Pakistani troops continue to fight Taliban in Bajur. Earlier Wednesday they succeeded in taking back a key town in the district.

“We have taken control of Dagar town and an operation by the ground forces is under way,” a senior military officer told AFP.

“Early morning Wednesday heliborne forces successfully landed at Dagar and surrounding areas and secured Dagar, headquarters of Buner district,” the military added in a statement. Dagar is Bajur’s capital, and has 25,000 inhabitants.

The military launched a major operation against the Taliban Tuesday, after the extremist organization had spread from the Swat Valley into Bajur and was nearing the country’s capital Islamabad. (more…)

The Associated Press reports that the Pakistani army launched a new offensive against the Taliban on Sunday.

The offensive causes reporters to wonder whether the deal struck between the Taliban in the Swat Valley and Islamabad remains intact. This deal allowed the Taliban to make their interpretation of Sharia the official law of the region.| MORE ›

Things were obviously already bad in Somalia for a long, long time, but they’ve gotten even worse today:

Somalia’s parliament has unanimously approved to implement the Sharia (Islamic law) across the country, the parliamentary deputy speaker has said.| MORE ›