Islamist militants detonated a truck bomb Tuesday in front of the Ministry of Education in Mogadishu, killing at least 70 people, wounding dozens and shattering a relative calm that had prevailed in the Somali capital for weeks.

The bomb blew up after coming to a halt at a security checkpoint. It left blackened corpses on the debris-strewn street and set other vehicles alight. Uniformed soldiers were seen dragging the wounded away.

Ali Muse, the chief of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, told The Associated Press that at least 70 people died and at least 42 others were wounded.

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At least 15 people have been killed in tribal fighting in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, reports say.

The clashes erupted in Kainantu town in Eastern Highlands province between the Agarabi and Kamano tribes.

Police said guns and knives were used in the fighting, and that a settlement was burned to the ground.

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Calm returned to the border town of Dhobley in southern Somalia one day after fierce combat between Somali government forces backed by Raskamboni group and al-Shabaab fighters.

Latest reports from the town suggest that Friday’s firefight claimed the lives of more 25 people and injured 40 others.

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Yemen’s Defense Ministry claimed that today its forces killed Anwar al Awlaki, the American cleric who serves as an operational commander for al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. Samir Khan, another American who runs Inspire magazine, is also said to have been killed. The report has not been confirmed.

“The government of the Republic of Yemen announced today the death of Anwar Al Awlaki, the American born terrorist and member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” the message stated. “Awlaki was targeted and killed 8 KM from the town of Khashef in the Province of Jawf (140KM east of the Capital Sana’a). The operation was launched earlier today at around 9:55 AM, local time.” Al Jawf province is a haven for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

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A Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan killed eight officers and completely destroyed a police post, a provincial spokesman said Wednesday.

At least three more officers were injured in the Tuesday night attack near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, according to Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman.

An investigation revealed it was an inside job, he said.

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A NATO spokesperson has confirmed that its troops fired on Serb protesters in the Mitrovica region. According to the statement, they were responding to an attack by the crowd.

Figures for the number of wounded vary, but hospital officials say at least six Serb protesters and four NATO soldiers were injured. The Alliance’s representative in Kosovo, Kai Gudenoge, said Serb protesters threw pipe bombs at troops stationed along the border between Serbia and Kosovo.

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Anti-Kadhafi fighters overran the port of Sirte early Tuesday, scoring a strategic victory in their battle for control of the defeated Libyan leader’s birthplace, his loyalists’ most important bastion.

Hundreds of fearful civilians have fled the Mediterranean coastal city in recent days as the new regime’s forces have closed in from east, south and west.

But as the National Transitional Council troops zero in on the centre of the sprawling city where Kadhafi diehards are believed to be holed up, the threat of destructive urban warfare street-by-street hangs over the remaining residents.

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