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Afghan police: Suicide bomber hits tribal meeting, killing 4
Afghan police say that a suicide attack targeting a meeting of local tribal elders has killed four civilians and wounded six in eastern Nangarhar province.
Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, says the attack took place on Monday in the provincial capital of Jalalabad.
He says the bomber entered on foot the house of one of the tribal leaders and once inside, blew himself up.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban militants have fought pitched battles with Afghan security forces recently in Nangarhar province.
Danish police find bodies of Syrian refugees in freezer
Danish police say the remains of a 27-year-old Syrian woman and her two daughters, aged 7 and 9, were found in a freezer inside their apartment in southern Denmark.
Police made the gruesome discovery Sunday in the town of Aabenraa after a relative of the woman told them he hadn't been able to reach her for a few days.
Investigators said Monday that the victims were killed but didn't give any details.
The woman's husband wasn't in the apartment and is now being sought by police.
The family arrived in Denmark in 2015 and received refugee status.
Iraqi special forces approach Mosul from east
Iraqi special forces advanced on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul from the east on Monday, taking heavy fire but inching closer to the city's limits.
Car bombers are trying to stop the advance, but the troops, just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from Mosul's eastern outskirts, aim to enter it later in the day, Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said.
The dawn assault saw armored vehicles, including Abrams tanks, move on the village of Bazwaya as allied artillery and airstrikes hit IS positions, drawing mortar and small arms fire.
For two weeks, Iraqi forces and their Kurdish allies, Sunni tribesmen and Shiite militias have been converging on Mosul from all directions to drive IS from Iraq's second largest city. The operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.
Since the offensive began on Oct. 17, Iraqi forces moving toward the city have made uneven progress. Advances have been slower in the south, with government forces there still 20 miles (35 kilometers) from the city.
The U.S. military estimates IS has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters inside Mosul and another 1,500-2,500 in the city's outer defensive belt. The total number includes around 1,000 foreign fighters.
A day earlier, thousands of fighters flocked to join Iraq's state-sanctioned, Iran-backed Shiite militias who are to cut off Mosul from the west. In a series of apparent retaliation attacks, suicide bombers on Sunday struck in Baghdad's mostly Shiite neighborhoods, killing at least 17 people.
The deadliest of the bombings, a parked car bomb, hit a popular fruit and vegetable market near a school in the northwestern Hurriyah area, killing at least 10 and wounding 34. On Monday, IS issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.
Turkey issues warrants for 73 pilots linked to Gulen
Turkey's state-run news agency says 73 military pilots are to be detained as part of the ongoing investigation into the movement allegedly responsible for the failed coup on July 15.
Anadolu Agency says the chief public prosecutor's office in the central Anatolian city of Konya on Thursday issued detention warrants for two colonels and 71 lieutenants for alleged ties to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the coup violent attempt that led to more than 270 deaths, and the government has launched a massive crackdown on his followers.
Turkey has detained thousands of people for alleged links to the coup. Tens of thousands of people have also been dismissed or suspended from government jobs including in the military, police, judiciary and the education ministry.
Small quakes continue to shake Italy following aftershocks
A series of small temblors have continued to shake a mountainous region of central Italy, further unsettling thousands of residents displaced by a pair of powerful aftershocks to the deadly August quake.
Italy's national volcanology center said two smaller quakes registered magnitudes above 4 before dawn Thursday, centered near Macerata in the Marche region, while dozens of smaller ones were recorded in the area overnight.
Civil Protection authorities were preparing a survey of the quake-stricken zone at daybreak. They say thousands of people were displaced by the pair of quakes Wednesday evening that sent residents into the streets, with much of the region also suffering pouring rain. There were no serious injuries.
The president of Umbria region, Catiuscia Marini, told RAI state television that officials are scrambling to come up with temporary housing.
Hopes diminish for 11 men buried in Indonesian mine
Indonesian officials say hopes are diminishing of finding alive any of the 11 men buried by a landslide at an illegal mine on the island of Sumatra.
A local police chief, Yazid Fanani, said days of torrential rain caused a landslide late Monday at Merangin, a hilly district of Jambi province.
