23 members of the Ansar al-Islam militant group were killed on Thursday in clashes with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and US troops. According to IRNA, citing its sources in the Kurdish army, the fighting took place in the Iraqi province of Sulaymaniyah. Among the Ansar al-Islam members killed were several foreigners, including Saudis, Afghans, Moroccans and Algerians. They seized a large number of weapons and ammunition.

Russian border guards on the Tajik-Afghan border found a cache of 110 kg of heroin. As RIA Novosti was informed on Friday by the press service of the Russian border troops in Tajikistan, the cache was discovered on a flat area of ​​the Moscow border detachment. The press service noted that Russian border guards actively used search dogs in the search for the drug.

Photo from the site www.hot.ee In the Barents Sea, the collection of ships of the Northern Fleet is taking place. This was reported on the pages of the "Red Star" by the head of the press service of the SF Vladimir Navrotsky. The heavy missile cruiser Peter the Great, the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser, the large anti -submarine ships Admiral Chabanenko, Admiral Levchenko, Severomorsk and the Svyatorenikh Statzher Ship, entered the sea.

Grani.ru collage Despite the dominance of military censorship in American information funds, about which the Russian Servital Press is tired about, though the Iraqi war still breaks into American television screens. The English-speaking Minister of Information of Iraq Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, whose daily press conferences usually precede the briefings of the operational headquarters of the Central Command of the Armed Forces of the United States in Qatar, conveys the good news from Baghdad.

On Thursday evening, a car drove up to a coalition checkpoint 18 kilometers southwest of Al-Hadita (western Iraq, on the Euphrates River). A pregnant woman jumped out of it, screaming in horror, and an explosion was heard. As a result, the driver, this woman and three coalition soldiers were killed, AP reports. Two more soldiers were injured.

US soldiers found thousands of boxes of white powder, a large amount of atropine, an antidote for nerve gas, and documents in Arabic, at the Latifya industrial complex (munitions factory) located 45 kilometers south of Baghdad, AP reported. Among the documents were instructions on the use of chemical weapons. It is noted that each box contained three ampoules with white powder. The IAEA listed Latifya among the facilities where weapons of mass destruction could be stored.

Talgat Tajuddin. Photo by ar The Islamic Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of St. Rus' can be eliminated as a religious association if the warning issued by the prosecutor is ignored. This was announced to Interfax by the deputy chief of the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Natalia Vishnyakova.

Vladimir Putin spoke about the economic reasons why Russia is not interested in the moral and political defeat of the United States in Iraq. As the president said, answering a question from RIA Novosti, the United States is Russia's largest economic partner. Trade turnover in 2002 reached $9.2 billion, and in 2003 it is approaching $10 billion. The US economy and currency are global in nature, and the development of the economies of Europe and Russia depends on their development, Putin said.

The well-known pediatrician Leonid Roshal is flying to the United States to negotiate with representatives of the UN and UNICEF on the issue of the removal of children from Baghdad and Basra. Roshal himself said this in an interview with RIA Novosti by phone, without specifying, however, the date of departure. Roshal also said that the meeting scheduled for Saturday with US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow would not take place.

The military helicopter of the Pacific Fleet Ka-27PS, which crashed on March 26 in the Ussuriysky Bay, was raised to the surface. According to RIA Novosti with reference to Primorskoye Radio, the body of one of the crew members was found in the cab of the car. Now the helicopter is on a barge near Russky Island. It is assumed that the barge will be towed to Nikolayevka.

Eleven British Marines lost a football match to a team in the Iraqi city of Umm Khayal. According to AFP, the meeting ended with the score 3:7. According to one of the British, at first they played with themselves, and several local boys watched their game. However, then eleven players in uniform and three referees appeared. The total number of spectators gathered very quickly reached a thousand.

Six OMON officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tuva were injured in an explosion in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny, sources in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic told Interfax on Friday. The explosion occurred while policemen were performing chores. The explosive device was planted in a pile of household rubbish. In addition, in the regional center of Urus-Martan, two policemen were fired upon from a passing car along Kuibyshev Street.

The Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots has prepared a draft statement "On the Defense Cooperation Agreement between the governments of Georgia and the United States" and is expected to be considered on April 9. This was reported to RIA Novosti on Friday by the press service of the lower chamber.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, in an interview with the BBC radio station, said that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is alive and in charge of the country. "Yesterday he was holding a meeting with the ministers," Sabri said by telephone from Baghdad. Meanwhile, Pentagon officials said the videotaped meetings of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were most likely made before the start of the war.

Cuban ferry hijackers continue to hold about 50 hostages after the ship was towed to the port of Havana and continue to require refueling to reach the US coast. This is reported by Reuters, citing a statement by the Cuban government. The statement said that the number of terrorists was between 8 and 10. They allowed only three of the 50 hostages to leave the ship and agreed to return to the port in the hope of refueling.