SOFIA (AFP) - Six people were killed and two seriously injured in a shootout in a restaurant in Sofia yesterday, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry said. The victims were killed by shots fired from one or more cars, the ministry said in a statement citing witnesses. The private Bulgarian news agency Focus reported that one of those killed was the leader of a criminal gang and the five others were his bodyguards. The ministry said Interior Minister Georgy Petkanov had rushed to the scene.

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Turkish paramilitary police yesterday seized about 100 kilos of plastic C4 explosive, 10,000 rounds of ammunition for Kalashnikov rifles and detonators from a truck crossing into Turkey from Iraq, local authorities said. The office of the governor of the province of Sirnak in southeast Turkey said the material was found hidden in different parts of the truck when it underwent a routine inspection at the border post at Habur. The truck driver, a Turkish citizen from the Sirnak region, is being held for questioning.

One person was killed and five injured yesterday when an earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale shook the eastern Turkish town of Dogubeyazit close to the Iranian border, the Anatolia news agency said. The tremor, which caused minor damage, struck at 10.14 a.m. with an epicenter 18 kilometers (11 miles) northeast of town, according to the Istanbul-based Kandilli seismological institute. (AFP)

A top Serbian official handling relations with the UN war crimes tribunal on Thursday hailed the court’s decision to order the pretrial release of two top Serb suspects, saying it could encourage other fugitives to surrender. Rasim Ljajic, the human rights minister who heads the national council for cooperation with the tribunal in The Hague, also told the state Tanjug news agency the court’s move will make it easier for the government to intensify its cooperation. The decision could “influence others to surrender voluntarily, because... it raises a possibility that some cases be tried before domestic courts or that other suspects be released before the start of the trial.” (AP)

Flooding has killed at least one person, left dozens homeless and caused millions of euros of damage to properties in Romania, the government said yesterday. Heavy rain also caused flooding in eastern Slovakia, putting villages and towns on high alert. (AP)