Gunmen storm church, kill at least three

Compiled from news services

MOSCOW — Four gunmen stormed a church in Russia’s predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya on Saturday, killing at least one churchgoer and two police officers, according to authorities.

All the attackers were killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police at the Archangel Michael Church in the center of Grozny, the capital, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia, an internal security agency.

The gunmen initially took hostages, the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said, adding that the assailants were armed with knives, hatchets and homemade explosives.

It was not immediately clear whether there was any link between the attackers and extremist groups.

Women and men from majority Muslim areas of Russia, including Chechnya, have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State there, and dozens have begun to return as the group has lost most of its territory.

Bomber landing fallout

BEIJING — A Chinese state-run newspaper says the Chinese air force has landed a long-range bomber for the first time on an airport in the South China Sea.

It’s a move likely to further fuel concerns in the region about Beijing’s expansive claims over the disputed region.

The China Daily newspaper reported Saturday that People’s Liberation Army Air Force conducted takeoff and landing training with the H-6K bomber in the South China Sea.

The U.S. and others accuse Beijing of militarizing the region to bolster its claims.

Rights activists detained

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Just weeks before Saudi Arabia is set to lift its ban on women driving, the kingdom’s state security said Saturday it had detained seven people who are being accused of working with “foreign entities.”

Rights activists say all those detained had worked in some capacity on women’s rights issues, with five of those detained among the most prominent and outspoken women’s rights campaigners in the country.