A group of gunmen has attacked the parliament of Russia’s republic of Chechnya leaving at least three people killed in the assault.

According to Russia’s Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev, who is in the Chechen capital at the moment, the victims are two militiamen and one civilian. The latest reports say that at least 17 people have been wounded. The injured include seven police officers and 11 civilians.

According to investigative committee on Tuesday morning cars with deputies entering the territory of the parliament were followed by a car carrying terrorists. At least one suicide blast followed and up to three gunmen managed to break into the building and open fire. According to the country’s law enforcement agency all of them have been neutralised.

The News:
http://rt.com/Top_Ne … upts-parliament.html

Central African countries plagued by the brutal rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army are working to reclassify the group as terrorists, the African Union said on Saturday.

At a meeting this week in the Central African Republic aimed at promoting a joint approach to the LRA, participants agreed to take steps to have the LRA classified as terrorists, rather than rebels, by the AU.

This would give affected countries greater access to international funds and require increased levels of judicial cooperation.

The group has killed about 2,000 people in the last two years, and displaced more than 400,000, according to the UN.

Representatives from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan met in Bangui on Wednesday and Thursday, along with Kenya, where they also agreed to step up joint military action.

The News:
http://www.reliefweb … Document&rc=1&cc=uga

Somali government troops and allied forces retook the southeastern town of Bulo Hawo near the Kenyan border Sunday after defeating al-Qaeda-inspired al-Shabaab Islamists, officials and witnesses said.

“We took control of the city after defeating the enemy,” Mohamed Abdi Kalil, the government’s governor for the province, said by telephone.

“Residents were applauding with happiness after they saw the national army back in town after living under the tough regime of the al-Shabaab,” he added.

Kalil said many al-Shabaab fighters had been killed in the fighting, while one government soldier was killed and two injured.

The News:
http://somalilandpre … lamist-militia-18742

The Sudanese army reacted angrily to the announcement by the United Nations peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy yesterday in which he said that the world body intends to redeploy peacekeepers in the south to Abyei and other hotspots along the north-south border ahead of the referendum to create limited buffer zones.

On Friday an unnamed UN official told Reuters that as of yesterday, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) “significantly increased its troop presence in the Abyei area”.

The South Sudan referendum is required by a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 21-year civil war between Sudan’s predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the largely Christian-animist south.

Preparations for the January 9 vote have proceeded haltingly amid political and logistical obstacles, and the southerners have accused the northerners of stalling, warning of violence if the referendum is delayed.

La Notizia:
http://www.sudantrib … pip.php?article36614

Heavy fighting between the transitional government soldiers and al-Shabaab has started at the out in parts around Beledweyn town of Hiran region in central Somali on Saturday morning, witnesses told Shabelle radio.

The fighting had reportedly started as many of al-Shabaab fighters attacked at El-gal village in out of Beledwyn town where there had been military base for the Somali government troops.

The real casualties of the fighting are unclear so far, but residents in the areas said that the sound of heavy weapon could be heard all directions in the areas.

The people of Beleweyn town have great fears over the fighting between the two sides as and reports from the town indicate that there was no businesses and public traffic movements there on Saturday morning.

The News:
http://www.shabelle. … n-in-central-somalia

Two field commanders of the Islamic opposition located in eastern Tajikistan’s Rasht Valley have reportedly agreed to lay down their weapons and join forces with government troops to “hunt down foreign militants.”

The independent news agency Asia-Plus quoted authorities in Rasht as saying that 27 members of armed groups commanded by Mirzokhuja Ahmadov and Mullo Sadriddin surrendered their weapons earlier this week.

The news came after local media reported on October 14 that Tajik officials were negotiating with local commanders in Rasht to end intense fighting that has been going on in the onetime militant stronghold for nearly a month. The ongoing military operation against militants began when 28 government troops were killed on September 19 when their convoy was ambushed in Rasht’s remote Kamarob Gorge.

The News:
http://www.rferl.org … n_Rasht/2191514.html

An explosion at a base belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has killed 18 people and injured 14.

Reports are emerging of the blast at an ammunitions store on Tuesday in north-western Lorestan province.

The injured were taken to Khoramabad, 300 miles (500 km) southwest of Tehran.

An elite military force, the Revolutionary Guard was set up shortly after the 1979 Iranian revolution to defend the country’s Islamic system.

The north-west of Iran has seen several attacks in recent months by Kurdish militants against the Iranian military.

The military is fighting armed groups and separatist movements in the south-east along the border with Pakistan as well as in the far north-west along the border with Iraq.

The News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk … middle-east-11531378