Iraq's prime minister says the Islamic State militant group’s leader in Iraq was killed in a military operation along with eight of the group’s other senior leaders.

Residents of Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region are going to the polls in long-awaited parliamentary elections under the shadow of ongoing rivalries, economic instability, and unresolved disputes with Baghdad.

The U.S. has announced an agreement with the Iraqi government to wrap up the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by next year.

Iran’s new president has slammed the West, saying that Israel is “committing massacres” in the war in Gaza and is using European and American weapons to do so.

Iraqi security officials have said an explosion targeted a site used by the U.S. military next to the Baghdad airport, one day before an expected visit by the Iranian president.

A top Kremlin official says Turkey has formally applied for a membership in the BRICS bloc of developing economies as Russia and China seek to counter the West's global influence.

A top U.N. counterterrorism official has told the Security Council that a vast stretch of Africa could fall under the control of groups affiliated with the Islamic State group and affiliated terrorist groups.

The Iraqi government has announced an official ban on a Kurdish separatist group which has been engaged in a long-running conflict with Turkey.

Turkmenistan and Iran have signed a contract for the delivery of 10 billion cubic meters a year of Turkmen gas that Iran will then ship to Iraq.

The Turkish president has criticized the Eurovision Song Contest, accusing the annual event of allegedly encouraging “gender neutralization” and threatening the traditional family.

One of Europe’s most notorious human smugglers has been arrested in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, security officials said.

Iraqi authorities are investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer who was shot by an armed motorcyclist in front of her home in central Baghdad.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is making his first official visit to Iraq in more than a decade as Ankara seeks greater cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against a Kurdish militant group that has a foothold in Iraq's north.

The White House says President Joe Biden plans to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani next month.

The U.S. military says a U.S. drone strike blew up a car in the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing a high-ranking commander of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia who is responsible for “directly planning and participating in attacks” on American troops in the region.

Iraq's prime minister says his government and the United States have held a first session of formal talks in Baghdad aimed at winding down the mission of a U.S.-led military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq.

The United States and Iraq will soon begin talks to wind down the mission of a U.S.-led military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Palestinian militants have battled Israeli forces in devastated northern Gaza and launched a barrage of rockets from further south.

Officials say an airstrike on the logistical support headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad has killed a high-ranking militia commander.

Baghdad’s streets are nearly empty on Monday, the main day of polling in the country’s first provincial elections in a decade.

Iraqis have begun voting for the first time in a decade to select new provincial council members, who in turn will appoint governors, with the outcome seen as a bellwether for the parliamentary elections due to take place in 2025.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say a rocket attack at the sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has caused minor damage but no casualties.

The Biden administration has extended by four months a sanctions waiver that will allow Iraq to continue to purchase electricity from Iran.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought his diplomatic push on the Israel-Hamas war to the occupied West Bank and then to Iraq.

Iraq is stepping up repatriation of its citizens from a camp in northeastern Syria housing tens of thousands of people, mostly wives and children of Islamic State fighters but also supporters of the militant group.

The United Nations’ human rights chief has warned that Iraq’s water crisis could affect other countries in the region.

An Iraqi airline says it's not to blame for a bear's escape from a crate in the cargo hold of one of its planes in Dubai.

Denmark’s foreign minister says the government will seek to make it illegal to desecrate the Quran or other holy books in front of foreign embassies.

Dozens of people have protested in front of the Central Bank of Iraq in Baghdad and bank owners called for official action to stem a sharp increase in the dollar exchange rate.

Protesters angered by an Iraqi man in Sweden who threatened to burn a copy of the Quran stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad.

An Iraqi government spokesman says Baghdad has opened an investigation into the case of a dual Israeli-Russian academic who has been missing in Iraq since last March.

Hundreds of followers of the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada Sadr have briefly stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad in protest of the burning of a Quran in Sweden.

The U.N. chief is decrying the “terrible truth” that the world is failing to live up to its commitments to protect a growing number of civilians caught in conflicts.

Officials say an agreement has been reached to resume oil exports from Iraq’s northern Kurdish region through a pipeline to Turkey.

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in Baghdad to denounce a draft elections law that would increase the size of the country’s electoral districts.

Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid says he wants the world to know that his country now is at peace, nearly 20 years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Thousands of black-clad pilgrims from across Iraq are taking part in an annual procession marking the death of a Shiite saint.