On Wednesday, rescue teams tried to reach the miners, who are buried in a 50-meter (164-foot) deep pit.
Informal mining is common in Indonesia despite being banned by the government because of the dangers.
Seasonal downpours often cause landslides and flash floods in the archipelago nation, where millions of people live on mountains or near flood plains.
Turkey says barrel bombs have hit Syrian opposition fighters
Turkey's state-run news agency says a helicopter believed to belong to Syrian government forces has dropped barrel bombs in a deadly attack on Turkey-backed opposition forces in the border area.
The Anadolu Agency, quoting military officials, reported on Wednesday that two opposition fighters were killed in the attack in the village of Tall Nayif in northern Syria while five others were wounded. The agency didn't say when the attack happened.
Turkey sent troops and tanks into Syria in August to support Syrian opposition forces efforts to clear the border area of Islamic State fighters.
Ankara is also seeking to contain the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces fighting IS. Turkey says the Kurdish forces are linked to Turkey's outlawed Kurdish insurgents and the Turkish government considers both to be terrorist groups.
Pakistan city shuts down, mourns 61 killed at police academy
Pakistan's city of Quetta is in shutdown following a militant rampage at a police academy this week and funerals are underway as families bury some of the 61 people killed in the attack.
The brazen assault, in which police cadets jumped from windows and rooftops, fleeing for their lives, and troops battled the attackers for four hours, was one of the deadliest attacks on Pakistan's security forces in recent years.
Most of the victims were young cadets and police trainees, in their early 20s. In conflicting claims, an Islamic State affiliate and a Taliban splinter group both said they were behind the attack.
Quetta trade leader, Abdur Rahim Kakar, says all businesses and offices were closed in the city on Wednesday.
Police spokesman Shahzada Farhat says an investigation is ongoing.
Afghan official: Taliban insurgents abduct, kill 20 people
An Afghan police official says that Taliban insurgents have killed at least 20 civilians after they were abducted in a remote central province.
Ziauddin Saqib, the deputy provincial police chief in restive Ghor says the 20 were from a group of 33 taken by militants near the provincial capital of Ferozkoh. The abductions took place while battles were underway between the Taliban and Afghan security forces on Tuesday that saw two militant commanders killed.
There was no immediate statement from the Taliban on the incident in the largely lawless Ghor province.
However, Abdul Hai Khateby, the spokesman for the provincial governor in Ghor, said on Wednesday that the militants behind the attacks and abductions were a renegade Taliban group that swore allegiance last year to Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate.
Turkish media: explosion in Mediterranean resort of Antalya
Turkish media reports say an explosion has occurred in the parking lot of the local chamber of trade in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya.
The private Dogan news agency says the cause of Tuesday's explosion is not immediately known.
Several ambulances have been dispatched to the scene.
Iraqi forces battle IS in western town, far from Mosul
Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, are battling Islamic State militants for a third day in a remote western town, hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the south of the operation to retake Mosul.
Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, says "fighting is ongoing in Rutba" on Tuesday and that the town is still contested.
He says the coalition strikes are supporting the Iraqi forces' "response efforts, including one against a Daesh convoy that was attempting to flee the area." Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the IS group.
The Iraqi military could not immediately be reached for comment.
IS launched a complex attack on Rutba on Sunday. Iraqi officials have said the situation is under control, but haven't provided details about the fighting or possible casualties.
The Latest: UN rights chief says Aleppo a 'slaughterhouse'
The U.N. human rights chief says the Syrian city of Aleppo is "a slaughterhouse" and is urging the Human Rights Council to set aside "political disagreements" to focus on suffering civilians.
Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein delivered the stark remarks in an address by videoconference to the 47-member U.N.-backed rights body on Friday as it opened a special session on Aleppo called by Britain and others over the crisis in the city.
Zeid, a Jordanian prince, says rights violations and abuses in Syria, in rebel-held eastern Aleppo and beyond "constitute crimes of historic proportions."
He said the "collective failure of the international community to protect civilians and halt this bloodshed should haunt every one of us."
The council was expected to vote later in the day on a resolution that would call for increased monitoring of crimes in Aleppo.
