WORLD BRIEFS

HAITI: 4 killed in helicopter crash

A Spanish military helicopter crashed in rugged terrain in Haiti on Friday, killing the four soldiers on board, the United Nations said. The aircraft, identified by Spanish media as a Bell AB-212, crashed in the Fond Verrettes area about 30 miles from Port-au-Prince near Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic. All aboard were found dead after Spanish and U.S. military teams reached the site, a UN peacekeeping mission spokesman said. Spain's Defense Ministry said the chopper was one of four based on a Spanish navy amphibious ship, the Castilla. Spain has about 450 soldiers in Haiti helping with aid and reconstruction after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

AFGHANISTAN: Friendly fire incident probed

Friendly fire from Afghan security forces may have killed a UN employee during a Taliban attack in October on a guesthouse filled with UN staff, the United Nations said Friday. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the preliminary conclusions of an investigation by the UN mission in Afghanistan raised "the disturbing possibility" that a UN staff member, who was not identified, died from friendly fire. Five UN staff members and three Afghans were killed in the attack. Germany's Stern magazine reported Friday that it obtained amateur video indicating American UN security guard Louis Maxwell, of Miami, was killed after he escaped from the guesthouse - not from a terrorist bullet or explosives as the Afghan government had claimed. A high-level board of inquiry established in January is expected to submit a final report on the attack soon, Nesirky said.

KYRGYZSTAN: Ex-president will be prosecuted, says nation's interim leader

With the tremors of Kyrgyzstan's violent revolution subsiding, the country's provisional leader said Friday that her government will push for an international probe of the former president, who has fled the country. Ousted leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev left Thursday for neighboring Kazakhstan on a flight arranged by the U.S., Russian and Kazakh leaders in an unusual joint mediation effort. The United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also helped negotiate Bakiyev's departure, which eased fears of a civil war in the strategically placed ex-Soviet nation. Bakiyev was driven from the capital, Bishkek, on April 7 after troops opened fire on protesters, who then stormed government buildings. Bakiyev's departure angered many in Kyrgyzstan who wanted him and his clan brought to justice for endemic corruption and allegations they ordered troops to shoot protesters. Interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said her government would push for an international investigation of the violence. "Bakiyev won't evade justice," she said.