By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed on Monday in clashes in Bangladesh between police and hardline Islamists demanding reforms that critics say would amount to the "Talibanisation" of a country that maintains secularism as state policy. Clashes began on Sunday after about 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press their demands and were met by lines of police firing teargas and rubber bullets.

Kashmiri militants killed four Indian police Friday in an ambush on a patrol near the town of Sopore in Indian-administered Kashmir, a senior officer said. The four had just descended from their vehicle to conduct a routine patrol in the village of Hygam when they came under attack from gunmen, Superintendent Imtiyaz Hussain told AFP. "Four of our policemen got killed in the ambush by militants," he said. A hunt for the attackers was now under way, the officer added.

A powerful earthquake in Iran on Tuesday damaged more than 1,000 homes in Pakistan, killing eight people in a remote community close to the desert border, a local health official and Pakistani state TV said. PTV said mud houses were damaged in Mashkail in Washuk district, where the deaths occurred, and 47 wounded were taken to a rural health centre in the area, around three kilometres (1.8 miles) from the Iranian border. There were cracks in government buildings in the area and PTV said President Asif Ali Zardari had expressed grief over the losses in Iran and Pakistan.

A powerful earthquake in Iran on Tuesday damaged more than 1,000 mud homes in Pakistan, killing six people and wounding dozens in a remote community close to the desert border, Pakistani state TV said. PTV said the houses were damaged in Mashkail in Washuk district, where six people were killed and 47 wounded were taken to a rural health centre in the area, around three kilometres (1.8 miles) from the Iranian border. There were cracks in government buildings in the area and PTV said President Asif Ali Zardari had expressed grief over the losses in Iran and Pakistan.