Twin suicide bombings rock central Baghdad, at least 32 dead

BAGHDAD (AP) — Twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens, officials said in what was the first massive bombing in years, harkening back to darker days of rampant militant attacks. The rare suicide bombing hit the Bab...

Iraqi military says death toll in twin suicide bombings in Baghdad rises to at least 28 dead, 73 wounded

Iraq postpones date for early elections by four months

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Cabinet voted Tuesday to postpone early elections for four months based on a recommendation by the country's electoral commission, which proposed the change citing technical reasons. Elections will now be held in October, according to a statement from the prime minister's office...

Relative of Blackwater victim in Iraq says pardons 'unfair'

BAGHDAD (AP) — Faris Fadel had just one word to describe the recent pardoning by the Trump administration of four private security contractors convicted of killing Iraqi civilians — including his brother — in a public square 13 years ago: Unfair. Fadel's brother, Osama Abbas, had been on his...

In a northern town brutalized by IS, Iraq tests its power

SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — One by one, the flags belonging to a patchwork of armed forces were lowered in a northern Iraqi town once brutalized by the Islamic State group. The territorial claims symbolized by each were replaced by the fluttering of just one: The Iraqi state’s. The hoisting of the national...

Iraqi army: 8 rockets target US Embassy in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP) — Eight rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone late Sunday, Iraq's military and Iraqi officials said, sparking fears of renewed unrest as next month's anniversary of the U.S. slaying of an Iranian general draws near. An Iraqi military statement said an...

Iraq's central bank devalues dinar by 22% amid public anger

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Central Bank on Saturday announced it will devalue the Iraqi dinar by over 20 percent in response to a severe liquidity crisis brought on by low oil prices, a measure that has sparked public outrage as the government struggles to cover its expenses. Riot police were dispatched...

Extradition hearing delayed for man charged in Iraq killings

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has postponed the extradition hearing for a suburban Phoenix man charged with participating in the 2006 killings of two police officers in Iraq. The hearing for Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri, an Iraqi native who came to the United States as a refugee in 2009 and has since become a U.S....

Camp closures force Iraqi families back to shattered homes

DEBAJA, Iraq (AP) — After living in a camp for three years, 70-year-old Merhi Hamed Abdullah returned to his village west of the city of Mosul to find it in ruins — his first glimpse of home since Iraq defeated the Islamic State group. To shelter his family of seven, Abdullah resurrected the tent...

Iran executes exiled journalist who encouraged 2017 protests

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Saturday executed an exiled journalist over his online work that helped inspire nationwide economic protests in 2017, a little more than a year after authorities tricked him into traveling to Iraq where he was abducted. Ruhollah Zam, 47, was one of several...