A branch of the self-declared Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia that has killed at least 19 people, a move that could represent a significant escalation of the extremist group’s operations in the kingdom.

NPR’s Leila Fadel reports from Cairo that the online statement from ISIS “named and praised the Saudi suicide bomber who detonated himself amongst a congregation of Shiite Saudis praying in a mosque in the village of al Qudaih in Qatif province.”

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At least 18 FARC rebels were killed in a government airstrike in Colombia, a media report said.

Another two guerillas died in the bombing Thursday in the area of Guapi in the southwest department of Cuaca, El Tiempo newspaper reported.

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At least six civilians, including one aid worker, were killed in northern Mali on Thursday amid clashes between separatist rebels and pro-government militia, rebels and a local source said.

The Spanish arm of aid agency Action Contre la Faim (ACF) confirmed that Moussa Ag Mohamedoun, one of its local employees, was killed in Tin Hama - a village in the Ansongo district in Gao region. ACF did not give details of how he died or comment on any other people killed.

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The Defence Headquarters weekend said an unconfirmed number of Boko Haram members fell to the superior power of the military in the ongoing offensive in Sambisa forest.

With the Saturday captured and destruction of 10 additional camps used by the terrorists.

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Islamic State militants took control of areas of the historic Syrian city of Palmyra from government forces in fierce fighting today, and the Syrian antiquities chief called on the world to save its ancient heritage from the jihadists.

The central city, known as Tadmur in Arabic, is home to a Unesco World Heritage site and is also a strategic military location in central Syria linked by highways to the cities of Homs and Damascus, some 240km to the southwest.

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