Afghan officials say a NATO supply convoy came under heavy fire in mountainous western Afghanistan late Wednesday, sparking a gunbattle in which at least five Afghan security guards, an Afghan soldier and 14 attackers were killed.
Violence across Syria killed at least 22 people - most of them civilians - as Arab leaders in Baghdad backed a peace plan during a summit focused on resolving the year-long Syrian crisis.
In southwest Pakistan, gunmen have shot and killed five Shi'ite Muslims and a United Nations employee in two separate attacks.
Despite a recent political transition in Yemen, analysts say al-Qaida-related militant groups are mounting a major threat to the government. The continuing chaos in Yemen, analysts say, is increasing the danger of al-Qaida attacks against Western targets.
Leading U.S. lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to take an even tougher stance with Iran over its nuclear program, questioning whether expanding economic sanctions are making a difference.
Details after the break.
Afghan officials say a NATO supply convoy came under heavy fire in mountainous western Afghanistan late Wednesday, sparking a gunbattle in which at least five Afghan security guards, an Afghan soldier and 14 attackers were killed.
The officials say the firefight in Farah province was intense and raged for hours following the ambush by a large group of insurgents.
There were varying estimates of the number of militants killed. Several media outlets said at least 28 insurgents died in the fighting.
Syria
Violence across Syria killed at least 22 people - most of them civilians - as Arab leaders in Baghdad backed a peace plan during a summit focused on resolving the year-long Syrian crisis.
Syrian rights activists say forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed at least 16 civilians in assaults on opposition hubs in central Syria and the northern province of Idlib on Thursday. The activists say rebels killed two soldiers in an ambush in Hama province. In other violence, Syrian state news agency SANA says "terrorists" shot and killed two army colonels in the city of Aleppo.
Arab leaders and envoys discussed a response to the Syrian crisis at a Baghdad summit - the first to be held by the Arab League in the Iraqi capital since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. A rocket exploded near the fortified Green Zone where the summit was being held, but caused no casualties.
Arab League members called on the Syrian government and opposition to implement the terms of a peace plan drafted by international envoy Kofi Annan. The plan urges both sides to start a cease-fire and a dialogue, but does not call for Assad to step down as part of a political transition.
Arab leaders previously had urged the Syrian president to hand power to a deputy to manage the transition, but now they appear to have backed away from that demand.
Assad said he will "spare no effort" to ensure the success of the Annan peace plan. In remarks published Thursday by SANA, the Syrian president promised to start a national dialogue "in a very short period." But he also said countries providing money and weapons to the Syrian opposition must stop immediately to enable Annan's mission to succeed.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it is "essential" for the Syrian president to put his commitments into immediate effect. Speaking to Arab leaders at the start of the Baghdad summit, Ban also accused the Syrian government of failing to fulfill its responsibility to protect its own people.
Only nine leaders of the Arab League's 22 members traveled to Iraq for the summit. Assad was not invited. The absence of other leaders reflected ongoing divisions within the Arab League about how to end Syria's violence.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia were among the nations that sent low-level envoys to the summit. Both have called for tougher action on Syria, including the arming of rebels trying to end Assad's 11-year autocratic rule. Iraq, the summit host, has criticized such proposals, fearing they would further destabilize Syria, a neighbor and trading partner.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani urged summit participants to respond to political upheavals in the Arab world by creating a "suitable atmosphere for dialogue so as to avoid violence, chaos and foreign intervention."
Kuwait's emir was one of the nine visiting leaders. It is the first time a Kuwaiti head of state has traveled to Iraq since the 1990 invasion by the forces of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi authorities sharply increased security for the summit, hoping to show neighboring states that Iraq can maintain stability following the withdrawal of U.S. forces last December.
Pakistan
Gunmen have shot and killed five Shi'ite Muslims and a United Nations employee in two separate attacks in southwest Pakistan.
Police say assailants on motorcycles opened fire on a passenger van in an apparent sectarian attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, on Thursday.
A woman was among those killed and at least six people were wounded in the attack. The killing sparked protests in parts of Quetta, with demonstrators setting motorcycles on fire.
Pakistan has seen sectarian attacks targeting the country's Shi'ite minority, which makes up about 15 percent of the population. Pakistan has a Sunni Muslim majority, and although most Sunnis and Shi'ites coexist peacefully, members of both communities are often targeted by extremists.
In a second attack Thursday, officials say gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in the Mastung district of Baluchistan, killing a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization worker and the driver.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing.
