Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Museum attack in Tunisian capital kills 19; 2 gunmen slain
• UN envoy: Millions needed for education in emergencies
• Why US veterans are heading off to fight the Islamic State on their own
• Republicans push conservative budgets in both houses
• Why Netanyahu victory isn't likely to make US-Israel relations worse
• Gunmen storm Tunisian museum, kill 17 foreign tourists
• 17 tourists killed as gunmen attack Tunisia museum
• Downing of U.S. drone suggests Syria imposing red lines on air war
• Twelve militiamen dead in Libya clashes with IS jihadists
• Tunisia: A ripe target for jihadists
• Islamic State militants kill 10 pro-Tripoli fighters in central Libya
• US aircraft strike IS drone in Iraq: officials
• Canada PM says will extend and expand Iraq mission
• Annual death toll in conflicts rises sharply – research group
• U.S. military veteran unemployment easing, but still high
• Canada prime minister to extend military mission in Iraq
• US says it struck Islamic State drone in Iraq
• Canada to extend, expand its mission against Islamic State: PM
• Saudi forces wrap up major exercises on Iraqi border
• French president calls for preservation of Iraq, Syria art
• Tunisia tourist attack - LIVE REPORT
• Gunmen storm Tunisian museum, kill two Tunisians, 17 foreign tourists
• U.S. veteran pleads not guilty to trying to help Islamic State
• U.S. wants Assad out, Germany says talks with him may be necessary
• U.S., allies conduct 13 air strikes in Iraq, Syria
• Iraq to make budget payment to Kurds within days: finance minister
• Wounded Warrior Project Participates in 2015 Brain Injury Awareness Day
• Sweden security forces fear Russian military operations
• Gunmen attack Tunisian museum, kill seven tourists: government official
• Iraq Sunni province key to taking Mosul from Islamic State
• Gunmen attack Tunisian parliament, may have taken hostages - local radio
• Assyrians struggle in Lebanon after fleeing IS jihadists
• Three Iraqis dead in explosion near Kuwaiti border: Kuwaiti news agency
• How Iran Is Taking Over the Middle East
• Netanyahu owes win to jitters over Iran-Gulf official
• House GOP’s Creative Accounting Lifts Defense Budget
• Iraq forces looted, burned after breaking IS siege: HRW
• Rubio willing to defy European allies on possible Iran deal
• IS extremism fight may take a generation: Australia
• Militias destroy Iraqi villages, displace thousands: rights group

Museum attack in Tunisian capital kills 19; 2 gunmen slain Posted: 18 Mar 2015 04:33 PM PDT TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Foreign tourists scrambled in panic Wednesday after militants stormed a museum in Tunisia's capital and killed 19 people, "shooting at anything that moved," a witness said.

UN envoy: Millions needed for education in emergencies Posted: 18 Mar 2015 04:23 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy for global education called Wednesday for a multimillion-dollar fund to provide education for children in emergencies and urged donors to start with $163 million to educate half a million Syrian children who are refugees in Lebanon.

Why US veterans are heading off to fight the Islamic State on their own Posted: 18 Mar 2015 04:05 PM PDT After leaving his suburban home in Baltimore to fight in the Middle East, Matthew VanDyke says he began getting phone calls from former US military soldiers interested in similar adventures. In the documentary, he arrives at the camp as the fighters are taking a break.

Republicans push conservative budgets in both houses Posted: 18 Mar 2015 04:00 PM PDT Making good on last fall's campaign commitments, Republicans advanced conservative budgets in both houses of Congress on Wednesday, setting up a veto struggle over the fate of the health care law and promising ...

Why Netanyahu victory isn't likely to make US-Israel relations worse Posted: 18 Mar 2015 03:36 PM PDT It's safe to say that President Obama was hoping for a different outcome in Israel's election Tuesday – just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did little to hide his preference for Mitt Romney in the last American presidential election. A number of factors will "tend to constrain what the administration is prepared to do to press the Israelis," Mr. Miller says.

Gunmen storm Tunisian museum, kill 17 foreign tourists Posted: 18 Mar 2015 03:33 PM PDT By Tarek Amara and Mohamed Argoubi TUNIS (Reuters) - Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Tunisia's national museum on Wednesday, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that had largely escaped the region's "Arab Spring" turmoil. Five Japanese as well as visitors from Italy, Poland and Spain were among the dead in the noon assault on Bardo museum inside the heavily guarded parliament compound in central Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said. Security forces entered around two hours later, killed two militants and freed the captives, a government spokesman said. Several Islamist militant groups have emerged in Tunisia since the uprising, and authorities estimate about 3,000 Tunisians have also joined fighters in Iraq and Syria -- igniting fears they could return and mount attacks at home.

17 tourists killed as gunmen attack Tunisia museum Posted: 18 Mar 2015 03:01 PM PDT Gunmen stormed Tunisia's national museum, killing 17 tourists of various nationalities and two Tunisians Wednesday in an attack that raised fears for the birthplace of the Arab Spring. The brazen daylight assault sparked panic at the nearby parliament and the National Bardo Museum itself, a magnet for the tourists who contribute so much to the economy. The gunmen, dressed in military uniforms, opened fire on the tourists as they got off a bus then chased them inside the museum, said Prime Minister Habib Essid. Among the dead were five Japanese, four Italians, two Colombians and one each from Australia, France, Poland and Spain, Essid announced on television in what he said was a definitive toll.

Downing of U.S. drone suggests Syria imposing red lines on air war Posted: 18 Mar 2015 02:19 PM PDT By Tom Perry and Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - After allowing the United States to use its air space to bomb Islamic State fighters for six months, the Syrian army appears to have imposed a "red line" by shooting down a U.S. drone over territory of critical importance to Damascus. The U.S. military has said it lost contact with one of its drones over northwest Syria but has not given the cause of the incident over Latakia province - part of the western region of Syria where Damascus has been consolidating state control. Two U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the Predator drone was likely shot down, although the investigation continues.

Twelve militiamen dead in Libya clashes with IS jihadists Posted: 18 Mar 2015 02:14 PM PDT At least 12 militiamen in Libya were killed Wednesday in clashes with jihadists of the Islamic State group near the central city of Sirte, sources said. The two sides have been engaged in sporadic fighting since Saturday around the city, home town of slain longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, whose regime was toppled in a 2011 NATO-backed revolt. "Twelve heroes of the Libyan army have been killed treacherously at Noufliyeh", a stronghold of the jihadists, who have controlled large areas around Sirte since February, said authorities in Tripoli. The Tripoli-based defence ministry said the clashes erupted at Sirte on Saturday after IS closed off the coastal road there to protest the arrest of jihadist leaders.

Tunisia: A ripe target for jihadists Posted: 18 Mar 2015 01:45 PM PDT With jihadists holed up in inaccessible hinterlands, an uncontrollable border with chaotic Libya and thousands of youths returning after fighting in Syria, Tunisia is a vulnerable target for Islamic extremists. No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack on the national museum that left 17 tourists dead, but extremists have in recent months stepped up their threats against the authorities in Tunis and threatened to hit them where it hurts -- in the lucrative tourism sector. Since the Arab Spring revolutionary movement in 2011, militants loyal to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) or the Islamic State group have been hiding out in the mountains near the Algerian border. The chaos in neighbouring Libya, where rival militias -- some openly loyal to Islamic State -- are scrapping over power, has also hit Tunisia hard, especially given the long and uncontrollable border in the desert between the two countries.

Islamic State militants kill 10 pro-Tripoli fighters in central Libya Posted: 18 Mar 2015 01:11 PM PDT By Ahmed Elumami and Goran Tomasevic TRIPOLI/MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Ten fighters loyal to the self-proclaimed government that controls Tripoli were killed by Islamic State militants in central Libya on Wednesday, as the Islamists spread their reach in the divided country. Islamist militants in Libya who have allied themselves to the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria had until recently been mostly active in the east, where the internationally recognized government is now based.

US aircraft strike IS drone in Iraq: officials Posted: 18 Mar 2015 12:04 PM PDT US warplanes have bombed a small drone used by Islamic State extremists in Iraq, marking the first time American-led forces had targeted an unmanned aircraft flown by the jihadists, officials said Wednesday. The strike took place on Tuesday near the western city of Fallujah, destroying "a remotely piloted aircraft" and a vehicle with the IS forces, according to a statement from the US military command overseeing the campaign against the group. The drone, used for battlefield surveillance, was "small-scale" and not a sophisticated aircraft equivalent to some US-made robotic planes that can fly at high altitudes or launch missiles, US defense officials said. After flying the drone for a short period, Islamic State militants placed it on a vehicle.

Canada PM says will extend and expand Iraq mission Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:44 AM PDT Canada's prime minister said Wednesday he will ask parliament next week to extend and broaden a six-month mission fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq due to wrap up next month. "Next week, it is the government's plan to move forward with a request to parliament for extension and expansion of the mission," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters. Canada also deployed 69 special forces troops to train Kurds in northern Iraq. A clash mid-January in which the Canadians came under mortar and machine gun fire while training Iraqi troops near the front lines, as well as a recent friendly fire death of a Canadian soldier, however, have underscored political divisions in Ottawa over the mission.

