At least one Somali soldier and another civilian injured after the transitional federal government forces clashed with Ethiopian military troops in Hiran region of central Somalia, reports said on Thursday.

The confrontation, which lasted a limited amount of time, sparked after Ethiopian forces took a Somali soldier into custody in Jawil district just out side of Belet-weyne town, the regional capital of Hiran.

Somali forces in the area had been outraged by the Ethiopian move and in response Somalis attacked Ethiopians in the region.

Reports from Jawil district, right now, confirm clam has returned in that place as guns fell silent.

The clash is said to be a clear sign that Ethiopian forces, which had already crossed into Somalia, are present inside Somalia soil.

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Suspected members of Boko Haram are behind the killing of three more people at a hospital in Maiduguri, police said on Wednesday.

The three victims, including a senior police officer, were killed Tuesday evening when some armed men fired shots into a teaching hospital in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. “An investigation has already commenced but I can tell you that we believe the killings must have been carried out by the Boko Haram since it was their mode of operations,” the Borno State police public relations officer said.

Boko Haram said on its website on Tuesday it was behind the Christmas Eve bombings in Jos.

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The UN has accused Ivory Coast state media - controlled by strongman Laurent Gbagbo - of inciting hatred against foreign peacekeepers.

UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said state TV channel RTI was pumping out lies, and blamed it for a machete attack on UN personnel on Tuesday.

Mr Gbagbo has so far resisted UN calls to step down as president and make way for his rival Alassane Ouattara.

Regional leaders are holdings talks aimed at breaking the impasse.

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At least 80 people are said to have died in Nigeria’s Christmas bomb attacks and subsequent clashes between armed Christian and Muslim gangs.

A government agency says its figure, more than double that published by police, is based on the number of bodies recovered.

The violence happened in and around the city of Jos, which lies in Nigeria’s volatile “Middle Belt” between Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north and Christian south.

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Israeli soldiers shot dead two members of Islamic Jihad on the Gaza Strip Sunday morning, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

The two militants died to the east of Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, during an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers, said witnesses and the al-Quds brigade, a militant Islamist group.

The Islamic Jihad militant group said two of its gunmen were killed by Israeli fire after they detonated an explosive device against a passing Israeli patrol.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the clash.

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Sudanese army and fighters from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) released conflicting statements about a second battle took place in North Darfur area of Shangili Tobayi today.

On Thursday, the rebel group attacked the government troops in Dar El Salam, 35k away from Shangili Tobayi. The two locations were controlled by a Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction led by the signatory of 2006 peace deal Minni Minnawi who is now “legitimate target” for the Sudanese army.

The Mediators in Doha, Qatar struggle to stop hostilities in the restive region by brokering a ceasefire agreement between the two warring parties. The mediation said a ceasefire should be signed before the 31 December.

“The (Sudan) Armed Forces today evening attacked the so-called (alliance of Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minnawi faction) in Shangili Tobayi area, (North) Darfur,” said a statement released by the Sudanese army spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khaled.

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North Korea threatened Thursday to launch a “sacred” nuclear war against South Korea if it attacks, as Seoul staged military exercises that have raised already high tensions on the peninsula.

The remarks seemed aimed at revving patriotic spirit on the eve of the 19th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il’s appointment as the supreme military commander.

Defense chief Kim Yong Chun said North Korea is “fully prepared to launch a sacred war” - and would use its nuclear capabilities - if attacked and warned the South against intruding even the smallest amount on its territory, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea’s anger has been piqued this week by South Korea’s staging of live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong Island, which was shelled by the North’s artillery on Nov. 23. Four South Koreans were killed.

North Korea has said it shelled the island because South Korea fired artillery into its territorial waters first. South Korea has countered that it fired artillery away from North Korea as part of routine drills.

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