And violence continued Thursday in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, where at least four people were killed overnight.
The unrest in Sindh's provincial capital began earlier this week when two political activists were shot dead. Businesses have been shut down and security forces dispatched to the country's economic hub to help maintain order.
Yemen
Despite a recent political transition in Yemen, analysts say al-Qaida-related militant groups are mounting a major threat to the government. The continuing chaos in Yemen, analysts say, is increasing the danger of al-Qaida attacks against Western targets.
Video obtained from al-Qaida-linked militants in Yemen shows missile launchers, automatic weapons, heavy ammunition and vehicles with machine guns. All, they say, were captured from the Yemeni Army in March during an assault that killed more than 100 government soldiers.
“Today, thank God, the brothers stormed an artillery and katyusha [rocket] brigade and, thank God, the brothers took complete control of the site, and seized six katyusha [rocket] launchers, six cannons and four tanks,” said Jalal Baledi, a leader of Ansar al-Sharia, an offshoot of al-Qaida.
The U.S. military has helped train Yemeni troops to fight terrorists who are members of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
But analysts say they face an ever growing insurgency, especially in the southern part of the country.
“The fear is that that has a demoralizing effect on troops, especially if they are feeling that the military itself is not as centered around the al-Qaida fight as it is around the political drama that has been going on in Sana'a, the capital,” said Katherine Zimmerman of the American Enterprise Institute.
Yemen has been in chaos since last year, when anti-government protests forced longtime autocratic ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign as president.
His deputy, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, took over in February and vowed to continue the battle against terrorists.
“Continuing the fighting against al-Qaida is a national and religious duty, which will make the displaced people in Abyan return to their homes,” Hadi said.
In southern Abyan Province, thousands have fled the fighting to camps in the port city of Aden, where littered streets and closed shops are signs of a crippled economy.
Fear of al-Qaida is keeping people like Salim Nasar from going home.
“I want to return home all the time, but now Abyan is very dangerous as it is in the control of many militants," Nasar said.
Analysts worry the tide may be turning in favor of al-Qaida.
“And whether or not Yemen will be able to gain the upper hand on the AQAP still remains to be seen. It is going to definitely be an incredible challenge considering the political turmoil the country faces," said The Jamestown Foundation’s Jeb Boone.
In recent years the Yemen-based al-Qaida group has successfully placed bombs on three airliners headed to the United States.
Analysts say the more success the militants have in Yemen, the more dangerous they are to the West.
“If AQAP were to turn and focus again on conducting these transnational attacks they would have a better foundation from which to do that in Yemen and that there is the threat," Zimmerman said.
And that foundation appears to be growing.
Iran
Leading U.S. lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to take an even tougher stance with Iran over its nuclear program, questioning whether expanding economic sanctions are making a difference.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Democrat John Kerry, called Iran and its nuclear program the "biggest foreign policy challenge facing the U.S." during a hearing Wednesday. He said sanctions alone are unlikely to make Iran change course and called for Washington to engage in what he called "hard-nosed diplomacy."
The committee's leading Republican lawmaker, Senator Richard Lugar, also warned that Iran has refused to change "even as its isolation has grown." He said Tehran needs to understand it must choose between pursuing its nuclear program or preserving Iran's economic viability.
The lawmakers said the U.S. is keeping all options on the table, including the use of military force.
Iran denies Western claims it is trying to develop atomic weapons and says its nuclear activities are purely for power generation and medical research purposes.
Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Wednesday that he expects renewed talks with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France, plus Germany - to begin April 13.
The group, known as the P5+1, reaffirmed its support for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue earlier this month. But in a statement, the group also voiced "regret" about Iran's escalating campaign to enrich uranium, and urged Tehran to open its Parchin military site to inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Kerry said the prospect of a military confrontation gives "added urgency" to the upcoming talks.
A spokesman for European Union policy chief Catherine Ashton said there is no agreement on a time or place for the talks. But Salehi told Iranian state media Wednesday that a site will be set in the next few days.
Iran wants the meeting to take place in the Turkish city Istanbul, where a previous round of talks broke down in January 2011.
Salehi welcomed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran on Wednesday for meetings with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other officials.
Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying no one has the right to "impose anything" on a country using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. He also said, though, "Anyone who has common sense is against nuclear weapons. And so no one has the right or the entitlement to impose such a thing."
All content based on VOA News reports.
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