At least 11 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in an ambush by suspected militants close to the Afghan border, officials say.
The military convoy was attacked in the north-west Khyber tribal region, near the city of Peshawar.
The dead included a colonel and a captain in the paramilitary Frontier Corps, a government official said.
Pakistani forces are often targeted by militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal regions.
Islamabad has launched several operations against insurgents along the Afghan border over the past two years.
Khyber government official Iqbal Khan said the convoy had been returning from a mission in three vehicles when it was attacked. He said several of the attackers were also killed, but gave no more details.
One report said 14 soldiers had died.
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Pro-Ouattara forces have taken control of some parts of the main city, Abidjan
Forces loyal to Ivory Coast’s two rival leaders are engaged in fierce fighting for the strategic town of Duekoue in the western cocoa-growing region.
Fighters backing Alassane Ouattara, widely recognised as the winner of last year’s election, say they have taken the town.
They have seized several towns from troops loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power.
The United Nations estimates some one million people have fled the violence.
November’s election was supposed to reunify the country, which has been divided since a 2002 civil war.
But the stand-off has led to widespread fears of renewed full-scale hostilities in the world’s largest cocoa-producing country.
The New Forces former rebels, who support Mr Ouattara, remain in control of northern areas.
They have mostly stayed on their side of the 2003 ceasefire line but have also seized territory in the west, near the Liberian border.
Their claims to be in control of Duekoue have not been independently confirmed.
Ivory Coast: Battle for power
462 killed since disputed election1m forced from their homes9,000 UN peacekeepers to monitor 2003 ceasefireElection intended to reunite countryWorld’s largest cocoa producerPreviously seen as haven of peace and prosperity in West AfricaAlassane Ouattara recognised as president-electInternational sanctions imposed to force Laurent Gbagbo to goHarding blog: Will the world prevent war?
But a pro-Gbagbo militia leader told Reuters news agency his forces were still in part of the town, which would be the biggest to fall so far.
“Shooting is coming from all sides, we have the impression we are surrounded,” a pro-Gbagbo soldier told the AFP news agency.
The BBC’s John James in the central town of Bouake says that if the New Forces do capture Duekoue, it would open the way for attacks on either the major town of Daloa to the east or the port of San Pedro, a key economic target.
He also says another loss by the pro-Gbagbo army would also further demoralise the state forces who have lost every engagement so far and are struggling in the main city, Abidjan, to contain a guerrilla force, known as the “Invisible Commandos” who have taken control of the northern part of the city.
In the areas under New Forces control, schools have reopened for the first time since the election.
They were closed as part of a campaign of civil disobedience aimed at forcing Mr Gbagbo from power.
At least 462 people have been killed since December, according to the UN peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast.
The 9,000-strong UN mission in Ivory Coast has accused pro-Gbagbo forces of firing shells at pro-Ouattara areas of Abidjan, causing widespread civilian casualties.
Pro-Ouattara forces in Abidjan have also been accused of killing supporters of Mr Gbagbo.
France last week circulated a draft resolution at the UN calling for sanctions against Mr Gbagbo and his allies.
The European Union has already taken similar measures, leading banks to shut down and badly hitting the cocoa trade, which is one of Mr Gbagbo’s main sources of revenue.
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Signs of the protest are still evident in London
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The home secretary has “utterly condemned” the behaviour of thugs who attacked police officers and smashed property in London on Saturday.
Theresa May told the Commons she expected the number of people charged, currently 149, to increase.
She said she had asked the police whether they needed more powers.
A ban on known hooligans at marches was one option, she said, and she would review police powers to remove scarves covering protesters’ faces.
In the unrest which broke out alongside a peaceful anti-spending cuts protest, a mob attacked police officers, smashed windows and daubed banks and shops with paint.
A total of 201 arrests were made, most of them after a campaign group staged a sit-in at luxury store Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly, in central London.
Mrs May said that since the student demonstrations in December, the Metropolitan police have been learning lessons and the tactics deployed on Saturday reflected that learning.
“But there is more that can be done,” she said. “I have asked the police whether they feel they need further powers to prevent violence before it occurs.
“I am willing to consider powers which would ban known hooligans from attending rallies and marches, and I will look into the powers the police already have to force the removal of face coverings and balaclavas.
“If the police need more help to do their work I will not hesitate in granting it to them.
“We will always back the police when they do their important work and we will back them as they do their job to bring these mindless thugs to justice,” Mrs May said.
“The message to those who carry out violence is ‘you will be caught and you will be punished’.”
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens has called Saturday’s police operation a success because it minimised damage to property.
She told BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds that during the late afternoon police used their powers to require protesters to remove face masks but often they put them back on later.
