PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

EXTREMIST GUNMEN STORM HOTEL IN SOMALIA, 12 KILLED

At least 11 were killed and 50 injured Wednesday as Somali security forces ended a siege by extremist fighters who stormed a hotel in the capital, police said.

Four al- Shabab attackers were also killed in the attack on Dayah hotel, which is often frequented by government officials, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior police officer. The death toll may rise, he said.

Survivors described chaotic scenes in which hotel residents hid under beds and others jumped out of windows of the four- story building to escape the attackers.

The assault on the hotel started when a suicide car bomb exploded at its gates. A second explosion soon followed. — Farah Abdi Warsameh and Abdi Guled, Associated Press ICELANDERS OBSESSED WITH DEATH OF YOUNG WOMAN

Icelanders are reeling after the mysterious death this month of a young woman — a rare occurrence in the nation of 325,000 better known for Vikings, volcanoes and geysers.

The country has been obsessed with the case of Birna Brjansdottir, 20, since she disappeared in the early morning of Jan. 14 after a night out with friends in down- town Reykjavik. Her body was found Sunday, washed ashore 20 miles south of the capital.

Police are questioning two sailors from Greenland suspected in the woman's death in a country with one of the lowest crime rates in the world — 1.8 murders per year.

From 2000 through 2012, only 25 people were murdered in Iceland. There were none in 2003, 2006 and 2008, according to the Homicide Monitor.

— Austin Davis ISRAEL ISSUES WARNING FOR TRAVELERS TO SINAI

Israel has warned citizens visiting the Sinai Peninsula to leave the area immediately and those planning on visiting to change their plans over fears of attacks coinciding with Wednesday’s anniversary of Egypt’s 2011 uprising.

Prime Minister’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s counterterrorism office said there was a “very high concrete threat level” on the sixth anniversary of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

Unlike past Jan. 25 anniversaries marred by deadly clashes between police and protesters, this one has been mostly quiet, with the deployment of a larger- thanusual number of security forces in Cairo and elsewhere in the country.

HEDAYATULLAH AMID, EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY Afghan girls from the Shaolin Wushu Club practice their skills during a training session on top of a hill in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday. From 14 to 20 years old, the girls have been practicing this martial arts sport for almost two years.