Taliban kill 7 Afghan police in attack
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban stormed a police checkpoint in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province and killed seven policemen, a provincial official said Monday.
The attack took place the previous night in the district of Ghani Kahil, said the provincial police chief, Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai. Five Taliban fighters were killed in the attack, he said.
Stanikzai also said that in Khogyani district, also in Nangarhar province, a government airstrike Sunday night left 20 Taliban fighters dead.
There was no statement from the Taliban on either the Ghani Kahil attack or the airstrike.
Earlier on Sunday, a suicide bomber on foot struck outside the building of the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Ministry in the capital, Kabul, killing seven people and wounding 15.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement Monday on its Aamaq news agency, saying it targeted government employees and warning their attacks will reach "all who help the Crusaders," a term militants use to refer to foreign forces.
Meanwhile, intense weeklong battles have been underway between the Taliban and the Islamic State in northern Jawzjan province, according to Gen. Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani, the provincial police chief.
Jawzjani said on Monday that around 70 Islamic State fighters and 54 Taliban insurgents may have been killed in the fighting in districts of Darzab and Qushtipa. The information, which came from the rival sides, could not be immediately verified by the security forces, Jawzjani also said.
5 mourners killed at Mexican funeral
MEXICO CITY -- Five people were killed and nine wounded after gunmen burst into a funeral home and attacked mourners in the north-central Mexican state of Zacatecas.
A Zacatecas state official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Monday that the attack occurred a day prior.
The funeral was being held in the city of Fresnillo for a man who was gunned down over the weekend. Some of the wounded were said to be in serious condition.
Zacatecas was once been dominated by the ruthless Zetas, but the drug cartel has since splintered.
Libya: 8 migrants suffocate in container
BENGHAZI, Libya -- Libya says at least eight people, mainly children, died of suffocation inside a shipping container crammed with migrants in the western coastal city of Zuwara.
The city's security authorities said on Facebook on Monday that the deceased -- six children, a woman and a young man -- were among around 100 migrants packed into the locked container for a long time.
They said the other migrants, who are of African, Arab and Pakistani nationalities, were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
It's the latest migrant tragedy in Libya, where human trafficking has thrived amid lawlessness since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Rival governments based in eastern and western Libya rely on militias to maintain order. However, some militias have become involved in human trafficking.
10 people die in Nicaraguan violence
MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- At least 10 people were shot dead in Nicaragua as police and paramilitary groups attacked roadblocks set up by anti-government demonstrators demanding President Daniel Ortega's exit from office, a rights group said.
Alvaro Leiva, director of the Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Association, said more than 20 were also wounded in Sunday's violence in several cities south of Managua, the capital.
In the Monimbo neighborhood of Masaya, "the attacks have not ceased and the city is closed," Leiva said. "Nobody can get in or out."
In the municipality of Nindiri, on the outskirts of Masaya, Roman Catholic Bishop Abelardo Mata of the Esteli archdiocese was attacked as he was traveling in a car to a funeral.
Roberto Petray, a friend of the priest, told the news channel 100% Noticias that Mata was forced from the vehicle by assailants who broke its windows and punctured its tires.
Images broadcast by the channel showed supporters of Ortega's Sandinista Front movement during the incident.
Managua auxiliary Bishop Silvio Baez tweeted later that Mata, who sought safety in a nearby home, was not in danger.
It was the second attack in a week on Catholic officials, who have been mediating stalled talks on finding a peaceful solution to the standoff and have criticized Ortega's government over the killings.
The government says more than 200 people have been killed since the unrest began April 19, but independent rights groups say the number is higher.
A Section on 07/17/2018