NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Philippines attack: Abu Sayyaf extremists killed 15 soldiers Monday in the country’s restive south, dealing the government its largest single-day combat loss under new President Rodrigo Duterte, who ordered the militants to be crushed. Military officials said five other soldiers were wounded in the nearly two-hour gunbattle that also killed at least two militants in Sulu province’s mountainous Patikul town. Duterte ordered troops to destroy the militants in their jungle bases last week after the extremists beheaded a kidnapped villager whose family was too poor to pay a ransom. The toughtalking president has pursued peace talks with two larger Muslim rebel groups.
2 Iraq violence: An Islamic State suicide bomber struck a wedding south of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than a dozen, an Iraqi official said. Lt. Gen. Qais al-Mohammedawi said five suicide bombers took part in the attack in the village of Ein Tamr, but the other four were killed by security forces. Islamic State militants have stepped up attacks on security forces and Iraq’s Shiite majority in recent months as it has suffered a string of battlefield setbacks.
3 Top cop dismissed: Mexico’s president dismissed the chief of the federal police force Monday, less than two weeks after the country’s human rights commission released a scathing report alleging federal police “executed arbitrarily” at least 22 suspected drug cartel members during a raid on a ranch. “In light of the recent events and on instructions of the president, Police Commissioner Enrique Galindo has been removed from his position,” said Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong. The ranch raid took place in the state of Michoacan on May 22, 2015. In all, 42 civilians and one police officer were killed. Galindo and National Security Commissioner Renato Sales had said the officers used necessary force against a heavily armed band of criminals. 4 Kenya plot: Two people have been arrested and accused of being part of an Islamic State group plot to launch an anthrax attack, Kenyan police said Monday. Officers on Sunday arrested Mohamed Shukri Yerrow and Abdulrazak Abdinuur following a tip from members of the public, the Anti-Terror Police Unit said. Kenya is struggling to battle the Islamic State group’s recruitment of some of the country’s youths. At least 20 young Kenyans have travelled to Libya to join the extremist group, according to police. 5 Australia drug bust: Three Canadian cruise ship passengers were charged with drug smuggling Monday after Sydney police said they found 209 pounds of cocaine in their cabin luggage. The haul valued at $23 million was the largest seizure in Australia of narcotics carried by passengers of a cruise ship or airliner, Border Force commander Tim Fitzgerald said. Andre Tamine, 63, Isabelle Lagace, 28, and Melina Roberce, 22, were arrested Sunday after the MS Sea Princess, operated by Princess Cruises, berthed in Sydney.
6 Lightning storm: More than 300 wild reindeer were killed by lightning in central Norway. The Environment Agency released images showing reindeer carcasses scattered across a small area on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau. The agency said 323 animals were killed in the lightning storm Friday. Agency spokesman Kjartan Knutsen said reindeer tend to stay very close to each other in bad weather, which could explain how so many were killed at once.