AFGHANISTAN: NATO: 4 civilians killed in Afghanistan Troops fire on vehicle refusing to stop at checkpoint, says alliance

By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO forces on Saturday fired on a vehicle that wouldn’t stop at a checkpoint in Afghanistan’s volatile south, killing four civilians and wounding three others, the alliance said.

Civilian casualties has been a sore point between Afghanistan’s government and international forces that operate here.

SOMALIA: Bomb Blast Kills at Least 15 Women in Somalia

By The New York Times

NAIROBI, Kenya — More than 15 women cleaning the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, were killed Sunday by a large bomb buried in a pile of garbage, witnesses and hospital officials said.

Mogadishu, the country’s bullet-pocked capital, has seen more than its share of carnage lately as Islamist insurgents wage an intense urban battle against government and Ethiopian forces. But witnesses described an especially grisly and panicked scene on Sunday after a street sweeper accidentally tripped a large roadside bomb.