Cyprus police: boat with 83 migrants aboard towed to harbor
A Cyprus police spokesman says a boat with 83 people aboard including 37 children has been towed to a harbor on the east Mediterranean island's northwestern coast.
Spokesman Andreas Angelides told the Associated Press that all those aboard are believed to be Syrian migrants. He said authorities are trying to confirm initial information the boat set sail from Mersin, Turkey and intended to reach Cyprus.
He said the boat was towed Friday morning after being spotted a few miles off the coast the previous evening.
Cyprus Civil Defense spokeswoman Olivia Michaelidou told the AP a reception center on the outskirts of the capital Nicosia is being prepared.
Cyprus lies around 100 miles (160 kilometers) off Syria's Mediterranean coast but hasn't' seen a mass refugee influx.
The Latest: IS attacks Iraqi special forces with car bombs
One of the car bombs exploded after being shot by a tank. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in the attacks.
Iraqi special forces charged into battle early Thursday, joining a massive operation to retake the IS-held city of Mosul. The fighting is concentrated in largely uninhabited villages on the outskirts of the city.
It's not clear when Iraqi forces will reach the city itself, and the operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.
Typhoon Haima leaves at least 5 dead in northern Philippines
At least five people were killed after Super Typhoon Haima smashed into the northern Philippines with ferocious winds and rains overnight, flooding towns and forcing thousands to flee before weakening Thursday and blowing into the South China Sea, officials said.
Haima's blinding winds and rain had rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, but there were no immediate reports of any major damage amid faulty communications and power outages in several villages cut off from government aid and rescue teams by fallen trees, landslide and flood.
Nearly 100,000 villagers were evacuated from high-risk communities as the typhoon approached, helping prevent a larger number of casualties.
Two construction workers died, however, when a landslide buried their shanty in La Trinidad town in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers drowned in floodwaters and another is missing in Ifugao province, near Benguet. A 70-year-old man died apparently of a heart attack while being brought to an emergency shelter from a flooded neighborhood in Isabela province, officials said.
Although storms are a part of life in the country's north, many villagers were still horrified by Haima's fury.
"In my age, I'm 60 years old, this is the strongest typhoon I have ever seen," village councilor Willie Cabalteja told The Associated Press in Vigan city in Ilocos Sur province. "We haven't slept. Trees were forced down, houses lost their roofs and fences and metal sheets were flying around all night."
The fast-moving Pacific typhoon slammed into shore in northeastern Cagayan province late Wednesday then barreled northwestward before blowing out into the South China Sea with sustained winds of 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 185 kph (115 mph), according to forecasters.
Although weakening, the typhoon was expected to blow toward China, Filipino forecasters said.
After dawn, the extent of damage in Cagayan — about 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Manila — and nearby regions became evident, with overturned vans, toppled or leaning electric posts and debris blocking roads. Most stores, their window panes shattered and canopies shredded by the wind, were close.
In northern Ilocos Sur province, ricefields resembled brown lakes under waist-high floodwaters, although cleanup operations had started.
"Search, rescue and retrieval operations are ongoing," Office of Civil Defense administrator Ricardo Jalad said in a statement.
The government's weather agency lowered most of its storm warnings after the typhoon blew out of the main northern Luzon region.
Many of the provinces hit by the storm were still recovering from a powerful typhoon that killed two people and displaced tens of thousands of villagers last weekend.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, on a state visit to China, urged people in the typhoon's path to heed orders by disaster agencies. Duterte is to fly home Friday.
Turkish jets strike Syrian Kurdish militia targets
Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish jets have struck 18 Syrian Kurdish militia targets north of the Syrian city of the embattled city of Aleppo, killing as many as 200.
Anadolu Agency says Thursday the raids targeted the Maarraat Umm Hawsh region in northern Syria. The agency said between 160 and 200 militia fighters were killed in the raid.
It says the air strikes took place late Wednesday night.
The United States considers the militia group, known as the People's Protection Units or YPG, to be the most effect force in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. Turkey says the group is an extension of its own outlawed Kurdish militants who have carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey over the past year.
Officials: Turkish police shot and killed suspected ISIS bomber in raid
Turkish police on Wednesday fatally shot a suspected Islamic State group militant who was believed to be planning a suicide bomb attack in the capital.
