Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, Feb. 17

A military chopper crashed late Monday in a eastern Saudi city during a training, killing four crew members, local media quoted Saudi defense ministry as saying.

The ministry said an investigation is underway to looking into the crash, said Saudi Press Agency. (Saudi Arabia-Crash)

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ADEN, Yemen -- Unknown gunmen assassinated a police chief in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout Tuesday afternoon, a security source told Xinhua.

Colonel Murad al-Amoody, head of the Criminal Police Investigations and the Security Directorate of the Muklla city, Hadramout's provincial capital, was shot dead inside his car by unknown gunmen, the local security source said on condition of anonymity. (Yemen-Assassination)

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RAMADI, Iraq -- The Islamic State (IS) militants Tuesday executed over 40 people, many were security members, in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

The battlefield town is located near the major air base of Ain al-Asad which houses hundreds of U.S. troops. (Iraq-IS-Execution)

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RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia reported on Tuesday 1 death and 4 new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) corona virus cases, including 1 critical, Health Ministry reported.

The country with majority corona virus cases in the world has been witnessing a drastic increase in the spreading of the disease in the last and current week. (Saudi Arabia-MERS) Endit