BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi and U.S. forces now control virtually all of Iraq and Baghdad’s troops might be able to take on security responsibility for the whole country by the end of 2009, the top U.S. general in Iraq said on Monday.

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pro-Taliban militants attacked a security post and took up to 30 hostages on Tuesday in Pakistan’s Swat valley, a day after insurgents killed three army intelligence staffers, officials said.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – An al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert named Abu Khabab al-Masri was killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said a day after the attack.

(Reuters) – A British soldier was shot dead while on foot patrol in the southern Nad Ali district of Helmand province on Monday, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani sought on Monday to reassure U.S. President George W. Bush of his government’s commitment to securing its border with Afghanistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda militants pose a growing threat.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Bombs killed 15 people and wounded around 140 in Istanbul late on Sunday, just hours ahead of a court case over banning the governing party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.

(Reuters) – At least 13 people died and up to 100 were wounded on Sunday when two bombs exploded in a shopping district in Istanbul, on the eve of Constitutional Court hearings that could end with the closure of Turkey’s governing AK Party.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – The legal team of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic has filed an appeal to delay his extradition to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague, Karadzic’s brother said on Sunday.

SALZBURG, Austria (Reuters) – The arrest of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic showed Belgrade’s willingness to recognize its international obligations, and more arrests could follow, the Serbian prime minister said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen opened fire on Shi’ite pilgrims in southern Baghdad on Sunday, killing seven, as thousands made their way to a revered shrine in the Iraqi capital, police said.