KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen shot dead a government official in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday and U.S.-led forces killed five militants south of the capital, a senior police official and the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – In five years of war, Iraq has been hostage to a parade of grim statistics: car bombs, corpses, cholera and refugees fleeing rampant bloodshed.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – More than 40 Islamist militants and two soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting in Pakistan’s troubled northwest near the Afghan border, paramilitary force officials said on Tuesday.