Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said his group had trained and funded fighters from Syria’s al-Nusra Front - which is blacklisted by the United States - since the early days of the two-year-old uprising.
He said in a statement posted on Islamist websites and seen by Reuters on Tuesday that the two groups would operate under the joint title of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
North Korea has completed preparations for a mid-range missile launch from its east coast, Seoul officials said Tuesday, as the country readies for what many suspect is another provocative act amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.
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Monday, April 8, 2013
A French force of 1,000 soldiers has begun a sweep of a river valley thought to be a logistics base for armed Islamists near the Malian city of Gao, an AFP journalist accompanying the mission said.
Operation Gustav, one of France’s largest actions since its intervention against insurgents in January, will involve dozens of tanks, helicopters, drones and aircraft, said General Bernard Barrera, commander of the French land forces in Mali.
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Sunday, April 7, 2013
An SSA-North soldier takes up position
More than 1,000 ethnic Shan villagers from Tangyan Township, Shan State, have fled from their homes due to atrocities by Burmese government forces, a human rights group said on Friday.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation said the influx of residents from 16 villages in the eastern state began two weeks ago due to the government army’s new operation against the Shan State Army-North (SSA-North), an ethnic Shan militia that signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in January 2012.
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Saturday, April 6, 2013
Syrian rebels said they overran an army garrison that defends the main southern border crossing with Jordan on Friday and vowed to press on to take control of the major transit route.
Fighters from the Free Syrian Army said they captured the Um al-Mayathen post on the main Damascus-Jordan highway in heavy fighting overnight that ended a siege that lasted more than a week. Dozens died in the clashes they said.
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