Iraqi authorities have reopened Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in an attempt to ease traffic jams in the capital.

Iraq's prime minister has ordered a crackdown on local businesses operating under the names of international brands without legal permission.

Multiple Iraqi officials have told The Associated Press that Baghdad-mediated talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia have come to a halt.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a televised address has praised paramilitary volunteers tasked with quashing dissent.

Security sources and a local government official say Islamic State group militants attacked an Iraqi army position in the northwestern governorate of Kirkuk killing four soldiers.

Multiple Iraqi and Kurdish officials say a senior Iranian military official has threatened Iraq with an unprecedented ground military operation if Baghdad does not disarm Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and fortify its shared borders with Iran.

Two police officials say assailants shot dead an American aid worker in Baghdad in a rare killing of a foreigner in the Iraqi capital in recent years, The man was shot as he drove through the capital's central Karrada district on the east bank of the Tigris River but the reason for the killing was not immediately clear.

Four security officers have been wounded as four rockets landed in Baghdad's Green Zone government area.

Iraqi security officials say four militiamen have been killed in reprisal attacks between rival Shiite militia groups.

Armed supporters of a powerful Iraqi cleric who clashed with security forces in the capital have begun to withdraw from the streets.

Iraq’s caretaker prime minister has warned that the political crisis in the country is threatening security achievements made in past years.

Iraq’s top judicial body says it doesn't have the authority to dissolve the country’s parliament.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have held a mass prayer called for by an influential Shiite cleric in Baghdad, a highly symbolic move amid an unprecedented political crisis roiling Iraq.

Thousands of Shiites gathered in Baghdad for a counter-rally called by Iran-backed groups against their rival, an influential cleric whose followers are staging a sit-in inside the Iraqi parliament, have left the area.

A retired British geologist jailed in Iraq for antiquities smuggling has been freed and has left the country.

Hundreds of followers of an influential Shiite cleric are camped out inside Iraq's parliament after toppling security walls around the building and storming in the previous day.

Thousands of followers of an influential Shiite cleric have stormed into Iraq's parliament to protest government formation efforts led by his rivals from Iran-backed groups.

Followers of Iraq's influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr came by the thousands to storm the country's parliament at his command, and they rapidly dispersed with little violence.

Hundreds of Iraqi protesters have breached Baghdad’s parliament, chanting anti-Iran curses in a demonstration against a nominee for prime minister by Iran-backed parties.

The lawyer for a British geologist sentenced to 15 years in prison says an Iraqi court has overturned the conviction and he will soon be free.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis are attending a mass prayer in Baghdad called for by an influential Shiite cleric.

Iraqi lawmakers have passed a bill criminalizing any normalization of ties and any relations, including business ties, with Israel.

The FBI is alleging that an ISIS operative in the United States plotted to assassinate George W. Bush, NBC reports.

A sandstorm has blanketed parts of the Middle East including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

An Iraqi court has postponed the trial of two European tourists charged with antiquities smuggling after their lawyers argued more information was needed about the ancient shards found in their possession.

Iraqi merchants say they have no choice but adapt as the latest in an unrelenting series of intense sandstorms swept their country.

Hundreds of Iraqis have rushed to hospitals with breathing problems and the Baghdad airport suspended flights for several hours as a sandstorm blanketed the country, the fifth within a month.

War kept him away from his beloved homeland for decades.

Members of the Islamic State group have launched two sophisticated, deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq, including an attempt to break into a prison where suspected extremists are being held by U.S.-backed fighters.

Iraq’s new parliament has reelected its speaker for a second term, the first step toward forming a new government after a general election whose results have been contested by powerful Iran-backed factions.

The U.S. and the Iraqi military say Katyusha rockets have struck Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. troops at Baghdad’s international airport and in the western Anbar province.

Hundreds of people chanting anti-American slogans have rallied in the Iraqi capital to mark the anniversary of the killing of a powerful Iranian general and a top Iraqi militia leader in a U.S. drone strike.

A small clay tablet dating back 3,500 years and bearing a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh that was looted from an Iraqi museum during the 1991 Gulf War has returned to Iraq.

Troops and patrols have deployed around Baghdad following the failed assassination attempt with armed drones that targeted Iraq’s prime minister in his residence.

