WORLD BRIEFS

SYRIA: Troops seize section of Homs

Opposition forces suffered another blow Monday when government troops captured a key district in the embattled city of Homs that has been a rebel stronghold. The capture of Khaldiyeh brings President Bashar Assad's regime closer to its goal of capturing all of Homs, Syria's third largest city -- including neighborhoods in its Old City that the rebels have held for more than a year.

TUNISIA: 8 soldiers killed in ambush

Gunmen ambushed an army patrol Monday in a mountainous border region known as an Islamic militant stronghold, killing eight soldiers. Jebel Chaambi, Tunisia's highest mountain at 5,000 feet, is near the Algerian border and the city of Kasserine, and was the site of an intensive military hunt for an al-Qaida-linked militant group during the spring. The army sent reinforcements to the region, which had been cleared of militants on June 24 after a two-month operation.

PAKISTAN: Taliban stage prison siege

Taliban militants disguised as police and armed with rocket-propelled grenades and explosives attacked a prison in the northwest holding 40 "high profile" inmates Monday night in an apparent attempt to free their colleagues, officials said. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed 150 militants took part and around 300 prisoners were freed. After a series of explosions destroyed the prison's boundary wall, attackers in police uniforms stormed inside the prison, where security forces engaged them. "Right now some of the attackers are inside the jail and others have occupied two buildings outside," said the deputy commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan.

NIGERIA: Blasts injure scores in north

Multiple explosions rocked a Christian area in northern Kano city Monday night, with security forces ferrying scores of wounded to hospitals. Nigeria is fighting an Islamic network called Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden."