Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Sara Hussein Agence France Presse MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces battled jihadists in west Mosul on Sunday, aiming to build a floating bridge across the Tigris to establish an important supply route linked to the recaptured east bank. A week into a major push on the western side of the city, where an estimated 2,000 holdout jihadists and 750,000 civilians are trapped, government forces made steady progress. But after relatively easy gains on […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A Berlin court on Wednesday began hearing a case against a former Iraqi soldier charged with war crimes after he allegedly posed for photographs with the severed heads of two Islamic State jihadists. The 28-year-old, identified by the court as Rami K., was photographed in March 2015 holding the severed heads by their hair. The accused was then a soldier in the Iraqi army, and the picture, taken near the […]
by Wilson Fache with Thomas Watkins in Baghdad Agence France Presse AQRAB CHECKPOINT, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces backed by jets and helicopters battled their way towards southern Mosul on Monday and prepared to take on the Islamic State group’s stronghold in the city’s west bank. The fresh push in the four-month-old operation to retake Mosul has sparked fears for 750,000 trapped civilians who risk being killed if they try to flee and starvation if […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) — Residents in Baghdad’s Hayy al-Shurta neighborhood were on Friday morning (February 17) assessing the damage caused to their properties by a car bomb blast which occurred on late Thursday (February 16). A car packed with explosives blew up there, killing at least 51 people and wounding 55, security and medical sources said, in the deadliest such attack in Iraq this year. Security sources said the vehicle which blew up was parked […]
by Ammar Karim Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) – Iraqi forces advanced Thursday after declaring a new phase in their offensive on eastern Mosul, stepping up efforts to reclaim the Islamic State group’s last major stronghold in the country. Elite forces have reconquered several parts of eastern Mosul since beginning the massive operation to recapture the northern city from the jihadists on October 17, but IS still occupies the city’s west. Security chiefs said several […]
Kaneohe, United States | AFP | US President Barack Obama on Sunday visited American troops at a Hawaii military base, the last time he will participate in his holiday tradition as commander-in-chief. Obama and the first lady Michelle visited the Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, close to where the presidential couple are vacationing with their daughters. Speaking weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s scheduled inauguration, Obama called his time as commander-in-chief “the privilege of […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Children are being killed and wounded as well as witnessing horrific violence as Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State group in heavily populated Mosul, Amnesty International said on Thursday. Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake the country’s last IS-held city more than two months ago, and have pushed the jihadists out of several neighborhoods on Mosul’s eastern side. But the battle to retake the city — where a million […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — At least 50,000 Islamic State jihadists have been killed by the US-led coalition since it began operations in Iraq and Syria in late 2014, a senior US military official said Thursday. A relentless operation using planes and drones from a dozen or so members of the anti-IS coalition since August 2014 has conducted some 16,000 air strikes against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria — two-thirds of them in Iraq. […]
KHAZIR, Iraq (AFP) – by Rouba El Husseini Ihsan Ismail has spoken to his family just twice in a month. In the desperate flight from their village outside Mosul they were separated and are now confined to different camps for the displaced. More than 70,000 people have fled their homes since Iraqi forces launched their offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State group. As if living under IS rule […]
by Abbas al-Ani with Max Delany in Mosul HILLA, Iraq (AFP) — A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad Thursday, as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from the jihadists. The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with faithful returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said. Most of the victims were Iranians, […]
HILLA, Iraq (AFP) – by Abbas al-Ani with Max Delany in Mosul A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 70 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims, south of Baghdad Thursday, in the latest jihadist attack as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul. The huge truck bomb blast ripped through a petrol station where buses packed with faithful returning from the Arbaeen commemoration in Karbala were parked, officials said. Most of the victims […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) – by W.G. Dunlop and Ali Choukeir Iraqi forces have broken into jihadist-held Mosul and recaptured neighbourhoods inside the city, but a month into their offensive, there are still weeks or more of potentially heavy fighting ahead. Iraq launched the massive operation to recapture Mosul, which has been held by the Islamic State group since 2014, on October 17, advancing on the city from the north, east and south. Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service […]
