A fierce firefight took place in the district of Hudun in Sool region between Somaliland defense forces and militiamen aligned to the Khaatumo separatist movement earlier today.

The fighting erupted in the early hours of Thursday morning in the small but strategic town of Hudun in Sool region, Khaatumo Militiamen attacked government forces positions in around the town of Hudun in the attack by the militiamen hence resulting to what residents termed one of the deadliest engagements in recent times.

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Syrian opposition fighters captured the northeastern city of Raqqa yesterday, and crowds toppled a statue of President Bashar Assad’s father, opposition sources and a resident said.

The fall of Raqqa on the Euphrates River would be a significant development in the 2-year-old revolt against Assad. The rebels do not claim to hold any other provincial capitals.

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Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al-Qaeda commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Chad’s military said on Saturday.

The death of one of the world’s most wanted jihadists would be a major blow to al-Qaeda in the region and to Islamist rebels already forced to flee towns they had seized in northern Mali by an offensive by French and African troops.

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The Iraqi army has reportedly shelled Free Syrian Army positions inside Syria near the border with Iraq. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Iraq was helping Syrian government forces regain control of a border checkpoint seized by the insurgency.

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Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Abdelhamid Abou Zeid was killed in Mali by a French airstrike, Ennahar TV reported Thursday (February 28th).

The commander of AQIM’s Tariq Ibn Ziyad Brigade was reportedly killed along with 40 other terrorists when French warplanes bombed a convoy in the area of Tigharghar in northern Mali, not far from the Algerian border.

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The military and the United Nations say that over 3,000 people have fled their homes and are camping around a UN peace force base in Kitchanga area of North Kivu Province.

Correspondents in the area said that the APCLS militia attacked the town targeting Kinyarwanda speakers who are seen as supporters of the rival M23 rebels.

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Thailand’s government agreed on Thursday to start talks with a major Muslim rebel group, marking a breakthrough in efforts to end a worsening conflict in the country’s south that has claimed over 5,000 lives since 2004.

The agreement, signed in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur by senior Thai security officials and members of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) group, opens the way for the first formal peace talks with rebels seeking autonomy or even a separate state in the south.

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