The United Nation’s top legal advisor says the Somali Transitional Federal Government is not in favor of having specialized courts in other countries try Somali piracy suspects. Patricia O’Brien told the U.N. Security Council Somalia says it prefers such a court be established in Somalia and is willing to work with the United Nations toward an agreement on a location for it.

The United Nations has been exploring the idea of a specialized court to handle piracy suspects for some time. Various proposals include having the court established in Somalia or the region.

Somali police say at least 4 civilians died in a roadside bombing in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Police suspect the bombing Tuesday was intended for African Union Peacekeepers who are protecting the fragile Somali government from Islamist militants.

The insurgent group al-Shabab is trying to topple the United Nations-backed government and turn Somalia into a strict Islamic state.

Al-Shabab rules much of southern and central Somalia, while the government controls only small parts of the capital.

Witnesses in Nigeria say gunmen attacked a police station in the northern part of the country late Monday, killing several police officers.

The gunmen, suspected members of the radical Boko Haram Islamic group, also attacked a nearby bank in the town of Kankara in the far northern state of Katsina.

Several days ago, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing outside Nigeria's national police headquarters in Abuja, killing at least one other person.

Nigerian security forces are cracking down on the militant Islamic group Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing in Abuja. Nigerian authorities and analysts say the extremist group, once confined to the country's northeast, is becoming a nationwide security threat.

The explosion struck the parking lot of a police station in the capital Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding several others. The blast, which is believed to be Nigeria's first suicide bombing, was so powerful it destroyed 30 cars and damaged dozens more.

Pakistani officials say U.S. drones fired missiles at a vehicle and house in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 11 militants, including Afghans.

Monday's rare attack in the Kurram tribal region was said to have killed members of the Haqqani network, which has been attacking NATO and Afghan forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

About 50 Taliban militants attacked a military base in Pakistan's northwest late Saturday, triggering clashes and air strikes that left 25 militants and four soldiers dead and eight troops wounded.

The military said the fighting occurred in the Mohmand tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. It said precision airstrikes and ground operations that targeted militant bunkers and positions successfully secured a mountaintop that had been used as a militant stronghold.

Police in eastern India say security forces have defused a powerful bomb found on a train carrying about 1,000 passengers.

Senior police officials in Assam state said security forces were conducting a routine search when they found an unattended small, but heavy, bag before the train arrived in Guwahati. They discovered what they called a "neatly concealed" bomb.

Authorities said it was an improvised explosive device weighing about five kilograms and fitted with a timer. They called it a "powerful bomb."

Officials say Somali pirates have freed a German cargo ship after receiving a multi-million dollar ransom.

The MV Susan K and its crew of 10 had been held since April. Officials say it will now head to Djibouti.

Somali pirates have hijacked dozens of ships in recent years and taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom money.

The European Union naval task force says the pirates currently hold at least 30 vessels and more than 650 hostages.

Article by VOA News

Government officials say Pakistani security forces have killed at least 11 militants during clashes in the country's northwest tribal region.

Friday's fighting in the Mamund area of the Bajaur tribal area also killed a local tribesman.

Security forces launched a search operation in the region one day after hundreds of militants reportedly crossed the border from Afghanistan and attacked a village in Bajaur. Five civilians were killed in Thursday's cross-border attack.