Paris police shot on Champs-Elysees; IS group claims attack

A gunman opened fire on police on Paris' iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard Thursday night, killing one officer and wounding three people before police shot and killed him. The Islamic State group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, which hit just three days before a tense presidential election.

Security already has been a dominant theme in the campaign, and the violence on the sparkling avenue threatened to weigh on voters' decisions. Candidates canceled or rescheduled final campaign events ahead of Sunday's first round vote.

US drops 'mother of all bombs' on Islamic State tunnel

U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Thursday struck an Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan with "the mother of all bombs," the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military, Pentagon officials said.

The bomb, known officially as a GBU-43B, or massive ordnance air blast weapon, unleashes 11 tons of explosives. When it was developed in the early 2000s, the Pentagon did a formal review of legal justification for its combat use.

The Pentagon said it had no early estimate of deaths or damage caused by its attack, which President Donald Trump called a "very, very successful mission."

IS gunmen in white lab coats kill 30 in Kabul hospital

Gunmen wearing white lab coats stormed a military hospital in Afghanistan's capital on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The attack on the 400-bed military facility, located near two civilian hospitals in Kabul's heavily-guarded diplomatic quarter, set off clashes with security forces that lasted several hours.

The brazen assault reflected the capability of militant groups in Afghanistan to stage large-scale and complex attacks in the heart of Kabul, underscoring the challenges the government continues to face to improve security for ordinary Afghans.

Islamic State suicide bombing at Pakistan shrine kills 75

An Islamic State suicide bomber struck inside a famed shrine in southern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 75 people in the deadliest attack in the country in more than two years.

The bomber entered the main hall of the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan and detonated his payload amid dozens of worshippers, according to three security officials, who said at least 20 women and nine children were among the dead.

Truck attack kills 4 Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem

A Palestinian truck driver rammed his vehicle into a crowd of Israeli soldiers at a popular Jerusalem tourist spot Sunday, killing four people and wounding 17 others in the deadliest single attack of more than a year of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The attack came at a time of heightened tensions in Jerusalem, where Palestinians have warned of dire consequences if incoming President Donald Trump follows through on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy to the city. The atmosphere among Israelis is also charged following last week's manslaughter conviction of an Israeli soldier who fatally shot a wounded Palestinian attacker.

IS makes unusual claim of responsibility for Turkey attack

The Islamic State group on Monday made an unusual claim of responsibility for a major terrorist attack in Turkey, saying a "soldier of the caliphate" carried out the mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people as they welcomed the new year.

The group said Christian revelers were targeted in response to Turkish military operations against IS in northern Syria, but most of the dead were foreign tourists from Muslim countries.

Only on AP: Islamic State razing of Iraq monastery condemned

The Obama Administration and the Vatican condemned the Islamic State group Wednesday for razing Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, a 1400-year-old structure that survived assaults by nature and man for centuries before it was deliberately destroyed by extremists.

At the United Nations, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said reducing St. Elijah's monastery in Mosul to a field of rubble was malicious and misguided. The Associated Press confirmed the news with exclusive satellite images published early Wednesday.

Police arrest 3 men on suspicion of links to Jakarta attack

Indonesians were shaken but refusing to be cowed a day after a deadly attack in a busy district of central Jakarta that has been claimed by the Islamic State group.

In a new development, police on Friday told an Indonesian TV channel they arrested three men on suspicion of links to the attack that killed seven people including five attackers.

IS branch attacks Pakistani mission in Afghanistan, kills 7

A branch of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack Wednesday on Pakistan's Consulate in eastern Afghanistan that killed at least seven members of the Afghan security forces.

The attack in Jalalabad, the capital of the volatile Nangarhar province that borders Pakistan, started when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest outside the diplomatic mission, said Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the province's governor.

Dozens killed in attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France

A young man pulled a Kalashnikov from a beach umbrella and sprayed gunfire at European sunbathers at a Tunisian resort, killing at least 39 people — one of three deadly attacks Friday from Europe to North Africa to the Middle East that followed a call to violence by Islamic State extremists.