Afghanistan: Five Afghan soldiers injured in bomb blast

A bomb exploded at an Afghan army base on Saturday, wounding an officer and four other soldiers, officials said.

The explosion at the Army’s 14th Garrison headquarters in the eastern city of Jalalabad injured deputy commander Syed Rehman, said Haji Tahir, head of the garrison.

Journalists were barred by Afghan officials from entering the base, but residents said they saw heavy smoke coming out of the compound after the explosion.

The bomb was powerful enough to shatter windows in several nearby houses.

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but immediate suspicion fell on remnants of former Taliban regime and al-Qaida.

Pakistan: Building collapse kills at least five people

Rescue workers have recovered five bodies from the rubble of a building that collapsed in a downtown market area of Rawalpindi and were searching for one more missing person Saturday.

The commercial building, which was under construction, buckled without warning Friday while dozens of people were inside it.

After the collapse, Mayor Tariq Kiyani ordered inspections of commercial construction sites in the city. Nearly 30 people were treated for injuries.

Mexico City: Rescue workers search for survivors of collapse

A five-story building in which several families were believed to be living illegally collapsed Saturday in Mexico City. At least two people were feared missing.

The building was reportedly scheduled for demolition at the end of this month. A city statement said nearly 30 families had been living there on and off illegally.

City spokesman Alejandro Encinas said a mother and child were missing, but neighbors said up to five people were in the building at the time of the afternoon collapse.

Philippines: Southern mayor hurt in bus terminal blast

A bomb at a bus terminal injured the mayor of a southern Philippine town and at least eight other people on Saturday, the military and police said.

Mayor Vivencio Bataga of Cotabato was visiting the terminal in Parang when the bomb went off around 3 p.m., injuring him on the neck, said Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the army’s 6th Infantry Division.

The bomb was placed under a bench at the terminal, Senga said. He said it appeared to have been intended for Bataga, a former army colonel known for his tough policies against Muslim separatist rebels in the area.

Chief Inspector Danilo Bacas, a regional police spokesman, said those injured included a 5-year-old boy.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Moscow: Foreign Ministry pans State Department claim

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday brushed off a recent State Department report criticizing the country’s human rights record in Chechnya, saying the U.S. report was full of “cliches and stock phrases.”

The annual State Department human rights report, released Monday, charged Russian soldiers with using “indiscriminate force” in civilian areas and cited credible reports that federal armed forces had committed extrajudicial killings in the region. It also noted killings by Chechen rebels.

The Russian ministry said the report contained “all the familiar cliches and stock phrases, double standards in which the human rights situations in other countries and the United States are assessed.”