DUBAI – An al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq issued an Internet video on Sunday showing what it said were two police officers repenting their past actions and handing over their weapons to insurgents.

BAGHDAD – Iraqi tanks and helicopters are being sent to the northern city of Mosul and troop reinforcements should arrive later on Sunday for a big offensive against al Qaeda militants, Iraqi security officials said.

MOSCOW – Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov was barred on Sunday from running for president in a March election, a move he said was taken to block any real challenge to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s chosen candidate.

MOSCOW – Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Sunday denounced a decision to bar him from running in a March 2 election for president, saying it showed that Russia was sliding towards dictatorship.

KOHAT, Pakistan – Pakistani troops, backed by helicopter gunships, are battling pro-Taliban militants to recapture a key road tunnel leading to the volatile tribal belt on the Afghan border, the military said on Sunday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Egypt has agreed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s plan to assume control of Gaza’s sole crossing with Egypt, excluding Hamas Islamists who rule the territory, Palestinian officials said on Sunday.

GAZA – The Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers on Sunday rejected returning control of the territory’s sole border crossing with Egypt to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s government and said it was holding its own talks with Cairo.

TEHRAN (FNA) – An Iranian lawmaker Sunday warned Tehran and Riyadh that enemies of Islam are seeking to take benefit from the two states’ differences, and called on Iran and Saudi Arabia not to allow any third party to undermine relations between the two Muslim nations.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Undersecretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Javad Vaeedi said that his country has so far produced 300 tons of UF6 gas in Isfahan nuclear facility, in central Iran.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki lauded Washington’s planned troop drawdown in Iraq, but urged the US to expedite handing over full control of all affairs, including security, to the Baghdad government.