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Nation & World Naked man attacks churchgoers with sword in London by Maureen Johnson Associated Press London —A naked, sword-wielding man burst into a soulh-London church Sunday during Mass, slasliing and slabbing members of the congregation. Ten people were injured, three seriously. Six of the injured suffered stab wounds, including a man who lost part of a hand. The others were hurt in a stampede to get out of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Thornton Heath, a London subuib. Two other men armed with sticks followed the man into the church, lashing out at some of the 400-mem ber congregation, the priest, Canon John Lennon, said. Several men in the congregation, including an off duty policeman, wrestled the man to the ground as he lashed out with the 3-foot-long sword, witnesses said. Police said they arrested a 35-year-old man. There was no word of other arrests. The motive for the attack was not clear. “I had just finished the sermon, and I looked up, and a number of men came rushing in,” Lennon said. “There were al least three of them. One was naked and brandishing a machete or sword, and the oth ers were slashing out at the congregation with slicks while they ran down the aisle.” The most severely injured victim, a 55-year-old man, had his thumb and index finger severed and suf fered deep slashes in the jaw and neck, said officials at the nearby Mayday Hospital, where the injured were brought. “It defies description,” said Dr. Kambiz Hashemi, one of five suigeons who treated the victim. Among the other victims — most of them elderly — two men had bad shoulder lacerations, but were in stable condition, said the hospital’s chief executive, Kei th Ford. The others had less serious injuries, including one who suffered a broken leg during the melee to get out. A trail of blood led from the church, located in a usually quiet suburban street. Police said the arrested man came from the area, but priests at St. Andrew’s said lie was n’t known in the parish. The at tack hap pened mo ments before some 100 children were due to return to the Mass from an adjoining hall, where they had separate prayers and stories. A churchgoer, Marie Parcou, 66, said she saw her husband spouting blood and pulled him to the ground. “1 cannot believe this happened in a church,” she said. ‘One [attacker] was naked and brandishing a machete or sword, and the others were slashing out at the con gregation with sticks while they ran down the aisle.’ John Lennon St.Andrews Church Priest Islamic militant warns Egypt of repeat Luxor tourist massacre Staff Reports Associated Press Cairo, Egypt—An Egyptian insurgent leader has warned the government that the 1997 tourist massacre in Luxor could be repealed if Egypt doesn’t change its hostile policy against the Islamic move ment. “If the Egyptian authorities do not improve the existing tranquility by get ting rid of the reasons that caused the Luxor incident, the incident may hap pen again,” Rifai Ahmed Taha wrote in an e-mail published in the Arabic-lan guage newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday. Taha, who is reported to be in Afghanistan, is the leader of the military wing of al-Gamaa al-lslamiya, or Islam ic Group, and one of the most wanted militants in Egypt. He is believed to have taken over the group in the absence of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is in prison in the United States for conspir ing to blow up New York sites. Al-Gamaa was responsible for the killing of 58 tourists and four Egyptians at the Temple of Hatshepsut outside the southern city of Luxor in November 1997. The six attackers were also killed. Since then, leaders of the group im prisoned in Egypt called a halt to the violence, but Taha, among other lead ers in exile, was reported to disapprove of the decision. “The Egyptian government commits a grave mistake if it believes that the Lux or operation is unrepeatable,” Taha said in Sunday’s letter in the London-based newspaper. He accused the Egyptian government of continuing to oppress the Islamic move ment despite the halt of violent acts. Taha hinted that independent Mus lim activists might carry out violent acts when they find Islam is humiliated. “If al-Gamaa was not able to recruit those who oppose the disgrace, certain ly other organizations might succeed, and possibly those youths would carry out such operations voluntarily,” he said. Al-Gamaa is the most active of the militant Muslim groups trying to over throw Egypt’s secular government and install strict religious rule. More than 1,200 people have died since the insur gency began in 1992. Death of an icon Special to The Gamecock Hslng-Hslng, a giant panda given to the Smithsonian National Zoo to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic trip to China, died after suffering from kidney failure associated with old age, the zoo said on Sunday. The panda was 28. * > ups * •UPS is currently hiring loaders and unloaders for midnight shifts. To arrange an interview for employment contact United Parcel Service @ 822-6294 An equal opportunity employer, m/f/h/v take a break, and grab a snack during Finals. I RUSSELL I HOUSE UNIVERSITY UNION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA Dec. 6,7, 8 11:30 PM Russell House Lobby • 2nd floor The Official Bookstore of USCI ~ 1 WO Grant St. • Russell House • (803) 777-4160 | I Monday, Dec. 6 Tuesday, Dec. 7 Wednesday, Dec. 8 Free Pizza (9:30 PM)* Free Chick-fil-a Chicken Biscuits (9:30 PM)* Free Pizza (9:30 PM)* "while supplies last sponsored by: The Russell House Bookstore • Russell House University union Student Government • USC Vending • Marriott Food Services Carolina Cares ff[eek November 29 - December 3 11/29 Monday Carolina Cares Kick-Off 11-2 p.m. Greene St. 11/30 Tuesday One Shot 2-5 p.m. Clean-Up for Historic Columbia Foundation Russell House Transportation Provided Wednesday Carolina Cares Day Ornament Decorating Contest 11-2 p.m. RH Patio World AIDS Day 12/2 Thursday Holiday Tree Lighting Service 6:30 p.m. Horseshoe 12/3 Friday One Shot 2-5 p.m. Environment Clean-Up Belser Arboretum Russell House Transportation Provided For more information contact: Carolina Cares at 777-8402 ^glt Office of Community Service Programs at 777-6688