Iranian police have denied killing a group of Afghans trying to cross the border illegally into the Islamic republic, local media reported Monday. "We do not confirm this report," said Iran's deputy border commander Colonel Hamid Sharghi in remarks reported by the Aftab daily. Sharghi said "no report on such operation" had been forwarded to his border control office and that the accounts were "false".

By Katharine Houreld PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Mian Hussain is fighting for his political life from a deserted party headquarters, where two telephones sit silently beside him and the footsteps of a tea boy echo down the corridor. One of Pakistan's most high-profile anti-Taliban politicians, Hussain hasn't been to a single public event since campaigning for the May 11 election kicked off. A fiery orator who once electrified big rallies, he now makes short speeches by telephone to small huddles of supporters meeting in secret.

Kabul, May 1 (EFE).- At least 70 students at a girl's school in Kabul fainted on Wednesday as a result of apparent poisoning, the latest of a series of similar cases in Afghanistan. The incident occurred early in the morning at Sultan Razia school, according to what Education Ministry spokesman Amanula Aiman told Efe. The girls, ranging in age from 12 to 18, were standing in line at the door of the school to enter their respective classrooms and suddenly they began fainting.

The Afghan Taliban said Wednesday they were investigating the backgrounds of a group of foreigners seized three days ago, but that the captives were being treated "humanely". Village elders on Wednesday pressed on with talks with the insurgents to try to win the release of the group, officials said. The Taliban seized eight Turks, a Russian, a Kyrgyz man and an Afghan after their civilian helicopter made a forced landing due to bad weather on Sunday in a rugged eastern district part-controlled by the militia.