Leaders of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, meeting in New Delhi, pledged to make "tangible progress" in the next six months on issues of water, energy, food and environment. Two agreements were signed — on setting up a South Asian University in India and forming a regional food bank. Leaders also pledged to work towards full implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement in "letter and spirit." The summit's closing statement stressed "the need for ensuring market access through smooth implementation of [the] trade liberalisation programme..." The leaders also called for the "urgent conclusion" of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

Thailand's daily The Nation reports that "suspected militants" fired grenades into two mosques in Yala's Yaha district April 4, wounding 15 Muslim worshippers. In the first attack, assailants fired M-79 grenades into the Hassaladawa Yaha mosque during morning prayers. The assailants then got back into their pick-up truck and drove to another mosque about one kilometer away, firing another grenade into it. The explosion damaged the building but claimed no casualties. (The Nation, April 5)

Four soldiers were injured April 5 when a US military helicopter crashed 25 miles south of Baghdad. The US did not specify the cause of the crash, but witnesses reported hearing weapons fire from the ground. An Iraqi official speaking anonymously told BBC the chopper is believed to have been brought down by insurgents using an anti-aircraft machine gun. The crash came in the Sunni town of Latifiyah, part of the so-called "Triangle of Death." This makes the ninth US helicopter brought down by Iraqi insurgent attacks since the start of the year. (UPI, Indo-Asian News Service, April 5)

Egypt has tightened the procedures for Iraqis entering the country, seeking to stem a flow of people seeking refuge from the war. Instead of obtaining visas at points of entry such as Cairo airport, Iraqis will now have to apply in advance through Egyptian consulates abroad. Senior Foreign Ministry official Mahmoud Aouf told parliament: "This decision is due to the nature of the security circumstances accompanying the entry of Iraqis into Egypt at this stage. The sensitivities of Egyptian national security requirements must be respected."

Israeli soldiers re-entered the Gaza Strip April 4 for the first time since November, killing at least one Palestinian fighter. Troops in tanks, bulldozers and jeeps moved onto farmland near the village of Beit Hanoun and clashed with Palestinians near the separation barrier. Islamic Jihad said soldiers shot and killed Ramez Awad al-Zaanin, as he was trying to plant an explosive device in the path of oncoming tanks. Israel said it ordered the incursion after three Palestinians were seen trying to plant an explosive charge near the fence. Defense Minister Amir Peretz authorized the army to carry out limited operations in the Gaza Strip, telling reporters that Israel will "not allow the continued strengthening and arming" of Palestinian groups. (AlJazeera, April 4)

The killing of five African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Darfur—the deadliest single attack against the force since late 2004—is being widely condemned and has led to calls in the United Nations for deployment of a hybrid UN-AU force to the war-torn region. The Italian news agency AKI reports the Senegalese soldiers with the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) were shot April 1 by "unidentified men" in an unprovoked attack in Um Baru, about 220 kilometers from the North Darfur provincial capital of El Fasher. On March 31, armed men also fired at an AMIS helicopter as it was carrying staff from Zalingei in West Darfur to El Fasher. The Angola Press reports April 5 that the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) took responsibility for the attacks through its Army Public Relations Division (DIRPA).

On April 1, the eve of Passover, the synagogue of the Neturei Karta congregation in Monsey, NY, was nearly burned to the ground. Threats had been mounting against the anti-Zionist Orthodox Jewish sect since congregation members, led by Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, traveled to Tehran and shook hands with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Holocaust-denial conference in December. The New York Times reported that the local Ramapo Police Department has ruled out arson. Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) called the fire "the latest attack on the group by pro-Israeli gangs in the US."

From Newsday, April 4:

Wife killed in hit-and-run after seder
Maurichiu Burman, 73, struggled to his feet in the middle of the road, injured by a car that moments earlier had struck him and his wife as they returned from a family Seder on the first night of Passover. He fell to the ground before he could reach his dying wife, the woman from whom he was inseparable in life.