10 police among 11 slain in ISIS attack
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 10 police officers and the wife of a police commander were killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants in northern Zawzjan province, a provincial official said.
Mohammad Reza Ghafori, spokesman for the Zawzjan provincial governor, said Saturday that the police officers were ambushed Friday as they were exiting a mosque. The wife of the police commander heard about her husband being shot and rushed to the scene, where she was also killed.
Islamic State-linked militants have been active in Afghanistan’s eastern regions, but have recently begun operating in the north of the country as well.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that about 38 militants, including 23 Islamic State fighters, were killed in separate operations conducted by Afghan security forces in the eastern and southern regions of the country over the past two days.
Azerbaijani troops die in regional clash
MOSCOW — Several Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during fighting in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan said Saturday as it and neighboring Armenia traded blame for an outbreak of violence.
The clashes were some of the heaviest in the region since fighting last year killed about 75 soldiers from both sides.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Saturday that its forces had “suffered losses” when its positions were attacked by Armenian troops early Saturday. It did not give a precise number for those killed or wounded.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry said in a statement, also released Saturday, that Armenian forces did not suffer any casualties and that Azerbaijani soldiers were killed when they launched an attack.
Both sides claimed they inflicted losses on the other.
Brits ink $150M Egypt loan guarantee
LONDON — Britain on Saturday finalized a $150 million loan guarantee to Egypt, where Boris Johnson was on his first visit to the country as foreign secretary and as a human-rights organization urged him to speak about what they described as “appalling” abuses.
In a statement, the foreign office said Johnson and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi discussed British support for Egypt’s economy including joint work on aviation security, anti-terrorism efforts, and work to resolve regional conflicts especially in Libya and Syria, adding that human rights and the benefits of a free society to promote stability and economic growth were mentioned.
Earlier, the human-rights organization Reprieve urged Johnson to speak about the abuses it described, including the case of Irish national Ibrahim Halawa, who was 17 when arrested and imprisoned in Cairo in 2013. Halawa was detained in a mosque near Ramses Square as the Muslim Brotherhood held a “day of rage” over el-Sissi’s ouster of his predecessor, the Islamist Mohamed Morsi.
Before the visit, Johnson said “the U.K. is a champion of a renewed Egypt because stability, peace and growth in this region are the bedrock of opportunity and security.”
French charge man in campaign probe
PARIS — French prosecutors have issued preliminary charges against a contractor for the far-right National Front party who is close to its presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, in an investigation into political campaign funding in 2014 and 2015.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed Saturday that Frederic Chatillon was charged Feb. 15 with “misuse of company assets.” Chatillon heads a company that works for Le Pen’s National Front party.
These are the first charges in the investigation that began in October.
The revelation came days after a top aide to Le Pen, Catherine Griset, was charged with receiving money through a breach of trust in a second, separate probe into the National Front. In that probe investigators suspect that party members used legislative aides for the party’s political activities while they were on the European Parliament payroll.
The National Front denies wrongdoing.
Le Pen dismissed the payroll probe last week as “political maneuvering” during an election season.
A Section on 02/26/2017