Taliban militants dug a more than 320-meter tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out nearly 500 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, said officials and insurgents on Monday.

Cambodia accused Thailand of damaging two ancient temples during three days of border clashes that claimed 12 lives, as Southeast Asian diplomats struggled on Monday to find a way to end the repeated deadly flare-ups.

A blaze killed at least 17 people in a building crowded with migrant workers on the fringe of Beijing on Monday and the government vowed to track down those responsible for the fire in what one official said was an illegal building.

Japan launched a massive search with 25,000 troops scouring its tsunami-ravaged northeast coast for thousands of bodies still missing more than six weeks after the disaster struck.

A number of people were killed and wounded as Syrian troops swept into the flashpoint southern town of Daraa with tanks and snipers on Monday, according to rights activists who were reached by telephone.

A series of strong earthquakes hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi early on Monday, damaging houses and causing panic, officials said, but they had no word on casualties.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on Cambodia and Thailand to declare a ceasefire, as border clashes continue for a third day.

A NATO airstrike flattened a building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound early on Monday, in what a press official from Gaddafi's government said was an attempt on the Libyan leader's life.

A Nigerian human rights group says more than 500 people died after presidential elections earlier this month.

Fierce clashes on the Thai-Cambodia border have left 10 dead and forced thousands to flee the worst bloodshed since a UN ceasefire appeal in February, officials said Saturday.