Southwest state forces backed by Somali national army (SNA) soldiers launched a fresh offensive against al-Shabaab militants in Bay region on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports.

Officials in the region said the operation aimed at pushing out al-Shabaab from their remaining strongholds between Baidoa and Bardale towns, and reopen the main corridors.

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Fresh clashes in east Ukraine left two soldiers dead Wednesday in a spike in fighting as a key rebel leader announced he planned to create a new “state”.

Kiev said the two servicemen were killed by shelling from Russian-backed rebels some 40km north of the insurgent capital Donetsk, the deadliest daily toll in two weeks.

“The situation in the anti-terrorist operation zone has seriously worsened,” the Ukrainian army said in a statement.

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Two Pakistani civilians and an Indian soldier were killed in new round of clashes between the border forces of Pakistan and India along the two sides of disputed Kashmir region on Tuesday.

This is the third consecutive day of clashes between the two sides.

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Intense clashes have broken out between US-backed Syrian fighters and Islamic State militants in the heart of Raqqa - the extremist group’s self-styled capital.

At least 180 civilians in areas controlled by IS have managed to flee, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights putting that number in the hundreds.

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Tuareg separatists seized a town in Mali’s desert north from a pro-government ethnic Tuareg militia after days of fighting, the separatists and a local legislator close to the government side said.

Fighting between rival Tuareg factions has intensified and threatens to derail a 2015 peace deal meant to end years of conflict and instability in the landlocked West African nation.

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