World briefs 5/16/2016

Bombing kills 25 in southern Yemen

SANAA, Yemen -- A suicide bomber Sunday detonated his explosives among police officers standing in line outside a police base in the southern Yemeni city of Mukalla, killing 25, security and health officials said. At least 17 people were injured in the attack, and the officials said the death toll was likely to rise. The Yemeni affiliate of the extremist Islamist State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on social media by IS sympathizers. Sunday's victims were police officers returning to work for the first time since last month's recapture of Mukalla by forces loyal to the internationally recognized government. The port city had been held for more than a year by Yemen's local al-Qaida affiliate. The victims included young men applying for jobs with the city's local police, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Truck, rickshaw crash kills 16

HYDERABAD, India -- A truck and a crowded motorized rickshaw collided in southern India, killing 16 people, half of them from one family, police said Sunday. All the victims came from the rickshaw and were on their way to a temple in Adilabad district of Telangana state Saturday night. The area is 170 miles northeast of Hyderabad, the state capital, said police officer A. Ramulu. Another three people were hospitalized. The dead included eight members of a family and were mostly brick-kiln workers.

Kerry travels to Saudi for talks

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Saudi Arabia for talks on the conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen ahead of larger meetings on those crises in Europe this week. Kerry met Sunday in Jeddah with Saudi King Salman, the crown prince, deputy crown prince and foreign minister. His visit comes at a critical time in efforts to rein in fighting and encourage political dialogue in all three countries that have been wracked by violence for years. Kerry traveled later to Vienna, where he co-hosted group talks on Libya with Italy's foreign minister, then on Syria with his Russian counterpart. He will visit Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers before flying to Asia to meet President Barack Obama in Vietnam.

Suspect detained in gay activist killing

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Police in Bangladesh said they arrested a suspected Muslim militant for his alleged involvement in the killing last month of a gay-rights activist and his friend in the capital. Police said the suspect is Shariful Islam Shibab, former member of a banned Islamic group Harkatul Jihad who joined another militant group, Ansarullah Bangla Team, in mid-2015. Munirul Islam, leader of a newly formed police counterterrorism unit, said Shibab was arrested in the southwestern district of Kushtia based on evidence from the investigation. The Bangladeshi branch of al-Qaida had claimed responsibility for the April 25 killing of Xulhaz Mannan, an employee of U.S. Agency for International Development, and his friend, Tanay Majumder. Only one of 15 such killings has been prosecuted since 2013.

-- From wire reports