Xinhua World News Summary at 1545 GMT, April 20

Egyptian air forces killed 19 terrorists in the country's North Sinai, the army's spokesman said Thursday.

In a press statement, the spokesman said the air forces bombed a number of terrorist hotbeds in northern and central Sinai, killing 19 terrorists and destroying four pick-up vehicles. (Egypt-Sinai-Terrorists)

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MOSUL, Iraq -- Iraqi security forces on Thursday retook control of a new neighborhood in the western side of Mosul after heavy clashes against the Islamic State (IS) militants, the Iraqi military said.

The elite forces, known as Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), liberated the neighborhood of al-Thawra in northwest of Mosul's old city center and raised the Iraqi flags on some of its buildings after days of fierce clashes with the extremist IS militants, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, from the Joint Operations Command (JOC), said in a statement. (Mosul-Battle)

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FAIZABAD, Afghanistan -- Two Afghan army soldiers and one civilian were killed in a roadside bomb blast in the country's northern province of Badakhshan on Thursday, local police said.

"An army vehicle running in Pul-e-Yardar area of Baharak District touched off a roadside bomb in the morning. Two army soldiers aboard the vehicle and one civilian passerby were martyred after the explosion," Mohammad Nabi Bayan, deputy provincial police chief, told Xinhua.

(Afghanistan-Blast) Endi