Military: US, Afghan troops fired on in Nangarhar province NEWS BRIEFING Staff and news services Mother, 6 kids die in house fire, Mississippi authorities say Street fight in Kazakhstan town kills 8, injures 40, official says Medical relief flights continue from Sanaa, UN agency says Air Force suicides at highest level in 3 decades Frustrated Irish voters go to polls to pick their next PM

KABUL, Afghanistan - American and Afghan military personnel were fired on while conducting an operation in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, the U.S. military said Saturday, and one official said there were U.S. casualties.

Several U.S. personnel were either injured or killed, but the exact number and other details were not provided, said the U.S. official, who agreed to discuss the incident only on condition of anonymity.

A U.S. military spokesman, Col. Sonny Leggett, said in a statement that Afghan and U.S. personnel were "engaged by direct firing."

"We are assessing the situation," Leggett said, without providing any information on possible casualties or other details.

The Taliban and the Islamic State group affiliate both operate in eastern Nangarhar province. The incident comes as Washington seeks to find an end to Afghanistan's 18-year war, America's longest.

Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been meeting with Taliban representatives in Qatar in recent weeks. He's seeking an agreement to reduce hostilities to get a peace deal signed that would start negotiations among Afghans on both sides of the conflict.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Donald Trump referenced the peace talks, saying U.S. soldiers were not meant to serve as "law enforcement agencies" for other nations.

"In Afghanistan, the determination and valor of our war fighters has allowed us to make tremendous progress, and peace talks are now underway," he said.

Mother, 6 kids die in house fire, Mississippi authorities say

CLINTON, Miss. - A mother and her six children died when fire destroyed their home early Saturday in central Mississippi, authorities said.

The father was the lone survivor of the 12:30 a.m. blaze in Clinton, a city of about 26,500 people just outside the capital city of Jackson. He tried to save family members and suffered smoke inhalation, burns, cuts and bruises, city spokesman Mark Jones said.

"He wanted to stay at the scene," Jones said. But he was taken to a local hospital.

The children ranged in age from 1 to about 15, Jones said. The mother was 33.

The scene at the single-story wood frame house was one of devastation.

Nearby, under a tree, someone had left a bouquet of carnations.

The state Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the cause of the fire.

Street fight in Kazakhstan town kills 8, injures 40, official says

MOSCOW - Eight people were killed and 40 injured in an outburst of violence in a town in Kazakhstan where about 30 homes were also set on fire, the country's interior minister said Saturday.

Erlan Turgumbayev told at a news conference that about 300 people fought on the streets of Masanchi, including firing shots and and throwing rocks.

He did not say what started the conflict, but area residents said on social media that it was an ethnic dispute.

Police and the national guard had brought the situation under control, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Saturday.

Masanchi, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, has a large population of Dungan, who are Muslims of Chinese ancestry.

Turgumbayev said 47 people have been arrested.

Medical relief flights continue from Sanaa, UN agency says

CAIRO - Flights transporting Yemeni medical patients from rebel-held areas continued Saturday when a second plane carrying 24 patients took off from Sanaa bound for Jordan's capital, the U.N. health agency said.

The U.N. flights, which began Feb. 3, are seen as a humanitarian breakthrough in the more than 5-year-old conflict in the Arab world's poorest country. The conflict began with the 2014 takeover of the capital Sanaa by the rebel Houthis, who control much of the country's north.

A Saudi-led military coalition allied with Yemen's internationally recognized government has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthis since 2015. The U.S.-backed coalition closed the airspace and prevented any flights from leaving Sanaa, starting in August 2016.

Air Force suicides at highest level in 3 decades

WASHINGTON - Suicides in the active-duty Air Force surged last year to the highest total in at least three decades, even as the other military services saw their numbers stabilize or decline, according to officials and unpublished preliminary data.

The reasons for the Air Force increase are not fully understood, coming after years of effort by all of the military services to counter a problem that seems to defy solution and that parallels increases in suicide in the U.S. civilian population.

According to preliminary figures, the Air Force had 84 suicides among active-duty members last year, up from 60 the year before. The jump followed five years of relative stability, with the service's yearly totals fluctuating between 60 and 64. Official figures won't be published until later this year and could vary slightly from preliminary data.

Frustrated Irish voters go to polls to pick their next PM

DUBLIN - Irish voters are choosing their next prime minister in an election where frustration with economic austerity and a housing crisis have fueled the rise of Sinn Fein - still shunned by the political establishment because of its links to the IRA.

Opinion polls showed Sinn Fein in a virtual tie with the parties that have dominated Irish politics since independence - Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's Fine Gael and the opposition Fianna Fail.

Support for Sinn Fein, which is committed to reunification of Ireland, threatens the country's political equilibrium even though the party is unlikely to form the next government because Fine Gael and Fianna Fail refuse to work with it. The rise has prompted the other parties to remind voters of Sinn Fein's past ties to violence.

In India: New Delhi residents voted Saturday in a crucial state election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party sought to regain power after a 22-year gap and major victories in a national vote.

About 57% of the 14.6 million registered voters lined up in queues across New Delhi to cast ballots, India's election commission said.

Results will be declared Tuesday.

The election pits Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party against the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party, or "common man's" party. The Congress, a distant third party, is expected to fare poorly.

Surveys predicted a victory for the Aam Admi Party in the 70-member state assembly.

Caption: A scene from the opening show Saturday of the Venice Carnival in Italy. The carnival, which is known for its elaborate masks, attracts tourists worldwide to the historical city. Events lead up to Mardi Gras, which is Feb. 25, the day before Ash Wednesday.

Antonio Calanni/AP