The leader of banned Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Pakistan, Malik Ishaq, has been shot dead, police say.
Malik Ishaq, who had been detained last week, was in a prison convoy in Punjab province when supporters opened fire in an attempt to free him, said police.
They said Ishaq was killed in a gun fight along with his two sons and 11 militants in Muzaffargarh district.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been behind some of the most violent attacks on Shia Muslims in recent years.
Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada confirmed the news to AFP news agency, while a doctor at Muzaffargarh District Hospital said 14 bodies had been received there.
Six police officers were also reported injured but correspondents say the details are unclear, and they have not been seen by the media.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was banned in Pakistan in 2001 and designated a terrorist group by the US in 2003.
The group is accused of killing hundreds of Shia Muslims in Pakistan.
Bahrain has voted in the country’s first parliamentary elections since protests erupted in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011.
The government called on all Bahrainis to cast their ballots.
However, the Shia-led opposition boycotted Saturday’s legislative and municipal elections, calling them an attempt to entrench “absolute rule”.
Despite being ruled by a Sunni monarchy, the majority of the Bahraini population are Shias.
Protesters took to the streets in 2011 to demand greater rights, but the government, backed by Saudi tanks, moved in to crush dissent.
Talks to resolve the situation have since collapsed and unrest has continued.
A coalition of opposition groups has called the poll a “sham” and demanded an elected prime minister who is independent from the al-Khalifa monarchy.
The government was hoping for a strong turnout to back up its contention that the opposition represented a small minority of Bahrainis.
Information Minister Sameera Ebrahim Bin Rajab said the “door to dialogue will never be shut” but added: “Violence is not allowed. It is tantamount to terrorism.”
Bahrain is of strategic importance to Washington and hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Correspondents say the election is also being closely watched by Saudi Arabia, which has a large Shia Muslim population in its Eastern Province.
Bahrain is voting in its first parliamentary elections since Arab Spring protests broke out in 2011.
The government has called on all of the country’s political factions to participate in Saturday’s poll.
However, Shia opposition groups plan to stage a boycott, saying the vote is an attempt to establish “absolute rule”.
Despite being ruled by a Sunni monarchy, the majority of the Bahraini population are Shias.
Disenchanted protesters took to the streets of the capital, Manama, in 2011 to demand greater civil rights.
The protests were stamped out when the government, backed by Saudi tanks, moved in to crush dissent.
Talks to resolve the situation have since collapsed and unrest has continued.
Some 350,000 people are eligible to vote, choosing 40 legislators from among 266 mostly Sunni candidates.
A coalition of opposition groups said it would boycott Saturday’s legislative and municipal elections.
The alliance, which includes al-Wefaq, Bahrain’s most popular opposition group, has called the poll a “sham”.
It has also demanded an elected prime minister who is independent from the ruling al-Khalifa monarchy.
“These elections are destined to fail because the government is incapable of addressing the political crisis,” al-Wefaq member Abdul-Jalil Khalil told the Associated Press news agency.
Bahraini Information Minister Sameera Ebrahim Bin Rajab said that the “door to dialogue will never be shut, including with al-Wefaq” but added: “Violence is not allowed. It is tantamount to terrorism.”
Bahrain is of key strategic importance to Washington and hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.
The election will also be closely watched by Saudi Arabia, which has a large Shia Muslim population in its Eastern Province.
President Barack Obama has warned it is “going to take some time” to help Iraqi people overcome the jihadist-led Sunni rebellion and stabilize their country.
It would be a “long-term project” to revamp and resupply the military and build support among Sunnis, he said.
Barack Obama stressed that progress would depend on Iraqis coming together and forming an inclusive government.
The Islamic State (IS), formerly known as Isis, has seized swathes of northern and western Iraq in recent months.
Barack Obama has warned it is going to take some time to help Iraqi people overcome the jihadist-led Sunni rebellion and stabilize their country
Barack Obama said air strikes on Friday – the first time US forces have been directly involved in a military operation in Iraq since they withdrew from the country in late 2011 – had destroyed IS arms and equipment.
They had also prevented attacks by the al-Qaeda breakaway on thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority group stranded on a mountain in the north-west, the president added.
The Yazidis fled to Mount Sinjar a week ago after IS fighters overran a nearby town where many had been sheltering over the past two months.
