2014年10月27日星期一

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


Australian teenager features in second IS video

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 04:05 PM PDT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian teenage runaway, dubbed the Ginger Jihadist by the media, has been featured in a second Islamic State propaganda video.

As Marines depart Afghanistan, legacy lingers

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 03:46 PM PDT

This handout photo provided Defense Department shows Marines and sailors with Marine Expeditionary Brigade – Afghanistan load onto a KC-130 aircraft on the Camp Bastion, Afghanistan flightline, Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. The handover of the U.S. Marines' main base to Afghan control in the hardscrabble Helmand province is more than a signal that America's longest war is ending. It is a reminder of the enormous loss and sacrifice by Marines who swept in as part of President Barack Obama's surge of forces against a resurgent Taliban in 2009. (AP Photo/Staff Sgt. John Jackson, Defense Department, US Marines)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Marines' handover of Camp Leatherneck to the Afghans is more than a signal that America's longest war is ending. It is a reminder that the Marines' battlefield gains were tempered by losses: 378 killed, nearly 5,000 wounded.


Cameron rushed to his car by bodyguards after man confronts him

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 03:05 PM PDT

A still image taken from video shows Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron watching as his close protection team detain a man who approached him leaving a news conference in LeedsPrime Minister David Cameron was bundled into his official car by his bodyguards on Monday after a member of the public ran into him in what looked like a serious security breach, video footage showed. In August, Britain raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level with Cameron saying Islamic State (IS) militants operating in Syria and Iraq posed the country's greatest ever security risk. The footage showed the man run directly towards Cameron, who was leaving an event in the city of Leeds in northern England, and come into contact with him before being intercepted. Bodyguards later rushed Cameron towards a waiting car.


Joe Biden to visit Ukraine, Turkey next month

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 02:54 PM PDT

US Vice President Joe Biden speaks on September 19, 2014US Vice President Joe Biden next month visits Ukraine as well as Turkey, where fighting across the border in the Syrian town of Kobane has sparked tensions with Washington. During the week of November 17, Biden is set to meet President Petro Poroshenko, after pro-Western parties scored big wins in Ukrainian elections, the White House said Monday. The US vice president will then travel on to Morocco and Turkey, where he'll meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey last week said it would let Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq cross its territory to join the battle in Kobane, but this has yet to happen.


US air war on IS costing $8.3 million a day: Pentagon

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 02:42 PM PDT

Smoke rises following an explosion in the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on October 20, 2014The Pentagon has revised its estimate of the cost of the US air war in Iraq and Syria, saying the price tag for the campaign against the Islamic State group comes to about $8.3 million a day. Since air strikes began on August 8, the campaign -- which has involved about 6,600 sorties by US and allied aircraft -- has cost $580 million, said Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban. The Defense Department had previously put the average daily cost of the military operation at more than $7 million a day. The higher figure reflected the increased pace of air strikes and related flights, a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.


US urges online fight against IS as strikes hit jihadists

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 02:30 PM PDT

People watch as smokes rises from the town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on October 26, 2014, at the Turkish border near the southeastern village of MursitpinarThe US-led coalition carried out fresh air strikes Monday against jihadists in Syria and Iraq as Washington called for the battle against the Islamic State group to be taken to the Internet. In Iraq, a car bomb explosion killed at least eight people in a Baghdad square after a suicide bombing reportedly left dead at least 14 pro-government fighters south of the capital. An AFP reporter in Turkey just across the border from Kobane said fierce clashes were raging in the strategic Syrian town, where Kurdish fighters have been holding off an IS offensive for weeks. A senior Iraqi Kurdish official said the deployment was being held up by Turkey, which has agreed to allow the peshmerga to pass through its territory.


Canada must do more to thwart radical threat, security officials say

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 02:24 PM PDT

RCMP Commissioner Paulson prepares to testify before a Senate committee in OttawaBy Randall Palmer, David Ljunggren and Richard Valdmanis OTTAWA (Reuters) - The head of Canada's national police told a parliamentary committee on Monday the government must do more to stop homegrown radicals, such as those who killed two soldiers on home soil last week, from going overseas for militant training. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson said last week's killings in Ottawa and outside Montreal, which he said appeared to be carried out with minimal planning or preparation, show the nation faces a "serious" threat. ...


