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A massive explosion at a warehouse in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, killed 26 people and wounded around 80 yesterday, an official said.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic parties that was swept to power in two of Pakistan's four provinces in the October 10 general elections, has managed to avoid a split following differences between two of its major components.

With 11 ministers, including six from JUI-F and five from the Jamaat-e-Islami, administered the oath of office as members of the MMA government in the NWFP here on Monday, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani's cabinet now has 12 ministers, without representation from the smaller parties led by heavy weights Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani.

Aftab Sherpao is a lucky man. On three occasions in recent months, there were glad tidings for him, his family and his supporters. He was acquitted in cases filed against him in accountability courts and released from prison.

The tactics used to install a non-PPP government in Sindh has raised concerns about the stability of the multi-party coalition government of chief minister Ali Mohammed Maher.

Dostum frees seven prisoners

The Assembly of the North-West Frontier Province convenes today even as feelings ran high over the Frontier's one-man representation in the federal cabinet put together by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in the NWFP has said the election commission erred while declaring the election result of the non-Muslim seats and thus denied one minority seat to the MMA.

The latest Osama bin Laden audiotape broadcast by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV on Tuesday is the first evidence since December last year that the world's most wanted man is alive.

Eighty-seven Pakistani prisoners in Afghanistan are expected to reach here today following their release in Kabul.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's Akram Durrani took control in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Friday and immediately called for Islamic laws banning music on public transport, alcohol and gambling to be strictly enforced.

Scores of candidates, particularly those belonging to the Northern Alliance and other armed factions, would be disqualified if the conditions fixed for candidature to the emergency Loya Jirga in Afghanistan were implemented in letter and spirit.