Turkey declared a national day of mourning Sunday after twin blasts in Istanbul killed 38 people and wounded 155 others near a soccer stadium — the latest large-scale assault to traumatize a nation confronting an array of security threats.

The bombs Saturday night targeted police officers, killing 30 of them along with seven civilians and an unidentified person, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters Sunday. He said 13 people had been arrested in connection with the “terrorist attack.”

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French jets based in Djibouti “struck and likely killed” senior al Qaeda operative Mokhtar Belmokhtar, known as the “one-eyed terrorist”, in a joint US-French operation, according to US officials cited by the Wall Street Journal.

The article recalled that previous reports of Belmokhtar’s death have been false, but said that this time the “caliber of the intelligence” indicated that the strike “likely was successful”.

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Clashes broke out on Monday between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish army forces near the border, military sources reported.

The Turkish military forces and allied rebels of the Euphrates Shield Brigades launched an offensive on SDF positions west of Manbij city in northern Aleppo, using heavy artillery and mortar fire. At least five SDF fighters were killed and several others were wounded in the attack.

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Three “well-known” commanders of Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate formerly known as Al-Nusra Front, including one who planned attacks on Aleppo, were killed in Russian strikes launched from aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

“As a result of strikes delivered by Su-33 carrier-based fighter jets and air group of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, a large gang of the Jabhat al-Nusra group was destroyed in the province of Idlib,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.

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ETA leader Mikel Irastorza has been arrested in a joint Spanish-French operation. The Basque separatist​ group’s ranks have been diminished by arrests despite a ceasefire.

A security operation conducted by French and Spanish authorities led to the arrest of the leader of the Basque militant group ETA on Saturday, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.

The ministry described Mikel Irastorza as “currently the most senior leader of the terrorist group ETA still at large.” He was arrested in a house in the southwestern French village of Ascain, near the Pyrenees Mountains.

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