Pakistan is sharply rejecting new U.S. reports that the terrorist group al-Qaida has reestablished training bases inside the country's remote tribal areas. From Islamabad, VOA correspondent Benjamin Sand says the new camps are reportedly preparing operatives for attacks on Western targets.

News reports from Turkey say a ruling is expected soon in the trial of 73 al-Qaida-linked militants accused of involvement in a wave deadly bombings in Istanbul more than three years ago.

French counterterrorism police arrested 11 suspects as part of efforts aimed at dismantling an alleged al-Qaida-linked recruiting network to send radical Islamic fighters to Iraq, police officials said Wednesday.

Iran said Tuesday it had detained two suspected al-Qaida members who entered the country illegally from Iraq, state television reported.

Unidentified gunmen in Madagascar have reportedly killed a brother-in-law of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The brother of Jamal Khalifa says Khalifa was killed Tuesday when 20 to 30 gunmen broke into his house, killed him and stole all of his belongings.

Palestinian witnesses say Fatah and Hamas gunmen have fought a fierce battle in the Gaza Strip, wounding at least three people.

Pakistan needs peace and stability in Afghanistan, the president told U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, who met him here after a visit to Kabul, the government said in a statement Monday.

China has tightened security along its borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan amid claims that "international terrorists" are infiltrating China's northwest Xinjiang region, the home of China's Muslim Uyghur minority.

A U.S. gunship late Monday attacked one, possibly two, suspected al-Qaida hideouts in southern Somalia. The American air strike is reported to have targeted several operatives involved in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has details from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.

U.S.-led coalition forces say they have killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a Taleban leader in southern Afghanistan who was a close associate of Osama bin Laden.

A bomber blew himself up outside the home of an Afghan lawmaker in Kabul today, killing one civilian and wounding at least seven people, including three bodyguards.

The deputy leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has spoken out against early elections in the Palestinian territories as a way to end a political stalemate between Fatah and Hamas factions.