Baghdad car bomb kills at least eight

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 01:51 PM PDT

Iraqis stand at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad on October 9, 2014A car bomb exploded in the Iraqi capital's busy Wathiq Square on Monday night, killing at least eight people and wounding 32, security and medical officials said. Restaurants, a hotel and a tent used to serve water and tea to Shiite pilgrims are located in the square in the Karrada area of central Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to travel to the shrine city of Karbala for next week's Ashura commemorations marking the death of Imam Hussein, one of the most revered figures in Shiite Islam.


Suicide bomber kills 27 militiamen south of Iraqi capital

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 01:10 PM PDT

By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 27 Shi'ite militiamen outside the Iraqi town of Jurf al-Sakhar on Monday after security forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the area over the weekend, army and police sources said. The attacker, driving a Humvee vehicle packed with explosives and likely stolen from defeated government troops, also wounded 60 Shi'ite Muslim militiamen, who had helped government forces retake the town just south of the capital. ...

Turkish official says Iraqi Kurdish fighters free to cross to Kobani

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 01:06 PM PDT

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Turkish official said on Monday Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters were free to move through Turkey to Syria "as soon as they are ready" after a Syrian Kurdish leader accused Ankara of stalling on an agreement to allow them passage to the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani. Saleh Moslem, co-chair of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Reuters on Monday that the peshmerga had been ready to go into Kurdish-defended Kobani for three days. "But we don't know what is going on between them and Turkey. ...

Car bombings in Iraq kill at least 38 people

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 12:31 PM PDT

Members pray over flag-draped coffins of members of Iraq's Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) and Shiite militiamen during their funeral procession inside the holy Shiite shrine of Imam Hussein in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. A suicide car bomber driving a military Humvee struck a checkpoint manned by Iraqi troops and pro-government Shiite militiamen in the Sunni town of Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 24 people, officials said. (AP Photo/Ahmed al-Husseini)BAGHDAD (AP) — Two car bombings in Iraq, including one where a suicide attacker drove a Humvee into a checkpoint manned by Iraqi troops and pro-government Shiite militiamen, killed at least 38 people Monday, authorities said.


Leading jihadi ideologue arrested in Jordan

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 12:29 PM PDT

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordanian security forces arrested a renowned jihadi ideologue Monday on charges that he violated the country's anti-terrorism law, his defense lawyer and a government official said.

Jordan arrests influential al Qaeda scholar for 'incitement'

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 12:06 PM PDT

Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada listens to Islamist scholar Sheik Abu Mohammad al Maqdisi during a celebration after his release from a prison near AmmanBy Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordanian security forces arrested influential al Qaeda spiritual guide Abu Mohammad al Maqdisi on Monday on suspicion of fomenting terrorism on the Internet, security sources said. They said Maqdisi was ordered to be held for 15 days after he was called in for questioning by the state security prosecutor. He was initially charged with "using the Internet to promote and incite views of jihadi terrorist organizations". ...


U.S. unveils coalition to fight Islamic state in cyberspace

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 11:28 AM PDT

By Ahmed Hagagy KUWAIT (Reuters) - The United States on Monday unveiled what it called an information coalition with Muslim and Western nations to combat efforts by Islamic State to recruit online and stoke sectarian hatred through a "cult of violence". U.S. officials told delegates from European and Arab countries at a meeting in Kuwait that this should complement parallel campaigns against the armed group on the battlefield and in the world of finance. ...

As Iraqi Kurds advance against Islamic State, villagers return to looted homes

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 10:54 AM PDT

Kurdish villagers worried about the coming winter are taking advantage of northern Iraq's shifting battle lines to return to deserted communities that Kurdish forces have reclaimed from the self-described Islamic State.

Police and medical officials say car bombing in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, kills 10 people

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 10:43 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Police and medical officials say car bombing in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, kills 10 people.

EU must prepare for Russia's 'hybrid warfare': Danish formin

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 10:18 AM PDT

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lidegaard speaks to journalists as he arrives for an informal meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Ministers in MilanBy Alistair Scrutton and Sabina Zawadzki COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Russia poses no direct military threat to the European Union but its intervention in Ukraine is a type of 'hybrid warfare' the bloc should fight using coordinated energy policy and media to counter "massive propaganda", Denmark's foreign minister said on Monday. Martin Lidegaard has traveled three times to Kiev over a year that has seen the toppling of a Moscow-leaning president and the outbreak of a pro-Russian rebellion in Ukraine's eastern region. The conflict has killed over 3,700 people. ...


