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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Jan. 16

Xinhua, January 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

A total of 126 hostages were freed and four Al-Qaida-linked attackers were killed Saturday following security operation in the capital city of Burkina Faso, a senior official has said.

Some 20 people were killed in a hotel seizure earlier in the day, and over 40 were receiving treatment in major hospitals in Ouagadougou. (Burkina Faso-Attack)

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TEHRAN -- Iran has freed four Iranian-U.S. citizens on Saturday under a prisoner swap, according to Iran's state news agency ISNA.

Iran said the four released prisoners included Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, and three other Iranian Americans. (Iran-Prisoner-Release)

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JAKARTA -- The Indonesian police have arrested 12 people suspcted of links to Thursday's suicide bombings at the heart of the capital, and identified five bombers on Saturday, senior police officers said here.

The police has found evidence suggesting that the attacks were financed by the Islamic State (IS) group, National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti disclosed. (Indonesia-Terror Attack-Arrest)

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DAMASCUS -- The Islamic State (IS) militant group killed as many as 35 Syrian government forces in several attacks in the country's eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Saturday, a monitor group reported.

The IS has also captured several districts inside that oil-rich province near the Turkish borders, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Syria-IS-Killing) Endi