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October 19, 2012 - Updated 1531 PKT From Web Edition       New   0   0   0 BAGHDAD: Gunmen blew up a bomb and opened fire at a bus packed with south Asian pilgrims, killing four worshippers and wounding 11 others north of Baghdad, officials said on Friday. The coordinated attacks took place late Thursday near the town of Balad, with security officials and medics identifying the victims as Pakistani Shiites. There was no immediate confirmation from the Pakistani embassy. An initial roadside bomb exploded near the bus carrying at one of the main entrances to Balad, followed by gunmen opening fire on the vehicle before fleeing the scene. A police lieutenant colonel in the town and a doctor at Balad's main hospital said four pilgrims, whom they identified as Pakistan citizens, were killed and 11 people were wounded. All of the victims were men.  

By Reuters October 19, 2012 - Updated 1829 PKT From Web Edition       2   0   2   0 BEIRUT: At least eight people were killed and 78 wounded by a bomb that exploded in central Beirut on Friday, the state news agency said. Security sources said the explosion was caused by a huge car bomb. The bomb exploded in the street where the office of the anti-Assad Christian Phalange Party is located. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast near Sassine Square in Ashafriyeh, a mostly Christian area, as smoke rose from the area. It occurred during rush hour, when many parents were picking up children from school. Several cars were destroyed by the explosion and the front of a multi-storey building was badly damaged, with tangled wires and metal railings crashing to the ground. Residents ran about in panic looking for relatives while others helped carry the wounded to ambulances. Security forces blanketed the area...

October 19, 2012 - Updated 1551 PKT From Web Edition KABUL: A huge roadside bomb ripped through a minibus carrying guests to a wedding party in Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 18 others, police said. Most of the victims were women and children in the attack that took place in the northern province of Balkh, in the district of Dawlat Abad around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif. "All the victims were civilians and mostly they were women and children," the police spokesman for Balkh, Shir Jan Durrani, told AFP. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but similar attacks are usually blamed on Taliban insurgents fighting to overthrow the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. Taliban attacks tend to be focused in the south and east of the country, with the north escaping the worst of an insurgency that has raged for 11 years since the militants were...