Nairobi/Banjul -  - Amnesty International called Wednesday on the Gambian government to halt a campaign against suspected witches that it says has seen up to 1,000 people kidnapped, poisoned and beaten.

Witnesses and victims told the human rights' body that witch doctors from neighbouring Guinea - accompanied by police, army and national intelligence agents - have been invading villages and seizing villagers accused of being witches.

Those taken are held at detention centres for up to five days and forced to drink an "unknown substance" that causes them to hallucinate.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain  - A Spanish air force plane spotted a boat carrying 74 undocumented immigrants and three bodies overnight, rescuers said Tuesday.

The boat, which had set sail in Gambia, was discovered south of Gran Canaria Island after 10 days at sea.

The survivors, among them 10 minors, were taken to the port of Arguineguin on the island. Several of them needed medical care.

Thousands of Africans are believed to have died by drowning or from exposure when trying to reach Spain.

Nairobi/New York - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh should withdraw his threat to expel or kill gay people and work toward ensuring their basic human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the president released Wednesday.

Jammeh, during a speech in mid-May, reportedly said he would "cut the head off" any homosexual caught in the West African nation and issued a 24-hour deadline for them to leave.

"The president must unequivocally disavow the threat of arrests and violence, and work to change the law so that rights are respected," said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Programme at Human Rights Watch.

"Neither religion nor culture can justify calls to mob violence and murder," she added.