Others said that at first the Jordanians would not allow Israeli first-aid teams to enter their territory. David Levy, the Israeli Foreign Minister, said: "Who knows how many of these gun-toting lunatics are waiting for the green light in the form of a remark in which Israel is being described in the way it is being described today?"The shooting took place on a piece of land which had been heavily fortified before the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty of 1994. At the crossing-point into Jordan, there are still the remains of concrete pillboxes with machine-gun slits, a blown bridge and red notices with a skull and crossbones, warning of mines in Arabic, Hebrew and English.The massacre prompted some to draw analogies with Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli army reserve captain who three years ago killed 29 Palestinian worshippers in a mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.The killing may relieve the international pressure on Mr Netanyahu not to build a Jewish settlement at Har Homa, in Jerusalem.Nothing is known of Ahmed Moussa, the gunman, other than he came from a nearby Jordanian town and had been posted to the border this year.. As chaos gripped the Albanian capital last night, President Sali Berisha sent in the tanks in a desperate attempt to shore up his tottering authority. Against a background of gunfire from insurgents discharging their weapons into the air, at least two tanks could be seen on the main street where the government buildings are located. Opposition leaders said Mr Berisha had told them he was deploying the tanks "to protect the state institutions". Two Royal Navy destroyers were steaming towards the coast as the British government prepared to rescue about 120 British nationals trapped in the country. HMS Birmingham and HMS Exeter swung into action after officials postponed an attempt to evacuate the stranded Britons by air."It is extremely difficult to get anything in by air," a Foreign Office spokesman said "There are people running around the airport with weapons.

There is a great deal of indiscriminate firing and chaos."With President Berisha's soldiers having surrendered control of most towns to civilians armed with stolen guns, the Albanian leader faced little choice but to flee his country, probably with Western assistance, or face the wrath of his people.Diplomatic sources said members of his family were evacuated on a ferry bound for Italy yesterday. Some 400 foreigners, including 330 Italians, were evacuated by helicopter from Durres on to Italian naval vessels in the Adriatic Sea. US forces were preparing to rescue about 2,000 Americans in Albania.The new interim government called for foreign military intervention, and asked for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.Across the country, it has become a case of every man for himself and for every man a gun. "It was fine until two days ago, and then they started raiding the armouries," said Gaenor Hall, a British missionary based in the northern town of Fusharrez. "There's a lot of anarchy, a lot of people stealing flour from the army barracks," added her colleague, Tom Hudson.In Elbasan, an industrial town in a valley near Tirana, a mob attacked two large military bases on the edge of town on Wednesday night, and the soldiers simply withdrew. The garrison's commander was in tears yesterday as people streamed past him carrying rifles, machine-guns, uniforms and gas masks. Boys as young as eight and nine brandished rifles, adding to the terrifying sense of lawlessness.As looters ransacked military supplies at will, a building smouldered in the distance "I don't think people here want any political party.

We're against Berisha because he took our money," said Ilir Kamami, an Elbasan resident.At the headquarters of a tank division, half a mile away, dormitory buildings were ablaze as Gypsies hoisted tables, chairs and cupboards on to horse-drawn carts. Hundreds of other locals foraged for guns, and all around, was the crackle of gunfire.The new caretaker government does not appear to control anything. Tirana airport is out of government hands and gangsters are making the most of this tumultuous period of mob rule.During the southern uprising of the past 10 days, gunmen have to some extent policed the anti-Berisha mutiny sparked last month by the collapse of corrupt investment schemes. The gunmen have formed blockades, checked documents and hounded out secret policemen.But in towns such as Elbasan, where guns are now selling at $5 (pounds 3) apiece, public order has all but disintegrated. "This is the spirit of Albania, born of the eagle.They like this," one man said, pointing at a small boy with a gas mask and a gun.Further reporting by Adrian HadlandAndrew Gumbel, page 18. A Home Office minister was under fire last night after linking a pregnant Irish woman with "IRA scum". Roisin McAliskey is facing extradition to Germany on suspicion of the mortar attack on Osnabruck barracks, but has not been convicted of any crime.

David Maclean, who is in charge of criminal policy, appeared to compare Ms McAliskey with Myra Hindley in a letter to a 79-year-old constituent who had raised the case with him. "When the day comes that the evil scum of the IRA are no longer murdering the innocent, and our children are no longer terrified by the Hindleys of this world, then I am certain that when I no longer need all my compassion for the innocent I shall be able to spare some for the perpetrators," he wrote. The disclosure came on the day the Prison Service ruled Ms McAliskey could keep her baby, due in May, with her in Holloway Prison, London.Mr Maclean, previously criticised for saying most London beggars were "aggressive Scots", attacked Judith Naylor, from Appleby, Cumbria, for raising the case and demanded to know why she did not show equal compassion for Stephen Restorick, a soldier shot dead by the IRA last month."You are worried that the IRA prisoner will be denied some fundamental human rights when giving birth. Where were the lobby groups and prison reformers worried about Stephen Restorick? You are campaigning for her to breast-feed her baby. Who is campaigning for the Stephen Restoricks of this world who will never bounce a baby on their knee ever again?"Last night the Prison Service said Ms McAliskey would remain at Holloway while awaiting a decision on her extradition and would be able to keep her baby with her in the prison's mother-and-baby unit.. The Serious Fraud Office was last night standing by to go into NatWest after bonuses worth pounds 1m a piece were docked from a handful of executives over a scandal in its investment banking arm. The Bank of England and City regulators were also being kept informed as it emerged that the affair has left a pounds 90m black hole in NatWest Markets. The losses centre round the mis-pricing of a complex financial instrument known as interest rate options. Four senior employees of NatWest Markets were yesterday suspended from duty pending further inquiries by lawyers and forensic accountants brought in by the bank.Meanwhile, pounds 8m in bonuses due to a small group of executives in its debt derivatives business, thought to number about eight, will not now be paid.The chief executive of NatWest Markets, Martin Owen, has also agreed to forgo pounds 200,000 of his pounds 500,000 annual bonus for last year as "an act of leadership."The trader responsible for the loss, Kyriacos Papouis, has already left NatWest and his immediate boss has also been suspended.

A spokeswoman for the SFO said last night: "NatWest and its professional advisers have been in touch with us concerning their review of NatWest Markets interest rate options trading. We are monitoring the situation and are in touch with the regulators but we have not yet begun an investigation."The internal investigation has not uncovered any evidence that the mispricing was carried out for personal gain. But investigators have established that the trades in question were transferred between different accounts, making them more difficult to detect.NatWest said the practice had been going on since late 1994 but had only come to light this February.Reports, page 20. Sweet faced nun who will be the new Mother Teresa Sister Nirmala, a sweet-faced nun who grew up in an Indian army family of the highest Hindu caste and left everything to join the Missionaries of Charity, was elected Superior General of the order yesterday after six weeks of deliberation. She will be the successor to the frail Mother Teresa, 83, who retains the title of Mother General. "God will give me the courage to carry out our work with the guidance of Mother Teresa," she told reporters at the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in Calcutta. "Please pray for me.""Personally, I believe that the sisters, after long deliberation, have chosen the best combination of spiritual motivator and administrator," said Navin Chawla, an Indian civil servant who wrote a biography of the Nobel Peace laureate and frequently visits her missions.