An al-Qaeda-linked group in Mali has kidnapped a team of Red Cross workers who had been reported missing, an official from the group known as the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) said.

A famous Indian composer has revealed that he has reverted to Islam, adding that he is proud of the decision which got his family’s support.

Four Palestinian refugees were killed Sunday in Syria due to the continued shelling and siege on Palestinian refugee camps, Palestinian sources said.

An Alawite village in the central province of Hama was seized by Islamist fighters on Sunday, Reuters news agency reported, adding that the fighting was “part of an offensive to try to cut off supply routes from Damascus to the north of the country.”

A two-member Taliban committee, consisting of Professor Muhammad Ibrahim and committee coordinator Maulana Yousuf Shah, has reached Islamabad after holding a crucial meeting with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership.

Six hundred people – mostly women, children and the elderly – have been evacuated from the Syrian city of Homs, according to non-governmental organisations.

An aid convoy has come under attack in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, threatening a UN-led operation to bring food and medicine to 2,500 people and evacuate civilians trapped by fighting between rebels and government forces.

A fire at a hotel in Islam’s holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia has left 15 pilgrims dead and injured 130 others, according to the state-run news agency SPA.

The nominated team members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has arrived at Miran Shah in North Waziristan to meet TTP’s top leadership on Saturday in North Waziristan in order to update the militant group over peace talks with the government.

War took an increasing toll on Afghanistan’s civilians in 2013 as fighting intensified between the government and insurgents, the United Nations said in a report on Saturday, with total casualties rising 14 percent.