KOLKATA - Maoists and pro-rebel inmates lodged in two prisons in West Bengal Wednesday withdrew their 12-day-old fast after assurances that facilities inside the jails will be improved.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities Wednesday arrested two senior police officers for alleged dereliction of duty over the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said.

RANCHI - Maoist guerrillas set on fire five vehicles belonging to a construction company on Ranchi's outskirts late Tuesday, police said Wednesday.

KABUL - More than 800 Afghan soldiers have been killed in the country's conflict with militants so far this year, more than any other since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, a defence ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

BAGHDAD - An Al Qaeda affiliate responsible for a bloody attack on a Baghdad church earlier this year renewed threats against Iraqi Christians, according to Islamist websites Wednesday.