The two car bomb attacks that hit Damascus on Thursday killed 55 people and injured 372, civilians and soldiers, according to the Syrian Ministry of Interior.

“The two attacks that took place at one minute intervals are suicide attacks using car bombs, and left 55 dead and 372 wounded civilians and soldiers, “said the Syrian Ministry of Interior, stating that the explosives weighed “more than 1,000 kg”. Both attacks targeted an intelligence center in the Syrian capital, struck in recent months by a series of deadly attacks.

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Sudanese army troops have pushed out rebels who had seized control of a town in the western Darfur region, a state-linked media website said on Wednesday, the latest violent incident in the troubled area.

The two Darfur rebel factions — the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) factions led by Minni Minnawi and Abdelwahid Nour — had captured Girayda in southern Darfur on Tuesday as part of their campaign to topple President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s government.

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The Armed Forces’ spokesman, Col. Al-Sawarmi, announced that the Armed Forces has liberated Geraida, Keen Debi and Kafia Kingi from occupation of the South Sudan State’s Army and its allies of the rebels of Khalil Ibrahim, Meni Arko Menawi and Abdul-Wahid Nour.

He said that the Armed Forces attacked on May 7 the area of Kefen Debi and after a fierce battle the Armed Forces liberated the area and secured its fully, announcing that in the morning of May 9 the Armed Forces continued its movement for Kafia Kinga, 59 kilometers far from Kefen Debi, and inflicted a another defeat of the People’s Army of South Sudan State and its allies of Darfur rebel movements.

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Afghan soldiers and NATO - led coalition troops eliminated 22 Taliban militants in an operation in the country’s eastern Paktika province Monday night, an Afghan army spokesman said Tuesday.

“Afghan National Army (ANA) backed by coalition forces raided a Taliban hiding place in Nike district Monday night, killing 22 armed militants, “army spokesman Ajmal Zhwak said. He said no security force member was injured in the operation in the province, 155 km south of capital Kabul.

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Since the incursion of the al-Shabaab insurgent group in southern and central Somalia in late 2007, many Somali children under the age of 18 - both boys and girls - have gone missing.

Under the guise of ‘recruiting’, the group has kidnapped these children to serve as fighters (and for other purposes) against its many opponents, including Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces, African Union peacekeeping forces (AMISOM), Ethiopian troops and Kenyan Defense Forces.

As a result of their forced participation in combat between al-Shabaab and their enemies, many children have been killed or severely injured, including some who are permanently maimed or disabled.

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Al-Qaeda leader Fahd Al-Quso was killed on Sunday in an airstrike in the eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa, security sources said.

According to the sources, al-Quso was killed when an airstrike targeted a car which al-Quso was on board along with several militants who were also killed in the attack.

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Ugandahas deployed an additional 1700 troops in volatile Somalia, bringing the total number of Ugandan peacekeepers in the Horn of African country to 8000, a military spokesman said here on Monday.

Col. Felix Kulayigye, spokesman of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces, told Xinhua by telephone that the troops will stay in the Somali capital Mogadishu as their colleagues advance deep into hostile territory.

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