APRNEWS - At least nine people were killed and several wounded when a car loaded with explosives blew up near a mall in a busy market in the Somali capital on Monday, police said.

"The blast occurred close to Mogadishu mall and it has caused death and destruction. Nine civilians were confirmed dead and several others are wounded," police officer Ahmed Moalin Ali said.

APRNEWS - Ten police officers were killed and three wounded in an ambush in northwestern Burkina Faso on Thursday, the west African country's security ministry said.

REUTERS - Iran said pro-Damascus forces would press ahead with attacks on an insurgent enclave near the Syrian capital, as ground fighting raged on there following a U.N. resolution demanding a 30-day truce across the country.

AFP - Pope Francis on Sunday called for an immediate end to violence in Syria to allow aid deliveries, especially in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta which has been hit by regime bombardment.

AFP - Four west African states have launched a major offensive against the Boko Haram jihadist group in Nigeria, the military said on Tuesday.

Soldiers from Nigeria and the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger are targeting a Boko Haram faction led by Abubakar Shekau in the Sambisa Forest, and another led by Mamman Nur, on and around Lake Chad.