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At least 91 people were killed Sunday in two bombings in the Iraqi capital, including a large-scale attack claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 86 people — among them 15 children — in a central shopping district, officials said. The bombings demonstrated the extremists’ ability to mount significant attacks despite major battlefield losses, including the city of Fallujah, which was declared “fully liberated” from IS just over a week ago. The deadliest attack took place in the central Karada district of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laded pickup truck outside a crowded shopping center, killing...

A suicide car bombing claimed by Isil killed at least 75 people in a Baghdad shopping district in the early hours of Sunday, officials said, the deadliest single attack in the capital this year. The blast, which ripped through a street in the Karrada area where many people go to shop ahead of the holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, also wounded more than 130 people, security and medical officials said. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) issued a statement claiming the suicide car bombing, saying it was carried out by an Iraqi...

Baghdad Wakes to Sounds of Helicopters, Talk of a People’s 'Revolt' Sharon Behn May 21, 2016 4:58 AM BAGHDAD— Baghdad woke Saturday to the early morning sounds of helicopters flying overhead, most of them heading in and out of the fortified International Zone after protesters defied bullets and tear gas to storm the area. As they fled the gunfire and tear gas Friday afternoon, some carrying their injured friends across the bridge away from the IZ, the anti-government protesters vowed they would return – but with weapons. Many are followers of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who, like many of the...

Hundreds of supporters of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed into Baghdad's Green Zone and broke into the Iraqi parliament building. The protesters, who had gathered outside the heavily fortified district, known as the Green Zone, crossed a bridge over the Tigris River chanting: 'The cowards ran away!' in apparent reference to departing lawmakers before breaking into the parliament building. The staggering scenes came after Sadr denounced Iraq's politicians' for their failure to reform a political quota system blamed for rampant corruption.

The suicide bomber who blew up a youth soccer match late last month left barely a dent in the hard, dry earth, and only a faint scorch on a concrete wall nearby. But he gouged a chasm of grief in the heart of the small community that lost more than two dozen of its sons in a single moment, at 6:15 on the evening of March 25. A total of 43 people died in the bombing at the game, according to figures provided by the local government. Of those, 29 were boys younger than 17 who had either been participating...

Iran-backed militias have seized homes, businesses and cultural sites, including churches belonging to Baghdad’s Christian communities, forcing individuals to resettle and forfeit all their belongings, according to members of the Christian members of the Iraqi Parliament. The militias have targeted properties belonging to Christians, forcing individuals to leave the area, according to Christian community leaders, including representatives from the Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac minorities, as well as the Chaldean Patriarch of Iraq who have condemned the attacks, calling them a form of ethnic cleansing aimed to rid Baghdad of its Christians. “Their claim is that the property of a non-Christian...

Saad al-Hadithi spoke to The Associated Press after an earlier statement from the prime minister's office seemed to dismiss the idea entirely. "Baghdad is the capital for all Iraqis and it's not possible for a wall or a fence to isolate the city," the earlier statement said. The plan for the wall was originally drafted by the Interior Ministry as an effort to curb near-daily attacks carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and cut down on checkpoints inside the city that snarl traffic. The Interior Ministry's spokesman, police Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, told The Associated...

Four former Blackwater security contractors found guilty in a deadly Baghdad shooting appealed their convictions on Monday, saying a key witness against them had changed his testimony after the trial and that prosecutors lacked jurisdiction to even bring the case. The appeals, long expected, represent the latest legal volley in a criminal case that's spanned years in Washington's federal court and that concluded with guilty verdicts following a months-long trial in 2014. Nicholas Slatten is serving a life sentence on a charge of first-degree murder. Three other former guards - Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Herd - were found...

Three American contractors are missing in Iraq, a senior security official in Baghdad says. "A company filed a report Sunday about three of its staff going missing. ... They are American contractors. We are looking into this report," the official told CNN. Separately, an Iraqi security official with knowledge of the case said that two of the contractors are dual Iraqi-American citizens and that the third is an American national. Gunmen grabbed the men at an apartment in Baghdad's southeastern Dora neighborhood late Friday afternoon, the source said.

Three Americans have been kidnapped in Baghdad by "militias," according to Arab news channel Al Arabiya, citing its own sources. The State Department said it is aware of the report and is working with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans. Officials, however, would not confirm that anyone been kidnapped. "We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement to The Hill. "The safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority, he continued. "We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to...

