RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egyptian forces began closing the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, stemming the flow of Palestinians across a frontier blown open 11 days ago by Hamas Islamists in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade.

KABUL – Afghan police lifted a brief siege of the house of former ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum in Kabul on Sunday after he and a group of around 50 armed men beat up a former ally, a police chief said.

Militants have battled security forces in several parts of the northwest in recent weeks and briefly seized a main road tunnel 50 km (30 miles) from Peshawar city in late January.