British surgeon killed unlawfully in Syrian jail: London court

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 09:58 AM PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A British surgeon who died in a Syrian prison last year days before his planned release was unlawfully killed, a London jury investigating the case ruled on Monday. Abbas Khan, a 32-year-old orthopedic surgeon from London, was detained in Syria almost two years ago and found dead in a prison cell last December. His family said Khan had been arrested in the northern city of Aleppo within 48 hours of arriving in Syria to volunteer as an emergency doctor and had not hanged himself days before his scheduled release, as the Syrian authorities had said. ...

British PM Cameron rushed to his car by bodyguards after man confronts him

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 09:55 AM PDT

A still image taken from video shows a man approaching Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron as he leaves a news conference in Leeds, northern EnglandLONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron was bundled into his official car by his bodyguards on Monday after a member of the public ran into him in what looked like a serious security breach, video footage showed. In August, Britain raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level with Cameron saying Islamic State (IS) militants operating in Syria and Iraq posed the country's greatest ever security risk. ...


US urges coalition to wage online battle against Islamic State

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 08:40 AM PDT

US General John R. Allen -- the special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the threat of the Islamic State (IS) group -- attends a meeting in Kuwait City, on October 27, 2014Washington called Monday for the battle against the Islamic State group to be taken to the Internet, as coalition partners vowed to step up efforts to counter the jihadists' online propaganda. Retired US general John Allen told participants at the talks in Kuwait City that IS was promoting its "horrendous brand of warfare" online, where it "recruits and perverts the innocent". Allen, who is coordinating the US-led campaign against IS, met with representatives of coalition countries including Bahrain, Britain, Egypt, France, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. After the talks the coalition partners promised to take steps to boost efforts to prevent the recruitment of foreign fighters for IS, including online.


Guns fall silent in Lebanon's Tripoli as army moves in

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 08:32 AM PDT

Civilians walk past a Lebanese army soldier patrolling on an armoured vehicles following clashes between Lebanese soldiers and Islamist gunmen in TripoliBy Nazih Siddiq TRIPOLI Lebanon (Reuters) - The Lebanese army took the last position held by Islamist militants in the northern city of Tripoli on Monday, ending two days of battles that marked some of the worst fighting to spill over into Lebanon from the Syrian civil war next door. Guns fell silent as the army issued a statement saying fighters who had fled should turn themselves in or be hunted down. A security official said the city had been secured and 162 militants arrested. ...


U.S. sees Syria rebels in political, not military solution: Asharq al-Awsat newspaper

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 08:28 AM PDT

Rebel fighters carry their weapons as they move towards their positions at the frontline against forces of Syria's President Assad in the Handarat areaBEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States does not expect Syrian rebels it plans to train to fight Islamic State militants to also take on President Bashar al-Assad's forces, but sees them as a crucial part of a political solution to end the war, the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted a senior U.S. official as saying. The United States, which is leading an international coalition bombing Islamic State in Syria, has said it wants to train and equip "moderate" rebels to fight the militant group which has seized tracts of land in Syria and neighboring Iraq. ...


Syria says supplying military aid to Kurds to fight Islamic State

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 08:26 AM PDT

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Damascus has provided military support to Kurdish forces to help them battle Islamic State, Syrian media said, in a move that would mean President Bashar al-Assad and his Western enemies could be backing the same forces against Islamist militants. The main Syrian Kurdish party, which has repeatedly denied that it has cooperated with the Damascus government, described the report as propaganda. ...

Islamic State beheads four tribesmen in eastern Syria: monitor

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 08:21 AM PDT

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have beheaded four tribesmen in eastern Syria after accusing them of fighting against them and receiving military training from pro-government forces, a monitoring organization said. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the men belonged to the Sunni Muslim Sheitaat tribe, which has been battling Islamic State in the eastern Deir al-Zor province bordering Iraq. ...

US official urges allies to combat IS ideology

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 08:18 AM PDT

Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, right, meets Gen. John Allen, left, a retired U.S. general in charge of coordinating the U.S.-led coalition's fight against Islamic State militants, in Kuwait city, Kuwait, Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Allen appealed for Western and Arab partners to do more to combat the group's extremist ideology during a meeting in Kuwait on Monday. He urged coalition members to lay out concrete plans to counter the militants' message online and in the press. (AP Photo/KUNA)KUWAIT CITY (AP) — The United States is pressing Arab nations and other allies to do more to counter the Islamic State group's slick propaganda campaign, with a top American envoy on Monday describing efforts to combat the extremist messages as a vital pillar in the fight to defeat the group.


