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The Taliban captured two major Afghan cities — the country’s second- and third-largest after Kabul — and a strategic provincial capital on Thursday, further squeezing the embattled government just weeks before the end of the U.S. military mission there.
The seizure of Kandahar and Herat marks the biggest prizes yet for the Taliban, who have taken 12 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals as part of a weeklong blitz.
Ethiopia’s dissident Tigray region agreed to ally with insurgents from the nation’s most populous ethnic group, potentially deepening a nine-month conflict raging in the country’s north.
The partnership between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Army was agreed after talks over the past six weeks, OLA leader Kumsa Dirriba said by phone Wednesday. Getachew Reda, a senior member of the TPLF, confirmed the accord.
Mali will mark three days of mourning starting Tuesday after an attack by extremists killed at least 44 people, the country’s government said.
Armed attackers targeted several villages in the northern Gao region on Sunday, also injuring eight people.
Rwandan forces deployed last month to help Mozambique’s army battle rebels said on Sunday they have recaptured control of the key northern port of Mocimboa da Praia from the armed group.
“The port city of Mocimboa da Praia, a major stronghold of the insurgency for more than two years has been captured by Rwandan and Mozambican security forces,” the Rwanda Defence Forces said in a tweet.
Ethiopia warned Friday it could deploy its “entire defensive capability” after advances by Tigrayan rebels into neighbouring regions.
The government “is being pushed to mobilise and deploy the entire defensive capability of the state if its humanitarian overtures for a peaceful resolution of the conflict remain unreciprocated,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.