Islamic State militants are maintaining their offensive on towns at the heart of a safe zone that US and Turkish authorities want to carve out in northern Syria — despite Turkish fighter jets recently launching their first air strikes as part of the American-led coalition against the jihadist terror army. Rebel commanders say coalition strikes need to be ramped up to ward off the extremists.

The fight for the countryside to the north of Aleppo is now ratcheting up rapidly. Islamist rebel factions on Monday mounted several rocket barrages at IS positions in the villages of al-Madjanah and Tlalin. They managed to retake the town of Sadaf after heavy clashes with the extremists.

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Islamic extremist group Boko Haram killed 68 villagers in a remote area, the governor of Borno State of the region said Sunday, as the government warned that the extremists are trying to extend their violent campaign.

Gov. Kashim Shettima confirmed the attack in Baanu village during a meeting with the parents of the 219 girls abducted from a school in the region by the extremists last year. Thursday marked 500 days of captivity of the girls from a school in Chibok.

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Four Libyan soldiers were killed and six wounded in fresh fighting with Islamist groups in the eastern city of Benghazi on Sunday, medics and military officials said.

Forces loyal to Libya’s internationally recognised government have been fighting Islamist groups in the country’s second-largest city Benghazi since last year, part of a wider struggle since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.

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South Sudan rebels say the army forces have violated the newly-signed ceasefire agreement aimed at ending a brutal civil war in the landlocked African country.

Rebel spokesman, Dickson Gatluak, said on Sunday that a military convoy, consisting of two barges and seven gunboats, shelled rebel positions along the White Nile River while on its way from the county of Bor to Panyijar in Jonglei State.

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Pakistan military claimed at least six civilians were killed and 46 others, including 22 women, were injured in alleged firing from the Indian side in the Charwa Sector near the Sialkot Working Boundary.

Six of the casualties were reported to be on the Pakistani side of the border in Sialkot town.

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More than 100 militants have been killed in the ongoing military operation in Musa Qala District of southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, an official said today.

Omar Zwak, spokesman for the governor of Helmand province said,'’fresh troops have been deployed to Musa Qala District to clear it from rebels,'’ reports QNA.

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Boko Haram extremists killed 28 people during attacks on remote farming and fishing villages in northeast Nigeria, members of a civilian defense group said on Friday.

A total of 24 people were killed in an attack Tuesday night in Marfunudi, according to village resident Abubakar Jojo.

The town is roughly 50 miles from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.

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