Ms Owens also said there was “chitter chatter” on the internet but no firm intelligence that protesters were planning to disrupt April’s royal wedding.
She said the police would “probably” request an order to allow officers to stop and search people on the street around the wedding, even without suspicion an offence had been committed, our correspondent said.
This would be permissible under Section 47a of the Terrorism Act 2000, used only in exceptional circumstances, when it was believed it was necessary to prevent terrorism, he added.
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The quango says it has overseen a 45% drop in young people entering the criminal justice system
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The government has been defeated in a vote in the House of Lords over plans to abolish the Youth Justice Board.
By a majority of 63, peers backed an amendment to the Public Bodies Bill urging ministers to remove the body from a list of those to be abolished.
Those backing the move included former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf and ex-Tory Cabinet minister Lord Newton.
Ministers said the quango had achieved its objectives and local initiatives should be prioritised in future.
MPs have yet to debate the Public Bodies Bill and could overturn the decision when they do so.
The proposed legislation would give ministers the power to abolish 192 quangos, including the Youth Justice Board, and merge 118 more.
Peers from all parties supported an amendment, tabled by Labour peer Lord Warner and former Chief of Prisons Lord Ramsbotham, urging the Youth Justice Board to be saved from closure and for its powers not to be transferred to the Ministry of Justice.
Lord Warner, a former chair of the Youth Justice Board, said rates of youth offending in England and Wales were falling as was the number of young people going into custody.
“It would be real sacrilege if we took out of the criminal justice system something that works”
Lord Woolf
Lord Woolf said he would be extremely disappointed if proposals to disband the body – set up in 1997 to oversee the youth justice system and ensure under-18s in custody were kept in safe conditions – went ahead.
“This was an initiative that managed to change the whole approach towards a part of the criminal justice system – and probably one of the most difficult and important parts of the system – in a way which gave new hope to all those concerned for our justice system,” he said.
“It would be real sacrilege if we took out of the criminal justice system something that works, whatever the motives that are put forward, and introduced something that has not worked and has not been tried.”
Lord Newton said there was wide agreement that youth justice was a “mess” before 1997 and the organisation had improved matters.
“What is the case for believing that it will stay better if it goes back pretty much to where it came from in the first place?” he asked peers.
For the government, Lib Dem Justice Minister Lord McNally said there was a “real benefit” in ministers assuming overall strategic leadership over youth justice.
“We do not intend to dismantle the youth justice system,” he told peers. “We intend to build on what has been achieved over the last 10 years.
“By these new arrangements, we keep the best of the localism of the youth justice system and encourage further local authority initiatives and local authority co-operation.”
Ministers promised a “bonfire of the quangos” after the coalition was elected, saying many were wasteful, unfocused and that their functions could be better performed by ministers.
But opposition to the plans has led to the reprieve of nearly 20 quangos and forced ministers to drop proposals to abolish 150 more without parliamentary approval.
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Steve Rodford resigned less than five months after he was appointed Maghaberry governor
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Police have launched an investigation after the prisoner ombudsman said a prison officer planted a note containing personal details about the governor of Maghaberry jail.
The note was found in the cell of a dissident republican suspect in September 2009.
The governor at the time, Steve Rodford, resigned a short time later because of fears he was under threat.
Pauline McCabe has completed an 15 month investigation into the incident.
She concluded the note was hidden in the cell by a member of staff opposed to planned reforms at the prison.
Mr Rodford resigned less than five months after he was appointed.
Security was one of the factors in his decision as his wife had left Northern Ireland weeks earlier because of concerns they were being targeted by dissident republicans.
Shortly before he left, a piece of toilet roll containing the governor’s name and car registration were found during a search of a cell occupied by Brendan McConville, who is charged with the murder of police officer Stephen Carroll in Craigavon two years ago.
A lawyer for Mr McConville wrote to the prisoner ombudsman alleging that he was “set up” by staff opposed to changes and reforms being implemented by the new governor.
The ombudsman has now said that, “on the balance of probabilities” the note was planted in the cell by a member of prison service staff and that the purpose was to encourage the governor to reconsider the planned changes.
Ms McCabe has also concluded that prison staff leaked incorrect information to the media that Mr Rodford was being actively targeted by dissident republicans.
The ombudsman said there are reasonable grounds to indicate that one member of staff may have committed a disciplinary and criminal offence.
The police have now launched a criminal investigation.
In a statement, the prison service said it took the matter very seriously and had launched a disciplinary investigation, which has been adjourned until the police complete their inquiry.
It confirmed it had received a copy of the Prisoner Ombudsman’s report following a complaint by prisoner Brendan McConville.
