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Iraqi forces on Thursday pushed the Islamic State group from Qayyarah, a northern town considered strategic for any future offensive against the jihadists’ last stronghold of Mosul.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hailed the victory as a key step in the fight against IS but hours later suffered yet another political setback when lawmakers impeached his defence minister.
The Colombian government and the Farc rebel group have signed a historic peace accord, putting an end to more than five decades of conflict.
Both sides have agreed to work together to address social exclusion, to deliver justice to the victims of the conflict and build a stable and enduring peace.
The announcement was made in the Cuban capital, Havana, where peace talks were launched in November 2012.
Turkish special forces backed by coalition air support launched an incursion into Syria in the early hours on Wednesday to take the town of Jarabulus from the Islamic State (IS) group, Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Turkish tanks crossed the border into Syria in what officials are calling operation “Euphrates Shield”, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stating on Wednesday that his forces would be targeting “terrorist groups like Daesh (IS) and PYD,” referring to the pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party, whose military wing the People’s Protection Units (YPG) continue to make military gains in northern Syria.
Kurdish militias and Syrian government forces are fighting for control of the northeastern city of Hasakah.
The two sides once worked together to combat ISIL, but now the Syrian government is accusing the Kurdish militias of seeking to divide the country. The Kurds, on the other hand, accuse the government of having a secret understanding with Turkey against them.
Abubakar Shekau and other senior officials were hit by Nigerian ‘air force raid’.
The Nigerian army says that it “fatally wounded” the leader of Boko Haram during an air strike targeting a meeting of the Islamist group’s commanders, local media reported.