BEIRUT / AP A UN humanitarian agency says some 66,000 people have been displaced in five months of fighting in Syria’s crowded northern battlefield. Turkish, Syrian government, Syrian opposition, and autonomous Kurdish-led forces have all been jostling for territory formerly held by the IS group near the Turkish-Syrian frontier, as preparations are being made to attack the extremists’ de …

  SRINAGAR / AP Anti-India protests erupted in Indian-controlled Kashmir following a fierce gunbattle in which two rebels and a counterinsurgency policeman were killed, police said Sunday. Government forces, acting on a tip, encircled a civilian home in the southern Tral area overnight, said police chief S.P. Vaid. He said fighting erupted after militants hurled grenades and fired automatic rifles …

  BAGHDAD / AP Iraqi troops encountered the “heaviest” clashes yet with IS group fighters Sunday in western Mosul since the start of the new push more than two weeks ago, according to a senior commander. Maj. Gen. Haider al-Maturi of the Federal Police Commandos Division told The Associated Press that IS militants dispatched at least six suicide car bombs, …