Lebanese security forces fought militants linked to al-Qaeda in the northern city of Tripoli and at the adjacent Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared early May 20, leaving at least 10 dead, including four police. Witnesses said gunmen from the Fatah al-Islam faction seized Lebanese army positions at the entrance to the camp, then moved out to roads leading to the city and ambushed a military unit. Army reinforcement were called in and fighting spread. The attack may have been a reaction to a police raid on a Tripoli apartment that morning. Police were looking for suspects in a bank robbery a day earlier in Amyoun, a town southeast of Tripoli, in which gunmen made off with $125,000 in cash. The militants resisted arrest and a gunbattle ensued.

India's intelligence agencies are examining a telephone card and cellphone supposedly recovered from a deactivated exlposive found at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, scene of the deadly May 18 bombing. The card was reportedly purchased by one Shahed Bilal, said to be an operative of the Bangladesh-based Harkat ul Jehad Islami (Huji), which is in turn said to be linked to the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

Estonia, one of the most wired societies in Europe, has been subject in recent weeks to massive and coordinated cyber-attacks on government, banking and telecommunications wesbites, Internet service providers and news organizations. Computer security specialists call it an unprecedented assault on the electronic infrastructure of a state—and say the attacks re originating in Russia. Moscow is angry over Estonia's recent relocation of a Soviet war memorial, but Russian officials deny any government involvement in the cyber-attacks.

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe has ordered his military to intensify efforts to free hostages in the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC)—asserting that they are being held in "concentration camp" conditions "more cruel" than those of the Nazis. Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three US intelligence agents, and eight more hostages were reportedly being held in the same Amazon jungle camp from where National Police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao escaped April 28, after eight years in captivity. Frank said Betancourt is forced to sleep chained by her neck as punishment for having tried to escape five times.

A home-made bomb ripped through a bus terminal in Mindanao's Cotabato City May 18, killing three and injuring 15 others. About half of the casualties were children. Authorities said the motive was probably extortion, as the bus company had been receiving letters from armed groups demanding money. But Mindanao has been hit by seven bombings this year, many of them blamed on Muslim extremists linked to the Jemaah Islamiah or al-Qaeda terror networks. The bombing came barely a week after Australia and the United States warned their citizens of possible terror attacks in Central Mindanao. On May 8, a device went off in a crowded market in Tacurong, killing eight. (Manila Times, May 19; GMA, May 18)

Mohamed Meziane, president of Algeria's energy parastatal Sonatrach, meeting with US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in Washington, said he wants to triple natural gas exports to the US from 4 billion to 12 billion cubic metres per year by 2015. Algeria is also seeking technical assistance from the US in developing its nuclear capabilities.

An Israeli airstrike targeting a minivan supposedly carrying a Hamas fighter in northern Gaza City killed three people and wounded 12 on May 18. Israeli tanks also fired five shells near a housing project in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya, wounding five. (AP, May 19) On May 17, Israel moved tanks and troops over the Gaza border and launched eight airstrikes, killing at least seven Palestinians. Some 14 rockets fired by Hamas militants in Gaza May 17 landed in Israel, six near the border town of Sderot. The government bused some Sderot residents to hotels, calling it a "respite," not an evacuation. (NYT, May 18)

Tuareg rebel leader Moktar Roman of the Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la Justice (MNJ) spoke to the UN news agency IRIN May 17 about the reasons behind the resurgence of armed attacks in the north of Niger this year. "The movement was created because nothing has been done by the government," Roman said. "There is no work, no schools, not even drinking water in all Niger. It's terrible, it's a genocide, and the government is corrupt, taking money from people and leaving them to live in poverty." He insisted the group is fighting for all citizens of Niger, which the UN considers the poorest and least developed country in the world. "It is not just a Tuareg movement," he said.