A building of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Lahore was targeted in a suicide car bomb blast March 8, killing at least 13, including two security officials, and injuring 89 others. The targeted building is variously described as an "office" where terrorist suspects were interrogated and a "safe-house"—implying it may have been a clandestine prison. While the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility, Xinhua quoted officials including the ex-secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Brigadier Mehmood Shah, saying the operation was beyond the Taliban's capability—which raises the question of who really did it. (Blackwater, the paranoid will doubtless tell us.) (Dawn, March 9; Xinhua, VOA, March 7)

Fierce clashes left some 50 fighters dead in northeast Afghanistan's Baghlan province March 7, pitting Taliban forces against their erstwhile allies in Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami militia. The fighting was be centered in Baghlan-e-Markazi district, a stronghold of Hezb-e-Islami, in a village called Qaisar Khail. Hekmatyar has reportedly offered to join forces with the government against the Taliban. (Times of India, WP, March 7)

The death toll from bomb and rocket attacks in Baghdad on March 7, reached 37 with 62 others wounded, as Iraqis voted in the country's parliamentary election. Most of the attacks were on residential buildings in densely populated neighborhoods far from the Green Zone. (Xinhua, March 7) One day earlier, a car bomb ripped through a parking lot used by Shi'ite pilgrims at the Imam Ali shrine in the holy city of Najaf, killing three—two Iranians and one Iraqi. The attack near an Iranian tour bus also wounded 54 people, 19 of them Iranians. (LAT, March 7)

Togo's main opposition leader March 7 rejected the results of a presidential poll handing a second term to incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, as hundreds of activists rallied in the capital Lome to demand justice and police responded with tear gas. Gnassingbe was returned to office in the March 4 election, defeating his main rival Jean-Pierre Fabre who took 33%, according to official results. "I have never wanted to use violence, but if I am stolen from, I will not give up the fight," warned Fabre. "We are going to stage protests, we are not going to take this lying down." (AFP, March 6; AFP, March 7)

Striking Greek workers shut down transport and tried to storm the parliament building in Athens as lawmakers passed 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in budget cuts, including wage reductions. Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of Greece's main GSEE union, was attacked by goons outside the parliament building, which further escalated the violence. Clashes were also reported from Thessaloniki, where riot police used tear gas to disperse protesters outside government buildings. (AFP, Bloomberg, Toronto Sun, March 5)

Ultra-orthodox Haredim Jews torched trash cans in Jerusalem's Shabbat Square and nearby streets March 7. Police closed all roads leading to the square and heavily deployed forces in the area. The unrest comes two days after dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces again stormed East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque compound to break up protests following Friday prayers, firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades. (YNet, Ma'an News Agency, March 7)

Its been a bad week for the 9-11 conspiranoia set. First, the Pentagon shooter appears to have emerged from within their milieu; now Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad weighs in for their wackiness in the most vulgar terms. From CNN, March 7:

Municipal police in San Nicolás de los Garza, a suburb of Mexico's northern industrial hub of Monterrey, staged protests outside their precinct stations March 6 after three of their colleagues were shot to death and a fourth was gravely wounded in a dawn ambush on a patrol car. The protesting cops demanded better weapons, more bulletproof vests, and life insurance. "We want our rifles back," was a favored slogan. City officials said the police have agreed to continue working "under protest" while talks are underway.