leads a controversial peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

France has won general praise for being willing to lead efforts to bring peace to Lebanon. But the hardest part still lies ahead.

New push into Lebanon by Israel

BOURJ AL-MULOUK, Lebanon - Israel renewed airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs Thursday, and Hezbollah retaliated by firing more than 130 rockets at northern Israel, killing at least seven people in Acre and Maalot. It was the bloodiest day in Israel since eight people were killed July 16 near a train maintenance depot.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a taped television speech that his guerrillas are "fighting until the last breath and last bullet." But Nasrallah also offered to stop firing rockets on Israeli cities if Israel stops attacks on Lebanese towns.

Three weeks into the conflict, six Israeli brigades — roughly 10,000 troops — were locked in fighting with hundreds of Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon, and the battle looked likely to be long and bitter.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz told top army officers Thursday to prepare to push Israeli control 18 miles into south Lebanon to the Litani River, senior military officials said.

Launching the next phase of the operation would require further approval by Israel's Security Cabinet.

The army said that it already had taken up positions as far as five miles inside Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said more than 900 people had been killed and 3,000 wounded, but he did not say whether the new figure — up from 520 confirmed dead — included people missing.

More than 1 million people, a quarter of Lebanon's population, have been displaced, he said, adding that the fighting "is taking an enormous toll on human life and infrastructure, and has totally ravaged our country and shattered our economy."

At the United Nations, France circulated a revised resolution calling for an immediate cessation of Israeli-Hezbollah hostilities.

It also spells out conditions for a lasting solution to the crisis, including: deploying peacekeepers; creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon free of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops; the release of two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah; and the "settlement of the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel."

So far, Washington has resisted calls for a cease-fire without simultaneous steps to deploy peacekeepers and tackle Hezbollah's disarmament. France insists the fighting be halted first to pave the way for a wider peace.

Elsewhere, an emergency meeting of the Islamic world's biggest bloc demanded that the United Nations implement an immediate cease-fire and investigate what it called Israel's flagrant human rights violations. Iran's hardline president said the obliteration of Israel would cure the Middle East's woes.

Amid the diplomatic wrangling, Hezbollah's chief spokesman said his group will not agree to a cease-fire until all Israeli troops leave Lebanon.

"Declaring a cease-fire is not the concern of the people of Lebanon as long as there is one Israeli soldier on Lebanese soil ... It is the right of every Lebanese to fight until liberation," Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal said in a live interview with Al-Jazeera television.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his country would stop its offensive only after international peacekeepers were in place in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army said its soldiers had taken up positions in or near 11 towns and villages across south Lebanon as they try to carve out a five-mile-wide Hezbollah-free zone ahead of deployment of a multinational force there.

Most of the villages are near the Israel-Lebanon border; the one deepest inside Lebanon, Majdel Zoun, is about four miles from the frontier. However, many tanks pushed farther north, controlling open areas from higher ground, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation.

In fighting Thursday:

_Three Israeli soldiers were killed when a rocket hit their tank in the Lebanese border village of Rajmil, the army said.

_In the border village of Taibeh, an Israeli missile crashed into a two-story house, killing a couple and their daughter, Lebanese security officials said. Guerrillas clashed with Israeli troops, destroying a tank and two bulldozers and wounding its crew members, Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said. The Israeli army said only a tank was lightly hit.

_In the first air raids on Beirut in almost a week, witnesses said at least four missiles hit the southern suburb of Dahieh, a Shiite Muslim area repeatedly shelled by Israel. Lebanese television said the attacks targeted a Hezbollah compound that includes a center for religious teaching. The compound already was damaged by earlier raids.

_In the southern town of Nabatiyeh, Israeli jets struck an ambulance working for a local Muslim group. Two people were injured in Israeli air raids on villages nearby, and artillery landed near a Lebanese army base in the town, Lebanese security officials said.

_Israeli warplanes fired more than a dozen missiles at roads and suspected guerrilla hideouts in the southeastern town of Rashaya, the security officials said. They said the attacks were part of Israel's strategy to destroy Lebanon's infrastructure.

_Other strikes hit targets near the northern border with Syria overnight, Lebanese radio said. It was the second attack in the area in 24 hours, after a bridge linking the zone to the northern port of Tripoli was destroyed Wednesday.

On Wednesday, two Israeli soldiers were killed and four wounded in heavy ground battles around the southern village of Ayt a-Shab, the Israeli military said Thursday. It said four Hezbollah fighters were killed and two wounded; there was no confirmation from Hezbollah.

Also Wednesday, Hezbollah landed its deepest hits yet, with missiles landing in the West Bank and Beit Shean, Israel, about 42 miles from the border. An Israeli-American man was killed and 21 others were wounded as Hezbollah fired a record 230 rockets.

Meanwhile, an Israeli military inquiry into the bombing Sunday of a building in the southern village of Qana, which killed mostly women and children, admitted a mistake but charged that Hezbollah guerrillas used civilians as shields.

"Had the information indicated that civilians were present ... the attack would not have been carried out," a statement from the inquiry said.

While Lebanese officials said 56 died in Qana, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday there were 28 known dead and 13 missing. The AP on Thursday interviewed officials in the Lebanese Red Cross and Civil Defense Corps and reached the same numbers. George Kitane, head of Lebanese Red Cross paramedics, said 19 children were among the dead.

Using those revised totals from Qana, at least 520 Lebanese have been killed since the fighting began three weeks ago, including 445 civilians confirmed dead by the Health Ministry, 25 Lebanese soldiers and at least 46 Hezbollah guerrillas.

In all, 67 Israelis have been confirmed dead — 41 soldiers in fighting, 26 civilians killed in Hezbollah rocket attacks.

The prospect of a longer war already has raised tensions across the Mideast, where anti-Israeli and anti-American hostility is high.

In Malaysia, leaders of key countries in the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference issued a declaration calling for a U.N.-implemented cease-fire and warning that the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting would fan Muslim radicalism worldwide.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who has in the past called for Israel to be wiped off the map — said "the main solution (to the Mideast conflict) is for the elimination of the Zionist regime." He added that all Muslim states should cut political and economic ties with Israel and "isolate" the United States and Britain for supporting the attacks against Lebanon.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, a key U.S. ally, issued an ominous warning to America and Israel that the prolonged battle in Lebanon has weakened moderates all across the Mideast. Even if Hezbollah is destroyed, the hostility toward Israel is so high that another such group may pop up in Syria, Egypt, Iraq — or even his own country, King Abdullah II, a key U.S. ally, said, according to published reports.

"The Arab people see Hezbollah as a hero because it's fighting Israel's aggression," he said. "This is a fact that the U.S. and Israel must realize: As long as there is aggression, there's resistance and there's popular support for this resistance."