Abu Salem will not be returned to Portugal, rules Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ruled that the extradition of underworld don Abu Salem to India is valid. Salem is being tried for his alleged role in serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 in which 257 people were killed and another 713 injured.

Salem, 45, was sent by Portugal to  Mumbai in November 2005 along with his then companion, actor Monica Bedi. He is imprisoned at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

Small bomb hits Buddhist temple in Indonesia; one injured

JAKARTA: Police and government officials on Monday condemned an attack on a Buddhist temple in Indonesia's capital after a small bomb detonated as devotees inside prayed, injuring one person. Two other devices failed to go off.

The explosion happened Sunday night at the Ekayana Grha Buddhist temple in West Jakarta.

The blast went off near the front door of the building, slightly damaging the structure, chief of National Police Detective Lt. Gen. Sutarman told reporters at the scene.

Attacks on Baghdad mosques kill nine

BAGHDAD: A Shia and a Sunni mosque in Baghdad were targeted in bombings that killed at least nine people, Iraqi officials said.

Police officials said a suicide bomber set off his explosives on Shia worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in the city's suburb of Hussainya late on Tuesday.

Seven people died and 11 were wounded in that attack.

Air raids kill 11 Syrian kids

BEIRUT: Seven children in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo and another four in Homs in the center were among 17 civilians killed in air raids on Tuesday, a watchdog said.

The deaths in Homs come as troops pressed an offensive against remaining rebel areas there, while in Aleppo province, the raid comes exactly a year into the rebel takeover of the targeted town of Anadan.

Blast kills nine in southern Afghanistan: officials

KANDAHAR: A roadside bomb blamed on the Afghan Taliban tore through a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, killing nine people and wounding 15, officials said on Monday.

The bombing took place late Sunday in the Shahjoy district of Zabul province, on the main Kabul-Kandahar road which is a hotspot of the Taliban insurgency.

Deadly wave of bombings and shootings claim 50 lives in Iraq

At least 50 people have been killed in bombings and shootings across Iraq. In the deadliest attack, a bomb in a parked car exploded in a busy market killing 14 people in central Muqdadiya, 80km (50 miles) northeast of the capital Baghdad ."I was sitting in my neighbour's shop when suddenly we heard a big explosion," said eyewitness Salim Aziz.

"I had no time to see anything, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself at the hospital and I was injured in my right hand and left leg, surrounded by dozens of wounded people," he added.A car bomb targeted a market in the centre of southern city of Basra killing at least three people, security sources told Al Jazeera.

Twin blasts near courthouse in Libya's Benghazi: sources

Two powerful explosions went off near the courthouse in Libya's second city of Benghazi on Sunday night, leaving 10 people injured and causing damage, witnesses and a security source said.

The blasts came a day after 1,000 inmates escaped during a prison riot in the restive eastern city, birthplace of the 2011 armed uprising that ousted and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.On Friday night, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Benghazi to condemn the assassination in the city earlier the same day of Abdessalem al-Mesmari, an anti-Islamist lawyer who campaigned for a civil state.

Two killed in explosion at Beijing bakery

Beijing: At least two people were killed and 19 others injured when a huge explosion reportedly caused by leaking gas blew up a bakery in downtown Beijing on Wednesday.

The explosion in the Golden Phoenix Bakery store caused extensive damage. Windscreens of several cars parked in the Guangming Road, Dongcheng District, where the bakery is located were damaged.

Pakistani authorities foil plot to target Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities claimed to have foiled a plot to target Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by busting a terror network planning to launch a suicide attack on his residence in Raiwind on the outskirts of Lahore.

The plot was unearthed by a Joint Investigation Team of police and intelligence officials probing into the abduction of Ali Haider Gilani, son of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was kidnapped during election campaign in May.

Three Nato soldiers killed in Afghan suicide blast

GHAZNI: A suicide bomber rode a donkey Tuesday into an Afghan and Nato military convoy, killing three Western soldiers and their Afghan interpreter, officials said.

Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) confirmed three casualties in a bombing in eastern Afghanistan but gave no details.

Suicide bomber attacks Iraq army convoy, killing 25

A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army convoy in the northern city of Mosul early on Monday, killing at least 22 soldiers and three passers-by, police said.

The bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives up to a military convoy in the eastern Kokchali district of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, before blowing himself and his car up."A suicide bomber was following the convoy and when it stopped in the middle of road, he detonated his vehicle right behind it," said a policeman at the scene who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

No double standards, says Nawaz

FAISALABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said here on Monday that unlike the previous government, his government would not adopt double standards on the issue of drone attacks. The previous regime used to criticise drone attacks, but silently supported them, he said.

“We hope that drone attacks will end in the days to come,” Mr Sharif said in an address to industrialists, exporters, traders and media personnel.

Roadside bomb kills 17 villagers in Afghanistan

KABUL: A roadside bomb struck a motorcycle-drawn cart carrying women and children between two villages Tuesday in western Afghanistan, killing all 17 people on board, a grim reminder of the dangers facing Afghan civilians ahead of the 2014 withdrawal of foreign combat troops.

Terror strikes Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple, Buddha idol safe; NIA begins probe

Nine bomb blasts in a coordinated terror attack rocked Buddhist pilgrimage town of Bodh Gaya and its famed Mahabodhi temple complex in south central Bihar early on Sunday, injuring two monks.Buddhists from all over the world visit the temple, which has the Bodhi tree under which Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. “The holy Bodhi tree is safe and there is no damage to it,” said Bihar director general of police Abhayanand.

Suicide attack the biggest sin in Islam: Fatwa

LAHORE: Ulema of the Sunni Ittehad Council on Saturday declared that suicide bombing is the biggest sin in Islam, Express news reported.

As many as 50 Ulema of the Sunni Ittehad Council in a collective edict declared that killing an innocent is the biggest sin and killing of foreign guest is the worst crime. It was also declared in the edict that attacks on Mosques, hospitals, educational institute, funerals and security forces is not Jihad.

Bomb kills four girls at Afghan wedding: officials

KANDAHAR: A bomb attack killed four girls attending an Afghan wedding, officials said on Thursday, blaming the attack on Taliban rebels intending to target government employees at the event.

The children, aged between seven and 12, died when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated as they collected water from a river during celebrations in the southern province of Helmand.

“The children were at the wedding party and this morning they went to collect water when the IED exploded on a footpath,” provincial administration spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

At least six FC persons killed in a militant attack in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: At least six Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel were killed and seven others injured when militants attacked the Kishan Ganga check-post near Frontier Region (FR), Jina Kor on Tuesday night.

Police confirmed the incident and said militants also kidnapped two security forces' personnel.

According to police, militants attacked the checkpost at 11:00 pm. A heavy exchange of fire between security forces personnel and the armed men ensued and continued till the early hours of Wednesday morning.