No double standards, says Nawaz

FAISALABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said here on Monday that unlike the previous government, his government would not adopt double standards on the issue of drone attacks. The previous regime used to criticise drone attacks, but silently supported them, he said.

“We hope that drone attacks will end in the days to come,” Mr Sharif said in an address to industrialists, exporters, traders and media personnel.

Suicide attack the biggest sin in Islam: Fatwa

LAHORE: Ulema of the Sunni Ittehad Council on Saturday declared that suicide bombing is the biggest sin in Islam, Express news reported.

As many as 50 Ulema of the Sunni Ittehad Council in a collective edict declared that killing an innocent is the biggest sin and killing of foreign guest is the worst crime. It was also declared in the edict that attacks on Mosques, hospitals, educational institute, funerals and security forces is not Jihad.

Fifteen killed in car bomb explosion in Damascus

A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus on Monday, killing at least 15 people and causing heavy material damage, a Syrian government official said.

The blast, which state-run Syrian TV described as a terrorist suicide bombing, went off near the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital’s biggest roundabouts. The Syrian Central Bank, a mosque and a school are located nearby.

Mali troops sweep Timbuktu for Islamist rebels after battle

BAMAKO: Malian troops swept Timbuktu for remaining Islamist fighters after a weekend battle that left seven dead and forced France to dispatch reinforcements and fighter jets to help Mali’s army.

By late Sunday relative calm had been restored, after Islamist militants used the chaos created by a suicide bombing on Saturday night to infiltrate the city and engage French and Malian troops in a day-long battle that left four more rebels, a soldier and a civilian dead.