Officials say that thousands of Afghans, Bengalis and immigrants from several other countries are living illegally in Karachi, the country's commercial center.

Malik said that a major crackdown will be launched against illegal immigrants in Karachi after two weeks.

"There would be no mercy on illegal immigrants," the interior minister told reporters after he appeared

The high profile Australian delegation, including Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and John McCarthy, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's special envoy, will discuss with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama the issue of illegal migration.

Officials from Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry

Giving priority to ensuring food security, chiefs of central banks of SAARC nations on Monday brainstormed strategies in Bangladesh to fight against hunger through adopting a long-term regional approach, national news agency BSS reported.

Bangladesh Bank organized the seminar

The essential project, costing 120 million U.S. dollars, would connect Uzbekistan to Mazar-e-Sharif city in north Afghanistan, the daily Rah-e-Nejat quoted a press release of Ministry for Commerce and Industries as reporting.

Afghanistan's border town Hairatan is connected with Uzbekistan and the work for 60 km railway would begin from Hairatan possibly in this December, the newspaper further said.

"The gruesome incident happened in Shinki district on Monday evening, all the victims are Afghans working with a local road construction firm," senior police officer Ghulam Jilani told Xinhua.

He blamed the enemy of Afghanistan for the incident, a term used for Taliban insurgents.

In another incident, a roadside bomb

The pledge was announced by China's Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei at an international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague.

Wu said China will continue to provide assistance in areas like capacity building at the request of the Afghan government and will continue to encourage Chinese enterprises to take part in Afghan reconstruction.

He also stressed the need to fight terrorism and to support the Aug. 20 presidential elections.

KABUL, Mar 26, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- Continued instability in Afghanistan over the past three decades and international community's failure to pacify the war-torn country underscores the role of neighboring states in resolving the prolonged crisis in this part of the world.

With over 70,000-strong U.S.-led Coalition forces and the NATO- led ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) here since late 2001, however, the world has seen the post-Taliban country being bogged down by escalating violence and riots.

Military failure to ensure stability

"In an ongoing endeavor to increase partnered operations and develop Afghan capability to defeat terrorists and adversaries the officials have agreed to include more Afghan representatives in the planning and execution of counter-terrorism missions, with more attention to night operations, actions in populated areas and searches,"

"The biggest challenge laying ahead us is the civilian casualties as harming civilians discredits both the Afghan government and the international troops," Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said at a press conference attended by NATO and the U.S. military.