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Three Turkish soldiers were "accidentally" killed and 11 wounded on Thursday when a Russian air strike targeting jihadists in Syria hit a building where the troops were deployed, the Turkish army said. With Moscow and Ankara cooperating ever more closely on Syria, President Vladimir Putin quickly reached out to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express condolences and promise better future coordination. The Russian plane had been seeking to hit targets of Islamic State (IS) jihadists but "by accident three of our heroic soldiers were martyred when a building was bombed where our units were," the Turkish army said in a statement. It said that of the 11 injured, one was badly wounded. Putin contacted Erdogan to express his "sadness and condolences," it added. "Russian officials have said that the incident was an accident," the army said, adding an investigation is being carried out by both sides. In Moscow, the Kremlin said Putin...

An Afghan man fills a container from rainwater during the snowfall on the outskirts of Mazar-i- Sharif, Afghanistan, February 4, 2017. (Photo by AFP) At least 50 people have been killed after their homes were buried under a massive avalanche in a remote village in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. The tragic incident occurred in Hafsi village in Barg-e-Matal district of Nuristan province, which is bordered on the east by Pakistan. According to Mohammad Omar Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), “50 bodies” have so far been recovered. Mohammadi said a separate huge avalanche had almost entirely covered another village in the area and rescue teams were trying to reach it despite deep snow and freezing weather. Meanwhile, the provincial governor, Hafiz Abdul Qayoum, confirmed that at least 16 other people had been injured in the incident, warning that the death toll could rise as a rescue operation was on Sunday ev...