Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has ruled that the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Nusra Front in Syria should operate as separate entities, according to a letter posted on Al-Jazeera television's website. ISI leader Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had "made a mistake" by announcing a merger between the two radical Islamist groups in the neighbouring Arab states"without consulting us," he said. The merger plan has been "damaging to all jihadists", Zahawari said, adding that "Al-Nusra Front is an independent branch of Al-Qaeda".

Protestors clashed with police in several towns across Bangladesh on Monday as the latest strike declared by the nation's largest Islamic party paralysed much of the country. Shops and schools were closed in the capital Dhaka and major roads were largely deserted after the Jamaat-e-Islami party called for a nationwide strike to denounce the jailing on Sunday of Islamist leaders by a war crimes tribunal. Two police officers were injured in the northern town of Ullapara after protesters threw a homemade bomb into their vehicle, police said.

Ten Shiite Zaidi rebels were killed and 38 wounded in clashes with police outside the headquarters of Yemen's national security services in Sanaa on Sunday, a senior security official said. The official said the violence broke out as the rebels, among a crowd demanding the release of members of their community, attacked the building with automatic weapons and grenades. The assailants were "well-prepared and aimed to infiltrate the headquarters", he said, adding they had used neighbouring buildings to launch their raid on security forces backed by special police units.

An air strike believed to have been carried out by a US drone in north Yemen killed five presumed members of Al-Qaeda on Sunday, a tribal source said. The air raid targeted a vehicle in the Khab al-Shath area near al-Jawf, the source said, adding that suspected Al-Qaeda member Hassan al-Saleh Huraydan, his brother and three others were killed. Witnesses said that three raids followed the first strike, but they did not provide details about the targets.