Iraqi authorities say a suicide bomber has blown up a car outside the interior ministry in Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding more than 30.

Officials say the assailant drove his vehicle into a security barrier near the ministry during Monday's morning rush hour. They say five policemen were among those killed.

The attack follows a series of Baghdad bombings that killed about 70 people on Thursday, the deadliest day in Iraq for months.

Mexican authorities say they have dealt a blow to a powerful drug cartel by capturing one of its top lieutenants.

Chief Army spokesman General Ricardo Trevilla told reporters Monday that Felipe Cabrera Sarabia was captured Friday in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state.

Cabrera was present and flanked by guards at Monday's news conference in Mexico City.

Three relief workers in Somalia are dead, gunned down near a food distribution center.

The shooting took place Friday near the central settlement of Mataban. The World Food Program says two of the victims worked directly for the relief agency, and that the third was a contractor.

Mataban district Chairman Abdurrahman Abdi Jama tells VOA a suspect is in custody. He says the man was the owner of a private food distribution center and was apparently upset that the WFP was not delivering food to his center.

Witnesses say four security agents were killed in northeast Nigeria in a roadside bomb explosion.

Reports say the bomb went off Thursday afternoon in the northern city of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state. A local police officer said security forces exchanged fire with gunmen.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the region has been plagued by violence blamed on the Islamist group Boko Haram.

Iraqi officials say more than a dozen explosions have hit the capital, Baghdad, killing at least 63 people and wounding more than 180 others in the worst violence to hit the country in months.

The apparent coordinated blasts Thursday struck across the city, mainly in Shi'ite areas, days after the final withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

The attacks come amid a political crisis, as the Shi'ite-led government pursues the arrest of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on charges that he plotted to kill other government officials.

Companies and officials in East Africa are strengthening security and issuing safety warnings during the Christmas season due to worries about possible al-Shabab attacks in public places. The Kenyan government says it received a credible threat to assassinate a Kenyan minister and deputy speaker.

Securex Agencies communication officer in Nairobi, Brian Sagala, says his company is struggling to fill the demand for extra guards, dogs, metal detectors and other equipment.

Somali pirates have released an Italian oil tanker and its crew after nearly 11 months in captivity.

An Italian government statement Wednesday said Prime Minister Mario Monti expressed deep satisfaction with the release of the Italian-owned Savina Caylyn and its crew.

The statement gave no details about the ship's release, or whether a ransom was paid.

Somali pirates captured the oil tanker February 8 in the Indian Ocean after attacking it with small arms and rocket propelled grenades.

Kenya's military says an air strike in southern Somalia has killed 17 al-Shabab militants.

Army spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir said the air raid was carried out late Tuesday on a village south of the town of Kismayo, an al-Shabab stronghold.

Witnesses say at least seven civilians died in the attack. A man told VOA his pregnant wife and three of his daughters were among those killed.

Kenya has conducted many air raids targeting al-Shabab since sending troops into southern Somalia in October.

Kenya accuses the al-Qaida-linked militant group of kidnapping foreigners on Kenyan soil.

The U.N. tribunal for Rwanda has sentenced two former politicians to life in prison for their roles in the country's 1994 genocide.

Mathieu Ngirumpatse and Edouard Karemera were president and vice president of Rwanda's then-ruling MRND party at the time of the genocide.

The tribunal found them guilty on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for failing to stop or punish crimes committed by the party's youth militia, the Interahamwe. The crimes included rape and murder.

A third man indicted with the two politicians, Joseph Nzirorera, died during the trial.