WORLD BRIEFS

LIBYA: Grave with 157 bodies found

A mass grave with 157 bodies of rebel fighters and civilians has been unearthed in an eastern town that was a major battleground during the 2011 civil war, government officials said Sunday. It is the largest grave yet found from the conflict that began as a popular uprising and ended with the capture and killing of Moammar Gadhafi in October. Eighty of the bodies discovered in Bin Jawwad had been identified, and all were from eastern Libya, an official said. Most appeared to have died of gunshot wounds and in rocket strikes starting in March. Some were executed, while others were severely disfigured from the rockets.

YEMEN: 61 die in clash with militants

Al-Qaida militants overran an army base in the south Sunday, capturing heavy weapons and turning them on soldiers in intense clashes that left 61 dead, a military official said. The battle west of the town of Zinjibar in the province of Abyan killed 36 government troops and 25 of the militants, he said. Militants seized control of Zinjibar in May, taking advantage of political turmoil linked to the uprising against then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh stepped down last month in a U.S.-backed power transfer deal that Washington hoped would allow Yemen's new leaders to move against al-Qaida. But the fighting highlights the difficulties faced by his successor Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the lawless south.

THE KOREAS: Kim visits border with South

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the heavily armed border with South Korea and ordered troops to be on high alert, South Korean state media reported Sunday, just days after Washington and Pyongyang agreed to a nuclear deal after years of deadlock. Kim's visit to Panmunjom village in the Demilitarized Zone, his first reported trip there since the December death of his father, Kim Jong Il, could be an effort to bolster his credentials as a military leader after showing off his diplomatic skills on the U.S. nuclear deal, analysts said.