Reuters: Deaths reported in mosque battle 04 July Reuters: Deaths reported in mosque battle 04 July2

Pakistan's North West Frontier Province is seen by many as a haven for Islamic extremism ranging from the Taliban to Al-Qaeda. The battle against militancy is one of the key challenges for the country's newly elected civilian parliament.

With Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants spreading their violent reach further into Pakistan ahead of elections, candidates and voters in this northwestern city are living in fear. Dusty and polluted Peshawar is on the outer limits of the country's troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Campaigning has been low-key there after a series of deadly suicide bombings in the region, and it's uncertain how many people will dare to brave the polls on Monday.

Israeli emergency services said up to 10 people were wounded by gunfire. Israeli police said a second security guard gave chase to the attacker, described as a young Arab male aged between 18 and 20, and killed him. The incident took place close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City's Christian Quarter.

Pakistani tribal areas have been hotbeds of support for al Qaeda and Taliban militants who have fled Afghanistan. Violence has escalated across Pakistan since July, when militants in the tribal belt scrapped a peace deal and the army stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.

As a Western educated woman in an Islamic society, and the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim country, Bhutto forged many new paths in a turbulent political career which spanned decades.

The charismatic leader of the Pakistan People's Party died as she was leaving a political rally, surrounded by security. Police say Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber firing at her as she left. He then blew himself up. At first, it appeared she had survived the attack. The former Pakistani prime minister was 54.

Pakistani students protesting the rule of president Pervez Musharraf have marched on the streets of the capital for the first time, sparking pitched street battles with the police. Voiced report

At least 22 police officers have been killed in a suicide bombing outside the high court in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Thursday. Around 35 others have suffered injuries, according to police. The blast comes two weeks after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide bomb attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi, amid a wave of militant violence that has taken more than 800 lives. Images courtesy of Geo TV.

In the latest attack on the NATO-led force in Afghanistan this weekend, one soldier was killed and another wounded when their convoy hit a roadside bomb. This brings to 24 the number of Western troops killed in Afghanistan since January -- most of them slain in Taliban-led violence. It has been a deadly start to the year for the war-torn country, and some observers fear security is rapidly deteriorating. Foreign countries are now increasingly reluctant to commit their forces to the frontlines.

Builders began restoring a revered Shiite Muslim shrine in northern Iraq two years after it was badly damaged in a bombing that unleashed a wave of bitter sectarian violence. Around 60 workers began digging through the rubble under the golden dome of the thousand-old Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, 125 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad that was destroyed by Al-Qaeda bombers. The attack on the Shiite pilgrimage site in the largely Sunni city is widely regarded as the tipping point at which rivalry between Iraqi rival Muslim sects turned into a brutal sectarian conflict which left tens of thousands dead. An AFPTV report.