November 21, 1995
Web posted at: 12:20 p.m. EST (1720 GMT)
ROME, (CNN) -- Former Nazi SS captain Erich Priebke arrived in Italy Tuesday under heavy security to face his wartime past.
He was extradited from Argentina on charges stemming from his involvement in the massacre of 335 men and boys during the Nazi occupation of Rome.
Italian police and medical staff accompanied the 82-year-old German on an 18-hour special flight from Bariloche to Ciampino military airport. The airport is just a few miles from the Ardeatine Caves, where the March 1944 massacre occurred.
Priebke lost an 17-month extradition fight to escape prosecution. He's accused of helping to organize the massacre in Nazi-occupied Italy to avenge 32 German soldiers slain in an ambush by Italian partisans.
Priebke has admitted taking part in the slayings but claimed he had to obey orders from Nazi command. He was placed under house arrest in Argentina after admitting to an ABC-TV interviewer that he took part in the killings.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- The fight for Jaffna City and to the north of Sri Lanka is providing slow and tough-going for government forces.
Sri Lankan troops entered the rebel bastion on Monday, in what could be the final phase in a month-long offensive to roust the Tamil Tigers from their stronghold. But minefields and booby traps set by retreating rebels are slowing the government takeover of Jaffna City.
Casualties are mounting on both sides. About 1900 have died and over six-thousand wounded since the offensive began in mid-October.
The government offensive is the largest ever and has led to a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians.
The fight has also renewed fears of retaliation in the island nation's capital Colombo. The Tamil Tigers are renowned for their guerrilla tactics. Colombo residents are braced for some kind of backlash. Their gravest concern: suicide bombings like those that rocked the capital earlier this month.
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- More than 50 South Korean prisoners went on a hunger strike Tuesday to protest special privileges afforded jailed ex-president Roh Tae-woo.
Roh confessed to amassing $654 million during his 1988-1992 term in office and still keeps $242 million in his secret coffers. He was placed in the Seoul Detention House last Thursday after being arrested on corruption charges.
The inmates at the center went on hunger strike over what they believe is official coddling of the former president at the prison, dissident sources said.
Like other detained VIPs, Roh has a cell to himself, but media reports say his room is double the usual size and that he has a private shower.
Ordinary prisoners shower communally and are kept three or four to a cell which is unheated even in the icy winter.
On Monday, prosecutors questioned Roh for the first time since his arrest.
![[Imagemap]](/WORLD/images/world_nav.gif)
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.