Syria’s air defence chief was killed during an offensive by president Bashar al-Assad’s forces against rebels east of Damascus, Islamist rebels and a monitoring group said.

The head of Syria’s air defences has been killed in clashes near the capital, Damascus, one of a few high-ranking military officers to be killed in the country’s civil war.

Suspected Sunni extremists opened fire on Shiite Muslims travelling through south-western Pakistan today, killing 13 people and injuring seven others in the latest apparent sectarian attack to hit the country, police said.

Egyptian authorities detained at least nine Egyptian photographers and cameramen today after economic riots erupted earlier this week, a security official said.