A string of attacks against Shiite pilgrims in the past three days killed 68 people in Baghdad, security officials said on Thursday, exposing the continued ability of insurgents to inflict bloodshed.

A string of attacks against Shiite pilgrims in the past three days killed at least 68 people in Baghdad, security officials said Thursday, exposing the problems of protecting the capital from insurgents.

Somali prime minister names moderate Islamists to the Cabinet. Somalia's prime minister has named members of a powerful moderate Islamic militia to the Cabinet, more than three months after the government signed a power-sharing deal with them.

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A senior Sunni cleric from the western province of Anbar was shot dead on Friday evening, as tensions simmered in Iraq following an inconclusive election in March that produced no outright winner, police said.

The head of Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar institution said on Wednesday resolving the rift between the Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah was an Islamic duty and branded whoever blocked it a "sinner."

Attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad killed two women civilians and an intelligence officer on Monday, while two policemen died trying to defuse a bomb, medical and security sources said.

Iraqi gunmen killed two civilians in the main northern city of Mosul on Sunday as a sapper died trying to defuse a roadside bomb, police said.

Iraqi gunmen killed three people and wounded two as they raided goldsmiths' shops west of Baghdad on Saturday making off with thousands of dollars worth of precious metals, police said.

Three suicide bombers killed four police and a soldier in separate attacks in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul on Thursday, as violence claimed a total of 12 lives nationwide, police said.

A suicide bomber killed four policemen in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul on Thursday, one of a series of attacks around the country that claimed a total of 11 lives, police said.

Suicide bombers in two cars killed 26 people and wounded 53 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday when they drove down a crowded street and blew themselves up simultaneously, security officials said.

Two car bombs targeting a provincial councillor and a police officer north of Baghdad on Friday killed six people and wounded 82, many of them women or children, police said.

Two car bombs targeting a provincial councillor and a police officer north of Baghdad on Friday killed five people and wounded 79, many of them women or children, police said.

Four Sudanese Islamists sentenced to hang for the New Year's Eve murder of a US diplomat and his driver in Khartoum have escaped from prison, security sources said on Friday.

Four Sudanese Islamists sentenced to hang for the New Year's Eve murder of a US diplomat and his driver in Khartoum have escaped from prison, security sources said on Friday.

Four Sudanese Islamists sentenced to hang for the New Year's Eve murder of a US diplomat and his driver in Khartoum have escaped from prison, a security source said on Friday.

Four Sudanese Islamists sentenced to hang for the 2008 murder of a US diplomat have escaped from prison, a security source told AFP on Friday.

Four Sudanese Islamists sentenced to hang for the 2008 murder of a US diplomat have escaped from prison, a security source told AFP on Friday.

Egyptian court upholds decision to strip citizenship from Egyptians married to Israeli women. An Egyptian appeals court on Saturday upheld a ruling that orders the country's Interior Ministry to strip the citizenship from Egyptians married to Israeli women.

A leader of the Ahmadi sect pleaded Thursday for international pressure on Pakistan, warning that extremists were bent on wiping out the community after nearly 100 people were killed.