In brief: Kurdish fighters make gains on IS
BEIRUT – Kurdish fighters advanced on the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, pushing into the contested, refugee-packed Sinjar mountains and gaining ground in the embattled Syrian border town of Kobani after heavy clashes, Kurdish officials and an activist group said.
In Syria, Kurdish Democratic Union Party spokesman Nawaf Khalil said Kurdish fighters advanced in six neighborhoods and have besieged the IS-held cultural center east of Kobani. He added that Kurdish fighters captured the Yarmouk school, southeast of Kobani, where eight bodies of IS fighters were found.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the main Syrian Kurdish force known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, killed 10 IS fighters.
The IS group began its Kobani offensive in mid-September, capturing parts of the town as well as dozens of nearby villages. Hundreds of fighters on both sides have been killed since. Kurdish forces have gradually pushed the extremist group back in recent weeks with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.
Officials say drones killed five militants
ISLAMABAD – A U.S. drone fired two missiles at a militant hideout in nortehwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least five Taliban fighters, two security officials said.
In a separate operation, the military said Pakistani security forces killed five “terrorists” on the outskirts of Peshawar, where the Pakistani Taliban carried out a school massacre earlier this week, killing 148 people, mainly children.
The attack shocked the nation and prompted a massive military response in the tribal regions along the Afghan border, longtime strongholds of both foreign and local militants.
The drone strike took place in the town of Datta Khel in North Waziristan, where Pakistani troops have been carrying out a major operation against local and foreign militants since June, the officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the men killed in the drone strike fought under local Pakistani Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. It was not immediately clear if the strike was connected to the school massacre.
Woman charged in deaths of children
SYDNEY – An Australian woman was charged with murder today in the deaths of seven of her children and her niece, whose bodies were found Friday inside her home, police said.
Mersane Warria, 37, was charged with eight counts of murder in a bedside hearing at a hospital in the northern city of Cairns where she is recovering from stab wounds, Queensland state police said.
Police haven’t said how the children died, but Queensland Police Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said they’re examining several knives in the home that may have been used to kill them. Suffocation was also a possible cause of death, he said.
A church service was held this morning to honor the children and a candlelight vigil was scheduled for the evening.
‘Elf on the Shelf’ suspected of DUI
RIVERDALE, N.J. – Police say an elf on the sauce is facing drunken driving charges in New Jersey.
Riverdale police told NJ.com that 23-year-old Brian Chellis was found passed out in a car early Friday morning wearing an Elf on the Shelf costume.
Lt. James Macintosh said the Cedar Grove man was asleep behind the wheel of a van with its engine running, lights on and music blaring. Chellis was in a red shirt, red pants and white ruffled collar.
Chellis seemed confused about where he was and had an open can of beer in the car, Macintosh said. He was issued a summons and released to a family member.