ABDEH, Lebanon, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon may have been crushed by the army after 15 weeks of fierce battles but villagers from nearby remain fearful as the militia's leader is still on the run.

'As long as Shaker al-Abssi is free, it is dangerous,' said Khaled, a driver who did not wish to reveal his family name because he feared reprisals from militants of the Al-Al Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam group.

RABAT, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's main Islamist party hopes to become the country's largest political force in Friday's legislative elections, but analysts warn its chances of entering government are slim.

'We are eager, we hope to win 80 (of 325 parliamentary) seats and maybe even more,' said Lahcen Daoudi, one of the main leaders of the Justice and Development Party (PJD).

The party's secretary general, Saad Eddine Othmani, was more cautious, predicting: 'We will be first with a million votes and a little over 70 seats.'

AMMAN, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Jordan is investigating an attack on Tuesday against a former Islamist MP who was briefly abducted and beaten up by unknown assailants in an incident slammed by the opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF).

In a statement it described the dawn assault on former legislator Ali Atoum as 'a political and ideological terror attack,' and urged the government to bring the culprits to justice.

Atoum was seized in the northern city of Irbid by a 'cowardly criminal gang' as he was heading to a mosque to attend dawn prayers, the IAF said.

ASMARA, Aug 25, 2007 (AFP) - Somalia's top Islamist leader vowed on Saturday to wage a stronger insurgency in the capital Mogadishu until all Ethiopian troops withdraw from the war-shattered Horn of Africa nation.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the chief of the executive arm of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), said Somalis must defend their nation against Ethiopian forces deployed in Mogadishu to bolster the feeble government.

EL-BIREH, West Bank, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of Palestinians joined an Islamist rally in the West Bank town of El-Bireh on Saturday that heard calls for the establishment of the 'caliphate' or international Islamic state.

The Islamic Liberation Party, or Hizb at-Tahrir, said some 10,000 people attended the rally at which the party's 'emir' or chief Ata Abu Rashteh called on Muslims to unite in order to restore the caliphate.

AMMAN, Aug 5, 2007 (AFP) - Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday called for the dismissal of the government over alleged election fraud in local polls last week after harsh criticism from the prime minister.

'The Muslim Brotherhood demands the dismissal of Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit's government ... and the formation of a national government that groups balanced figures who enjoy the people's respect and trust,' a statement said.

AMMAN, Aug 5, 2007 (AFP) - Jordan's Islamists on Sunday criticised the government's endorsement of a United Nations convention eliminating discrimination against women, describing it as a 'most dangerous' agreement.

Last month Jordan endorsed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 15 years after it signed the international document.

AMMAN, Aug 5, 2007 (AFP) - Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit has slammed the opposition Islamic Action Front's pullout from local polls last week, saying it threatens the entire Islamist movement.

The withdrawal of candidates from municipal elections by the IAF, the political branch of Jordan's tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, was 'unpatriotic, conspiratorial and opportunistic,' Bakhit told state-run Petra news agency.

In an interview published late on Saturday, he blamed the decision on 'teenage and emergent leaders who have no clue about political practices.'

CAIRO, Aug 4, 2007 (AFP) - Global rights group Amnesty International has urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to allow independent observers at the trial by a military court of 40 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.

'We look to President Mubarak, as Egypt's highest authority, to open the doors to this important trial,' Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan said in a statement ahead of Sunday's latest hearing.

'He should clear the way for it to receive the scrutiny it deserves,' she said.

AMMAN, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Jordan's Islamist Action Front (IAF) party on Tuesday pulled out all its candidates from municipal elections citing 'fraud', IAF MP Zuhair Abu al-Ragheb told AFP.

'All the candidates of the Islamic Action Front and the Muslim Brotherhood have pulled out from the municipal elections in all the governorates,' he said.

The decision was taken after an emergency meeting of the IAF and Muslim Brotherhood leaderships 'to discuss the dangerous fraud' which he claimed had taken place since polls opened at 0400 GMT.