Reuters, Geneva
ISIS fighters may have captured up to 3,000 fleeing Iraqi villagers on Thursday and subsequently executed 12 of them, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a daily report on events in Iraq.
“UNHCR has received reports that ISIS captured on 4 August up to 3,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) from villages in Hawiga District in Kirkuk Governorate trying to flee to Kirkuk city. Reportedly, 12 of the IDPs have been killed in captivity,” the UNHCR report said.
Kerry to visit Turkey on Aug 24
Reuters, Istanbul
US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Turkey on Aug. 24, more than a month after a failed military coup shook the NATO member state, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with broadcaster TGRT Haber on Friday.
The attempted putsch, which President Tayyip Erdogan blames on U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, has strained Ankara’s relations with Washington. Erdogan has called for the extradition of Gulen, who denies involvement in the plot.
Turkish FP says Austria is ‘capital of radical racism’
Reuters, Istanbul
Turkish Foreign Minster Mevlut Cavusoglu called Austria the “capital of radical racism” on Friday as he slammed Chancellor Christian Kern for suggesting ending European Union accession talks with Turkey.
In an interview with broadcaster TGRT Haber, Cavusoglu said Kern’s comments were “ugly” and he rejected them all. Kern said on Wednesday he would start a discussion among European heads of government to quit talks with Turkey because of the country’s democratic and economic deficits.
IS Sinai Chief killed in strike
AFP, Cairo
An Egyptian air strike killed the head of the Islamic State group branch behind scores of deadly attacks on security forces and suspected of downing a Russian airliner, the army said Thursday.
The army’s announcement did not say when the operation took place but named the head of the Egyptian affiliate of the jihadist group based in the Sinai Peninsula as Abu Doaa al-Ansari.
Manila acknowledges abuses in drug war
AP, Manila
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledged abuses in a war on illegal drugs, which has left more than 400 people dead in a month and alarmed rights activists, but refused to back down from a shoot-to-kill order for drug suspects.
Duterte said in a speech late Thursday that most drug dealers and addicts slain in gunbattles with police had put up a fight, but added that he was sure some were “salvaged,” a local slang for extrajudicial killings usually by law enforcers.
In the case of illegal killings, Duterte said the government will investigate.
