At least 31 were killed and 60 wounded in a car bomb attack Sept. 12 in the center of the Shi'ite town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. The bombing occurred at dusk as many residents rushed to make last-minute purchases from the central market before going home to break the Ramadan fast. Dujail is one of the few largely Shiite towns in Salahuddin Province, which had been among the most violent in Iraq before former Sunni insurgents joined Awakening Councils and began cooperating with US forces. Saddam Hussein was sent to the gallows in December 2006 for ordering the execution of 148 Dujail residents after a failed attempt on his life when he visited the town in 1982.

Synchronized explosions hit five crowded markets and thoroughfares in New Delhi Sept. 13—including Connaught Place, a tourist destination in the heart of the city. The blasts left 23 dead and over 100 injured. A group called Indian Mujahedeen sent an e-mail message to TV stations minutes before the attacks. "Eye for an eye," said the document, with the image of victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots. "The dust will never settle down."

The opposition prefect of Bolivia's eastern Pando department, Leopoldo Fernández, is facing an order for his arrest from the national government following violence at Porvenir, 30 kilometers east of the department's capital, Cobija, that left 16 dead Sept. 11. Interior Minister Alfredo Rada said the 16 peasant supporters of President Evo Morales were killed in a clash with an armed opposition group. At least two opposition supporters were killed the next day as government troops opened fire to disperse protesters who had occupied Cobija's airport. Rada accused Fernández of orchestrating a "massacre," and said his supporters had brought in sicarios (hired assassins) from Brazil. Morales has declared martial law in Pando, and dispatched his presidency minister, Juan Ramón Quintana, to the department—but the minister remains confined to the airport by ongoing violence in the city.

The US Sept. 12 announced it will expel the Venezuelan ambassador, and declared that Venezuela's top two intelligence officials have supported "narco-terrorist activities" in the region. The Treasury Department accused the intelligence officials of aiding Colombia's FARC, "even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents." In response, Venezuela's Exterior Minister Nicolás Maduro said in a statement that "Venezuela has decided to submit its entire relations with the United States to an intense review process."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told a crowd of thousands of supporters in the city of Puerto Cabello Sept. 11 that he is giving US Ambassador Patrick Duddy 72 hours to leave the country—saying he issued the order in solidarity with his Bolivian ally President Evo Morales, who took the same measure the previous day. In the expletive-laden speech, Chávez said he is also recalling Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Álvarez. "Go to hell, Yankees," he said as the crowd cheered in support. Chávez added that "when there's a new government in the United States, we will send an ambassador, a government that respects the people of Latin America, the America of Simón Bolívar." (WP, Sept. 12)

Japan announced Sept. 12 that it plans to end its military airlift mission in Iraq by year's end. Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said his government is discussing withdrawal Air Self-Defense Force troops deployed in Kuwait for the air support mission, following a request from the Iraqi government had asked for a reduction in the presence of foreign military forces. The move is also a response to the impending December expiration of the UN resolution serving as the legal basis for the deployment.

At least two were killed and 80 wounded in renewed repression in India-controlled Kashmir Sept. 12. Police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds in two towns near Srinagar after separatist leaders issued a call for Muslims across the region to protest Indian rule following Friday prayers. A curfew is in force in Shopian, where one protester was killed. A second was killed in Baramulla. Mohammed Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was injured when police used tear-gas and batons to break up protests in Srinagar. (AlJazeera, Sept. 12)

Pakistan's army chief harshly criticized the US military for making unilateral cross-border raids from Afghanistan Sept. 12. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, Chief of Army Staff, said there was "no agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border." Pakistan would defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity "at all costs," he said.