The Iraqi government says Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has survived an assassination attempt with an armed drone and is unharmed.

Pro-Iran Shiite militias that emerged as the biggest losers in Iraq's parliamentary elections three weeks ago are still rejecting the outcome of the vote.

Preliminary results in Iraq's elections show an alliance of pro-Iran candidates emerging as the biggest loser in the country's national elections.

Iraq’s elections on Sunday come with enormous challenges: Iraq’s economy has been battered by years of conflict, endemic corruption and more recently, the coronavirus pandemic.

Iraqi security forces are casting ballots, two days before the rest of the nation votes in parliamentary elections.

Iraq's government says over 17,000 pieces of priceless antiquities have been recovered from the United States and other countries and handed over to the culture ministry.

The European Union’s top migration official is urging member nations to help Lithuania boost surveillance on its border with Belarus and not to give in to political pressure from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Iraq’s prime minister says his country no longer requires U.S. combat troops to fight the Islamic State group.

Iraqi medical officials say a roadside bomb attack has targeted a Baghdad suburb, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens of others at a crowded market.

The leader of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia has vowed to retaliate against America for the deaths of four of his men in a U.S. airstrike along the Iraq-Syria border last month.

News of the death of former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has hit far differently in Baghdad than in the U.S. capital.

Iraq's oil minister says the country's oil sector is rebounding after a catastrophic year triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, with key investment projects on the horizon.

Clashes between security forces and protesters have left one person dead after hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets in Baghdad to protest a rise in targeted killings of prominent activists and journalists.

The top U.S. general for Africa says a growing military threat from China may well come from America’s east, as Beijing looks to establish a large navy port capable of hosting submarines or aircraft carriers on the Atlantic coast of Africa.

A first round of direct talks between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran signal a possible de-escalation following years of animosity that has often spilled over into neighboring countries.

Khodeir Majid, who covered Iraq’s numerous conflicts as a video producer and cameraman for The Associated Press for over 17 years, has died at the age of 64.

Iraq’s top judicial council says a retired judge who presided over the trial of the late dictator Saddam Hussein has died after battling the coronavirus.

Also on Wednesday, a grenade was tossed near the Imam Bridge in Baghdad, killing a woman and wounding 11 pilgrims. The bridge is located on the Tigris River, connecting the predominately Sunni Adhamiya area to Kadhimiya, which is mostly Shiite. The event usually draws millions of pilgrims from around the world each year to Baghdad, to visit the gold-domed shrine containing the imam’s resting place. AdMeanwhile, case numbers are climbing, with new infections surpassing a rate set six months ago. A visit to Iraq by Pope Francis, which ended on Monday, drew concerns as infectious disease experts had questioned the wisdom of such a trip given Iraq’s rising virus case numbers.

Francis said the idea of a trip “cooks over time in my conscience,” and that the pandemic was the issue that weighed most heavily on him. Francis, the Vatican delegation and traveling media were vaccinated against COVID-19, while most Iraqis haven't been. Francis said he wasn’t sure if he would have to slow down his usual whirlwind pace on future trips. Otherwise, the only other trip Francis has promised to make is to Lebanon, though he offered no time frame. He said the country's patriarch had asked him to add a Beirut leg onto his Iraq trip but that he had declined, thinking it would be like tossing the country “crumbs," given all Lebanon’s current problems.

Pope Francis celebrates mass at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Irbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Sunday, March 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)IRBIL – Pope Francis urged Iraq’s Christians on Sunday to forgive the injustices against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches and met ecstatic crowds in the community’s historic heartland, which was nearly erased by the Islamic State group’s horrific reign. Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, was at the heart of the IS so-called “caliphate” and witnessed the worst of the group’s rule inflicted on Muslims, Christians and others, including beheadings and mass killings. Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, became IS’s bureaucratic and financial backbone. Things are difficult for those living here.”At Qaraqosh, Francis urged its residents to continue to dream, and forgive.

