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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A car bomb targeting a police station in southeastern Turkey has killed seven civilians and two police officers, according to state-run Anadolu news agency.

Earlier on Friday morning, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 100 people were injured in the explosion, 93 of whom have since been released from hospitals.

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Syrian rebel factions fought each other in besieged eastern Aleppo on Thursday, officials from two of the groups and a war monitor said, potentially undermining their efforts to fend off a major Russian-backed offensive.

Rebel groups have been plagued by disunity and infighting throughout the 5 1/2-year-old conflict, for ideological reasons, over tactical differences or in disputes over territory.

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The government forces, after three days of fierce fighting and killing some 80 militants, have foiled Taliban attempts to overrun Uruzgan’s provincial capital Trinkot, a key city in Afghanistan’s southern region, provincial police chief Wali Jan Sarhadi said Wednesday.

“Operations against Taliban rebels which begun three days ago have left around 80 insurgents dead and injured almost 80 others around provincial capital Lashkar Gah,” Sarhadi told Xinhua.

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BSF soldiers take up positions at an outpost along a fence at the India-Pakistan border in RS Pura sector of Jammu on October 2, 2016. (GETTY IMAGES)

Three Pakistani soldiers, including two Pakistan Rangers, were killed on Tuesday as Indian forces retaliated to ceasefire violations from across the border, hours after cross-LoC firing killed seven civilians and injured 20 others in border areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

The BSF said it destroyed 14 posts of Pakistan Rangers in retaliatory action along International Border in Ramgarh and Arnia sectors of Jammu province. Two Pakistan Rangers and one Pakistan Army soldier were killed, BSF sources said.

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Iraqi special forces entered the eastern outskirts of Mosul on Tuesday, as the battle to oust the Islamic State group from the country’s second largest city continued.

Troops supported by United States-led coalition airstrikes launched artillery, tank and machine gun fire on militant positions before entering the city’s Gogjali neighborhood. Extremists retaliated with guided anti-tank missiles and small arms, the Associated Press reported.

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Somali government troops recaptured Goofgaduud in southern Somalia after al-Shabab militants briefly took control of the village Sunday, officials and witnesses said.

“The militants attacked a government military base. The troops made a strategic retreat and counter attacked the militants. Now, Somali government forces have retaken the full control of the village,” said regional deputy police chief, Mohamed Isaq Ara’as.

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