TEHRAN: The Iranian authorities have banned the Sunni community of the capital, Tehran to offer Eid prayers inside houses.

Bombs and missile strikes in Pakistan have left at least 15 people dead in different parts of the country, while a British journalist has been released from captivity in the northwest.

At least eight people have been killed in bomb blasts at the main airport in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, witnesses have said. The victims in Thursday’s blasts included African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops.

KABUL: Several hundred Afghans chanting “Death to America” rallied outside a mosque in the Afghan capital on Monday to protest against an American church’s plan to burn a copy of the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

A US drone attack has killed at least eight people and wounded a dozen more in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt, amid growing public rage over such assaults.

Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, has announced that he has set up a council to pursue peace talks with the Taliban. The formation of the High Peace Council was “a significant step towards peace talks,” a statement from Karzai’s office said on Saturday.

At least 54 people have been killed and nearly 200 injured in a suicide attack targeting a Shia Muslim rally in Pakistan’s southwest city of Quetta. Police officers said the bomber was among the 450-strong crowd and had detonated the device on reaching the main square in the city on Friday.

MIRAMSHAH: Two US drone strikes on Friday killed at least ten militants, including some foreign fighters, in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said.

At least six more US-led soldiers have lost their lives in separate incidents in the troubled eastern and southern areas of Afghanistan.

KABUL: Seven U.S. troops were killed in two Taliban-style bomb attacks Monday in southern Afghanistan, the area hardest hit by the insurgency nearing the end of its ninth and most deadly year, NATO said.