Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah says he will boycott a planned meeting of nearly 2,500 Afghan politicians and tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders aimed at discussing negotiations with the Taliban.

The deputy leader of the Islamic State group in Somalia has been killed in an airstrike, a Somali regional minister told VOA.

France reported yesterday that its forces completed a nearly three-week long security operation in central Mali’s Gourma region alongside the Malian military. The campaign targeted constituent groups of al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and reportedly left at least 30 jihadists dead.