ISIS

The pre-dawn attack on a house in the village of Atme, just south of the Turkish border, led to up to 13 casualties, among them women and children. It also resulted in the destruction of a US helicopter, which had been used to carry special forces troops from Erbil in Iraq.

“Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Joe Biden said in a television address from the White House. “Our forces carried out the operation with their signature preparation and precision.”

It is understood she was accompanied by police on the flight that touched down in New Zealand yesterday morning.

Exclusive pictures show the plane that brought Aden back to New Zealand landing this morning.

In a statement, police told 1 NEWS it was “one of a number of government agencies that have been working for some time on a plan for the family’s return”.

“As this is an operational matter, police will not comment on the timings or arrangements for their return.”

It was confirmed last month that Aden would be returning to New Zealand from Turkey.

An official declaration of victory from the government is expected soon.

Iraqi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have tried to retake the city since 17 October last year.

IS seized Mosul in June 2014 before sweeping across much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland and proclaiming a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

But they have been losing ground over the past nine months, as government forces advance on their former Iraqi stronghold.

"That (the) US arms a terrorist group is what causes instability," Khameini wrote on Twitter Monday. "Who created ISIS? The US!"

He added that while US President Donald Trump accuses Iran of supporting terrorists, "terrorism in this region has American roots."

"I had to declare martial law in the Mindanao group of islands," Duterte said at a news conference Wednesday. "It is our constitutional duty to enforce the law and provide security."

Duterte's order -- which covers both the city of Marawi and the wider island of Mindanao, of which Marawi is a part -- came after deadly clashes broke out between Filipino government troops and Islamist militants Tuesday.

If the terror threat spreads, Duterte said he's not afraid to go further.

It said he died 10 days ago in an operation led by Afghan special forces in the eastern Nangarhar province.

Hasib is believed to have been behind March's attack on a military hospital in Kabul, killing more than 30 people.

Last month, the Pentagon said Hasib had probably been killed in a raid by US and Afghan special forces.

The numbers, contained in the monthly civilian casualty report of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, extend through March.

Inherent Resolve is the US-led assault against the Islamic State that kicked off in August 2014.

"We regret the unintentional loss of civilian lives resulting from Coalition efforts to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria and express our deepest sympathies to the families and others affected by these strikes," the task force said in a statement.

On Friday, American forces dropped one of the largest conventional bombs ever used in combat on what they described as a tunnel complex used by Islamic State militants in Nangarhar's Achin district.

In Achin village, about 5 kilometres from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, witnesses said the ground shook, but homes and shops appeared unaffected.

ISIS spokesman Abu Hasan al-Muhajir narrates the roughly 37-minute message, which was released Tuesday.

But fast forward twenty years, and Michael had changed his name to Younnes, traded his Christian faith for Islam, and the sleepy Belgian suburb he’d grown up in for the front lines of ISIS’ war in Syria.

Now, back in Belgium, he still expresses open support for the group’s warped ideology and says he wishes he could return to the group’s self-proclaimed Islamic State.

“I regret coming back,” he told me. “I want to live under the caliphate.”