World/Nation Briefs December 25, 2012
Four firefighters shot, two die in western New York
WEBSTER, N.Y. - Four volunteer firefighters responding to a pre-dawn house fire were shot Monday morning, two fatally, leading to a shootout in suburban Rochester, N.Y., police said.
"One or more shooters" fired at the firefighters after they arrived shortly after 5:30 a.m. at the blaze near the Lake Ontario shore, just east of Rochester, Town of Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said.
There was no active shooter at the scene later Monday morning, according to Monroe County Sheriff Patrick Flynn. The first Webster police officer who arrived on the scene exchanged gunfire with the shooter, Flynn said, but he had no other information on the shootout.
The West Webster Fire District received a report of a car and house on fire on Lake Road, on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, Flynn said.
"When they got there, they stated to take on rounds and the initial responders were struck," the sheriff said.
The fire started in one home and spread to two others and a car, officials said.
The two wounded firefighters were in critical condition at a Rochester hospital, Flynn said.
Policewoman kills U.S. adviser in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan policewoman walked into a high-security compound in Kabul Monday and killed an American contractor with a single bullet to the chest, the first such shooting by a woman in a spate of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies.
Afghan officials who provided details identified the attacker as police Sgt. Nargas, a mother of four with a clean record. The shooting was outside the police headquarters in a walled compound which houses the governor's office, courts and a prison in the heart of the capital.
A police official said she was able to enter the compound armed because she was licensed to carry a weapon as a police officer.
The American, whose identity was not released, was a civilian adviser who worked with the NATO command. He was shot as he came out of a small shop, Kabul Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa told The Associated Press. The woman refused to explain her motive for her attack, he said.
The fact that a woman was behind the assault shocked some Afghans.
According to NATO, some 1,400 women were serving in the Afghan police force mid-year with 350 in the army -- still a very small proportion of the 350,000 in both services. Such professions are still generally frowned upon in this conservative society but women have made significant gains in recent years, with most jobs and education opportunities open to them, at least by law if not always in practice.
This is in stark contrast to the repression they suffered under the former Taliban regime, which forced women to be virtual prisoners in their homes, and severely punished them for even small infractions of the draconian codes.
One killed, one hurt in Bellevue bar shooting
BELLEVUE, Wash. - A 30-year-old Seattle man was killed and another man wounded in a shooting at a crowded bar in Bellevue, Wash., early Monday, police said.
The shooting broke out just after 1 a.m. at Munchbar at Bellevue Square, an upscale shopping center about 10 miles east of Seattle, said Carla Iafrate, a spokeswoman for the Bellevue Police Department.
Police officers were outside the bar when gunfire erupted because a large crowd had gathered there, she said.
More than 600 people were inside the venue at the time of the shooting. "It was a very complicated scene," Iafrate said.
The wounded man was taken to a hospital. Iafrate did not immediately know his age or hometown.
The shooting appears to be an isolated incident. No one has been arrested, and investigators were trying to put together a description of the shooter, she said. No officers were involved in the shooting.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene, telling local media they dove for cover or hit the floor when they heard gunshots.
UN envoy worried after talks with Syria's Assad
BEIRUT - The international envoy to Syria said after talks with President Bashar Assad on Monday that the situation in the country was still "worrying" and gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
Lakhdar Brahimi said he and Assad exchanged views on the crisis and discussed possible steps forward, which he did not disclose. He spoke briefly to reporters after meeting the Syrian leader at the presidential palace in Damascus.
"The situation in Syria is still worrying and we hope that all the parties will go toward the solution that the Syrian people are hoping for and look forward to," Brahimi said.
Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011.
- The Associated Press