only on al jazeera america shia muslims come under attack while praying at a mosque in northwestern pakistan. ♪ hello this is al jazeera live from doha. i'm adrian finighan. boko haram fighters carry out their first deadly attack in chad. i'm very proud of every single moment i spent in prison for the sake of freedom of expression. >> back home baher mohamed, and mohammed fahmy are free on bail. and in sport, a trail running is growing in

popularity. we'll meet a womb from nepal who is dominating the race to become a champion. ♪ the taliban says that it has attacked a shia mosque killing at least 20 people in northwestern pakistan. it happened during friday prayers. it's the second attack on a shia mosque in pakistan within two weeks. >> reporter: they chose the busiest time of the week friday prayers. a small group of men, wearing suicide vests entered the building and shot at worshippers. even throwing grenades. one blew himself up killing the most number of people. another attacker was held down by some of the worshippers, until he was shot by officers. according to a local police chief, this was a courageous decision that prevented many more deaths.

the people were caught in the middle of a long-running violent campaign by the pakistani taliban. it wants to impose a strict version of islamic law, and wants more control, and says this is revenge for the killing of one of its men in december. like other attacks, the taliban has chosen to target shia muslims, a minority community in pakistan. this is also where 150 people mostly children were killed in a school in december. the government has been fighting the taliban in tribal areas where it's most active. but the military campaign has not stopped attacks like these. suspected boko haram fighters have launched an attack inside chad from their strong hold in neighboring nigeria. the fighters crossed lake chad which separates the two countries in canoes. they set homes on fire in the border town killing several

people before being pushed back by the army. more now from our correspondent. >> reporter: the details of this attack come from an unnamed security official and we know the groupback, suspected members of the group, stormed this village in the very early hours of friday morning. according to the security official there were at least 30 suspected boko haram fighters. however, there is some discrepancy if you would like about how many people may have been killed. now what does this mean for the broader fight? when you talk to those supporting the various military offensive going on against the group by the countries, they say this is an ongoing battle. no army has said that they are able to defeat boko haram. it's difficult to know where the group are, to know where the members are, to know how they

are planning their attacks. but when you talk to critics of the authorities. they say this news is just more evidence of the ineffectiveness of the armed forces who are battling the group. billions of dollars is being spent fighting them. thousands of soldiers have been deployed to the region but still they are failing to protect lives and properties. isil forces in iraq have attacked a major government base that houses hundreds of u.s. troops. it happened in anbar province. the latest from imran khan in bagdad. >> reporter: according to the u.s. military command responsible for the middle east there was an attack around 7:00 am on friday. it was quickly, say they beaten back by iraqi security forces. now they have about 300 u.s. soldiers within that come pound, they say those u.s. soldiers never came under any kind of threat. this attack began on mid day on

thursday. sleeper cells from isil activated themselves. they took over parts of the center of the town and mounted attacks further out with the aim of getting to the air base. what we're hearing is the area has been cleared by iraqi security forces of those fighters. but according to local sources there are a number of isil fighters still within the center of the town itself. also we're hearing reinforcements have been sent in by isil from the west. there was an attack on the base. it's the first time isil have got so close to a coalition air base, but they say their soldiers weren't under threat and the iraqi security forces dealt with those isil fighters coming in. saudi arabia is the latest country to close its embassy in

yemen. >> reporter: the official reason given by the saudis to close their embassy is the fact they pointed out the security situation was making it untenable to secure the safety of their staff. and this is proceeded by the u.s. u.k. france and italy to close their diplomatic missions in the capitol as well but the saudi's decision is not only because of the security situation, but also because the saudis are trying to pile on pressure on the houthis who are the de facto rulers of this country. the saudis and the gulf partners have not recognized this coup. in fact they are busy at the united nations with a proposal to get the security council to adopt some strong stances towards the houthi coup calling for the reinstatement of the former government and calling on the houthis to withdraw from

the capitol and return the government buildings and institutions to what they say are the legitimate rulers or legitimate government here. there are three different military basis that have been taken over by tribal fighters after another larger military base was taken over by al-qaeda fighters initially and then handed over to those tribesmen there. so a lot of different developments across yemen, just showing how unstable the situation. egyptian state media says that a police officer has been killed in a bomb blast in cairo. the government says the roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in the capitol's northeast. nine people are said to be injured. egypt's soldiers say on its twitter account that it attacked the patrol because it was heading to disperse protests. there have been a number of

anti-government protests across the country. protesters are rallying against the military coup that ousted former president morsi in 2013. they are also calling for the release of political prisoners. also in egypt, the premiere league will resume in two weeks following the death of 20 people. al jazeera journalists baher mohamed, and mohammed fahmy are back home with their families in egypt. they have been freed on bail after spending 411 days in detention. their retrial on charges of colluding with the banned muslim brotherhood is expected to resume in ten days. hash am reports. >> after 411 days after too much time alone in prison it's like a dream come true.

