KABUL: Some 11 Afghan army soldiers have been killed after militants ambushed a security forces' convoy in western Herat province, reported local media on Monday. "On Sunday evening, the militants attacked a running convoy of army in Masjide-e-Chobee locality of Karukh district, killing 11 soldiers and wounding six others," Tolo News said in its news bulletin. The convoy was travelling from provincial capital Herat city to the neighbouring Badghis province when it came under attack.

Rebel leader arrested

NEW DELHI: India on Monday arrested a rebel leader accused of involvement in the killing of 20 soldiers in the remote northeastern state of Manipur earlier this month. India's National Investigation Agency captured Khumlo Abi Anal of the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland more than three weeks after heavily armed rebels ambushed a military convoy, killing 20 soldiers."Investigation has revealed that the accused was extensively involved in the conspiracy to attack the army personnel," the agency said in a statement on Monday, adding it was their first arrest in the case.

Jazeera retrial verdict

CAIRO: An Egyptian court said on Monday it would deliver its verdict on July 30 in the retrial of three Al-Jazeera journalists who were previously sentenced to up to 10 years in jail. Australian Peter Greste, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were sentenced last year on charges of supporting the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood movement during their coverage of the turmoil following the ouster of president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013. An appeals court later ordered a retrial, saying the lower court's verdict was not supported by evidence.Greste has already been deported under a law allowing the transfer of foreigners on trial to their home countries but he is still a defendant in the retrial. Fahmy and his Egyptian producer Mohamed, who are in Egypt, were freed on bail ahead of their retrial.

Sentenced to death

DUBAI: A United Arab Emirates court on Monday sentenced a UAE woman to death for the Islamist-inspired killing of an American kindergarten teacher in December. The teacher, identified as Romanian-born Ibolya Ryan, a mother of 11-year-old twins, was stabbed to death in a toilet at an Abu Dhabi shopping mall. The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi convicted the woman, Ala'a Badr Abdullah al-Hashemi, 30, of the killing and imposed the death penalty. The court said the crime amounted to "a direct threat to the security and stability of society" and that the case was dealt with an anti-terrorism law passed last year by the UAE, a US-allied Gulf state strongly opposed to militant Islam.

Custodial killing

AMSTERDAM: Dutch prosecutors have launched an inquiry into the death of a man from the Caribbean island of Aruba after he was arrested by police at a music festival in The Hague. The man was pinned to the ground by four white male Dutch officers, videos posted on social media showed, prompting comparisons with incidents in the US that have led to protests over police use of force against black suspects. Prosecutors said in a statement on Sunday the 42-year-old "became unwell on the way to jail" and was taken to hospital in a "critical condition". In two videos later posted online he appeared to be unconscious before being loaded into a police van. One officer is seen checking for a pulse. Prosecutors said he was arrested on Saturday evening because he shouted that he had a gun and then resisted arrest.