IS bomb kills five in attack on Kurdish soldiers

Garmian: An Islamic State roadside bomb attack in northern Iraq killed five Kurdish forces and injured four others.

The Peshmerga fighters were killed in the Garmian district in Iraq’s Kurdish-run north late on Saturday. IS militants then attacked a Peshmerga post, wounding four troops, Kurdish state news agency Rudaw reported.

Attacks targeting Iraqi security forces, including Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, are common and have been on the increase since IS was defeated on the battlefield in 2017.

Militants remain active through sleeper cells in many areas, especially across a band of territory in the north under dispute between federal Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government.

Militants from IS, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, still carry out operations, often targeting security forces, power stations and other infrastructure.

Tapei: Taiwan said 27 Chinese aircraft entered its air defence buffer zone yesterday, the latest in a long series of incursions as part of Beijing’s pressure on the self-ruled island.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said Taiwan scrambled combat aircraft to “warn” the Chinese planes to leave. It also deployed missile systems to monitor them.

The incursion included 18 fighter jets and five H-6 bombers, as well as a Y-20 aerial refuelling aircraft, according to defence ministry officials.

The Chinese aircraft flew into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone near the southern part of the island and out into the Pacific Ocean before returning to China, according to Taiwan authorities.

Over the past year, the frequency of Chinese incursions has increased, with about 150 aircraft crossing into Taiwan’s buffer zone over a period of four days.

China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949.

Paris: Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former prime minister and the son of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, has died in France at the age of 77.

The Information Minister, Khieu Kanharith, announced the death on his Facebook page.

Mr Kanharith, who said he learned of the death from Um Daravuth, a minor member of Cambodia’s royal family, did not give the cause of death.

Prince Ranariddh had been in ill-health since a car accident in Cambodia in 2018. An aide said he went to Paris in late 2019 for medical treatment for a broken pelvis.

The prince’s career was always in the shade of his charismatic father, and his ruthless political rival, Hun Sen. Mr Sen remains prime minister.

Barranca: A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 struck northern Peru yesterday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake took place at 5.52am local time (10.52 GMT).

While extremely strong, it was also relatively deep, measured at 70 miles (112km), which usually reduces damage and casualties.

The epicentre was 26 miles (42km) north-northwest of the coastal city of Barranca.