AP, Ankara
U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and Turkish artillery fire against the Islamic State group in Syria have killed 104 militants, the Turkish military said Saturday.
The state-run Anadolu Agency, quoting military officials, said the strikes came late Friday, hours after rockets fired from Syria hit the southern Turkish town of Kilis and wounded five people. It said the airstrikes and artillery fire also destroyed 7 buildings used as IS headquarters.
Taliban faction backs peace talks
AP, Afghanistan
A senior leader of a breakaway Taliban faction said Sunday it was willing to hold peace talks with the Afghan government but would demand the imposition of Islamic law and the departure of all foreign forces.
Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi told a group of around 200 followers in eastern Afghanistan that his faction had no faith in the Kabul government but was willing to negotiate without preconditions. An Associated Press photographer was present at the meeting.
Missile shield no threat to Russia: Poland
Reuters, Warsaw
The U.S. missile shield to be located in Poland does not pose a threat to Russia’s security, Poland’s state-run news agency PAP quoted Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski as saying on Sunday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Poland and Romania could find themselves in the sights of Russian rockets because they are hosting elements of a U.S. missile shield that Moscow considers a threat to its security.
100 missing in Lankan landslides are dead
AFP, Colombo
Around 100 people still missing following landslides in Sri Lanka last week are believed dead, authorities said on Saturday after failing to find signs of life under tonnes of mud. The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 67 bodies had been recovered from the worst hit central district of Kegalle where 99 people were still listed as missing following the rain-triggered May 17 disaster.
