WORLD BRIEFS

SOMALIA/Clash kills at least 20

At least 20 people were killed Friday after an intense battle between government forces and Islamic insurgents in the Somali capital, medical officials said. Friday's fighting follows a lull of about two weeks, since scores of civilians were killed in two days of violence in the capital. Military spokesman Col. Ibrahim Kalmoy said the fighting started when insurgents attacked government soldiers in southern Mogadishu in the Taleh area. Ali Muse, of Mogadishu's ambulance service, said staff counted at least 15 civilians killed. Islamic insurgents control much of Mogadishu and have been trying to topple the government for three years.

PERU/Landslides kill 28

Landslides caused by heavy rains have hit two towns in northeastern Peru, killing at least 28 people and leaving 25 others missing, regional officials said Friday. At least 54 people were injured. Civil defense chief Hipolito Cruchaga said a landslide in the town of Porvenir killed 23 people Friday and rescuers were still hunting for 25 more. He said 54 people were injured and 120 houses damaged. A mudslide Thursday killed five people in the town of Cancejos, Cruchaga said.

RUSSIA/Revenge bombing

A Russian newspaper indicated that one of the two female suicide bombers who struck Moscow's subway may have been out to avenge her husband, an Islamic militant killed by Russian forces. Russian investigators said one of the attackers was a 17-year-old widow named Dzhanet Abdurakhmanova. They did not confirm that the photo published in the Kommersant newspaper was that of the bomber. Kommersant published what it said was a picture of Abdurakhmanova, also known as Abdullayeva, dressed in a black Muslim headscarf and holding a Makarov pistol. The image was broadcast on all nationwide television networks. A man with his arm around her was identified as Umalat Magomedov, whom the paper described as an Islamist militant leader killed by government forces in December.