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At least 5 people have been injured by a bomb blast close to a bus in Cairo, Egypt’s health ministry has said.

Earlier reports of a death have been discounted.

The bomb was planted on a pedestrian island and exploded as the public bus passed by in the northern district of Nasr City, a security source said.

It comes a day after the government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

At least 5 people have been injured by a bomb blast close to a bus in Cairo

At least 5 people have been injured by a bomb blast close to a bus in Cairo

Explosive experts detonated a second bomb that was planted in an advertising board close to where the first explosion went off in Nasr City.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose candidate Mohamed Morsi won the presidential election in 2012 before being deposed by the military earlier this year, had already been outlawed.

A Muslim Brotherhood leader in exile vowed that protests would continue.

In recent months, Egypt has seen a wave of attacks which the authorities have blamed on Islamist militants.

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A car bomb has exploded outside the French embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, wounding two guards and causing extensive damage.

The blast completely destroyed the embassy’s reception area and parts of neighboring homes.

One official told Reuters news agency: “We think it was a booby-trapped car.”

An investigation is under way into what French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called an “odious act”.

A car bomb has exploded outside the French embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, wounding two guards and causing extensive damage

A car bomb has exploded outside the French embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, wounding two guards and causing extensive damage

Laurent Fabius said French officials were working with the Libyan authorities to identify those responsible.

The explosion happened shortly after 07:00 in a smart, residential area of Tripoli.

The blast took place in a small side street, causing extensive damage to the buildings and parked cars.

Diplomatic missions in Libya have been attacked in the past, the most notable being the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi in September 2012 that led to the death of its ambassador Christopher Stevens and three Americans.

This is the first major attack on a foreign embassy in the Libyan capital, observers say.

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A car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus killing at least 31 people and sending smoke billowing across the capital’s skyline.

State media blamed the blast near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party on “terrorists”.

TV pictures showed images of dead people. Overseas activists said at least 31 people had been killed.

The violence comes as Russia and the Arab League say they want to broker direct government-opposition talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the war as “a road to nowhere”.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition is holding a two-day meeting in Egypt to discuss a framework for a possible solution.

Some 70,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, the UN says.

Police and witnesses said the blast was a car bomb. It went off in the central Mazraa neighborhood, close to the Baath offices and Russian embassy.

Surrounding roads are reported to have been closed off to traffic and firefighters and medical staff were at the scene.

State and pro-regime TV showed pictures of dead bodies and destroyed cars.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 31 people had been killed in the explosion.

A car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus killing at least 31 people and sending smoke billowing across the capital's skyline

A car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus killing at least 31 people and sending smoke billowing across the capital’s skyline

Witnesses told AP news agency the car had exploded at a security checkpoint between the Russian embassy and the Baath Party central headquarters.

“It was huge. Everything in the shop turned upside down,” one local resident said. He said three of his employees were injured by flying glass that killed a young girl who was walking by when the blast hit.

“I pulled her inside the shop but she was almost gone. We couldn’t save her. She was hit in the stomach and head.”

Syrian state media said the explosion had struck near a school and clinic and that schoolchildren were among the casualties.

There have been two other explosions in the city, also at security checkpoints.

And heavy fighting between government and rebel forces is continuing around the city, with the government carrying out air strikes in the suburbs.

Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin and the Arab League wanted to establish direct contact between the Syrian government and the opposition.

Speaking in Moscow, where he hosted league officials and several Arab foreign ministers, the Russian foreign minister said that sitting down at a negotiating table was the only way to end the conflict without irreparable damage to Syria.

“Neither side can allow itself to rely on a military solution to the conflict, because it is a road to nowhere, a road to mutual destruction of the people,” he said.

Sergei Lavrov and Arab League General Secretary Nabil Elaraby said their priority was to create a transitional government to navigate a way out of the violence.

No conditions for the negotiations have been set, they said.

The proposal initially received a cool reception from the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), with senior member Abdelbaset Sieda insisting Bashar al-Assad and his allies “must go first”.

“After that we can discuss with others in the regime who didn’t share in the killing of our people,” he said.

But the news agency Reuters says it has seen a draft SNC communiqué being discussed in Cairo which demonstrates an apparent softening in the group’s stance.

The document reasserts the group’s position that Bashar al-Assad’s apparatus cannot be part of any political solution in Syria, but omits previous demands that Assad’s regime must go even before any talks, Reuters says.

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At least seven people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a bomb attack in Gaziantep, south-eastern Turkey, security sources and media say.

The suspected car bomb exploded close to a police station in Gaziantep, Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported.

Police officers were reported to be among the casualties and media showed a bus and other vehicles on fire.

At least seven people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a bomb attack in Gaziantep

At least seven people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a bomb attack in Gaziantep

No group has so far said it carried out the attack.

However, rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are active in south-eastern Turkey, which has a Kurdish majority.

Gaziantep’s governor Erdal Ata said the explosion had been caused by a remote-controlled car bomb, the Dogan agency said.

Earlier on Monday, two Turkish soldiers were killed and another wounded in a mine blast in south-eastern Hakkari province. Turkish officials blamed the attack on the PKK.

Clashes between the PKK – which seeks autonomy for the Kurds – and Turkey’s armed forces have increased in south-eastern Turkey over the past year.

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Two car bomb and suicide attacks killed at least 10 people and wounded another 15 in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, according to police.

The car bomb exploded near a restaurant in Tal Afar centre. Minutes later, a man wearing an explosive vest blew himself up in a crowd of onlookers.

Tel Afar is not far from the Syrian border, just west of the city of Mosul.

Earlier, a car bomb reportedly killed two people and wounded seven in a western part of the capital, Baghdad.

There has been a rise in attacks in Iraq since US troops left in December, leaving more than 200 people dead.

The violence has come amid a marked deterioration in Iraq’s fragile political process, with the country’s most prominent Sunni Arab politician being sought by the authorities on terrorism charges.

 

At least 48 people died and dozens have been injured in a wave of bombings and shootings across Iraq, police say.

The attacks targeted predominantly Shia areas, in particular police officers and checkpoints.

In Baghdad, nine people died in two successive blasts in the central Karrada district. Outside the capital, at least two were killed in Baquba.

No group has yet said it was behind the violence. Attacks in Iraq have risen since US troops withdrew in December.

Tolls from other attacks around Baghdad include:

• six dead after a car bomb in Shia-dominated Kadhimiya, norht of Baghdad

• six killed by gunmen at a police checkpoint in the Sarafiya district of the capital

• two dead and five injured in an explosion in the western al-Mansour district

• two killed and 10 injured in two explosions in Dorat Abo Sheer, southern Baghdad

• two killed and nine wounded in an attack by gunmen using weapons with silencers, targeting a police patrol in Saidiya, southern Baghdad

• seven injured, most of them policemen, in a blast in al-Madaen, south of Baghdad

• five civilians injured in a bomb explosion in Taji, north of Baghdad

There are also reports of bombings in the provinces of Salahuddin and Kirkuk.

The capital of Salahuddin province is Tikrit, the home town of former leader Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006.

There are fears the death toll from Thursday’s violence could rise.

Last week, at least 18 people were killed in a suicide attack near the Iraqi police academy in the capital.

Shia targets have come under increasing attack since the government of Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki moved against senior members of the predominantly Sunni Iraqiya political bloc.

The day after US troops withdrew a warrant was issued for the arrest of Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, who is accused of financing death squads.

Tariq al- Hashemi, who denies the charges, is currently in Iraqi Kurdistan, under the protection of the regional government.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq said it carried out previous waves of attacks in December and January.

However, a senior government official said the upsurge in violence since the withdrawal of US troops was politically motivated. The official blamed Tariq al- Hashemi for planning and co-ordinating the attacks.

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At least 63 people have been killed and around 185 injured in a wave of apparently co-ordinated bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, according to officials.

The interior ministry told the BBC 14 blasts hit various locations, including al-Amil in the south and Halawi and Karrada closer to the centre.

The bombings are the worst in months – and follow the withdrawal of US troops.

They come amid fears of rising sectarian tensions as the unity government faces internal divisions.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks.

However, analysts say the level of co-ordination suggests a planning capability only available to al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is a mainly Sunni insurgent group.

The bombs exploded as many people were travelling to work during the morning rush-hour.

Four car-bombs and 10 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated, officials told the BBC.

A security spokesman in Baghdad, Maj-Gen Qassim Atta, said the attackers had not aimed at security targets.

“They targeted children’s schools, day workers and the anti-corruption agency,” he told the AFP news agency.

Raghad Khalid, a teacher at a kindergarten in Karrada, said “the children were scared and crying”.

“Some parts of the car bomb are inside our building.”

Smoke was seen rising over Karrada district, with ambulances rushing to the scene.

Another woman said her baby had been covered in glass.

“She is now scared in the next room. All countries are stable. Why don’t we have security and stability?” said Um Hanin.

Iraq’s year-old power-sharing government is in turmoil after an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges.

The entire al-Iraqiyya group, the main Sunni bloc in parliament, is boycotting the assembly in protest. It accuses Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shia, of monopolizing power.

Tariq al-Hashemi denies the charges. He is currently in Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, under the protection of the regional government, but PM Nouri Maliki has demanded that they give him up.

The last American troops departed from Iraq on Sunday, nearly nine years after the war that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

President Barack Obama acknowledged that the situation was not perfect, but said the US forces were leaving behind “a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government elected by its people”.

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