In brief: IS ambushes kill about 50 troops

BAGHDAD – Islamic State militants killed up to 50 soldiers in two separate ambushes in Iraq’s turbulent Anbar province west of the capital, Baghdad, a top provincial official said Saturday.

Sabah al-Karhout, president of the Anbar Provincial Council, told the Associated Press the ambushes took place Friday west of the provincial capital, Ramadi, but said he had no more details. There was no immediate word from federal authorities or the Islamic State group.

The Islamic State group controls much of the vast Anbar province, including Ramadi and the city of Fallujah.

Government forces and Shiite militiamen have been trying to dislodge Islamic State fighters from the province but have been making slow progress.

In scattered violence Saturday in Baghdad, three separate bombings killed at least eight people and wounded 23, said security and hospital officials who spoke condition of anonymity.

Belarus frees all political prisoners

MINSK, Belarus – The authoritarian president of Belarus on Saturday pardoned all six political prisoners in the former Soviet republic, including a former opposition presidential candidate.

Freeing political prisoners was a condition set by the European Union and United States for improved relations with Belarus, which has been ruled by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994.

The EU and U.S. have maintained tough sanctions on Belarus since the violent suppression of peaceful protests during the 2010 presidential election.

Seven of the 10 candidates in that race were arrested. One of them, Nikolai Statkevich, was still in prison, serving a six-year sentence for what the court said was plotting riots.

Lukashenko’s office said the president, “proceeding from the principle of humanism,” decided Saturday to pardon and release Statkevich and five others who are considered to be political prisoners.