Assad's warnings start to ring true in Turkey

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 07:45 AM PDT

Kurdish refugees look at their town of Kobani covered by thick smoke from the Mursitpinar crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in Sanliurfa provinceBy Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - When Sunni rebels rose up against Syria's Bashar al-Assad in 2011, Turkey reclassified its protégé as a pariah, expecting him to lose power within months and join the autocrats of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen on the scrap heap of the "Arab Spring". Assad, in contrast, shielded diplomatically by Russia and with military and financial support from Iran and its Shi'ite allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah, warned that the fires of Syria's sectarian war would burn its neighbors. For Turkey, despite the confidence of Tayyip Erdogan, elected this summer to the presidency after 11 years as prime minister and three straight general election victories, Assad's warning is starting to ring uncomfortably true. Turkey's foreign policy is in ruins.


U.S., partners conduct 11 more strikes in Syria, Iraq against Islamic State: CENTCOM

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 07:35 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States led nearly a dozen air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq on Sunday and Monday, according to the U.S. military. U.S. forces conducted four strikes in Syria near the town of Kobani near the border with Turkey, hitting five vehicles and one occupied building used by the militant group, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Monday. In Iraq, the United States and other partner countries led seven air strikes, including three strikes near the Mosul Dam area that hit a small unit of Islamic State fighters, the statement said. ...

Islamic State fight now costing U.S. $8.3 million per day: Pentagon

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 07:35 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said in updated figures on Monday the average daily cost of the fight against Islamic State militants has risen to $8.3 million, or a total of $580 million between Aug. 8 and Oct. 16. The new average reflects an increase in the intensity of U.S. operations against the group in Syria and Iraq. The Pentagon said a week ago the average daily cost was $7.6 million, or a total of $424 million since Aug. 8. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Tunisian Islamists concede election defeat to secular party

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 07:25 AM PDT

Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamist party Ennahda, waves the party flag outside Ennahda's headquarters in TunisBy Tarek Amara and Patrick Markey TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Ennahda party, the first Islamist movement to secure power after the 2011 "Arab Spring" revolts, conceded defeat on Monday in elections that are set to make its main secular rival the strongest force in parliament. Official results from Sunday's elections - the second parliamentary vote since Tunisians set off uprisings across much of the Arab World by overthrowing autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali - were still to be announced. ...


Iraq Kurds waiting on Turkey to send fighters to Syria

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 06:57 AM PDT

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter man a firing position on the frontline in the Gwer district, 40 kilometres south of Arbil, northern Iraq, on October 5, 2014Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces are ready to depart for Syria to aid the embattled town of Kobane but are being held up by neighbouring Turkey, a senior official said Monday. The town on the Turkish border has become a crucial battleground in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, which overran large parts of Iraq in June and also holds significant territory in Syria. "Until now peshmerga forces did not go to Kobane and we are ready to send them," Mustafa Qader, who heads the ministry responsible for Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region's main security forces, told journalists.


Last international forces airlifted from key base in Afghanistan

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 06:05 AM PDT

U.S. Marines prepare to depart upon the end of operations for Marines and British combat troops in HelmandBy Kay Johnson KANDAHAR AIR FIELD Afghanistan (Reuters) - A fleet of planes and helicopters airlifted the last U.S. and British forces from a key base in southern Afghanistan on Monday, a day after the international coalition closed the massive facility and handed it over to the Afghan military. The troops' withdrawal and base closure in the province of Helmand is one of the largest operations in the winding down of the international combat mission in Afghanistan, 13 years after the toppling of the radical, Islamist Taliban regime. ...


British teacher admits planning to join Islamic State in Syria

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 05:53 AM PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A teacher from northern England who bought equipment for use by Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria was convicted on Monday of terrorism offences, police said. Jamshed Javeed, a 30-year-old science teacher at a secondary high school in Bolton, pleaded guilty at a court in London to assisting others to commit acts of terrorism and preparing to travel to Syria himself, the police said in a statement. Security officials say some 500 Britons, most with Muslim immigrant backgrounds, are believed to be fighting in Iraq and Syria, though the true number could be much higher. ...