Earlier, the UK said it had sent a cargo plane to help with the relief operation that has seen US aircraft drop thousands of bottles of water and ration packs in the area over the past two days.
One C-17 and two C-130 transporters dropped 72 bundles of supplies, according to the Pentagon. They were escorted by F/A-18 Hornet jets launched from the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier in the Gulf.
“We feel confident we can prevent [IS] from going up the mountain and slaughtering the people who are there,” Barack Obama said.
“But the next step, which is going to be complicated logistically, is how do we give safe passage for people down from the mountain and where can we ultimately relocate them so that they are safe.”
France would begin deliveries of first aid equipment to Iraq in the next few hours, President Francois Hollande’s office announced.
IS fighters meanwhile began hoisting their black flags at the Mosul dam, Iraq’s largest, and patrolling its perimeter, days after seizing the facility.
Barack Obama said a long-term strategy was needed to confront the jihadists.
Iraq’s PM Nouri al-Maliki has rejected calls for a national salvation government to help counter the offensive by jihadist-led Sunni insurgents.
Such calls represented a “coup against the constitution and an attempt to end the democratic experience”, Nouri al-Maliki warned.
The US has led appeals to Iraq’s political leaders to rise above sectarian and ethnic divisions.
Government forces have been unable to recapture the territory seized by the rebels this month.
PM Nouri al-Maliki has rejected calls for a national salvation government to help counter the offensive by jihadist-led Sunni insurgents
Almost half of the 300 US military advisers assigned to help the Iraqi security forces have arrived.
Fighting was reported to have continued on Wednesday, with an attack by rebels on the Balad airbase, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.
In his weekly televised address, Nouri al-Maliki called on “all political forces to reconcile” in the face of a “fierce terrorist onslaught”.
But the Shia prime minister gave no promise of greater representation in government for the minority Sunni Arab community, whose anger at what they say are his sectarian and authoritarian policies has been exploited by jihadist militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
Nouri al-Maliki said forming an emergency administration that included all religious and ethnic groups would go against the results of April’s parliamentary elections, which were won by his State of Law alliance.
“The dangerous goals of forming a national salvation government are not hidden,” he said.
“It is an attempt by those who are against the constitution to eliminate the young democratic process and steal the votes of the voters.”
Nouri al-Maliki committed to start forming a new governing coalition by July 1st.
The Sunni extremist group in Iraq has posted photos online that appear to show mass executions of Iraqi soldiers.
The army personnel are pictured being led away and then lying in trenches before and after their “execution”.
Iraqi military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the pictures were authentic and depicted events in Salahuddin province.
However, the images’ authenticity has not been independently confirmed.
Their emergence came as the Iraqi government claimed to have “regained the initiative” against the offensive by Sunni rebels led by ISIS – the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
The Sunni extremist group in Iraq has posted photos online that appear to show mass executions of Iraqi soldiers
Extremists captured key cities, including Mosul and Tikrit, last week, but several towns have now been retaken from the rebels.
The pictures, apparently posted by ISIS, are said to show what happened to soldiers after the group took over an army base in Tikrit following the surrender of the garrison there.
Video footage, apparently filmed earlier, shows many hundreds of men being marched off from near the Speicher base, with the voice on tape saying they were soldiers who had surrendered at the facility.
Still photographs show large numbers of young men being transported away in trucks.
Captions on the photographs, which again appeared to have been issued by ISIS, said they were being taken away to their deaths.
What appear to be ISIS fighters are seen firing on their captives in some images.
Earlier, Iraqi army spokesman Lt. Gen. Qasim Ata, said the military had scored successes against the militants in several areas, killing 279 of them. The figure could not be independently verified.
There were reports of heavy clashes round the city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, with mortar shelling of some districts as militants tried to enter the city.
Government forces were reported to be building up in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, ready for a counter-offensive on Tikrit.
Washington remains concerned at the security situation in Iraq and has announced it is increasing security at its embassy in Baghdad but relocating some staff to safer areas.
The US embassy would remain “fully equipped to carry out its national security mission”, the state department said.
The USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier is being deployed to the Gulf, accompanied by two more warships. However, the US says no US troops will be deployed on the ground in Iraq.
Neighboring Iran has offered direct assistance to Baghdad, but denies sending troops. However, there are reports of more than 130 Revolutionary Guards on hand to provide training and advice.
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