SHILLONG - Seven people were injured in a bomb explosion at a crowded market in Tura in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district, forcing authorities to sound an alert across the state, police said.

LONDON - India and Pakistan had almost reached an agreement on Kashmir issue, said Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf, and tried to clarify his earlier remarks on training militants by stressing many "motivated" outfits had existed before he came to power.

LONDON - Linda Norgrove, 36, a British social worker with a US aid agency who was kidnapped in Afghanistan Sep 26, died Friday night during a rescue effort, the British Foreign Office reported Saturday.

ISLAMABAD - Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, an alleged key Al Qaeda operative of Libyan origin, has been killed in a suspected US drone strike in Pakistan's lawless tribal region, security officials said Saturday.

NADIA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Saturday criticised the Trinamool Congress for demanding the withdrawal of joint forces from Maoist-hit areas of the state, alleging the party was helping the left-wing rebels.