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FORT THOMAS — For the second time in two years, an Iraqi jet crashed during a training mission above the Arizona desert, killing its pilot. According to 1st Lt. Lacey Roberts, public information officer with the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard, an F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed in Fort Thomas at about 3 p.m. The crash was in the vicinity of Blackrock Road, near the shooting range. “The pilot was doing a routine training mission in that area,” Roberts told Eastern Arizona Courier. Cause of the crash has not yet been released. An interim safety investigation board has...

Linda Wenzel, 16, who disappeared from Pulsnitz near Dresden in Germany on July 1 last year, was detained in Iraq, along with other female supporters of the group, after the Battle of Mosul, which saw ISIS fighters forced out of the ancient city. The new video shows a distraught Wenzel with her arms secured by armed men being escorted through the streets amid a crowd of cheering Iraqis. Lorenz Haase, senior public prosecutor in Dresden, confirmed the teenager had been “located and identified in Iraq”. Wenzel, who is thought to have converted to Islam after being groomed on social media,...

Earlier on Saturday, a military spokesman said the insurgents' defense lines were collapsing, state television reported. "We are seeing now the last meters (yards) and then final victory will be announced," a presenter said, citing correspondents embedded with security forces fighting in Islamic State's redoubt in the Old City by the Tigris. "It's a matter of hours," she added.

Iraqi government forces battling Islamic State for Mosul took control of a main bridge over the Tigris river on Wednesday and advanced towards the mosque where the group’s leader declared a caliphate in 2014... troops fought street-by-street against an enemy using suicide car bombs, mortar and sniper fire, and grenade-dropping drones to defend what was once their main stronghold... troops on Wednesday took control over the Dor al-Sikak and al-Nafut areas, site of the militants’ main weapons stores in Mosul just west of the Old City.

At least 90 Iraqi soldiers have lost their lives when fighter jets from the United States Air Force (USAF) mistakenly struck their position in Mosul as government forces and allied fighters are trying to flush Daesh terrorists out of the strategic northern city. An Iraqi army source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Arabic service of Russia’s Sputnik news agency on Saturday that the airstrike had targeted soldiers from the 9th Armored Division of the Iraqi army the previous day, destroying eight infantry fighting vehicles as well as four Humvee military trucks. Some 100 soldiers were also wounded as...

Church bells ring out in the Iraqi town of Bartella for the first time in years. As Iraqi forces continue their offensive against the ISIS-held city of Mosul, reports and images of the re-capturing of a string of villages and towns outside the city have hit the international media. Video aired on France 24 shows a group of Christian militia fighters from Bartella, a town 13 miles east of Mosul, returning home after having been driven out by ISIS two years ago. Their first actions on entering their village? Erecting a cross, ringing the church bells for the first time...

VideoNear Mosul, Iraq (CNN)Iraq's military says it has inflicted "heavy losses of life and equipment" on ISIS in a district southeast of Mosul, as Iraqi-led forces close in on the city in the long-awaited battle to recapture it from the terror group. Hours after the beginning of the offensive, Iraq's military said it had inflicted losses and made advances in the Hamdaniya district, while Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, said "we have achieved a lot of success so far."

ISIS is suspected of firing a shell with mustard agent that landed at the Qayyara air base in Iraq Tuesday where US and Iraqi troops are operating, according to several US officials. The shell was categorized by officials as either a rocket or artillery shell. After it landed on the base, just south of Mosul, US troops tested it and received an initial reading for a chemical agent they believe is mustard. No US troops were hurt or have displayed symptoms of exposure to mustard agent. One official said the agent had "low purity" and was "poorly weaponized." A second...

Iraqi special forces swept into Fallujah on Friday, recapturing most of the city as the Islamic State group's grip crumbled after weeks of fighting.

The Iraqi Army has declared on Saturday the start of an operation to liberate Fallujah’s city center, considered to be ISIS stronghold in the western province of Anbar, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces deployed on the edge of Fallujah Saturday for the first time since an operation was launched to retake the militants-held city, top commanders said. The counter-terrorism service (CTS), Iraq’s best-trained and most battle-tested fighting unit, moved into position on the boundaries of Fallujah. “CTS forces, Anbar emergency police and tribal fighters... reached Tareq and Mazraa camps” south and east of Fallujah, Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the...

