1.   Coincidentally, the building is located across the street from the headquarters of the Hezbi Wahdat, a Shiite faction of the Northern Alliance backed by Iran.

2.   Taliban fighters were reported Thursday to be advancing on the Afghan town of Bamiyan, the sole remaining base for two Shiite factions that have benefited from Iranian support.

3.   A last-minute deal between the two main Shiite factions eased tensions.

4.   A last-minute deal between the two main Shiite factions eased tensions which had threatened to escalate into an inter-Shiite military showdown in the volatile region.

5.   A last-minute deal between the two main Shiite factions eased tension which had threatened to escalate into an inter-Shiite military showdown in the volatile region.

6.   Haji Abul Fazel, spokesman for a Shiite faction of the northern alliance, said Karzai would meet Cabinet ministers Thursday.

7.   Shiite faction leader Karim Khalili launched an offensive in the valley Friday, but failed to push back Taliban positions there, Taliban officials said.

8.   The Organization of the Oppressed on Earth, an extremist Shiite faction, claimed it abducted and killed most of them.

9.   Those slayings were blamed on a hard-line Shiite faction, Tehrik-e-Jafaria.

10.   He is now allied with northern ethnic Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostam and a Shiite religious faction led by Karim Khalili.