In full disclosure, I wrote this last night before the State of the Union address. I guessed then and I was right - none of this was addressed by Obama in his speech. Last week we shared how horrific January 2016 began in its first week. Week two doesn't look much better. President Obama tried to present a world of rainbows and unicorns in his final State of the Union address, but that's about as real as the Land of Oz. Barack Obama and his minions can attempt to create an alternative universe in which they live, but the truth...

The new unit, comprised of around 300 Nato special forces troops, will be tasked with hunting down the world's most dangerous jihadis. They will serve under the US Joint Special Operations Command, based in a secret location near Baghdad, Iraq. But the SAS will also be able to carry on with their missions at home in the UK. A source close to the new unit, set up to seek and destroy fanatics in the Middle East, said they will "relentlessly target" terror groups. Our insider added: "We are at war and will be merciless in the pursuit of those who...

Rami ‏@RamiAlLolah · 2h2 hours ago Double extremely huge explosions rocked #Baghdad a while ago.. Casualties unknown yet.. #Iraq بهرامpirzadGeddy DavisIntifadahFdeStVمتفائل من العراقarbaramziDaniele MonigattiErcenk Rami ‏@RamiAlLolah · 2h2 hours ago Extremely huge explosion rocked #Baghdad a while ago.. #Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi says Baghdad is willing to share anti-ISIS intelligence with Russia, Iran and Syria Oct 4, 2015 08:06 GMT Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi announced on Saturday that Iraq will share anti-ISIS intelligence with Russia, Iran and Syria if cooperation is requested. “We have been fighting ISIS more than a year and we have some important security information that no other country has regarding ISIS,” Abadi stated during a press conference which took place at the presidential office in the capital. Abadi also stated that he would welcome military equipment assistance from Iran, Syria...

Thousands of Iraqis braved the scorching summer heat to stage a huge protest in central Baghdad on Friday, calling on the prime minister to dissolve the parliament and sack corrupt government officials. Security forces and riot police sealed off Iraq’s iconic Tahrir Square and searched anyone who entered the area, but tens of thousands of men, women and children thronged the sprawling square, waving Iraqi flags. “In the name of religion, the thieves robbed us,” they chanted long into the evening. Men with the government-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, the umbrella group made up predominantly of Shiite militias, pulled up in...

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN)ISIS has closed off a dam to the north of the Iraqi city of Ramadi -- seized by its forces last month -- cutting water supplies to pro-government towns downstream and making it easier for its fighters to attack forces loyal to Baghdad, local officials and residents said. ISIS militants are opening only two or three of the dam's 26 gates on the Euphrates River for brief periods daily, the officials and residents said. The head of the security council in the town of Khalidiyah, Sheikh Ibrahim Khalaf al-Fahdawi, and two residents of the nearby town of Habbaniya...

The Saudi man arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force yesterday in Idaho has ties to close associates of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and to four Arab men charged at the same time with channeling funds to Iraq. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen – a University of Idaho doctoral candidate supported by the Saudi government – was a terrorist bagman, according to a federal criminal justice source quoted by a Seattle newspaper. Saudi student Sami Omar al-Hussayen "He's in touch with people who could pick up the phone, call [bin Laden], and he would take the call," the source told the...

Ten dead in twin bomb attacks outside central Baghdad hotels, say Iraqi police This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly

I was born in Baghdad, but all my ancestors before me, including my parents, where born in Mosul and neighboring cities in Northern Iraq. Even now when I speak Arabic it is still with a Moslouy dialect. For many years, no matter where I was living or what I was doing, the answer to “Where are you from?” was one of identity: “Ana Maslouy.” I am a Mosulian. And I am, all the way down, in spite of my thoroughly Americanized personality—such is the deep and dual identity of immigrants.Born to a Chaldean Catholic mother and a Syriac Orthodox...

Over 20,000 trapped in no man's land at the mercy of advancing ISIS horde after the fall of Ramadi Thousands are stranded between ISIS-held Ramadi and the city of Baghdad Refused entry to Iraqi capital because of concerns they could be militants ISIS has reportedly taken control of a village between Ramadi and Fallujah Indicates the terror group are moving eastwards towards the Iraqi capital Meanwhile Shia militias are said to be moving to head off ISIS Homeless families 'face danger from all sides', Human Rights Watch said