Annual death toll in conflicts rises sharply – research group Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:37 AM PDT A swell in violence across the Middle East and parts of Africa caused the death toll in war-torn countries to increase by more than 29 percent last year, according to a report released Wednesday.

U.S. military veteran unemployment easing, but still high Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:31 AM PDT Unemployment rates for U.S. military veterans fell last year, but joblessness among their ranks remains higher than the civilian population, a government report showed on Wednesday. The unemployment rate among veterans who joined the military after Sept. 11, 2001, fell to an average of 7.2 percent last year from 9 percent in 2013, the Labor Department said in the report. While the jobless rate has declined from a post-recession peak of 12 percent in 2011, it remains about 1 percentage point above the rate for the civilian population. "Even as we celebrate the good news in this report, we will continue to deploy this system with every ounce of urgency to make sure all veterans have the opportunity to secure a job that helps them support their families," Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said in a statement.

Canada prime minister to extend military mission in Iraq Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:24 AM PDT TORONTO (AP) — Canada's prime minister will present a plan to extend Canada's military mission in Iraq next week.

US says it struck Islamic State drone in Iraq Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:13 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military says it bombed an Islamic State drone aircraft in Iraq that was being used for battlefield surveillance.

Canada to extend, expand its mission against Islamic State: PM Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:12 AM PDT By Euan Rocha MISSISSAUGA, Ontario (Reuters) - Canada plans to extend and expand its mission against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Wednesday, saying Ottawa would provide more details next week. Canada has around 70 special forces operating in northern Iraq and has also provided six jets to take part in U.S.-led bombing missions against Islamic State. Foreign Minister Rob Nicholson said on Feb. 5 that Canadian forces would be involved in Iraq for the longer term.

Saudi forces wrap up major exercises on Iraqi border Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:09 AM PDT Border Guards and other interior ministry units have been conducting daily training as part of the "first joint tactical" exercise north of Arar city, the Saudi Press Agency reported. SPA said that one scenario involved repelling an attempt "to storm the border with vehicles." That exercise included 1,500 men from the Border Guards, the high-tech command and control centre, customs department and other agencies, SPA said. The northern border is guarded by a double-fence system and complementary radar and camera surveillance network stretching for hundreds of kilometres (miles).

French president calls for preservation of Iraq, Syria art Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:01 AM PDT PARIS (AP) — French president Francois Hollande has issued a call to preserve the cultural heritage threatened by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, after extremists have demolished relics and pillaged archaeological sites in both countries.

Tunisia tourist attack - LIVE REPORT Posted: 18 Mar 2015 09:59 AM PDT Tunis (AFP) - 16:54 GMT - AFP IS CLOSING THIS LIVE REPORT on the attack on Tunisia's national museum in which at least 19 people were killed. We leave you with a brief round-up of events:

Gunmen storm Tunisian museum, kill two Tunisians, 17 foreign tourists Posted: 18 Mar 2015 09:02 AM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Gunmen in military uniforms stormed Tunisia's national museum, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians on Wednesday in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that has largely escaped the region's "Arab Spring" turmoil. Visitors from Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain were among the dead in the noon assault on the Bardo museum near parliament in central Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Islamic State militants, who have become particularly active in neighbouring Libya, were behind the attack.

U.S. veteran pleads not guilty to trying to help Islamic State Posted: 18 Mar 2015 09:01 AM PDT By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Air Force veteran pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to trying to provide support for the Islamic State militant group. Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, of Neptune, New Jersey, entered his plea at a hearing in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis told attorneys to be ready for trial in July. If convicted, Pugh could face up to 35 years in prison.

U.S. wants Assad out, Germany says talks with him may be necessary Posted: 18 Mar 2015 08:33 AM PDT By Nick Tattersall and Stephen Brown ISTANBUL/BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States still wants a negotiated political settlement in Syria that excludes President Bashar al-Assad, according to a senior U.S. envoy, but Washington's close ally Germany said talks with the Damascus government might still be necessary. As German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosted talks of the coalition against Islamic State on Wednesday which included the U.S. special envoy John Allen, the pair appeared to contradict each other on how to handle Assad's government. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised concerns among Middle East allies who want Assad removed when he said on Sunday that the United States would have to negotiate with the Syrian president, who has been fighting Islamist and other rebels since 2011.

U.S., allies conduct 13 air strikes in Iraq, Syria Posted: 18 Mar 2015 08:25 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and coalition forces conducted 11 air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq during a 24-hour period, while U.S. forces led two air strikes in Syria, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. U.S. fighters attacked an Islamic State tunnel system and fighting position near Al Hasaka in Syria, and struck an Islamic State tactical unit and fighting position near Kobani, according to a statement. Most of the coalition air strikes in Iraq took place near Ramadi. ...

