As Bangladesh prepares to hang six militants convicted in a string of bombings, a newly "interrogated" member of the network claims some 5,000 followers of outlawed Islamist groups are still active in the country, and receiving aid from supporters abroad, including Saudi Arabia and the United States. Mostafizur Rahman Shahin, detained in the northern district of Pabna March 14, confessed to being a senior member of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, led by Shayek Abdur Rahman.

Residents of Somalia's capital Mogadishu report that hundreds of militants clashed with Ethiopian and Somali government forces, in fighting that left dozens dead in the northeastern quarter of the city March 20. Insurgents set fire to the bodies of killed soldiers, dragging the flaming corpses through the streets.

Continuing protests over the suspension of the chief justice, thousands of opposition activsts and lawyers rallied in major cities across Pakistan and clashed with police, demanding President Pervez Musharraf's resignation. In Islamabad, around 1,000 protesters staged an angry rally outside the Supreme Court building. The former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Hamid Gul, took part in protests in front of the national Parliament. Police and paramilitary troops have been deployed in large numbers in and around the Parliament and Supreme Court buildings, and emegrency orders against further public gatherings are in effect.

Police blocked opposition supporters from protesting outside the Egyptian national legislature, the People's Assembly, after the body adopted of a set of constitutional amendments the opposition says aim to ensure the ruling National Democratic Party's power and the succession of President Hosni Mubarak's son. Police arrested six activists, including two pro-reform bloggers, while sealing the area around the People's Assembly March 20.

US-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are using a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Israel, the campany that produces the devide said in a statement released ahead an upcoming air show in Australia.. Elbit, one of Israel's leading defense electronics companies, said the mini-UAV, known as the Skylark, is operational "and currently deployed in the global war on terror in Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan." There was no confirmation from US military on the statement.

A suicide bomber exploded his car beside a US Embassy convoy in Afghanistan's capital March 19, killing a 15-year-old pedestrian and wounding five security guards. The first suicide attack in Kabul since December knocked one armored sport-utility vehicle across Jalalabad Road, the site of more bombings and rocket attacks than any other area in the capital. Two other SUVs also were damaged. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, told reporters by phone that a Taliban militant from Khost province conducted the attack. The Embassy closed after the attack and issued a warning to Americans in Kabul.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, March 14:

On the 4th Anniversary of the US-led war on Iraq
Let's Raise the Freedom Flag and Unify Our Ranks to Boot out the Occupation and Sectarian Gangs from Iraq

Iraqi people:

On this day we are commemorating the 4th year of the US-led war on Iraq. This war that brought us nothing but carnage, poverty, and more than two million displaced people. This is Bush's promised democracy to Iraqis.

Police arrested more than 100 protesters in San Francisco and New York City March 19 as the US marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion. "Stop the money, stop the war," protesters chanted outside New York's Stock Exchange as police hauled 44 away for blocking the entrance. The protesters said they were directing attention to defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Halliburton and General Electric, whose profits have soared since the invasion. Thousands rallied against the war in recent days nationwide, including in New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. (Reuters, March 20)