The Taliban insists that jihad must be conducted under one leadership and one flag, after a string of defections and reported clashes.

A suspected suicide bomber attacked Shi’ite Muslims as they were leaving a mosque in Pakistan’s commercial capital, killing at least 45 people.

Bahrain has detained doctors and other medics as part of a crackdown on mainly Shi’ite pro-democracy protesters, the opposition said on Tuesday.

A security clampdown in the Riyadh kept a lid on a planned day of rage, while police in Kuwait and Bahrain appeared to deflate demonstrators’ zeal.

Demonstrators in Lebanon’s Sunni bastion of Tripoli torched an al-Jazeera van while protesting the likely appointment of a Hezbollah-backed premier.