Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Feb. 14

The militant group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack on the Daallo Airlines last week, terming it as a campaign to hit Western targets and Turkish NATO forces present in Somalia.

In a statement issued Saturday, the group said it carried out the operation "as a retribution for the crimes committed by the coalition of Western crusaders and their intelligence agencies against Muslims of Somalia." The Daallo Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing barely 35 minutes after taking off last week from Mogadishu's Aden Adde Airport. (militant-forced landing)

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday confirmed that Justice Antonin Scalia had died.

Reports say Scalia died in his sleep earlier Saturday during his trip to in the state of Texas. The cause of death was not available at the moment. The first Italian-American to sit on the country's high court, Scalia, 79, was the leading conservative voice on the high court and his death was expected to set off a prolonged fight over his replacement. (Chief justice-U.S.)

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JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military said it killed a young Palestinian woman after she pulled out a knife near a flashpoint holy site in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday.

No Israeli were injured in the incident, which occurred near a site known to Israelis as the Tomb of Patriarchs and to Palestinians as the Ibrahim Mosque.(Israeli-Palestinian)

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CAIRO-- At least two military men were killed and a third injured while defusing an improvised explosive device in Sheikh Zuweid city of Egypt's restive North Sinai province on Saturday, an Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement.(Egypt-Sinai-Bomb)

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DAMASCUS -- The Turkish artillery shelled positions of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) said.

The PYD confirmed in a statement that Turkey is firing artillery toward Kurds positions in Aleppo, including the Manegh airbase which the YPG has recently captured from Turkey-backed rebel groups, and the city of Afreen.(Turkey-Kurdish-Syria)

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ISLAMABAD -- At least 10 militants were killed and 12 others arrested in an operation carried out by security forces in Pakistan's southwest Sibi district on Saturday, local media reported.

Dunya TV said that the forces launched the operation after receiving an intelligence tip-off of presence of suspected militants in Sangan area of Sibi, which located in the country's southwest Balochistan province. Three among the killed militants were members of outlawed outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan who were plotting terrorist activities in the province.(Pakistan-militants-kill) Endi