ISTANBUL / AP The Turkish military says its warplanes have pounded Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, killing 18 militants. The airstrikes late Monday targeted Qandil, the mountainous stronghold of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK. Ankara and its Western allies designate the PKK as a terrorist organization. The organization has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that …

  Baghdad / AFP The IS group broke through Kurdish defences in northern Iraq on Tuesday and killed an American service member of the US-led coalition fighting the extremists, officials said. The service member, whom the Pentagon confirmed was American, was at least the third killed by enemy fire in Iraq since IS overran swathes of the country in 2014. …

  Stuttgart / AFP Defence Secretary Ash Carter warned on Tuesday that NATO would defend its allies against Russian “aggression” as he presided over the passing of the alliance’s European command to a new general. Carter said NATO would “keep the door open for Russia” for cooperation on global security challenges if Moscow abandoned its “sabre-rattling”. “But it’s up to …