The Pakistani Taliban says its forces in Afghanistan are responsible for a deadly raid in Pakistan.

A Taliban spokesman made the claim Friday during a phone call with reporters. He said about 40 to 50 insurgents were involved in the cross-border attack on a security checkpoint near Pakistan's northwestern Dir tribal area. The government says up to 400 militants had swarmed the area.

The claim of responsibility comes one day after Pakistan demanded Afghanistan, and NATO forces there, crack down on insurgents on the Afghan side of the border.

A Kenyan lawmaker and businessman has been named one of seven so-called “kingpins” targeted by the United States for drug trafficking.

The United States Government has enacted strict sanctions against prominent Kenyan businessman and parliamentarian Harun Mwau, and businesswoman Naima Mohamed Nyakiniywa for their alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking throughout the region.

New clashes in Somalia's capital have killed at least 17 people, as pro-government troops continue to battle militants for control of a popular commercial site.

Somali government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers are trying to take Mogadishu's Bakara market from al-Shabab insurgents.

Medical officials say heavy fighting between the two sides Thursday has also wounded at least 40 people.

In recent days, pro-government troops have advanced to the market's perimeter and set up positions there. The al-Qaida-linked insurgents remain entrenched inside.

Police in northwestern Pakistan say about 200 militants have crossed the border from Afghanistan and attacked a security checkpoint, killing at least one person.

Authorities said the attack happened Wednesday in the town of Shaltalo, in the Dir region along the border with Afghanistan's Kunar province.

Militants have launched a number of attacks against Pakistani security forces following the May 2 killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and a military offensive targeting militants in the country's tribal region.

Pakistani fighter jets have attacked militant positions in the northwestern tribal region along the Afghan border, killing at least 17 suspected militants.

A local government official, Javed Khan, said Tuesday's airstrikes took place in the Orakzai tribal area, a known militant stronghold. Khan said at least six other militants were wounded.

It is not possible to independently verify the information because the region is largely off-limits to independent journalists.

Security officials in Lebanon say an explosion hit a United Nations vehicle in the southern part of the country Friday, killing an Italian U.N. peacekeeper and wounding four others.

Officials said the blast apparently targeted the U.N. convoy as it was moving near the city of Sidon. The Italian government confirmed the casualties.

No one has claimed responsibility for the incident.

The explosion happened on the U.N.'s International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers — a day where peacekeepers commemorate their colleagues killed at U.N. missions around the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says relations between the United States and Pakistan are at a turning point, and that Pakistan must take decisive steps to fight terrorism.

Clinton made the comments in Islamabad Friday, during a brief visit aimed at mending relations that were further strained following the killing of Osama bin laden by U.S. special forces in Pakistan. She is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit the country since the May 2 raid in Abbottabad.

Serbian President Boris Tadic has announced the arrest of longtime war-crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, the former commander of Bosnian Serb forces during the war that took place after Yugoslavia's breakup.

President Tadic said Mladic was arrested on Serbian soil and that the process of handing him over to the U.N. war crimes tribunal is under way.

A suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan has killed at least 26 people, the second such attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban in as many days.

Police say the bomber detonated a small truck full of explosives near a police station in the town of Hangu in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Thursday's blast wounded at least 53 people and damaged several nearby shops and buildings.