Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels were on Dec. 27 set to complete a swap of hundreds of prisoners as part of a new push for peace that came despite Kiev’s decision to cut off key transport links to breakaway Crimea.

The exchange began Dec. 26 on a dark and isolated stretch of a road north of the devastated eastern rebel stronghold of Donetsk, and unfolded as negotiators from both sides held video talks on Skype at reviving stalled negotiations.

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Militiamen loyal to Galmudug authorities in Galkayo’s Barahley neighborhood attacked Mudug region town of Saho according to officials on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports.

Saho Mayor Abdisalan Guled told the media that a gun-battle between locals and Galmudug militiamen resulted in 20 deaths and left scores wounded.

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Syrian planes and helicopters have reportedly dropped improvised barrel bombs on Islamic State-held areas in the north-east, which activists say killed at least 40 civilians.

The air raids coincide with more than 30 air strikes by the US-led Combined Joint Task Force against Islamic State (IS) group targets in Iraq and Syria.

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Somali Islamist militants al-Shabaab attacked the main African Union peacekeeping base in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday, killing 14 people, a spokesman for the group said.

There were conflicting reports about how many have died in the attack which has now lasted for several hours.

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In a late night operation, Algeria’s army killed the leader of an Islamic State splinter group blamed for the kidnapping and beheading of a French hiker, the Ministry of Defense said Tuesday.

It took three months for about 3,000 Algerian soldiers to comb the mountainous Kabylie region that has long been a hotbed for militant groups, but in the end they caught up with Abdelmalek Gouri.

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