Saturday, February 13, 2016
Turkey and Saudi Arabia could launch a ground operation in Syria against the Islamic State (IS) militant group, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying on Saturday.
“If there will be a comprehensive strategy within the scope of fight against IS, we all said that Turkey and Saudi Arabia could launch a ground operation,” the minister was quoted by Turkey’s Haberturk daily as saying after attending the Munich Security Conference.
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Cameroon soldiers killed at least 27 Boko Haram fighters after launching a cross-border operation in the Nigerian locality of Goshi that also resulted in the death of one soldier, a senior military official said.
At least seven other soldiers were injured in the operation early Thursday, said Gen. Jacob Kodji. The Nigerian Islamic extremist group launched a series of attacks in Cameroon earlier this week, said Kodji. Ashigashiya straddles the border of northern Cameroon and Nigeria.
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Friday, February 12, 2016
Suspected Islamist militants attacked a UN base in the northern Mali town of Kidal with mortars and machine guns on Friday, killing three peacekeepers and wounding 30, United Nations and separatist sources said.
The attack is a fresh sign of instability in the desert region that is home to Islamist groups including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb who have staged increasingly bold raids in recent months and have targeted the UN base several times.
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Major powers agreed on Friday to a cessation of hostilities in Syria set to begin in a week and to provide rapid humanitarian access to besieged Syrian towns, but failed to secure a complete cease-fire or an end to Russian bombing.
Following a marathon meeting in Munich aimed at resurrecting peace talks that collapsed last week, the powers, including the United States, Russia and more than a dozen other nations, reaffirmed their commitment to a political transition when conditions on the ground improved.
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Thursday, February 11, 2016
Fighting that erupted between the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in a village in Myanmar’s Shan state three days ago has injured one resident and forced nearly all of the 1,500 others to flee their homes, RFA reported on 11 February quoting a village administrative official.
Shelling between soldiers of the RCSS/SSA-S and TNLA injured the leg of one resident of Lotnaw village, Namhkam Township, in northern Shan State, EikYai, chief administrator of the village, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
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