Two Tibetan monks set themselves on fire in Maerkang, Sichuan province, on March 30—bringing the total of protest self-immolations in little more than a year to over 30. The monks came from a monastery 80 kilometers away. When fellow clergy learned of the immolations, they set out for the city only to be blocked by police about halfway to Maerkang (known to Tibetans as Barkham). (AP, March 30) Four days earlier, Tibetan exile Jampa Yeshi self-immolated at a protest march New Delhi, ahead of President Hu Jintao's scheduled arrival in India. (NYT, March 26)

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters overran a military checkpoint at al-Milah in Lahj province of southern Yemen March 31, killing 17 soldiers during an intense battle that also resulted in the deaths of 13 AQAP fighters. The AQAP militants seized two tanks and other weapons. Yemeni warplanes killed three AQAP fighters while attacking one of the seized tanks; it is unclear if the tank was destroyed. AQAP fighters fell back to the city of Ja'ar in neighboring Abyan province, one of several towns now under AQAP control. Ansar al-Sharia, or Partisans of Islamic Law, AQAP's political front in Yemen, claimed credit for the attack in text message, according to Reuters. "The holy warriors of Ansar al-Sharia this morning carried out the raid of dignity on the al-Hurur military checkpoint in Abyan, resulting in the deaths of around 30 [soldiers]," the statement said. (Long War Journal, March 31)

It came to light in Israel last month that the Civil Administration in the West Bank has for years been covertly identifying and mapping available land, and naming the parcels after existing Jewish settlements, evidently with an eye toward expanding these communities. The new outposts are mostly "illegal" under Israeli law (although all the settlements are illegal under international law). The Civil Administration, part of the Defense Ministry, released its maps in response to a request from anti-settlement activist Dror Etkes under Israel's Freedom of Information Law. In some places the boundaries of the parcels outlined in the maps coincide with the route of the West Bank separation barrier.

An Afghan soldier killed two British soldiers on a military base in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, on March 26. The Afghan soldier was killed by ISAF troops, who opened fire on the attacker. That same day, an officer of the Afghan Local Police killed an ISAF soldier in the east of country; authorities did not release the name or nationality of the soldier, or the exact location of the attack. Afghan security personnel have now killed 16 ISAF troops this year. (Long War Journal, March 26)

A Brazilian federal judge on March 16 blocked a move to try retired army colonel Sebastiao Curio Rodrigues de Moura AKA "Dr. Luchini" for abuses committed during the country's military dictatorship. Prosecutors days earlier brought the charges over the abduction of five left-wing militants in the 1970s—the first criminal charges brought for abuses under the dictatorship. But Judge Joao Matos in Marabá ruled that the charges would violate Brazil's 1979 amnesty law. Matos said in his ruling: "To try after more than three decades to dodge the amnesty law and reopen the debate on crimes committed during the military dictatorship is a mistake." Federal prosecutors can appeal the ruling. (BBC News, March 16)

The corregidores of the Subcentral section of the Isiboro Sécure National Park Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) in Bolivia's eastern lowlands voted March 19 to hold a new cross-country march on La Paz to oppose construction of a road through their territory. The "Ninth Indigenous March," scheduled for April 20, will protest construction of the next phase of the highway linking Villa Tunari in Cochabamba department with San Ignacio de Moxos in Beni, as well as Law 222, passed earlier this year to facilitate indigenous "consultation" on the road project. Pedro Vare, leader of the Indigenous Peoples Central of Beni (CPIB), said meetings would be held to bring more communities into the march. The Subcentral section represents 42 of the 64 indigenous communities in the TIPNIS. Vare accused the Evo Morales government of attempting to divide the territory's indigenous communities by distributing food, clothing, outboard motors and other gifts. (Erbol, March 19)

It made at least brief international headlines March 26 when Colombia's military announced it had killed 36 FARC fighters in the pre-dawn bombing of a guerrilla camp in Vista Hermosa, Meta department. Five days earlier, the armed forces claimed to have killed 33 fighters in ground fighting and air attacks in Arauca—near the area of Arauquita municipality where 11 soldiers had been killed in a FARC ambush on March 17. The claimed deaths come just as the FARC says it is preparing to free its last hostages. Armed forces chief Gen. Alejandro Navas dismissed suggestions that the military attacks could delay the releases, saying the strikes fall within the "rules of the conflict." (AP, March 26; WSJ, March 21; Secugo, March 18)

A Colombian judge overturned the conviction of a FARC commander March 29 for his alleged role in a 1998 massacre in which 17 civilians were killed. The judge in northeastern Arauca department ruled it was unlawful to sentence Germán Suárez Briceno AKA "Grannobles" for the deaths of civilians in a Colombian Air Force (FAC) response to the slaying of nine soldiers by Grannobles and his men. Grannobles continues to face charges for the killings of the soldiers. Authorities investigated the bombing, known as the Santo Domingo Massacre, and the FAC was ordered to pay compensation to the victims' families. The Colombian government has appealed a decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to force the state to compensate the victims, claiming the FARC was guilty of the civilian deaths. (Colombia Reports, March 30)