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New Drone Strike Kills 3 Qaida Suspects in Yemen

An overnight drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen, a country where the United States is the only power operating the unmanned aircraft, a tribal source said Monday.

The late Sunday strike in the Markha district of the southern province of Shabwa also wounded another three suspected militants, the source told Agence France Presse.

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Algeria: 40 Police Wounded in Anti-shale Gas Protest

Forty police officers were wounded Sunday in clashes with demonstrators opposed to shale gas exploration in the Algerian Sahara, the Interior Ministry announced.

"The town of In-Salah saw incidents involving public order, initiated by a group of young people protesting against shale gas operations in the region," the ministry said in a statement.  

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Iraq PM Urges Forces to Spare Civilians in Tikrit Battle

Iraq's prime minister on Sunday announced the launch of a military operation to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State jihadist group, urging his troops to spare civilians in the battle.

Haider al-Abadi, speaking from Samarra, the other main city in the province of Salaheddin, appeared to be addressing fears of reprisals against the Tikrit area's Sunni population.

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Israel Army Launches 'Surprise' West Bank Drill

Israel's army said it launched a "surprise exercise" Sunday calling up thousands of reservists for its central region of operations that includes the West Bank.

The military said in a statement that it was mobilizing "forces including some 13,000 reserves, 3,000 of whom will physically report for active duty."

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Bomb Blast in Egypt Tourist Town Aswan Kills Two

A bomb blast killed two people Sunday in Aswan, the first such attack in the Egyptian tourist town since a wave of violence following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, police said.

The explosion, caused by a device placed near a police station in the southern town, also wounded five people including a policeman, according to the same source.

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IS Frees 19 Syrian Christians as Ransom Paid

Islamic State group jihadists on Sunday freed 19 of the 220 Assyrian Christians they took hostage in Syria last week, after a ransom was paid for their release, activists said.

"Nineteen Assyrian hostages arrived on Sunday at the Church of Our Lady in Hasakeh after they were released by IS," said Osama Edward, the director of the Assyrian Network for Human Rights.

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Pope Denounces 'Intolerable Brutality' in Iraq, Syria

Pope Francis on Sunday denounced the "intolerable brutality" being inflicted on Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria by Islamic State group militants.

"Unfortunately the tragic news just keeps coming from Iraq and Syria," the pontiff said after his weekly prayer in St. Peter's Square, without specifically naming IS.

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Egypt Army: 172 Sinai Militants Killed in February

Egypt's army said Sunday at least 172 militants were killed in February in joint police and military operations in the restive Sinai where security forces are battling an Islamist insurgency.

The militants were killed in a series of security operations in the peninsula after a deadly January 29 attack by jihadists left 30 people dead, mostly soldiers.

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Killer of U.S. Teacher in Abu Dhabi Referred to Court

An Emirati woman has been referred to court on charges of murdering one American in an Abu Dhabi mall and attempting to kill another at his home, officials said Sunday.

Alaa Bader Abdullah is accused of stabbing to death teacher Ibolya Ryan, 47, in a shopping mall restroom and attempting to murder another American, a doctor of Egyptian origin, by planting a bomb outside his apartment.

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Syria Opposition Praises France's Anti-Assad Stance

Syria's exiled opposition praised France on Sunday for maintaining its "exemplary" opposition to President Bashar Assad after a group of French lawmakers made a controversial visit to Damascus this week.

"The position of France has always been exemplary, and your country has consistently held to the side of the Syrian people against any attempt to rehabilitate the regime in Damascus under false pretenses," the group's leader, Khaled Khoja, wrote in a letter to the French government.

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