A suicide blast outside the emergency ward of a hospital crowded with Shi'ite Muslim mourners in Pakistan's volatile northwest killed at least 27 people, including two police. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in Dera Ismail Khan, NWFP. A local Shi'ite leader shot earlier in the day had just died from his wounds when the blast went off. The attack, the latest in a wave of sectarian violence in the region, occurred a day after Pervez Musharraf stepped down as Pakistan's president. Maulvi Umar, spokesman for Pakistan's Taliban movement, claimed responsibility in an interview with the AP, but denied the mourners were the target, saying "This is not a sectarian attack."

At least 43 were killed and 38 wounded in a suicide attack on an Algerian gendarmerie training school at Issers, in the Kabylie region, Aug. 19. The attacker drove his explosives-packed car packed to the main entrance to the school as candidates for an entry exam were waiting outside. Civilians as well as police officers were among the victims. "It's utter carnage," said the father of one of those killed in the attack. "It's a catastrophe. May God punish them for the crime they have committed against these youngsters, and their country." (AlJazeera, Reuters, Aug. 19)

A judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia last week denied a request made by six ethnic Uighur Guantanamo detainees to be transferred to less restrictive facilities within the base. The petitioners argued that their solitary confinement in a higher security section of the base caused them mental suffering, but the court ruled that the detainees did not sufficiently demonstrate that they would suffer irreparable harm if they were not moved. Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled:

Turkish fighter planes again bombed PKK guerilla positions in northern Iraq Aug. 16, in what a military statement in Ankara called a "successful operation." The raid targeted a cave in the Avasin-Basyan region, which served as a base for a "large group" of PKK militants who were preparing for an attack across the border in Turkey, the statement said. Ankara claims there are more than 2,000 PKK fighters in northern Iraq. The Turkish government has a one-year parliamentary authorization for cross-border military action against the PKK, which expires in October. (Al-Arabiya, AFP, Aug. 17)

Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Jaber Fares Dhaher was killed and 17 people, mostly Iraqi police, were injured in a wave of bombings in Baghdad Aug. 18. The Sheikh was killed when insurgents attacked his car in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Zafaraniyah. His wife and daughter were also wounded. The previous night, a suicide bomber who blew himself up near Abu Hanifa mosque, one of Iraq's most prominent Sunni shrines, in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah, killing at least 15 and wounding 30. The dead included Faruq al-Obeidi, a local leader of the Sons of Iraq, a US-backed force of former Sunni insurgents who have turned their weapons against al-Qaeda. (AFP, WP, Aug. 18)

A Sudanese court Aug. 18 sentenced eight Darfur rebels to death, including the half-brother of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim. Abdul Aziz Ashur and others were found guilty on charges related to a May rebel attack on Khartoum, in which at least 200 died. In June, Sudanese security forces arrested more than 100 JEM members in connection with the attack. Later that month, 39 accused Darfur rebels appeared before special courts to be tried under a 2001 anti-terrorism law.

Tuareg rebels of the Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) announced Aug. 18 they are laying down arms following peace talks brokered by Libya. The announcement was made by the MNJ leader Aghaly ag Alambo, following a meeting across the Libyan border with the country's leader, Moammar Qadaffi. Alambo said he was also speaking for Tuareg rebels in neighboring Mali, who would disarm too. Ibrahim Ag Bahanga's Malian Tuareg rebels meanwhile handed over 21 captives to authorities Aug. 17 in what he called a gesture of "good faith." The released soldiers join five others turned over to the government since the end of the peace talks in Algeria on July 21. (FOCUS, BBC, Aug. 19; VOA, Aug. 18)

On Aug. 8 in Alexandria, Va., US District Judge Leonie Brinkema postponed the trial of Florida professor Sami Al-Arian indefinitely. Al-Arian was charged on June 26 with two counts of criminal contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury which is investigating whether Islamic charities in northern Virginia were financing terrorists. The trial, originally scheduled for Aug. 13, will now be delayed until the Supreme Court addresses an appeal submitted by Al-Arian's attorneys, challenging the legality of the federal subpoena which led to the contempt charges. (Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, Aug. 9; AP, Aug. 8)