A bomb blast outside a shop in Istanbul wounded at least 14 people [June 10]. Turkish security forces believe that Kurdish separatists are behind the attack. [Reuters, June 10] Ongoing fighting in the Turkish southeast between the army and Kurdish separatist fighters of the Kurdish Workers' Party [PKK] has left several dead. [Reuters, June 10]

Police in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar have found a propaganda CD by a group claiming to be "al-Qaida fil Hind" (al-Qaeda in India), with the aim of launching a jihad beyond the borders of Kashmir into all of India. The emergence of the organization is in keeping with a growing trend of militants in disparate places claiming to be part of an indigenous chapter of al-Qaeda. [India Times, June 9]

Afghan president Hamid Karzai survived the third assassination attempt on his life on [June 10] when Taliban militants fired rockets at a building in which he was giving a speech [outside Kabul]. [The president is known as the "mayor of Kabul" to his critics, who say his power does not extend much beyond his palace, which hides behind sandbag ramparts, concrete blocks, razor wire and machine-gun nests in the capital.] [Reuters, June 11]

In the west and central regions of Iraq, heart of the supposed "Sunni insurgency", US forces are equipping and training former Sunni insurgents to fight al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in a bid to turn local and tribal groups against the presence of "foreign" Islamists. [First pioneered in Anbar province, the "Anbar model" is now being replicated in other Sunni areas, including the Amiriya district of Baghdad.] [NYT, June 11]

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has accused UK Prime Minister Tony Blair of overriding the devolved powers of the Scottish parliament in negotiating a deal with Libya on prisoner transfer. In a statement to Scotland's parliament, Salmond said that it was "unacceptable" that Blair had not consultated with the body prior to signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Mommar Qadaffi during his tour of North Africa last week. "Any agreements which may flow from it are emphatically within the remit and authority of this parliament," Salmond said.

The trial began June 8 of 26 Americans and six Italians who stand accused in absentia in Italy of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect [Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr AKA Abu Omar], and dispatching him to Egypt, where he is said to have been tortured. Most of the Americans in the "extraordinary rendition" proceedings are thought to be CIA agents. Italy has not said whether it will seek the suspects' extradition to the Milan trial, yet Washington has already refused to do so. [BBC, June 8]

International arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar was arrested by Spanish police June 7 after a federal indictment was issued against him in New York for conspiring to support terrorists and kill US soldiers. US officials said undercover agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had convinced al-Kassar that they represented the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerilla army classified by the US State Department as a terrorist group.

Arnaldo Otegi, the leader of banned Basque separatist party Batasuna, has been arrested in northern Spain, charged with glorifying terrorism; he is to serve a 15-month sentence. Batasuna is closely linked with Basque separatists ETA, who ended a 15-month cease-fire on June 6. [The Supreme Court had rejected Otegi's appeal of a conviction and 15-month sentence handed down last year.] [EITB24, June 8]