“The complaint was made in November 2009 and alleged that an item found in the prisoner’s cell was planted by prison staff,” the statement said.
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Some rebels have said they do not believe Sirte will be as easy to recapture as the other towns
Libyan rebels are battling for control of the road leading to the heartland of government loyalists.
The rebel army has been moving rapidly westwards, but came under heavy attack on the approach to Col Muammar Gaddafi’s birthplace of Sirte.
Nato, which now runs the coalition action, has denied its strikes are to provide cover for a rebel advance.
Britain and France have urged Col Gaddafi’s supporters to defect “before it is too late”.
The anti-Gaddafi rebels have seized a number of key coastal communities and important oil installations in recent days, including Ras Lanuf, Brega, Uqayla and Bin Jawad.
Earlier on Monday, the rebels said they had seized Sirte, but the BBC’s Ben Brown in Bin Jawad says it is now clear their progress was halted before they reached the town.
They came under repeated ambush from government troops, says our correspondent.
In facts: SirteBirthplace of Libyan leader Muammar GaddafiPort city 450km (280 miles) east of Libya’s capital TripoliHalfway along Libya’s northern coast between Tripoli and rebel stronghold of BenghaziHome to some ministerial offices as Col Gaddafi tried to transfer more authorityPopulation of around 140,000
Libya: The turning of the tide Col Gaddafi’s hometown of SirteReports said bombardments of the road between Bin Jawad and Nawfaliyah sent the rebels fleeing back towards Bin Jawad.
“This is the frontline. The army has stopped over there, we are stopping here,” one fighter told Reuters, indicating the road towards the town of Nawfaliyah.
AFP news agency says the shells fired at the poorly armed rebel convoy landed mostly on sand dunes.
“It won’t be as easy as we thought to take Sirte and then march on [the capital] Tripoli,” one rebel told the news agency.
“But we won’t stop – we’ll advance. They can’t hold us up for long.”
AFP said the rebels had again begun to move cautiously towards Sirte, which is about halfway along the coast between Tripoli and Benghazi.
On Sunday, Nato began taking over control of the coalition military action in Libya.
The mission had previously been under US command, with the alliance responsible for enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo.
Analysis
As Gaddafi’s hometown, Sirte has a great deal of support for the leader. We’re told there have been signs of discontent and perhaps a split among Gaddafi’s people there, but nevertheless its importance is that it’s the only major place in the centre of the country still held by Gaddafi forces.
They’ve lost the whole of the east and if they lose Sirte they would have lost the middle of the country as well. The rebels would feel their progress towards Tripoli was unstoppable.
Although seemingly premature, I suspect the reports of rebels taking the city are having a psychological impact on Gaddafi supporters in Tripoli.
Three weeks ago it was obvious that the morale of the Gaddafi forces wasn’t terribly high and now, combined with the attacks of the coalition forces, it must be worse.
The quicker the rebel progress goes, the faster morale here will start to buckle. But if progress slows I suspect the reverse may happen, and resistance will stiffen.
The head of the Nato operation, Canada’s Lt Gen Charles Bouchard, has rejected suggestions that the coalition air strikes were to provide cover for the rebels to advance.
“Our goal is to protect and help the civilians and population centres under the threat of attack,” he told a news conference.
Lt Gen Bouchard said the alliance was taking steps to ensure “minimum collateral damage”.
“Our job is to ensure the safety of people and we will do what it takes to do that, but we will also ensure that we ensure their safety in doing our operation,” he said.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said its Tornado GR4 aircraft destroyed ammunition bunkers on Monday morning in the Sabha region, in the southern Libya desert
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised the alliance action, saying it goes beyond the remit of the UN Security Council resolution and amounted to interference in a “civil war”.
The battle for Misrata, the last significant rebel-held city in western Libya, has continued, with Gaddafi forces reportedly shelling the city on Monday.
But later in the day, the foreign ministry said a ceasefire was in place and that calm had been restored.
“The city of Misrata now enjoys security and tranquillity and public services have started to recover their ability to provide customary services to all citizens,” the state news agency Jana quoted officials as saying.
Britain and France have issued a joint statement calling on Col Gaddafi’s supporters to “leave him before it is too late”.
“We call on all Libyans who believe that Gaddafi is leading Libya into a disaster to take the initiative now to organise a transition process,” they said.
The countries said this process could involve the “pioneering” Interim Transitional National Council in Benghazi and “civil society leaders as well as all those prepared to join the process of transition to democracy”.
“We encourage them to begin a national political dialogue, leading to a representative process of transition, constitutional reform and preparation for free and fair elections.”
Meanwhile, Qatar has become the first Arab nation to recognise the rebel leadership – the Transitional National Council – as the official representatives of the Libyan people
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