Falluja

As soon as the bombs exploded outside his house in the Iraqi town of Falluja, Rachid Jassam rushed onto the street to rescue the injured.

ISIS terrorists have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the terrorists from their Iraqi stronghold, Iraqis and US officials said.

Nearly 120 people were killed and 200 wounded in two bombings overnight in Baghdad, most of them in a busy shopping area as residents celebrated Ramadan, police and medical sources said on Sunday.

US-led coalition aircraft waged a series of deadly strikes against ISIS around the city of Falluja on Wednesday, US officials told Reuters, with one citing a preliminary estimate of at least 250 suspected fighters killed and at least 40 vehicles destroyed.

Iraqi forces on Friday entered the centre of Falluja, the Iraqi city longest held by ISIS, nearly four weeks after the start of a US-backed offensive that cleared out the tens of thousands of residents still there.

At least 20,000 children remain inside besieged Falluja, ISIS's stronghold near Baghdad, facing the risk of forced recruitment in the fighting and separation from their families, the United Nations' children's agency said on Wednesday.

ISIS terrorists fought back vigorously overnight against an onslaught by the Iraqi army on a southern district of the city of Falluja, the group's bastion near Baghdad, officers said on Tuesday.

The Iraqi army stormed to the southern edge of Falluja under US air support on Monday and captured a police station inside the city limits, launching a direct assault to retake one of the main strongholds of ISIS terrorists.

Iraqi forces may face a big battle near Baghdad before they can try to retake the ISIS stronghold of Mosul: Falluja, a long-time bastion of Sunni Muslim jihadists sitting at the western gates of the capital.

Iraqi Shi'ite fighters and army troops made gains north of Falluja on Sunday but their efforts to seal off Islamic State militants in the city met heavy resistance, including suicide bomb attacks, army sources and militia fighters said.

The United States cannot yet confirm whether the Islamic State commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed or wounded in Iraq following an air strike near the city of Falluja, a White House spokesman said today.

After Islamic State seized Falluja in January it persuaded a man making covers for cars to sell suicide vests instead, one of many changes in the Iraqi city as it adapts to life under the ultra-hardline Sunni militants.

Scores of gunmen took over a federal police headquarters in northern Iraq on Friday before driving a tanker laden with explosives into the building, killing many, a government official said.

Sunni Islamist insurgents took over much of a northern Iraqi town on Thursday and laid siege to its town hall, weeks after militants seized a whole city from the country's Shi'ite-led government.

Iraqi security forces are preparing to storm Falluja and break a month-long standoff with militants who are in control of the city, senior security officials and troops told Reuters on Saturday.

As soon as the bombs exploded outside his house in the Iraqi town of Falluja, Rachid Jassam rushed onto the street to rescue the injured.

ISIS terrorists have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the terrorists from their Iraqi stronghold, Iraqis and US officials said.

Nearly 120 people were killed and 200 wounded in two bombings overnight in Baghdad, most of them in a busy shopping area as residents celebrated Ramadan, police and medical sources said on Sunday.

US-led coalition aircraft waged a series of deadly strikes against ISIS around the city of Falluja on Wednesday, US officials told Reuters, with one citing a preliminary estimate of at least 250 suspected fighters killed and at least 40 vehicles destroyed.

Iraqi forces on Friday entered the centre of Falluja, the Iraqi city longest held by ISIS, nearly four weeks after the start of a US-backed offensive that cleared out the tens of thousands of residents still there.

At least 20,000 children remain inside besieged Falluja, ISIS's stronghold near Baghdad, facing the risk of forced recruitment in the fighting and separation from their families, the United Nations' children's agency said on Wednesday.

ISIS terrorists fought back vigorously overnight against an onslaught by the Iraqi army on a southern district of the city of Falluja, the group's bastion near Baghdad, officers said on Tuesday.

The Iraqi army stormed to the southern edge of Falluja under US air support on Monday and captured a police station inside the city limits, launching a direct assault to retake one of the main strongholds of ISIS terrorists.

Iraqi forces may face a big battle near Baghdad before they can try to retake the ISIS stronghold of Mosul: Falluja, a long-time bastion of Sunni Muslim jihadists sitting at the western gates of the capital.

Iraqi Shi'ite fighters and army troops made gains north of Falluja on Sunday but their efforts to seal off Islamic State militants in the city met heavy resistance, including suicide bomb attacks, army sources and militia fighters said.

The United States cannot yet confirm whether the Islamic State commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed or wounded in Iraq following an air strike near the city of Falluja, a White House spokesman said today.

After Islamic State seized Falluja in January it persuaded a man making covers for cars to sell suicide vests instead, one of many changes in the Iraqi city as it adapts to life under the ultra-hardline Sunni militants.

Scores of gunmen took over a federal police headquarters in northern Iraq on Friday before driving a tanker laden with explosives into the building, killing many, a government official said.

Sunni Islamist insurgents took over much of a northern Iraqi town on Thursday and laid siege to its town hall, weeks after militants seized a whole city from the country's Shi'ite-led government.

Iraqi security forces are preparing to storm Falluja and break a month-long standoff with militants who are in control of the city, senior security officials and troops told Reuters on Saturday.