Two Indonesian men and a toddler were hacked to death in Malaysia

Two Indonesian men and a toddler were hacked to death in Malaysia following a suspected dispute between rival migrant laborers, Malaysian police said on Monday. The victims, from Indonesia's eastern island of Flores, were attacked by a mob of about 50 people late on Sunday in a residential area just south of Kuala Lumpur, said district police chief Shah Gzali Khan Shahadad. The assailants were believed to be from Indonesia's western province of Aceh, Shah Gzali was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama. Police identified the victims as Afandi Ali, 30; his 1-year-old daughter Nurul Izati; and Mohamad Hasdar, 20. Afandi's wife was critically injured in the attack, while scores of other residents were believed to have since gone into hiding, Bernama reported. --AP

Blast rocks Iraqi mosque

Two Iraqis were killed and at least nine wounded on Monday in an explosion inside Kufa's Great Mosque compound, a stronghold of Shiite radical cleric Moqtada Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia. A Sadr aide blamed the blast on an electrical short that ignited chemical materials stockpiled there for renovation work, although witnesses said a rocket hit a weapons cache used by militiamen. The cache caught fire, triggering multiple explosions, they said. -- AFP