Pope Francis, center arrives to concelebrate a mass in the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Francis honored Iraq’s persecuted Christians by celebrating Mass on Saturday at the Chaldean Catholic cathedral in Baghdad. ___6:30 p.m.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he is pleased to see the historic visit by Pope Francis to Iraq. Iraqi and Vatican church officials had promised social distancing and other health measures would be enforced during Francis’ four-day visit to Iraq, especially at his indoor events. Francis’ interfaith meeting in Ur came after his historic encounter in nearby Najaf with Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Women wait outside the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 6, 2021, where Pope Francis, depicted on a giant poster at their back, is concelebrating a mass. AdTogether, the day’s events gave symbolic and practical punch to the central message of Francis’ visit, calling for Iraq to embrace its diversity. Al-Sistani is one of the most senior clerics in Shiite Islam, deeply revered among Shiites in Iraq and worldwide. Later, Pope Francis evoked the common reverence for Abraham to speak against religious violence at the inter-faith gathering at the Plains of Ur, near the southern city of Nasiriyah. Associated Press journalists Anmar Khalil in Najaf, Iraq, and Samya Kullab in Baghdad contributed.

Pope Francis delivers his speech during a meeting with bishops and priests, at the Sayidat al-Nejat (Our Lady of Salvation) Cathedral, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 5, 2021. The pontiff’s landmark visit has been months in the making and is the first papal visit to Iraq, one that eluded his predecessors. The Alitalia flight, with both Vatican and Iraqi flags, carrying the pope and his delegation landed just before 2 p.m. (1100GMT). Dozens of Christians are gathering at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Baghdad hours before Pope Francis was due to land in Iraq for a first papal visit to the war-weary country. The papal visit has raised alarm among public health experts, who fear large crowds will inevitably gather to see the pope.

Pope Francis is welcomed upon his arrival at the Sayidat al-Nejat (Our Lady of Salvation) Cathedral, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 5, 2021. Pope Francis has arrived in Iraq to urge the country's dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns. They received a further blow when IS in 2014 swept through northern Iraq, including traditionally Christian towns across the Nineveh plains. Few have returned — estimates suggest there are fewer than 300,000 Christians still in Iraq and many of those remain displaced from their homes. Many Iraqi Christians cannot find work and blame discriminatory practices in the public sector, Iraq’s largest employer.

Iraq was estimated to have more than 1 million Christians before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Iraq was estimated to have nearly 1.5 million Christians before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. AdHere’s a look at disasters Iraq’s Christians have endured, from Saddam's ouster to the brutal campaign by Islamic State militants:U.S. It was the deadliest single assault ever recorded against Iraq’s Christians. To this day, the memory of the massacre is etched in the minds of Iraq’s Christian community.

Iraqi Christians have gathered for mass in the same church that just a week before was the scene of a horrific bloodbath that left scores dead and wounded. The trip will include a private meeting with Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a revered figure in Iraq and beyond. AdShamasha says Francis will be welcomed by those who stayed, even though his message of interfaith harmony is sometimes difficult for Iraqi Christians to hear. Francis is going to Iraq precisely to encourage these Christians to persevere and remain, and to emphasize that they have an important role to play in rebuilding Iraq. Iraqi Christians were believed to number around 1.4 million in 2003.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi speaks during the opening ceremony of the American University in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)BAGHDAD – From afar, the sprawling complex of the newly inaugurated American University in Baghdad appears like a floating mirage. Government officials maintain that the American University in Baghdad, which opened this week, is critical to shoring up the country’s flailing state of higher education. Liberal arts is a novel concept in Iraq, Mulnix said. Most of the students have very basic English skills, not enough to meet the rigorous demands of the university, Mulnix said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi speaks during the opening ceremony of the American University in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)BAGHDAD – From afar, the sprawling complex of the newly inaugurated American University in Baghdad appears like a floating mirage. Government officials maintain that the American University in Baghdad, which opened this week, is critical to shoring up the country’s flailing state of higher education. Liberal arts is a novel concept Iraq, Mulnix said. Most of the students have very basic English skills, not enough to meet the rigorous demands of the university, Mulnix said.

FILE - in this Sunday, April 14, 2019 file photo, Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako addresses the faithful during the Palm Sunday service at Mar Youssif Church in Baghdad, Iraq. The Chaldean patriarch, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, provided the first details of Francis’ March 5-8 itinerary during a virtual news conference hosted by the French bishops' conference. The Vatican has confirmed the visit, but it still could be called off given the coronavirus pandemic. Sako dismissed the significance of the bombing on the overall security situation in Iraq and said, “There is no risk for the pope." Francis and the Vatican delegation will have been vaccinated by the time of the trip.