A suicide bomber wearing an Afghan army uniform detonated a huge explosion early Saturday while trying to board a military bus, killing 27 soldiers from the Afghan National Army (ANA) and injuring 21 others in western Kabul, media reported Sunday.
The bombing was one of the deadliest in the country this year and no one has claimed responsibility for it. The blast was so powerful that it ripped off the roof of the bus and tore out its sides, catapulted a huge piece of the vehicle into a park across the street and shattered windows in shops and homes throughout the neighborhood. "For 10 or 15 seconds, it was like an atom bomb -- fire, smoke and dust everywhere," said a police officer who witnessed the explosion.
Excerpted
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/30/content_6817485.htm
Egypt lets Hamas militants return to Gaza
09.30.07
More than 80 Palestinian militants who had been stranded in Egypt since Hamas seized Gaza in June returned to the territory on Sunday, witnesses said. A senior Hamas figure is said to be among them.
Hamas sources said that the Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza-based militant group, took part in talks with Egypt on temporarily reopening Rafah. There was no immediate comment from Cairo. Any softening of Egypt's policy toward Hamas would likely anger Abbas and the United States.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3454622,00.html
The imam of a Syrian mosque who repeatedly called for holy war against US forces was shot dead after Friday prayers, witnesses and medical sources said. Mahmud Gul Aghassi, also known as Abu Al-Qaaqaa, was killed by a gunman who stepped from a car and opened fire with an automatic weapon outside his mosque in the northern city of Aleppo, witnesses said.
The preacher was hit in the head and stomach and died some hours later in Aleppo's al Shaaba hospital, according to a medical source at the hospital. Three people with him were wounded in the attack. Witnesses said one of his attackers was detained by the imam's followers.
Al-Qaaqaa was known for his anti-American views and recordings calling for holy war against US forces, and had set up a group which recruited young men to fight coalition forces in Iraq. He had recently fallen foul of fellow jihadists, however, for allegedly colluding with the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and several extremist websites had called for his assassination.
http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?ArticleID=362890&ChannelId=4
Pakistan shuts private news channels
Sept 29, 2007
Authorities in Pakistan on Saturday temporarily suspended transmission of independent news TV channels to stop coverage of opposition rallies against President's bid for re-elections, private TV channels and subscribers said.
Police fired tear gas shells and beat protesting lawyers and political activists who staged demonstrations in Islamabad to protest against President Musharraf. Protest rallies were planned outside the office of the Chief Election Commissioner, who held scrutiny of the nomination papers of President Musharraf and his rival candidates. Major private TV channels were showing live pictures of injured lawyers with blood on their heads and faces.
Police severely beating and arresting senior lawyers and opposition activists and firing tear gas shells were also aired live on TV channels. Only those people could watch TV channels who had facility of satellite dish receiver. Three major TV channels Geo, ARY and Aaj TV said their transmissions went off the air in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and most parts of the country. The state-run Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMA) had warned all TV channels not to air programs, talk shows and interviews in which comments are offered on courts matters.
Excerpted
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0709296536141911.htm