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<b>First Posted:</b> 2/4/2010<br><br>A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and partly destroyed a girls&amp;rsquo; school in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday in an attack that drew attention to a little-publicized American military training mission in the al-Qaida and Taliban heartland.

They were the first known U.S. military fatalities in Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s lawless tribal regions near the Afghan border and a major victory for militants who have been hit hard by a surge of U.S. missile strikes and a major Pakistani army offensive.
The blast also killed three schoolgirls and a Pakistani soldier who was traveling with the Americans. Two more U.S. soldiers were wounded, along with more than 100 other people, mostly students, officials said.
The soldiers were part of a small contingent of American soldiers training members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, the U.S. Embassy said. The mission is trying to strengthen the ill-equipped and poorly trained outfit&amp;rsquo;s ability to fight militants.
BERLIN
3 die in U.S. copter crash
A U.S. military helicopter crashed in western Germany on Wednesday, killing all three people aboard, according to a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe.
The aircraft went down about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday in woods near the A67 highway between Viernheim and Lorsch, south of Frankfurt, Hesse state police said.
The helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk, said U.S. Army Europe spokesman Bruce Anderson.
The Black Hawk is used for air assault and other military operations. It is normally designed to carry 11 combat-loaded troops.
WASHINGTON
Terror suspect cooperating
White House officials are mounting an aggressive campaign to defend their handling of terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, mapping out their successful efforts to gain his cooperation &amp;mdash; and noting his treatment has been similar to that of suspects captured during the Bush administration.
Abdulmutallab, who was arrested after trying to detonate explosives on board a plane as it landed in Detroit on Christmas Day, has been cooperating with interrogators since last week, and is providing fresh material, administration officials said Tuesday.
Republicans have accused the Obama administration of treating him too lightly by reading him his rights and granting him civilian legal counsel.
Administration officials confirmed Abdulmutallab talked to investigators for less than an hour upon his arrest.
But in the days since, they said, he has begun cooperating once more. Members of the suspect&amp;rsquo;s family were flown in from the suspect&amp;rsquo;s home country of Nigeria and they encouraged Abdulmutallab to talk.
LONDON
Sculpture sale sets record
A life-size bronze sculpture of a man by Alberto Giacometti has been sold at a London auction for $104 million. Sotheby&amp;rsquo;s says the sale set a world record as the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction.
The auction house said Wednesday it took just eight minutes for bidders to reach the hammer price for &amp;ldquo;L&amp;rsquo;Homme Qui Marche I&amp;rdquo; (Walking Man I), which opened at 12 million pounds.
Sotheby&amp;rsquo;s says the piece was sold to an anonymous bidder by telephone.
The sculpture is considered one of the most important works by Giacometti, a 20th Century Swiss artist, Sotheby&amp;rsquo;s said.

International News brief