Five ISIS militants had their tongues cut off by their own fighters after they tried to flee Fallujah amid a military operation to recapture the Iraqi city. The terror group has led a brutal and desperate crackdown on deserters after government forces launched a massive offensive on its Iraqi stronghold. Sources inside the city said five of its members had their tongues hacked out after being sentenced by a sharia court.

The Iraqi government said the long-awaited battle to recapture the city of Fallujah began in the early hours of Monday. Video published online overnight purportedly shows heavy bombardment of the city before the advance of ground troops. Prime Minister Haider al Abadi made a televised announcement that the operation had begun, vowing that Iraqi forces would "tear up the black flags" of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Fallujah. Backed up by U.S. and coalition airstrikes, a combination of Iraqi troops, police and Shiite militias made early progress, pushing ISIS militants back out of the farmland surrounding...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 9, 2008 – Most American soldiers serving in Iraq count down the days to when they can pack up their bags and return home. But for one soldier serving in Multinational Division Baghdad’s 18th Military Police Brigade, returning home meant deploying to Iraq. Army Spc. Emad Jadan, left, an interpreter with Multinational Division Baghdad’s 18th Military Police Brigade, translates Arabic to English and vice versa at a ceremony to honor fallen Iraqi police officers at the Baghdad Provincial Directorate of Police headquarters station, Sept. 23, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Daniel Blottenberger  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

BAGHDAD - A company of government troops in Sadr City retreated when they came under attack from Shiite militiamen who used the cover of a sandstorm, police said Friday. The clashes overnight killed two people and injured nine, a police commander said. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release the information, said it was unclear whether there were any casualties among the soldiers. The reports of the latest setback for the Iraqi army come after government officials acknowledged that during fighting last month against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra,...

In one of the new joint American-Iraqi security stations in the capital this month, in the volatile Ghazaliya neighborhood, Capt. Darren Fowler was heaping praise on his Iraqi counterparts for helping capture three insurgent suspects who had provided information he believed would save American lives. “The detainee gave us names from the highest to the lowest,” Captain Fowler told the Iraqi soldiers. “He showed us their safe houses, where they store weapons and I.E.D.’s and where they keep kidnap victims, how they get weapons, where weapons come from, how they place I.E.D.’s, attack us and go away. Because you detained...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops detained more than a dozen people they suspect made roadside bombs and destroyed a bomb-making facility in a series of raids, the U.S. military said Sunday. The operations took place last week but were reported Sunday by the military. Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces searched 33 homes and detained 82 people Tuesday near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Sixty-nine of those captured were released after questioning. The 13 who remain in custody were accused of planting roadside bombs, the statement said. Two more suspects were...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday. The battalion, made up of 700 to 800 Iraqi Army soldiers, has repeatedly been offered by the U.S. as an example of the growing independence of the Iraqi military. The competence of the Iraqi military has been cited as a key factor in when U.S. troops will be able to return home. "As we see more of these Iraqi forces in the lead, we will be able...

BAQOUBA, Iraq -- Joint Iraqi and U.S. security forces foiled an attempt by terrorists to ambush a truck delivering ballots to the nearby city of Muqtadiya yesterday, one in a series of attacks ahead of tomorrow's vote on a permanent constitution. A decoy convoy -- disguised to look like it was carrying ballots from the Iraqi Electoral Commission and heavily armed with Iraqi forces -- drew fire from terrorists hiding in a palm grove outside of Baqouba at midday. Unknown to the enemy, three ordinary pickup trucks carrying the real ballots already were delivering the precious cargo to the city...

The car bombs killing troops and civilians in Iraq have grown more sophisticated as insurgents gain training and financing across the border in Syria, defense officials say. The officials estimate that improvised explosive devices (IEDs), both roadside and car-borne, now account for 50 percent of all daily attacks, or "contacts," in Iraq. When the IED attacks began in full force in late 2003, most bombs were made of artillery and mortar shells. But lately, the coalition is discovering more sophisticated bombs made of a mix of explosives, some of which include penetrating warheads to kill people inside buildings. At the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Attackers laying in wait for Iraqi troops detonated a roadside bomb on the dangerous road leading to Baghdad's airport Sunday, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 11. American troops took the Iraqi wounded to a U.S. aid station and waited while they were treated. Iraqi soldiers wept and hugged their U.S. comrades. Elsewhere, U.S. forces clashed with insurgents in Samarra, striking back with helicopter gunships after guerrillas fired mortars into a residential neighborhood. U.S. 1st Infantry Division spokesman Maj. Neal O'Brien said at least four insurgents were killed. Also Sunday, the Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera...