Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, Feb. 28

MANILA -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday led the inauguration of a shelter project in Marawi City that was ravaged by five-month fierce fighting between government security forces and terrorists last year.

Last May, a group of pro-Islamist State militants attacked and took control of parts of the southern Philippine city of Marawi. The siege, which raged for around five months, destroyed the city and claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people. (Philippines-Marawi)

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LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan -- Air raids against illicit drug centers in the poppy growing southern Helmand province have left 13 Taliban fighters dead, said a statement of Miwand Army Corps released here on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the airstrikes conducted in the troubled Khanshin district on Tuesday killed 13 Taliban insurgents and destroyed their drug stores. (Afghanistan-Militants)

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SINGAPORE -- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) jointly launched a research institute on Wednesday by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.

It is Alibaba's first joint research institute outside China, with a pool of 50 researchers from both organizations. (Singapore-China-AI)

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ISLAMABAD -- At least four security personnel were killed and several others injured in a blast that hit Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Wednesday evening, local media reported.

According to the reports, the blast hit a security forces camp in Khooni Talaab area in Quetta. Some reports said it was a suicide attack, but no official has confirmed it yet. (Pakistan-Attack) Enditem