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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, April 8

Xinhua, April 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iraqi security forces on Wednesday launched an offensive in Iraq's western province of Anbar and managed to free two areas held by the Islamic State (IS) militants, a provincial security source said. (Iraq-IS)

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KIRKUK, Iraq -- The Islamic State (IS) militant group released about 216 Yazidis it kidnapped months ago in Iraq, a Kurdish security source said on Wednesday.

The Kurdish security forces, Peshmerga, received all those released Yazidis from the IS militants in the town of al-Rashad, some 40 km southwest of the city of Kirkuk, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.(Iraq-IS-Yazidi-Release)

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BANGKOK -- A tour boat carrying about 100 tourists exploded and burst into flames near Thailand's Phuket Island on Wednesday afternoon, with casualties still uncertain, China's consular office in Phuket said.

There were about 16 Chinese tourists on board when the accident happened at about 4 p.m. local time, the office said, adding that the boat was then heading from Krabi province to Phuket.(Thailand-Boat)

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JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- One NATO-led service member and an Afghan soldier were killed in a gunfire exchange in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Wednesday.

"An incident in Jalalabad today resulted in the death of one Resolute Support service member," the NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) said in a statement. (Afghanistan-NATO Soldier-Death)

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NAIROBI -- The Kenyan government on Wednesday published a list of 86 organizations and individuals as well froze accounts of 13 financial institutions suspected of financing terrorism in the country.

In a gazette notice, the government also ordered all licensed banks and microfinance institutions to deny the organizations and individuals financial services and to file transaction reports with the central bank within 48 hours. (Kenya-Financial Institutions)

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RIYADH -- Two Saudi policemen were shot dead by anonymous gunmen here in early hours of Wednesday, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The shooting targeted the police personnel while they were patrolling in their vehicle at 1:30 in the morning in the east side of Riyadh. The first policeman died on the scene, while the second one passed away at the hospital. (Saudi-Gunmen-Shooting) Endi