Kiev/Donetsk, June 21
Pro-Russian separatists attacked Ukrainian posts on the border with Russia and a military base, and tried to storm an airforce base overnight into Saturday, government forces said, putting a Ukrainian unilateral ceasefire under pressure.

The fresh action came just hours after the start of a ceasefire at 10 pm on Friday by Ukrainian forces, ordered by President Petro Poroshenko as part of his plan to end the rebel insurgency in the east of the country.

A government forces spokesman said the separatists used mortars and sniper fire to attack Ukrainian posts at Izvareno and Uspenka on the border, wounding nine Ukrainian officers.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin today ordered military forces in central Russia on combat alert as well as a drill of airborne troops, a day after cease-fire.

NATO said earlier this week that Russia has resumed a military build-up on the border with Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting government forces for weeks in a conflict that has left about 300 persons dead and displaced over 34,000.

Poroshenko ordered his forces to cease fire yesterday and halt military operations for a week, the first step in a peace plan he hopes will end the fighting that has killed hundreds.

The Kremlin dismissed the plan, saying it sounded like an ultimatum and lacked any firm offer to open talks with insurgents.

The combat alert in the central military district, which encompasses the Volga region and the Ural mountains but not western Russia, will last until next Saturday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said, quoted by Russian state news agencies.

Some 65,000 troops will take part in military drills accompanying the combat alert, according to head of Russian General Staff Gen Valery Gerasimov, including several thousand troops of an airborne division which will be moved from a city 200 kilometres east of Moscow where they are stationed to the Ural mountains.

Russia's combat alert was ordered on the first day of the ceasefire in Ukraine, which was nonetheless marked by more fighting along the border. The Ukrainian Border Guard Service reported overnight attacks on two border posts in the Donetsk region, which left three troops injured, hours after the ceasefire was announced. — Agencies 

Islamabad, June 21
At least 30 militants were killed today in targeted airstrikes conducted by Pakistan's military in the restive northwest tribal region, taking the total number of terrorists killed in the Army's all-out offensive against the Taliban to over 260.

"At 0500 hours three hideouts were destroyed in Hassu Khel in North Waziristan Agency, killing 20 terrorists," Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said.

Ten terrorists were killed when jets attacked and destroyed two hideouts close to the Pak-Afghan border in Khyber Agency, he said in a statement.

These targeted strikes were made in areas with no civilian population.

So far more than 260 militants have been killed in the all-out offensive against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) known as operation 'Zarb-i-Azb' that was launched on Sunday, according to the army. — PTI

Minya, June 21
An Egyptian court confirmed today death sentences for more than 180 Islamists, including Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, after a mass trial that sparked an international outcry.

The court in the central city of Minya had initially sentenced 683 people to death, but today it commuted death sentences of four defendants to life in prison, including two women, and acquitted 496 others, prosecutor Abdel Rahim Abdel Malik told AFP.

Since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year, hundreds of his supporters and Badie himself have been sentenced to death in trials roundly criticised by human rights watchdogs.

The 183 Islamists sentenced to death were convicted of involvement in the murder of two policemen and attempted murder of five others in Minya province on August 14, the day police killed hundreds of Morsi's supporters during clashes in Cairo.

They were also found guilty of vandalism, attacking public property, bearing arms and joining illegal organisations, prosecutor Abdel Malik said.

Lawyers said most of those sentenced to death were still on the run. "The defence lawyers were unable to attend the trial and defend their clients. The court violated the defendants' rights of defence and gave its decision quickly," said one of them, Mohammed Tosson, adding they intended to appeal. Journalists had also been barred from attending the trial.

The court's decision came after it referred its initial ruling in April to Egypt's top Islamic scholar, as required under the country's legal system.

In March, the same court reduced to life in prison 492 of 529 death sentences handed out to another batch of Morsi supporters.

"Allah revealed the truth. Allah acquitted my brother," a man whose brother was one of those acquitted by the court said. — AFP