At least 11 people were killed and over 120 injured after a string of car bombs targeting police stations exploded in Turkey. A car bombing attack on a police station in the eastern province of Van late Wednesday killed a police officer and two civilians. Dozens of other people, including some 20 police officers, were wounded, officials said.

The attack targeted a police headquarters in the central Ipekyolu district of Van city, Van governorate official Mehmet Parlak was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency, blaming the “regional terror group”, the official phrase for the PKK.

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Russia has deployed long-range bombers to an air base in the Iranian city of Hamadan to carry out air strikes against militants in Syria, the Russian government said on Tuesday.

“On 16 August, Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamadan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib,” a defence ministry statement said.

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Fighting has been ongoing for nearly a week between members of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burma Army, leading to school closures and civilians fleeing their villages along the highway connecting Kachin State’s Tanai and Hpakant townships.

Clashes have increased in the Shahtu Zup village area in Tanai Township between members of the KIA Battalion 14 and government troops.

Tang Sen, a KIA lieutenant colonel, spoke to The Irrawaddy from the front line on Monday.

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Beijing and Damascus have agreed that the Chinese military will provide humanitarian aid to Syria, a high-ranking People’s Liberation Army officer said, adding that the training of Syrian personnel by Chinese instructors has also been discussed.

Director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of China’s Central Military Commission, Guan Youfei, arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for talks with Syrian Defense Minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij, Chinese Xinhua news agency reported.

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Four Turkish police officers and two civilians were killed on Monday in a car bombing outside the southeastern city of Diyarbakir blamed on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels, the government said.

The blast hit a police traffic control post on the highway leading southeast from Diyarbakir to the city of Batman, killing the six victims, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters in Ankara.

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