Iraq to make budget payment to Kurds within days: finance minister Posted: 18 Mar 2015 08:08 AM PDT By Maggie Fick BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's government will make a budget payment to Kurdish authorities "within days", the finance minister said, playing down concerns that an oil export deal that helped thaw bilateral relations could collapse. Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday the delay in what is meant to be a monthly transfer of over $1 billion from Baghdad in exchange for oil from the semi-autonomous region was due to a fiscal crisis rather than political factors. The minister, a Kurd, cited poor fiscal management, the costly battle against Islamic State militants, and the sharp fall in oil prices as reasons for the federal government's cash shortfall. Iraq's Kurdish region has been battling a financial crisis since Baghdad authorities cut budget payments in January 2014 as punishment for its attempts to export oil independently.

Wounded Warrior Project Participates in 2015 Brain Injury Awareness Day Posted: 18 Mar 2015 08:00 AM PDT Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is on Capitol Hill today for Brain Injury Awareness Day to encourage lawmakers, healthcare professionals, and the public to consider the questions that warriors with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), their caregivers, and their families face every day. WWP's Independence Services programs – the Independence Program (IP) and the Long-Term Support Trust (LTST) – focus on providing long-term support to service members and veterans living with moderate-to-severe TBIs, spinal cord injuries, or other neurological conditions. The Independence Program helps warriors design their own path from surviving to thriving, and the Long-Term Support Trust was established to ensure supplemental services including life-skills training, home care, transportation, and additional resources can remain available to the most seriously wounded, ill, or injured warriors in the event their caregivers are no longer able to provide care and support. For warriors like Matt, community-based support and rehabilitation are critical on the road to recovery.

Sweden security forces fear Russian military operations Posted: 18 Mar 2015 06:48 AM PDT By Anna Ringstrom STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's security services said on Wednesday they feared possible Russian military operations against their country following an increase in espionage activity since the Ukraine crisis erupted a year ago. In their annual report, the security services identified Russian espionage as the biggest intelligence threat facing neutral Sweden, which along with the wider Baltic region has seen a sharp increase in Russian naval and airforce activity over the past year. "We see Russian intelligence operations in Sweden - we can't interpret this in any other way - as preparation for military operations against Sweden," security police chief analyst Wilhelm Unge told a news conference.

Gunmen attack Tunisian museum, kill seven tourists: government official Posted: 18 Mar 2015 06:44 AM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked Tunisia's national museum near its parliament on Wednesday, killing at least seven tourists and taking others hostage inside the building, the government said. Security forces were surrounding at least two militants in the Bardo museum, a venue in central Tunis on the parliament grounds that is a popular site for visiting foreigners, the interior ministry spokesman said. Tunisian authorities did not release any details on the nationalities of the hostages. The spokesman for the interior ministry said seven tourists and one Tunisian had been killed.

Iraq Sunni province key to taking Mosul from Islamic State Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:53 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Sunni province of Anbar is key to launching the long-awaited operation to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group, the country's defense minister said Wednesday.

Gunmen attack Tunisian parliament, may have taken hostages - local radio Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:23 AM PDT Gunmen attacked Tunisia's parliament building on Wednesday, and security forces were surrounding two militants who may have taken hostages in a nearby museum, media and a government official said. Exchanges of gunfire first rang out from the parliament building around midday, TAP state news agency reported, and state television said there had been a number of casualties. The attackers may have taken hostages in the nearby Bardo museum, private station Radio Mosaique reported, though that was not confirmed by authorities. Tunisia's armed forces are fighting Islamist militants who emerged after the country's 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

Assyrians struggle in Lebanon after fleeing IS jihadists Posted: 18 Mar 2015 04:41 AM PDT Waiting in an aid line outside Lebanon's capital Beirut, Assyrian Christian Francie Yaacoub remembers the well-stocked home she left behind in Syria as she fled advancing Islamic State group jihadists. She is one of hundreds of Assyrian Christians who have arrived in Lebanon in recent weeks after IS jihadists stormed their villages in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakeh. Members of Lebanon's Assyrian community, many of them related to those who fled Hasakeh, are doing their best to welcome the new refugees, but the displacement has left them traumatised.

