The UN Security Council has urged all forces in Afghanistan to do everything they can to avoid civilian deaths. The 15-member council also condemned Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgents for killing innocent Afghans in suicide bombings and using civilians as "human shields" during battles.

Iran is using the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as a "proxy" to arm Shiite militants in Iraq and Tehran's elite Quds force helped militants carry out a January attack in Karbala in which five Americans died, a U.S. general said Monday.

Suspected Sunni insurgents blew up the minarets of a revered Shi'ite shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra today, raising fears the attack could provoke further sectarian bloodshed. Police said the attack involved explosives and brought down the two minarets that had flanked the Al-Askari (Golden) Mosque in Samarra.

After insurgents hijacked Monday two buses and kidnapped at least 15 passengers a big battle raged in central Baghdad, police said Monday. At least three policemen had been killed and four wounded, authorities said.

Iraqi police say suspected insurgents set off a bomb near a bridge in southeastern Baghdad today, killing at least two civilians. It's the second attack on the bridge within one week.

The most economically prosperous state in India's restive northeastern region is being wracked by new violence, including a bomb that killed two people. VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi on the latest troubles in Assam.

NATO said the killing of the Taliban's top operational commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, is a major setback for militants there, but security analysts interviewed by RFE/RL countered that there are many local Taliban commanders who are willing to succeed him.

Afghan officials say a roadside bomb has killed five policemen in the Afghanistan's east. The deputy governor of Ghazni province says the remote-controlled device exploded Sunday as a police convoy was passing by.

Afghan officials say a NATO airstrike has killed 13 Taleban militants after the insurgents attacked a government building near the Pakistan border. Authorities said Saturday the militants attacked the district government headquarters in Alishar in southeastern Khost province late Friday.

A car bomb exploded in the Iraqi city of Al-Ramadi today, killing at least 25 people and spraying the area with chlorine. It was the latest insurgent attack using the deadly chemical. More than 30 people were reported injured.

Four British soldiers and a civilian interpreter have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. British military spokesman Lt. Col. Kevin Stratford-Wright said a fifth soldier was wounded in the blast. The spokesman said insurgents also opened small arms fire on the British patrol.

After several days of relative calm, heavy fighting resumed in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Battles between Ethiopian troops and insurgent fighters have reportedly killed and wounded dozens of civilians.