The man was killed in a raid on a ninth-floor apartment on the outskirts of Ankara after he ignored warnings to surrender and opened fire on police, Ankara Gov. Ercan Topaca said.
The state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Topaca as saying the man was believed to be planning a suicide attack in the city — either targeting large gatherings or to coincide with two national ceremonies in the coming weeks. Topaca said police seized explosive materials from the apartment.
Turkey has been rocked by a series of deadly suicide bombings over the past 18 months that were carried out by IS or Kurdish militants.
Officials banned demonstrations or large gatherings in Ankara until the end of November citing intelligence over possible attacks.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters that the man was spotted scouting Turkey's old parliament building as well as the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — the founder of the Turkish republic — where ceremonies are scheduled to take place.
"The Daesh militant was rendered ineffective following very important tracking and intelligence work," Soylu said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. "These operations are continuing."
Meanwhile, Kurdish rebels attacked a van carrying Turkish security force members with a rocket in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, killing a government-paid village guard and wounding three others, Anadolu reported.
It said rebels belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, attacked the van in the region of Tepe, in the mainly-Kurdish Diyarbakir province. An operation was launched to catch the attackers, it said.
Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile cease-fire agreement.
Earlier this month, two PKK militants suspected of planning a suicide car bombing blew themselves up on a farm outside of Ankara during a police operation to apprehend them.
IS car bombs, mortars slow down Iraqi advance on Mosul
Islamic State militants have deployed suicide car bombs and fired mortar rounds to slow down the advance of Iraqi troops outside a key town near the militant-held city of Mosul.
An officer with the Iraqi army's 9th Division told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his troops are around 1 kilometer (half mile) away from Hamdaniyah, a historically Christian town also known as Bakhdida.
He says IS has sent 12 car bombs since Tuesday, all of which were blown up before reaching their targets. He says troops suffered a small number of casualties from the mortar rounds, without providing figures.
The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.
Iraq launched a massive operation on Monday to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.
48 bodies recovered after ferry capsizing on Myanmar river
Authorities say 48 bodies have been found from a ferry boat that capsized last Saturday in central Myanmar, while dozens of people are still missing.
The ferry was carrying more than 250 passengers when it capsized on the Chindwin river between Monywa and Homalin townships in the Sagaing region. Authorities say 158 people were rescued and 48 bodies have been found through Wednesday. Rescuers are continuing to search for the missing.
The cause of the capsizing was unclear but local police says the boat may have been overcrowded. A regional member of parliament said police have brought criminal charges against the helmsman alleging his negligence caused the deaths.
US expects Islamic State to use chemical weapons as forces advance on Mosul
U.S. officials expect Islamic State to use crude chemical weapons as it tries to defend Mosul from an assault from Iraqi and Kurdish forces, though the terror group’s ability to develop such weapons are limited.
One official told Reuters that U.S. forces have gathered ISIS shell fragments to test for chemical weapons because the group has been known to use mustard gas in the past.
U.S. officials said in a previously undisclosed statement that it had confirmed the presence of a sulfur mustard agent on ISIS munitions on Oct. 5. The terror group has targeted local forces, not the U.S.
"Given ISIL's reprehensible behavior and flagrant disregard for international standards and norms, this event is not surprising," a second U.S. official told Reuters.
Officials don’t believe Islamic State has been successful in fully developing chemical weapons with lethal effects. Conventional weapons were still the most dangerous threat as Iraqi and Kurdish forces advance.
More than 100 U.S. troops are assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces involved in the assault. They’re tasked with advising commanders and helping ensure the coalition’s air campaign hit the right targets, officials said.
Meanwhile, as the fight for Mosul ramps up, the U.S. said it believes Islamic State fighters are using civilians as human shields as coalition forces move to the group’s stronghold in Mosul.
Around 700,000 civilians are believed to be living in Mosul. President Barack Obama said there are plans in place for dealing with a potential humanitarian crisis as the offensive wears on.
The U.S.-backed coalition said they have driven Islamic State out of at least 10 villages surrounding the city. Iraqi forces are still believed to be at least 12 miles outside of Mosul.
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