Three Iraqis dead in explosion near Kuwaiti border: Kuwaiti news agency Posted: 18 Mar 2015 03:58 AM PDT Three Iraqis were killed on Wednesday when a booby-trapped truck exploded in Iraq near the border with Kuwait, Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported. Police sources in Iraq said the victims were civilians who died in an explosion from a truck trailer parked in a rest area some 10 km north of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. A witness said the explosion occurred in the morning aboard a trailer truck with license plates from Anbar province in western Iraq, where militants from the Islamic State operate. The witness, who identified himself as Abu Ziad, said he was eating breakfast with other drivers at the rest area when a driver pulled in, disconnected the trailer and drove away.

How Iran Is Taking Over the Middle East Posted: 18 Mar 2015 03:15 AM PDT Then, 47 Republican senators wrote to the Iranian leadership to tell them that Congress will need to approve any deal Obama may make with Tehran over its nuclear program. Finally, we had a senior advisor to the Iranian president saying that Iran has become a Middle Eastern empire whose capital is Baghdad. As U.S. politicians argue about how best to squelch Iran's nuclear ambitions, the regime in Tehran is exerting itself in other ways, winning powerful influence in neighboring Iraq and across the Middle East. In the contest for regional dominance with the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran's Shiites have extended their reach and created what has been called an "arc of power" or a Shia crescent.

Netanyahu owes win to jitters over Iran-Gulf official Posted: 18 Mar 2015 02:34 AM PDT Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu owes his election win to Israeli security fears, notably about Iran's growing regional influence, said an official of a Gulf Arab government wary of Tehran's progress towards a nuclear deal with world powers. "With Iran emerging again, it was highly expected that Netanyahu would win," said the Gulf Arab official, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. "He's a man who believes strongly in protecting his people, and this is what Israel wants now." The Gulf Arab states, led by dominant Gulf Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia, see Shi'ite Iran as their main regional rival and fear an atomic deal could lead to Tehran developing a nuclear weapon, or could ease political pressure on it, giving it more space to back Arab proxies opposed by Riyadh.

House GOP’s Creative Accounting Lifts Defense Budget Posted: 18 Mar 2015 02:15 AM PDT Republican House Budget Committee members on Tuesday technically made good on what they pledged: They preserved statutory caps on defense spending over the strong objections of President Obama and many GOP defense hawks on Capitol Hill. Congressional Republicans have been bitterly divided over whether to stick with discretionary spending limits imposed on defense and domestic programs by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Many have argued persuasively that the world has become too dangerous for the Defense Department to operate under tight budgetary restrictions, even if it means adding to the deficit. While acknowledging, "Our nation, our allies and our interests at home and around the world are threatened by radical Islamic terrorists," the Budget Committee Republicans also declared in their budget document, "It would be irresponsible to promise our military leaders and our troops" a certain level of funding.

Iraq forces looted, burned after breaking IS siege: HRW Posted: 18 Mar 2015 12:32 AM PDT Iraqi troops and militia looted and burned homes and destroyed villages after breaking the Islamic State group's months-long siege of a Turkmen town last August, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. "Following the operations to end the Amerli siege, pro-government militias and volunteer fighters as well as Iraqi security forces raided Sunni villages and neighbourhoods around Amerli in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces," the New York-based group said in a report. "During the raids, militiamen, volunteer fighters and Iraqi security forces looted possessions of civilians who fled fighting during the onslaught on Amerli, burned homes and businesses of the villages' Sunni residents," HRW said. They also "used explosives and heavy equipment to destroy individual buildings or entire villages," it added.

Rubio willing to defy European allies on possible Iran deal Posted: 18 Mar 2015 12:26 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says that if elected president, he would "absolutely" defy stalwart European allies if necessary in order to revoke an Iranian nuclear deal he might inherit from President Barack Obama.

IS extremism fight may take a generation: Australia Posted: 17 Mar 2015 11:24 PM PDT The battle against the Islamic State group's extremism may last a generation, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has warned, likening the jihadists to fanatical followers of Adolf Hitler. Bishop said while it could be rationalised why those with long criminal histories, mental illness and drug abusers would travel to a battlefield, it was more difficult to understand why young men would want to "drag the world back to the Dark Ages".

Militias destroy Iraqi villages, displace thousands: rights group Posted: 17 Mar 2015 09:06 PM PDT By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Iraqi Shi'ite militias unleashed a campaign of "deliberate and wanton destruction" as they rampaged through dozens of villages last year after driving Islamic State fighters out of the northern town of Amerli, rights activists said on Wednesday. The militias, along with Iraqi security forces and volunteer fighters, ransacked, torched, bulldozed and blew up thousands of Sunni homes and businesses, Human Rights Watch said. Shi'ite militias have teamed up with Iraqi government forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters to dislodge Islamic State, the hardline Sunni Islamist group which has seized swathes of northern and central Iraq.

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