In the World

CAIRO - Egyptian army troops fought a four-hour gun battle with protesters in southern Cairo on Sunday, sparked by a dispute over land on an island of the Nile, security officials said. Three protesters were killed.

The officials said the disputed land on Qursayah island is owned by the armed forces but was illegally seized by residents taking advantage of the chaos that followed last year's ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The clashes broke out when troops moved in from the mainland to retake control of the plot. The officials say three civilians were killed and seven others wounded in the firefight on a road on the mainland across from the island. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Troops arrested 15 protesters who had used metal barricades and burning tires to block an access road to the island, the officials said. Five soldiers were wounded by gunfire in the clashes, which took place about a mile from the city center. - AP

GOMA, Congo - A Rwandan-backed rebel group advanced to within 1.8 miles of Goma, a crucial provincial capital in eastern Congo, marking the first time rebels have come this close since 2008.

A Congolese army spokesman, Col. Olivier Hamuli, said the fighting has been going on since Sunday morning. After more than nine hours of violent clashes, the two sides took a break, with M23 rebels establishing a checkpoint just 100 yards from one held by the military in the village of Munigi, just outside the Goma city line.

Contacted by telephone on the front line, an M23 rebel spokesman, Col. Vianney Kazarama, said the group will spend the night in Goma. "We are about to take the town," Kazarama said. - AP

MANAMA, Bahrain - Bahrain says it has taken legal action against some Shiite worshipers accused of mixing antigovernment protests with annual religious ceremonies.

The crackdowns during the Shiite commemorations building toward Ashura - marking a seventh-century battle in Islam's early decades - could cause further tensions between Shiite religious leaders and the Persian Gulf nation's Sunni monarchy.

Opposition groups and others, including the U.S. State Department, have strongly denounced a government order last month to outlaw protest gatherings. The move seeks to quell a 21-month uprising by Bahrain's majority Shiites seeking a greater political voice.

A government statement Sunday says "a number" of Shiite religious figures have been referred to the public prosecutor for delivering political sermons or leading antigovernment chants.

Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. - AP