News in Brief
TUNIS (Reuters) -- Three suspected militants, including an Asian woman and local leader in Daesh, were killed in Tunisian mountains near the Algerian border in two police operations, a security official said on Thursday. Six years ago a Daesh militant shot dead 39 foreigners on a beach in Sousse, triggering an exodus of tourists and severely damaging Tunisia’s economy. Since then Tunisia has grown more effective in preventing and responding to attacks, but sleeper cells still pose a real threat, especially with the return of jihadists from Syria, Iraq and Libya. ”Our forces killed a terrorist, as his Asian wife blew herself up, killing also her baby in Saloum mountain,” said Colonel Houssem Jbebli, an official in National Guard. He added that Hamdi Dhouib, a local leader in Jund El Khilafah, an affiliate branch of Daesh was also killed in an ambush in Mghila mountains.
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PEMBA, Mozambique (Reuters) -- A boat carrying 1,200 survivors of a deadly attack by Daesh-linked insurgents in northern Mozambique reached safety in the port of Pemba on Thursday, some of them crying on arrival after spending days hiding in the bush. Aid workers were at the crowded port to give food to those disembarking from the green and white ferry, while police and soldiers kept control of crowds of people excited to see relatives rescued during the attack that began last week in Palma, a Reuters reporter at the port said. Many people were believed to have scattered into dense forest or to have attempted to escape by boat, aid workers said. Takfiri insurgents have been increasingly active in the surrounding province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, although it is unclear whether they have a unified aim or what specifically they are fighting for.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Denuclearization will remain at the center of U.S. policy toward North Korea and any approach to Pyongyang will have to be done in "lockstep” with close allies, including Japan and South Korea, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday. Price made the comments at a regular briefing ahead of a meeting on Friday between U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his counterparts from Japan and South Korea as the Biden administration concludes a review of its policy towards North Korea. Price said the meeting would be an opportunity to share "where we are in terms of our review” and for them to share their perspectives. Sullivan was to meet his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Kitamura and South Korea counterpart Suh Hoon at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis on Friday. The Biden administration has been simultaneously signaling a hard line on denuclearization and sanctions in its North Korea policy, while making diplomatic overtures that administration officials say have been rebuffed by Pyongyang.
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CARACAS (Reuters) -- Venezuela on Thursday said two of its soldiers were killed by a land mine during operations against armed groups along the Colombian border that have forced the displacement of thousands of civilians. The explosion "left nine members of the military injured, who are now receiving medical attention ...,” the defense ministry said in a statement. During the operations troops dismantled nine camps, including one that produced coca paste, which is used to make cocaine, the ministry said. Nine suspected fighters had died and 31 people arrested, it said. On March 22 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government said two soldiers were killed in clashes with "irregular armed groups” in Apure. Armed forces began an operation last week, with Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez saying the country would defend itself from irregular groups, while respecting human rights.
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NAYPYITAW (Reuters) -- Opponents of military rule in Myanmar marched, observed strikes and sought alternative ways to communicate after most users were cut off from the internet on Friday, undaunted by the bloody suppression of protests during the past two months. Hundreds of people have been killed demonstrating since the Feb. 1 coup, and many people have been using social media to publicize the security forces’ excesses and to organize against military rule. The authorities, who have already shut down mobile data, ordered internet providers from Friday to cut wireless broadband, depriving most customers of access. In response, anti-coup groups have shared radio frequencies, mobile apps such as maps that work without a data connection, and tips for using SMS messages as an alternative to data services to communicate. Violent incidents are occurring regularly in different parts of the country between the security forces and people set against military rule.
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MADRID (Reuters) -- A regional office of Spain’s leftist Unidas Podemos party was hit by a fire-bomb attack on Friday, police said. The attack took place in Cartagena in southeastern Spain. The blaze damaged the exterior of the building. Podemos accused right-wing elements of carrying it out. "The street terrorism of the far-right will not intimidate us,” party leader Pablo Iglesias, who is standing as a candidate in regional elections in Madrid on May 4, said on social media. Police said no arrests had been made after the attack, which took place in the early hours of Friday morning.
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PEMBA, Mozambique (Reuters) -- A boat carrying 1,200 survivors of a deadly attack by Daesh-linked insurgents in northern Mozambique reached safety in the port of Pemba on Thursday, some of them crying on arrival after spending days hiding in the bush. Aid workers were at the crowded port to give food to those disembarking from the green and white ferry, while police and soldiers kept control of crowds of people excited to see relatives rescued during the attack that began last week in Palma, a Reuters reporter at the port said. Many people were believed to have scattered into dense forest or to have attempted to escape by boat, aid workers said. Takfiri insurgents have been increasingly active in the surrounding province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, although it is unclear whether they have a unified aim or what specifically they are fighting for.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Denuclearization will remain at the center of U.S. policy toward North Korea and any approach to Pyongyang will have to be done in "lockstep” with close allies, including Japan and South Korea, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday. Price made the comments at a regular briefing ahead of a meeting on Friday between U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his counterparts from Japan and South Korea as the Biden administration concludes a review of its policy towards North Korea. Price said the meeting would be an opportunity to share "where we are in terms of our review” and for them to share their perspectives. Sullivan was to meet his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Kitamura and South Korea counterpart Suh Hoon at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis on Friday. The Biden administration has been simultaneously signaling a hard line on denuclearization and sanctions in its North Korea policy, while making diplomatic overtures that administration officials say have been rebuffed by Pyongyang.
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CARACAS (Reuters) -- Venezuela on Thursday said two of its soldiers were killed by a land mine during operations against armed groups along the Colombian border that have forced the displacement of thousands of civilians. The explosion "left nine members of the military injured, who are now receiving medical attention ...,” the defense ministry said in a statement. During the operations troops dismantled nine camps, including one that produced coca paste, which is used to make cocaine, the ministry said. Nine suspected fighters had died and 31 people arrested, it said. On March 22 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government said two soldiers were killed in clashes with "irregular armed groups” in Apure. Armed forces began an operation last week, with Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez saying the country would defend itself from irregular groups, while respecting human rights.
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NAYPYITAW (Reuters) -- Opponents of military rule in Myanmar marched, observed strikes and sought alternative ways to communicate after most users were cut off from the internet on Friday, undaunted by the bloody suppression of protests during the past two months. Hundreds of people have been killed demonstrating since the Feb. 1 coup, and many people have been using social media to publicize the security forces’ excesses and to organize against military rule. The authorities, who have already shut down mobile data, ordered internet providers from Friday to cut wireless broadband, depriving most customers of access. In response, anti-coup groups have shared radio frequencies, mobile apps such as maps that work without a data connection, and tips for using SMS messages as an alternative to data services to communicate. Violent incidents are occurring regularly in different parts of the country between the security forces and people set against military rule.
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MADRID (Reuters) -- A regional office of Spain’s leftist Unidas Podemos party was hit by a fire-bomb attack on Friday, police said. The attack took place in Cartagena in southeastern Spain. The blaze damaged the exterior of the building. Podemos accused right-wing elements of carrying it out. "The street terrorism of the far-right will not intimidate us,” party leader Pablo Iglesias, who is standing as a candidate in regional elections in Madrid on May 4, said on social media. Police said no arrests had been made after the attack, which took place in the early hours of Friday morning.