Afghanistan car bomb leaves at least 38 civilians dead

A suicide car bomber has killed at least 38 people in the east of Afghanistan.

Mohammad Reza Kharoti, an administration chief in the Urgun district of Paktika province, said the attack on Tuesday also wounded more than 40 others.

He said the bomber detonated his vehicle full of explosives near a mosque and a market. All the casualties were civilians.

Jihadists execute four Syrian ‘spies’ in Iraq

Jihadist militants publicly executed four Syrian men in a western Iraqi town for allegedly spying for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, witnesses and a doctor said on Monday.

Militants flying the flag of the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group brought the men to a main street in al-Qaim, near Iraq’s border with Syria, in a convoy of trucks on Sunday, witnesses said.

One militant then announced that they were spies for Assad’s regime, which the IS is fighting in Syria, and the men, their hands bound, were shot dead one by one.

Israel's Largest Offensive in Gaza Strip in 2 Years Kills 25

JERUSALEM - Israel on Tuesday launched its largest offensive in the Gaza Strip in nearly two years, carrying out a blistering aerial assault on scores of targets and killing 25 people in what officials called an open-ended operation aimed at ending weeks of heavy rocket fire. As Gazamilitants unleashed salvos on cities including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel mobilized forces along the border for a possible ground invasion.

Bomb blast leaves police official injured in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A police official was injured on Tuesday in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast on a police van near Pishtakhara police station in the Safed Dheri area of Peshawar.

According to police sources, personnel from the Pishtakhara police station were on routine patrol on the Dora Road when the roadside bomb exploded.

Constable Aijaz was injured whereas the police van was completely destroyed in the explosion.

Pakistan reiterates NWA offensive will hit Haqqani network

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday reiterated that the ongoing Zarb-i-Azb military offensive, launched to eliminate insurgent hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal area, would target all militants, including the feared Haqqani network.

Briefing a delegation of foreign media reporters, DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Bajwa insisted the current operation would target “terrorists of every hue and colour.”

Zarb-i-Azb: 15 militants killed in N Waziristan, Khyber

PESHAWAR: At least five suspected militants were killed on Tuesday in a clash with security forces in the Mir Ali Tehsil of North Waziristan Agency, while Jet fighters also targeted suspected militant houses in Koki Khel area and Tirrah area of the Khyber Agency.

Suicide attacker strikes near cafe south of Beirut

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed vehicle near a checkpoint and a cafe in a neighborhood south of Lebanon's capital early Tuesday, causing several casualties, a Lebanese security official and witnesses said.

Iraq crisis: 48 foreign captives released, Indian hostages await help

Militants who have seized large swathes of territory In Iraq have released 48 foreigners, including four Turks, held captive for several days.

There is no news of the 40 Indian workers, captured near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The released foreigners are construction workers from Turkey, Nepal, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, who were helping build a hospital in the now insurgent-held city of Tikrit.

Suicide blast in northwest Pakistan: one dead, five injured

A suicide bomb attack at the residence of an anti-Taliban peace militia in the restive northwestern city of Peshawar left one dead and five others injured late Thursday, the police said.

The incident took place in the Matan Adezai area of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa city and targeted the leader of an anti-insurgent group, senior police official Najeeb Ur Rehman told AFP.

Five NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan - officials

Five NATO soldiers were killed in an incident in southern Afghanistan, coalition officials said Tuesday, without giving the cause of the deaths or releasing the nationalities of the victims.

At least 38 killed in DR Congo ethnic violence: govt

KINSHASA: A total of 38 people died in ethnic violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend, many massacred when a church was set ablaze, the government said Tuesday.

The killings took place overnight Friday in Mutarule, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Bukavu, the capital of Sud-Kivu province.

Earlier, local sources said the toll was at least 30 men, women and children, and that most of the victims were ethnic Bafuliru.

Terror plot foiled as a bomb defused in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) on Friday defused a bomb planted under a vehicle parked near Khyber Teaching Hospital University Town foiling a terrorist attack in the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Four police killed in attack on Tunisia minister's home

TUNIS: Four Tunisian police officers were killed in a “terrorist” attack overnight on the home of Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou in the west-central Kasserine region, a ministerial spokesman said Wednesday.

“Four police officers were killed and another injured during a terrorist attack with Kalashnikov rifles that targeted the Kasserine home of the interior minister,” spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told AFP.

Nigeria kidnappings 'outrageous, heartbreaking': Obama

KANO: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday described the kidnapping of more than 220 schoolgirls by militants in Nigeria as “heartbreaking” and “outrageous” as Washington deployed military experts in the hunt for the children.

Obama urged global action against Boko Haram and confirmed Nigerian leaders had accepted an offer to deploy US personnel there, soon after residents said the extremist group had seized eight more girls, aged between 12 and 15, again in the embattled northeast.

Army kills 43 Qaeda suspects in south Yemen: Ministry

Aden: The army today killed 43 Al-Qaeda suspects, mainly foreigners, and wounded dozens of others on day six of a major offensive in southern Yemen, military officials said.

Most of the "terrorists" were killed in Shabwa province during the ongoing operation against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the defence ministry said in text messages sent to journalists.

Saudi king donates $100 million to UN anti-terror centre

RIYADH - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has announced a further donation of $100 million (75 million euros) to set up a United Nations centre for fighting terrorism, Saudi media reported on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with the UN in 2011 to create the centre and the oil-rich Gulf monarchy has already donated $10 million towards its launch.

Hundred critical after cholera outbreak in Afghanistan

A cholera outbreak at a village in northeast Afghanistan has infected 1,492 people, killed a young woman and left another 100 in critical condition, a provincial official said on Tuesday.

Abdul Marouf Rasekh, a spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan province, said the outbreak began three days ago and was restricted to one town that has been quarantined.

When it first appeared in the mountainous village of Chappa in the Darayen district, Mr. Rasekh said it infected 850 people but quickly spread until the quarantine was put in place.

Gunmen kill 13 bus passengers in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan: Dozens of gunmen disguised in police uniforms shot to death 13 people they pulled off of a convoy of buses in southwest Pakistan and dumped their bodies in a nearby ravine, officials said Tuesday.

The motive for the attack Monday night was unclear since no one has claimed responsibility. But suspicion may fall on separatists who have been waging a low-level insurgency in southwest Baluchistan province for decades.The buses were headed to central Punjab province, and the separatists have a history of attacking Punjabis who they view as outsiders encroaching on their independence. The province is also home to many Islamic militants who have carried out attacks in the past, especially on minority Shiite Muslims.

SSP, two army officers killed in Chilas firing incident

CHILAS: Three people, including a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Diamer and two army officers, were killed on Tuesday as their convoy came under attack in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Chilas area.

According to DawnNews, unknown gunmen opened fire on a government convoy in Chilas, killing SSP Diamer Muhammad Hilal and two army officers Colonel Ghulam Mustafa and Captain Ashfaq Aziz on the spot.

Al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri is said to have ordered terrorist attack

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ordered the head of the terrorist group’s Yemen affiliate to carry out an attack, according to intercepted communications that have led to the closure of U.S. embassies and a global travel alert, said a person briefed on the case.

In one communication, Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden, gave “clear orders” to Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the founder of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to undertake an attack, the source said. McClatchy newspapers first reported the exchange on Sunday.