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Abu Omar al-Shishani, who the Pentagon described as Islamic State’s “minister of war”, was killed in combat in the Iraqi city of Shirqat, south of Mosul, a news agency that supports the militant group said on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said in March that Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, had likely been killed in a US air strike in Syria, but this was the first time the group appeared to confirm his death.
Libyan forces appointed by the U.N.-backed government have been shelling and carrying out air strikes on the center of Sirte city in a siege of Islamic State militants there, an official said on Tuesday.
Militants defending Islamic State’s last stronghold in Libya have been keeping Libyan forces back with sniper fire and mortars in Sirte where they are now surrounded after a two month campaign to take the city.
Ta’ang National Liberation Army soldiers stand guard outside a village in Mantong township in Shan state, Jan. 16, 2014.
Fresh fighting that broke out late last week between two armed ethnic groups in Kyaukme district of northern Myanmar’s Shan state has forced nearly 350 villagers from Hsipaw township, including 100 children, to flee to safety in a Buddhist monastery, said a member of Myanmar’s parliament who visited the refugees on Monday.
The residents of Man Lwe village are seeking shelter inside the Yadana Shwegu monastery following an armed clash that broke out late last week between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), said lawmaker Nang Moe.
The week-long offensive by government security forces in Sulu and Basilan against the Abu Sayyaf has resulted in the killing of 40 terrorists and the wounding of 25 others, a regional military spokesman said Monday.
“Focused military operations are intensified, in coordination with the police and the local governments of the provinces of Basilan and Sulu, to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf Group,” Major Filemon Tan of the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command said.
Heavy gunfire has resumed in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, on Monday, after a quiet night Sunday evening.
Eye witnesses told Sudan Tribune that heavy gunfire erupted this morning at Jebel Kujur site where the residence of the First Vice President, Riek Machar, and his forces are situated.