Sunni Insurgency

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  ISIS Suicide Attacks Kill 32 In Southern Iraq

  Two suicide car bombs claimed by ISIS killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the centre of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa today, police and medics said.

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  Bomb Attack on Shi'ite Pilgrims in Baghdad Kills 7: Sources

  A suicide bomber killed seven people, including two police, in an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim procession on Monday in a northern Baghdad neighbourhood, police and medical sources said.

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  Syrian Army Advances With Help of Intensified Russian Air Strikes

  Russian war planes pounded Syrian rebels unaffiliated with Islamic State today, insurgents said, helping Moscow's ally creclaim territory and dealing a fresh setback to the strategy of Washington and its allies.

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  Islamic State Fighters Attack Troops in Iraq's Anbar Province

  Islamic State militants attacked Iraqi security forces on Friday near the two main cities of the western province of Anbar, where authorities plan a counter-offensive against the hardline Sunni insurgents, tribal sources said.

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  Bombs Kill Eight People Around Baghdad, Coalition Targets Islamic State

  Bomb attacks killed eight people in and around Baghdad today as US- led coalition warplanes targeted Islamic State insurgents west of the capital, police and medics said.

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  Fearing Islamic State, Afghanistan's Shi'ites Seek Help From Old Enemies

  Even by Afghanistan's standards of often-shifting alliances, a recent meeting between ethnic Hazara elders and local commanders of the Taliban insurgents who have persecuted them for years was extraordinary.

• ISIS Flag-Waving the Work of "Idiots": Omar Abdullah

  The waving of Islamic State flags in Jammu and Kashmir by masked men recently has been described as the work of "some idiots" by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who asserted today that there is no presence of the Sunni insurgent group in his state.

• Insurgents, Hezbollah in Deadly Clashes Near Lebanon-Syria Border

  At least 16 Sunni Muslim insurgents from al Qaeda's Syrian wing were killed in clashes with fighters from the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon on Sunday, a source close to Hezbollah said.

• John Kerry, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi Embrace Unity to Defeat Insurgency

  With a new Iraqi government finally in place and a growing Mideast consensus on defeating insurgent threats, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraq's Shiite leader on Wednesday to quickly deliver more power to wary Sunnis - or jeopardize any hope of defeating the Islamic State group.

• Iran Finance Minister Visits Iraqi Neighbour at War With IS

  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday began a two-day visit to Iraq, which is fighting a Sunni Muslim insurgency led by Islamic State jihadists, state news agency IRNA reported.

• Sunni Insurgents Seize Small Towns in Iraq's North

  Militants with the Islamic State extremist group on Sunday seized two small towns in northern Iraq after driving out Kurdish security forces, further expanding the territories under their control, officials and residents said.

• Number of Deaths in Iraq Falls Sharply in July, UN Says

  Violence killed 1,737 people, mostly civilians, in Iraq in July, when Sunni insurgents seized large swathes of land in the north, United Nations figures showed.

• Iraqi Foreign Minister Blames Nuri Al-Maliki for Islamist Insurgency

  Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his security officials are to blame for the rise of Sunni Muslim insurgents who have seized parts of Iraq, the country's foreign minister said.

• Iraq Postpones Vote for President, Delaying Power-Sharing Deal

  Iraq's parliament, which had been due to elect the country's president on Wednesday, postponed the vote by a day, delaying the formation of a power-sharing government urgently needed to confront a Sunni Muslim insurgency.

• Iraq PM Seeks Sunni Tribal Help in Battling Insurgency

  Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met several Sunni tribal leaders on Tuesday in a renewed bid to gain their support in battling a raging jihadist-led Sunni insurgency.