Armed attackers have attempted to blast their way into an American base in eastern Afghanistan, striking before dawn with rocket-propelled grenades and a vehicle packed with explosives.

The attackers failed to breach the gate of the base in Panjshir province’s Rakoha district, though they did hit a security tower with a rocket-propelled grenade, a local police chief said on Saturday.

Three of the men attacked on foot, shooting, while a fourth detonated the explosives-laden vehicle outside the gate, General Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh said. All four attackers were killed and two Afghan security guards were wounded, he said.

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In a significant victory in the four month-long civil war, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) captured an important frontline post of the Burma Army in Kachin State on Tuesday, after more than 20 hours of fighting, according to local people.

KIA officers and local residents confirmed the Jan Mai post, located on a high mountain top in west of Loije in Manmaw (Bhamo) District, was captured by the combined forces of KIA Battalions 16 and 21, under 3rd Brigade and the People’s Army.

The combined KIA forces attacked the Jan Mai Post, which was manned by about 20 government troops from Shwe Nyaung Pyin (Waingmaw)-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 321, at about 4 a.m. local time.

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Somalia’s autonomous state of Puntland, has warned the Somaliland government not to set foot in the limited section of Sanaag that is controlled by militias loyal to Puntland.

In a statement to SomalilandPress, Mohamud Siciid Nuur (Dabayl) who governs a pint sized section of the region, has announced that his forces are on high alert after they were informed that Mr.Silaanyo and his delegation were in the capital of Sanaag, Erigavo.

Mr. Nuur (Dabayl) said “We would like to ask President Silaanyo to respect the peace treaty that was signed in 1993 by the local tribes in the area”.

Mr. Dabayl also warned the Somaliland ministers who hail from Sanaag that have been accompanying the President on these trips, to not enter the areas that are controlled by militias loyal to Puntland.

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Sri Lanka’s government on Friday released nearly 1,800 former Tamil Tiger rebels who had been held since the island nation’s civil war ended more than two years ago.

The former combatants — among about 11,000 Tamil Tigers who surrendered at the end of the war in May 2009 — were held in military-run rehabilitation centers, where they underwent vocational training. The military says about 1,000 remain in centers.

Sri Lanka has come under pressure from rights groups and other countries to either charge the detainees or release them.

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More than 30 people were killed in clashes across Syria, including 14 civilians and 17 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday, as army forces continued to pound the cities of Homs and Qamishli.

Seven of the 14 civilians killed on Sunday were gunned down by security forces in the central city of Homs, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that seven others were killed in other towns.

Seventeen security personnel died the same day in clashes with mutinous troops refusing orders to shoot on anti-regime protesters, the watchdog said.

“It was like a war scene in Homs, where blasts and sound bombs were heard all over town, with heavy machine guns also being fired,” said officials with the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), which organizes protests on the ground.

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At least 20 people have been killed in clashes between African Union forces and al-Shabaab fighters in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Press TVreports.

A battle between al-Shabaab fighters and African Union (AU) soldiers broke out in northeast Mogadishu on Saturday after AU troops launched attacks on al-Shabaab bases in the area, the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.

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About 40 Burma Army soldiers were killed in one day, Tuesday, by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) as the momentum increases in the civil war in Burma’s northern Kachin State, people in the war zone said.

People in the battle field said government soldiers died during fighting against the People’s Army under the KIA around Ja Ing Yang Village, near Sinbo, in central Kachin State.

There were no KIA casualties, a KIA officer in the frontline said.

Fighting is happening daily between the two sides in different areas in the Shadan Pa Valley, close to Ja Ing Yang, according to local people.

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