German police injured in clashes with far-right hooligans

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 03:49 AM PDT

Far-right hooligans clash with German riot police as they protest against Islamist extremism in the western city of Cologne, on October 26, 2014Berlin (AFP) - Forty-four German riot police were injured in clashes with far-right hooligans rallying against "Islamist extremism" in the western city of Cologne overnight, police said Monday.


Suicide bomber in Iraq kills 27 Shi'ite militiamen near Baghdad: police

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 03:46 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 27 Shi'ite militiamen on the outskirts of the Iraqi town of Jurf al-Sakhar on Monday after security forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the area over the weekend, army and police sources said. The attacker, driving a Humvee vehicle packed with explosives and likely stolen from defeated government troops, also wounded 60 Shi'ite militiamen, who had helped government forces retake the town just south of the capital. ...

If ISIS Captures Baghdad, Terror Takes a Giant Step Forward

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 03:30 AM PDT

Ali Alsumery, a 38-year-old writer living in central Baghdad, still comes home after curfew despite the recent months of fighting with ISIS. Life in Baghdad hasn't changed much except in the first two days after the fall of Mosul. "Wise people are very cautious in Baghdad now. We are afraid of the unknown," said Tahsin al-Azawi, a 50-year-old businessman who lives on the edge of Sadr city, the overpopulated Shiite slum in northeastern Baghdad.  "We worry about our sons and daughters more than ourselves." al-Azawi brother was killed by a Shiite militia in 2007 in western Baghdad amid the sectarian fighting.

Family ties can be a candidate's blessing or curse

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 02:00 AM PDT

FILE - This Oct. 12, 2014, file photo shows former President Jimmy Carter with his grandson, Georgia Democratic candidate for governor Jason Carter at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Albany, Ga. On the midterm election campaign trail, Jason Carter, who's challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, has the most high-profile relative, and has had to answer for several of his grandfather's comments and positions. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Ah, the family. They can be a candidate's sounding board, worthy surrogates and an attractive image for a television ad.


Asia up as upbeat earnings, data sharpen risk appetite

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 01:10 AM PDT

A man looks at an electronic board displaying Japan's Nikkei average and the stock price indexes of various countries outside a brokerage in TokyoBy Shinichi Saoshiro TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian equities rose on Monday, taking heart from upbeat U.S. economic data and slightly better-than-expected health checks on euro zone banks, which helped revive investors' risk appetite. Spreadbetters expected Europe to retain the upward momentum, forecasting London's FTSE and Germany's DAX to open up by as much as 0.3 percent and France's CAC 0.5 percent higher. The euro ticked up but financial markets largely showed a muted reaction to results of stress tests on euro zone banks released on Sunday. ...


Brent drops below $86 after Goldman cuts price forecasts

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 01:05 AM PDT

An attendant prepares to refuel a car at a petrol station in downtown RomeBy Osamu Tsukimori TOKYO (Reuters) - Brent crude futures fell below $86 a barrel on Monday after Goldman Sachs cut its price forecasts for the contract and for U.S. oil in the first quarter of next year by $15. The U.S. investment bank said in a research note on Sunday that it had cut its forecast for West Texas Intermediate to $75 a barrel from $90 and that for Brent to $85 from $100, with rising production in non-OPEC countries outside North America expected to outstrip demand. ...


Portsmouth man charged with terror offence

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 01:03 AM PDT

Alleged Islamic State (IS) militants stand next to a black IS flag atop a hill in the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobane by the Kurds, on October 7, 2014Portsmouth (United Kingdom) (AFP) - A 23-year-old Portsmouth man has been charged with preparing terrorist acts, police said.


No direct combat for Iraqi Kurds in Kobani, ISIS loses ground in Iraq

Posted: 26 Oct 2014 10:40 PM PDT

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters pose near a wall on which the black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants has been painted over, in Zumar, after taking the town from Islamic StateBy Isabel Coles and Ahmed Rasheed ARBIL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish forces will not engage in ground fighting in the Syrian town of Kobani but provide artillery support for fellow Kurds fending off Islamic State militants there, a Kurdish spokesman said on Sunday. Islamic State fighters have been trying to capture Kobani for over a month, pressing on despite U.S.-led air strikes on their positions and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters. ...


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