Russia is verifying intelligence that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed near Raqqa, Syria, during a bombing raid by its forces in May, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Al-Baghdadi could have been among about 30 Islamic State commanders killed by the attack on a meeting of the group in the early hours of May 28, the ministry said in an emailed statement. Reports of al-Baghdadi’s death “are being verified by various channels,” it said, without elaborating. The ministry provided no explanation for the delay in reporting the strike, which it said also killed about 300 Islamic State fighters.

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Seven Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in just three days in renewed fighting with pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country, the military said Monday.

Four soldiers were killed on Saturday, two Sunday and one on Monday, bringing the death toll to 14 since the beginning of June.

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London was rocked by a suspected terror attack tonight with at least two dead after a white van ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge before three people got out and reportedly stabbed bystanders.

Up to 20 people are feared to be injured on the bridge as horrified witnesses reported seeing bodies strewn on the pavement after the incident at about 10pm.

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The suicide bomber who brought carnage to the Manchester Arena has been named as Salman Abedi.

Monday night’s attack at a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande left 22 people dead, including an eight-year-old girl, and dozens injured.

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The Ukrainian armed forces have violated the ceasefire in the Donbass region 50 times over the past 24 hours, the defense ministries of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR) reported on Monday.

“The Ukrainian armed forces have violated the ceasefire 48 times over the past 24 hours,” the Donetsk News Agency quotes a source in the DPR command as saying.

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