al-Qaida

A statement carried by the UAE's official WAM news agency identified the British hostage as Robert Douglas Semple, after initially referring to him as Douglas Robert Semple. It said Semple, 64, had been working as a petroleum engineer in the Yemeni province of Hadramawt when he was kidnapped in February 2014. The statement did not say where Semple had been held in Yemen or provide any details on the rescue.

The move by the Nusra Front came two weeks after Turkey began carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Syria. 

Turkey also agreed to allow U.S. warplanes to use the strategic Incirlik Air Base for operations against IS in Syria. The two countries have agreed on the outlines of a plan to create an IS-free zone along the border.

The Hampshire Police force said formal post-mortems were still being conducted, but the victims were believed to be "the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the bin Laden family." It said all three were Saudi nationals who were visiting Britain on vacation. 

The plane's Jordanian pilot also died.

The witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said al-Qaida made the captured Houthi fighters, who were in their early 20s, kneel and kiss their hands before shooting them Wednesday afternoon in Dar Saad.

A witness said one of the rebels begged to be spared, saying he was the sole supporter of his family. But the witness said an al-Qaida fighter responded "Shut up, you dog," before he and the others shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and opened fire.

The Taliban Shura, or Supreme Council, chose Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who had served as Mullah Omar's deputy for the past three years, as its new leader, two Taliban figures told the Associated Press, saying the seven-member council had met in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

The airstrike killed Abu Khalil Al-Sudani on July 11, Carter said in a brief statement given to reporters traveling with him in Iraq.

Carter called Al-Sudani a senior shura member and head of Al-Qaida suicide and explosive operations, and said he is directly linked to plots to attack the United States.

He said Al-Sudani also directed operations against coalition, Afghan and Pakistani forces, and maintained a close association with Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al-Qaida.

The officials say that Muhsin al-Fadhli is dead. He was a leader of the Khorasan Group, a cadre of al-Qaida operatives who were sent from Pakistan to Syria to plot attacks on the West. Officials say the Khorasan Group is embedded in the al-Nusra front, Syria's al-Qaida affiliate.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the operation.

The Friday forest ambush blamed on Islamic extremists in the rugged Ain Defla province southwest of the capital of Algiers comes after a string of successes by the army against the country's long-running insurgency.

Sunday's statement said the army conducted search operations after the attack, which also wounded two soldiers. It said the ambush only reinforced the army's determination to stop the militants.

Hamid Albandag, the city's representative to the internationally-recognized government, says the bombings, which went off Friday evening, set off clashes between militants belonging to the Islamic State's local affiliate and al-Qaida-linked militias that continued into Saturday afternoon.

The Libyan army has surrounded the city from all directions for months and appears to be restraining from fighting the al-Qaida-linked militias.