>> reporter: al jazeera producer baher mohamed, during the first moments of his new-found freedom. a day to celebrate with his wife and three children. >> i'm very proud of every single moment i spent in prison for the sake of freedom of expression. i'm really -- i'm really proud about it. as time goes back i would choose the same experience. i know the case is still there. i'll continue to fight for the freedom of expression and i will not back off. >> reporter: baher and his colleague, mohammed fahmy were granted bail by a judge on thursday. they were imprisoned in egypt for 411 days. as part of the bail fahmy was asked by the judge to pay a security bond of around $33,000. >> abide by everything in egyptian law, and i'm sure, you know, he has been vindicated by

this and completely vindicated when the case falls apart completely. >> reporter: but the judicial fight will continue until the charges are dropped baher was sentenced to ten years, and fahmy to seven years in prison. egypt's highest court of appeals has challenged the evidence presented by the prosecution, saying the proceedings were flawed and ordered a retrial. earlier this month, peter greste was deported to australia after 411 days in detention. fahmy who an egyptian canadian was told that his own way to freedom was to renounce his egyptian citizenship, which he has done. the three al jazeera journalists were arrested in december '2013.

they were wrongly accused of promoting the banned muslim brotherhood. their trial has been widely condemned by the international community and human rights organizations. six other colleagues from al jazeera were sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison. al jazeera continues to call on egypt to have all of its journalists exonerated. the state of the union address by south africa's president was interrupted by these chaotic scenes. [ shouting ] >> opposition members of the party seen dressed in red here had to be removed by force from parliament. they challenged the president about the use of state funds to upgrade security at his rural home. still to come here on al jazeera, the battle for the

bolsava intensifyies. police assault an elderly man in the u.s. we'll tell you more. ♪ people of our time... talk to al jazeera part of our special black history month coverage on al jazeera america

>> start with one issue. add guests from all sides of the debate and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get the inside story. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". weeknights at 11:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. ♪ good to have you with us. adrian finighan here in doha. the taliban says it has attacked a shia mosque in northwestern

pakistan. the u.s. military says that isil forces in iraq have attacked a major government base housing hundreds of u.s. troops. it happened at the air base in anbar province. the iraqi security forces have reportedly resecured the facility. boko haram fighters have launched an attack in chad. they set homes on fire in a border town killing several people before being pushed back by the army. syrian activist say that a car bomb in the countryside around damascus has killed at least ten people. the blast happened at the worshippers were leaving the mosque. dozens of other people were injured. several protests have been held across syria, calling for more international help to protect the city of duma. the city east of the capitol has

born the brunt of recent government attacks. they say this week alone, heavy bombardments have killed close to 150 people. the u.n. special envoy to syria says that any negotiations must involve president bashar al-assad. he was briefing the press earlier in the week. >> there is an important dialogue that we need to have. he is still president of syria. there is a government there. there is a large part of syria, which is under the control of the syrian government and i will continue having very important discussions with him, because he is part also of the solution. in the syrian city of homs negotiations between the government and opposition fighters have broken down.

the rebels say the government's demands to put down their arms in exchange for ensuring civilian safety was unacceptable. >> reporter: this has been the seen in the neighborhood in homs for several days. constant bombardment is a clear sign of where negotiations with the rebels stand. the government has asked the fighters to give up their arms and leave. but they are not leaving. >> translator: we're here to fight. we will stay and defend our people. >> reporter: opposition fighters [ inaudible ] it also meant u.n. workers could deliver food supplies for thousands of people trapped in the area. but there is no hope of an agreement this time. >> translator: why isn't anyone caring for us? we suffer in silence while the whole world watches.

>> reporter: for the people of homs the end of that suffering must seem a long way off. with a little over 24 hours now to go until a truce begins in eastern ukraine, shelling and fighting continues. since the ceasefire deal was signed at least 25 people have been killed. there is a fierce battle over the strategic town. >> reporter: ukrainian army tanks behind me are in support position for what are believed to up to 8,000 soldiers in this town. the separatists say they have surrounded the town. it has become a major flash point. if the separatists take control of the town it would give them a direct route to russia. there was very little on the road except military equipment and ambulances. ukrainian artillery was firing

close by. >> translator: everything is destroyed said this ambulance driver. he can't get into town and there are dead bodies on the road. we pushed up further, we're here at an ukrainian army check point. there's a lot of heavy weaponry that is going towards the front. these soldiers here are very nervous about us being here. they say they don't like to be filmed because they consider it to be bad luck before they go into battle. but some soldiers were returning from the town and one agreed to speak to us. we were in a village close by he said we were shelled with mortars and ground rockets. we want peace, and with we are happy about the ceasefire, but we don't trust president putin. the military are telling us it is too dangerous to go any further. there are big fears that the

separatists could hit this bridge at anytime. and there's a lot of heavy military equipment going in that direction. the ceasefire is support to start on february 15th. a withdrawal of heavy weapons on both sides is supposed to begin soon after. for now, though the guns and rockets remain. behind me the ukrainian military have set up tanks and grad rocket positions. there are grads to my left. we were here a few days ago, and these soldiers were not here. there is a big fear that the separatists will try to take full control of the town in this interim period between the trust being signed and being implemented on the 15th. the battle for the town goes on. charles stratford, al jazeera, eastern ukraine. u.s. president barack obama is due in california later for a

