ISIS militants have closed the streets around Mosul's Grand al-Nuri Mosque, residents said, apparently in preparation for a final showdown in the battle over their last major stronghold in Iraq. Dozens of fighters were seen by residents taking up positions in the past 48 hours around...

( The Guardian )- A 12-year-old Victorian girl was killed in a car bomb explosion in Baghdad on Tuesday as she lined up at a popular ice-cream parlour to break fast for Ramadan. The girl, a year seven student from Thomastown in Melbourne, was in the Iraqi capital with her family to visit her...

Two policemen were wounded when a bomb exploded in Awamiya in eastern Saudi Arabia, where many of the country's Shi'ite Muslim minority live, state news agency SPA reported Tuesday. Monday's attack was the second in two weeks targeting security forces deployed to guard workers busy razing...

A car bomb exploded outside a popular ice cream shop in central Baghdad just after midnight Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding 24, hospital and police officials said. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which Iraqi officials said involved apparently remotely detonated explosives...