• Suicide bombers killed more than 100 people in a crowded market in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad and a mainly Shi'ite town yesterday in an upsurge in the sectarian violence that threatens all-out civil war. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, called for restraint and urged Iraqis to work with security forces to prevent the violence from spiralling out of control. Bombs in northern Iraq earlier this week sparked mass reprisal killings.

• US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' claim he was not involved in discussions about the firing of federal prosecutors was inaccurate, his former chief of staff told Congress yesterday. Kyle Sampson also testified he shared information with key Justice Department colleagues about the dismissals of eight of the nation's 93 US attorneys last year, despite complaints to the contrary by Gonzales.

• Ethiopian and Somali troops used tanks and helicopters to launch a major offensive against insurgents in Mogadishu yesterday, triggering battles that killed more than two dozen people. With scenes of carnage shocking even by Somali standards, residents said the final death toll from the worst day of fighting since a war over the New Year could be much higher.

• African leaders put South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki in charge of defusing Zimbabwe's deepening political crisis yesterday, leaving him to mediate between President Robert Mugabe and his opponents. A special summit of the Southern African Development Community also urged the West to drop sanctions against Mugabe's government and appealed to Britain to "honour its commitments" to fund land reforms in its former colony.