71.   Local officials said LTTE gunmen killed eight Sinhalese civilians collecting firewood in the jungle in the southeastern region of Panama in the district of Ampara.

72.   Kurdish rebels killed seven Turkish soldiers and four pro-government militiamen in a rebel attack overnight on a village in the southeastern Siirt region, the Anatolia agency reported Thursday.

73.   Nine suspected communist guerrillas were killed in separate gunbattles with police in the southeastern region of the main Philippine island of Luzon, officials said Thursday.

74.   Shamanov said other groups of rebels were preparing attacks on Russian troops in the southeastern regions of Nozhai Yurt, Kurchaloi and Vedeno.

75.   Sudan said Ugandan troops had clashed with its forces in the southeastern regions of Parajok and Magwi, near the Ugandan border.

76.   The apparent surrender came as rebels began moving back into the mountainous southeastern region of Vedeno while Russian troops started a major pullout from recently captured positions.

77.   The PKK seeks the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in east and southeastern regions of Anatolia, where Kurds are in the majority.