summit on cyber security taking on hackers is a complicated business, as our correspondent reports. >> reporter: this man is showing his professor the progress he has been making. he has been hacking into devices in hospitals around the world, but then making them safe. >> these medz-- medical devices are everywhere and nobody has done that much work on looking at the security of the devices. >> reporter: from cars to our home's power supplies and beyond, more and more of our lives are networked all too often with minimal safeguards. but under proposed anti-hacking legislation announced last month by the obama administration it's researchers like martin who

could be arrested. martin's professor thinks he would be safe but he's not sure and he knows that many other so-called white hat hackers could be liable for prosecution, for attempting to find weaknesses before those with bad intentions. >> they are proposing to make things that are already criminal even more criminal. i don't think that is going to solve the problem. and they are sharing more information and there are privacy problems with that. and somebody who is a technology the problem we is a lot of very bad software. >> reporter: and you're trying to make it better. >> we're all trying to make it better. i mean it's hard problem, you have to get every company in

america to start putting out secure software that's a huge uphill battle whereas creating a new department in washington, d.c. is easier. >> reporter: cyber security experts have raised the alarm, arguing they will allow prosecutors to go after the wrong people even consumers who share they pass words for sites that stream movies but dangerous hackers would be untroubled. but such is the need to be seen to be doing something about hacking, it's unclear whether the administration is listening to their concerns. a police officer in the u.s. state of alabama has been charged with assaulting an elderly indian man during questioning. the 57 year old, says he was left partially paralyzed and had to undergo surgery following the incident. >> reporter: patel is about to meet two officers from the alabama police department. a dashboard camera records the

conversation. >> what is going on sir? >> reporter: and what follows. the 57 year old is tackled to the ground. the incident recorded by a different camera in a second car. police say they received a call about a suspicious person. patel's son says his father had gone for a walk. >> police told him to stop. he stopped. and he was telling him no english, indian. and he was telling them in english house number and pointing towards the house. >> reporter: patel had arrived in madison two weeks ago to help his son's family care for their 17 month old child. >> he's indian. he don't speak a lick of english. >> reporter: when police try lifting him, they find he can't stand up. patel's lawyers says he was

severely injured. madison police officers have apologized and arrested an officer on an assault charge. >> i found that officer parker's actions did not meet the high standards and expectations of the madison city police department. for that reason i sincerely apologize to mr. patel. >> reporter: the indian government has contacted the u.s. state department to express its concern. >> our understanding of the situation is that while there has been some progress in his medical situation, it's still is a matter of concern. >> reporter: the u.s. state department has sent its condolences to patel's wife and the rest of his family. patel is suing the city of madison and the two officers. in india, a temple built to worship the prime minister has been demolished. it featured a statue of modi and

the lotus plant. the prime minister wrote on twitter that he was appalled and shocked that it was built in his name. myanmars state media says that 47 soldiers have been killed in four days of fighting against ethnic chinese rebels. the troop tried to stop the rebels taking over the capitol near the chinese border. the governments also carried out air strikes. it's not clear how many rebels were killed. china's foreign ministry has called for calm. >> reporter: this is not the first time there has been fighting between the myanmar national democratic alliance army and the mieyanmar forces.

we're told that some 10,000 refugees have crossed over the border into china during friday. that is going to continue i think over the weekend. pictures online show thousands of refugees sheltering in blue tents. others are being accommodated in an exhibition center and a sports stadium. china's minister of foreign affairs says it will continue to provide humanitarian aid, but has appealed to the government of myanmar to try to find a peaceful agreement. the two sides were due to sign a ceasefire a number of days ago. that clearly is not going to happen and the worry now is the fighting will drag on as it has done in the past. running up and down mountains certainly isn't for the faint hearted, but the sport is gathering fans across the

globe. as our correspondent reports now, nepal has some of the best trail runners around. >> reporter: every weekend locals wake up for a race along the trails of one of the mountains that encircle the valley. >> 10.5 kilometers of beautiful forest trails to run today. >> reporter: last year at 23 this woman discovered trail running. >> translator: in the village we had to carry water uphill. from our house on the hill we had to go all the way down to fetch water. i used to have to carry 25 kilos of rice up and down the mountain sell it and get back home in time to do my homework. trail running nepal, discovered

mra and raised sponsors. runners here say that her story could be replicated recently two girls from a remote corner of nepal participated in some runs in kathmandu, and showed plenty of promise, but they need further straining which is not available outside of the capitol. most women might run and even win in an event like the everest marathon but don't get a chance to continue. >> this year i think the international federation will recognize trail running as an international sport, and then nepal might be able to introduce trail races into their national program of running. so if that happens, then a lot of problems will be solved. >> reporter: but for those like mira, without others raising money for her, there is little

chance she can continue running. today's news sports and business in depth and explained at our new-look website. it's high time you take a look if you haven't already. just point your browser at aljazeera.com.