Roadside bomb kills 2 Afghan officers
KABUL, Afghanistan -- At least two Afghan army officers including a battalion commander were killed Friday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the northern Balkh province, the military said.
Hanif Rezaie, a spokesman for the army in the country's north, said two officers were killed and two other soldiers were wounded in the explosion, which took place between Balkh and Char Bolak districts.
The attack was the latest amid relentless violence in Afghanistan even as Taliban and Afghan government negotiators hold talks trying to hammer out a peace deal.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. Rezaie blamed the Taliban, who are active in both districts and regularly launch attacks against Afghan security forces.
Elsewhere, the Taliban announced the release of 30 Afghan security personnel Thursday in the southern Kandahar province's Panjwai district -- the first batch of prisoners released by the Taliban since the start of direct peace talks in September.
U.S. to open Western Sahara consulate
WASHINGTON -- The State Department said Thursday the United States will open a consulate in Western Sahara following President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed region.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the process of opening the facility has begun. Until then, Pompeo said the U.S. Embassy in Rabat would operate a virtual consulate to serve Western Sahara.
Trump announced Dec. 10 that the U.S. would recognize Morocco's claim to Western Sahara as part of a deal for the North African country to normalize relations with Israel. The administration has put a priority on securing such deals between Arab states and Israel and has thus far concluded four: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Recognizing Western Sahara was a reversal of decades of U.S. policy and the move has been heavily criticized, not least by those in Western Sahara who have fought for independence and want a referendum on the territory's future. The former Spanish colony, with a population estimated at 350,000 to 500,000, is believed to have considerable offshore oil deposits and mineral resources.
The U.S. decision has also drawn criticism from the U.N. as well as American allies in Africa and beyond.
African observers have said it could destabilize the region, already struggling against Islamist insurgencies and migrant trafficking. Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who served as U.N. envoy to the Western Sahara, has called it "an astounding retreat from the principles of international law and diplomacy."
Yemen rebel mine hits ship in Red Sea
CAIRO -- A sea mine planted by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea on Friday, Saudi Arabia's state-owned television channel reported.
Al-Ekhbariya quoted the Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen since 2015. The outlet provided no details, including whether there was an explosion or to what country the vessel belonged.
The report comes less than two weeks after an oil tanker sustained an explosion off Saudi Arabia's port city of Jiddah, resulting in the shutting down of the most important shipping point for the kingdom. The Saudis blamed the blast on a bomb-laden boat like the remote-controlled ones used by Yemen's Houthi rebels
The attack on the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine, which had been contracted by the trading arm of the kingdom's Saudi Arabian Oil Co., marked the fourth assault targeting Saudi energy infrastructure in a month.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a U.S.-backed military coalition against the Houthis, who overran most of Yemen's northern parts the previous year. That forced the U.N.-recognized government to flee south. The war in the Arab world's poorest country has killed more than 112,000 people, including thousands of civilians, and resulted in the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
2 rockets fired from Gaza, Israel says
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Israeli military said Friday that Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets toward southern Israel.
The rockets were aimed at the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, but air defenses intercepted them, the military said. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
Volleys of missiles from the Iron Dome defense system illuminated the sky in northern Gaza Strip as they exploded trying to hit the incoming rockets.
No Palestinian group in the Hamas-ruled Gaza claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which broke months of cross-border calm.
Rocket attacks and Israeli retaliatory artillery and aerial strikes are frequent, but they have largely been subdued in recent months.
The militant Hamas group, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and fought three wars with Israel and countless rounds of smaller skirmishes, maintains an unofficial cease-fire with Israel.