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Our top stories.

Islamic State, a Sunni jihadist terrorist group that once controlled swaths of Iraq and Syria

claimed responsibility for an attack in Iran on Wednesday

that killed at least 84 people.

IS has long targeted Iran, a predominantly Shia state.

The two explosions took place in the southern city of Kerman

during a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Kam Salimani, an Iranian general.

An American air strike in Baghdad killed the commander of an Iran-backed militia based in Iraq.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah, another militia supported by Iran,

said that four of its members had been killed in an Israeli air strike near the border with Israel.

Tensions in the region have been escalating further

after the killing of a senior Hamas official by drone in Beirut on Tuesday.

Myanmar's junta announced it would free over 9,000 prisoners to mark the country's Independence Day,

though there was no indication that the figure would include any of the country's

17,000 political prisoners.

The country's oppressive government has suffered a series of astonishing military defeats since

...