Libya’s army has asked residents to evacuate a central district of Beghanzi, where the country’s seaport is located, as it prepares a military operation against Islamists, Reuters news agency reported citing Ahmed al-Mesmari, spokesman for the army’s chief of staff.

At least 230 people have been killed since the army, which is backed by forces loyal to a former general, waged an offensive against Islamist groups in Libya’s second-largest city. It is part of the ongoing strife that has taken over the oil-producing North African country three years after the ousting for its former dictator president Muammar Gaddafi.

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At least 55 people, including 11 women and three security personnel, were killed and nearly 200 injured when a suicide attacker detonated a powerful bomb at Wagah in Pakistan today, minutes after the popular flag- lowering ceremony at the main Indo-Pak land border crossing.

“A large number of people were returning after watching Rangers flag ceremony at Wagah border when a suicide bomber blew himself up near one of the exit gates,” Inspector General Police of Punjab Police Mushtaq Sukhera said. He said three Pakistani Rangers were also among the dead.

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Twenty Yemeni soldiers and three suspected al Qaeda militants died in clashes on Saturday in the town of Jabal Ras in Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah, local officials and residents said.

Saturday’s clashes broke out when suspected al Qaeda militants staged an attack.

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Islamist militants affiliated to Al Qaeda seized the last remaining stronghold of Western-backed rebels in Syria’s northwest province of Idlib yesterday after days of fighting, rebels and a monitoring group said.

Backed by other hardline Islamist groups, the Nusra Front are waging a major military campaign against the Syria Revolutionaries’ Front led by Jamal Maarouf, a key figure in the armed opposition to President Bashar Al Assad, after accusing him of being corrupt and working for the West against them.

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Fighting flared up early Saturday at the airport north of Donetsk as the east Ukrainian city is getting ready for Sunday’s elections, a RIA Novosti correspondent says.

Artillery fire can also be heard in downtown Donetsk, our correspondent says. The Donetsk administration confirmed that “fierce heavy artillery fire and blasts are heard” across the entire city, though, it added, that fighting had not disrupted transport. It also described the previous night as “a relatively calm” one.

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