AP, Sanaa
Yemeni pro-government troops, backed by forces from a Saudi-led military coalition, seized a town Sunday as they advanced in their offensive to retake territory held by Islamic State and al-Qaida forces east of the port city of Aden.
Military officials said government troops in armored vehicles and tanks, under cover of heavy airstrikes, entered the small town of Al-Kawd after brief clashes. The officials, speaking anonymously because they aren’t authorized to brief reporters, said the government forces were now pushing toward the towns of Zinjibar and Jaar with the support of the coalition artillery and naval fire.
Swiss knifeman sets fire on train, injures 6
AFP, Geneva
A knifeman started a fire on a train in eastern Switzerland before stabbing passengers on Saturday, injuring six people including a six-year-old child, police said.
The motive of the attack was not immediately clear, but the incident follows a string of violent, often deadly assaults in Europe in recent months, with many claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group.
19 killed in DR Congo clashes
AFP, Kinshasa
Nineteen people have been killed in clashes between police and militia in the centre of the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said. The dead included the leader of the militia group, Kamwina Nsapu, the governor of Kasai-Central province, Alex Kande, told public television late on Saturday. He said Nsapu was among eight militia members killed in the fighting in the town of Tshimbulu on Friday. Eleven policemen also died, Kande said.
Biden to visit Turkey
Reuters, Massachusetts
US Vice President Joe Biden will meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim during a visit to Turkey later this month, the White House said on Saturday. Biden’s visit on August 24 will be the first by a high-ranking US official since the failed coup there. Yildirim was quoted by Turkish media earlier on Saturday saying that Washington’s attitude had improved on an extradition request for Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the attempted coup last month.
