New attacks in Iraq kill 5 Sunni militiamen.

New attacks in Iraq kill 5 Sunni militiamen.

Iraqi boys look inside of a destroyed vehicle the day after a car bomb
attack near an outdoor market in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, Iraq, Friday, May 16, 2014. Bombings and shootings

BAGHDAD | AP | 16 may 2014 : :  Separate attacks in Iraq killed five members of an anti-militant Sunni militia on Friday as an al-Qaida splinter group claimed responsibility for a spate of Baghdad bombings that killed at least 19 people the day before.

Insurgents frequently attack members of the Sunni militia, also known as Sahwa, which joined forces with U.S. troops at the height of the Iraq war to fight al-Qaida.

In one of Friday's attacks, gunmen opened fire from a speeding car, targeting a security checkpoint manned by anti-al-Qaida Sunni fighters near the town of Balad, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Three Sunni fighters were killed and four were wounded in that attack, police officials said.

Hours later, a roadside bomb targeted a patrol of Sunni militiamen just north of Baghdad, killing two fighters and wounding four.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to media.

Also Friday, in a statement posted on a militant website, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said it had carried out attacks in the Iraqi capital the day before in retaliation for the military operations against the city of Fallujah in western Anbar province. Fallujah has been in the hands of the Islamic State and other Sunni insurgents since last December.

Thursday's violence included bombings near several government offices and an outdoor market in Baghdad.

The statement's authenticity could not be independently verified but it appeared on websites commonly used by the group.

"We tell the spiteful Shiites and their government... that our lions are craving the taste of your flesh and blood," it said.

Iraq has seen a spike in violence since April 2013, with the death toll climbing to its highest levels since the worst of the country's sectarian bloodletting in 2006-2008. The United Nations says violence killed 8,868 people in 2013. ( Courtesy : Yahoo News ) 

Russian embassy in Libya attacked.

Russian embassy in Libya attacked.

Watch footage of the aftermath of the attack on the Russian embassy

04 Oct 2013 :: Gunmen have attacked the Russian embassy in Libya, according to the Russian foreign ministry.

The unidentified attackers shot at the Tripoli compound and tried to force entry, officials said.

A BBC journalist at the scene said the situation has now calmed down and security forces have arrived.

Officials said the attackers climbed the walls of the premises from three different directions.

The BBC understands the protesters were reacting to the recent alleged killing of a Libyan by a Russian woman.

"The group attacked the compound as an act of revenge," a security source told Reuters news agency.

Libya has been hit by many targeted killings of activists and security agents in recent months.

An attack last year on a US compound in the city of Benghazi killed four people, including the US ambassador.

In April, a car bomb outside the French embassy in Tripoli injured two French guards and a number of residents.

A car bomb was found outside the Italian embassy in June, while the UK withdrew some embassy staff in May over security concerns.(Courtesy:BBC News)

Iraqi Shia family targeted in deadly attack.

Iraqi Shia family targeted in deadly attack.

BBC News | 04 Sep 2013 :: An attack on a Shia Muslim family living near Baghdad has left at least 16 people dead, Iraqi officials say.

Six children and five women were among those killed when the neighbouring homes of two brothers in the town of Latifiya, 40km (25 miles) south of the capital, were targeted overnight.

A survivor said the gunmen shot anyone they saw before blowing up the houses.

Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008.

More than 800 people were killed in August alone, with Baghdad province worst affected.

Latifiya is in a religiously-mixed region that came to be known as the "Triangle of Death" at the peak of Iraq's insurgency in 2006 and 2007.

No group said it was behind the latest attack, but Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda frequently target the country's Shia majority.

"Gunmen broke into our house overnight and shot my father four times in the head, they killed my two brothers, they killed my cousin, they were shooting everyone they saw, I escaped from the back door," one of the survivors, Haneen Mudhhir, told Reuters news agency from hospital.(Courtesy:BBC News)

Gunmen attack Egyptian police station in Sinai.

Gunmen attack Egyptian police station in Sinai.

Two dead, six wounded in Islamist terrorist raid on security post near Gaza border

10 Jul 2013 :: Islamist gunmen attacked a police station in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula early Wednesday morning, killing two and injuring six in the latest flare-up of violence in the increasingly chaotic border region.

According to Reuters, the attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades and firearms at the building, but AFP said mortars and machine guns struck the Central Security Forces outpost. It was not clear whether the casualties in the attack were military personnel.

Other simultaneous attacks reportedly took place at nearby security checkpoints.

The attack outside the city of Rafah, which borders the Gaza Strip, was the latest in a series of attacks believed to have been carried out by Islamist terrorist groups in the lawless territory since last week’s military coup in Cairo.

Gunmen shot and killed an Egyptian soldier near the northern Sinai city of el-Arish Sunday night, a day after a Coptic priest was gunned down in the same town by suspected militants.

Islamist gunmen have carried out a slew of attacks on northern Sinai towns since the Egyptian military deposed president Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday. In daylight raids Friday, gunmen killed five Egyptian soldiers in el-Arish and Rafah. In the wake of the assaults, Egypt shuttered its border with the Gaza Strip at Rafah and placed security forces in the restive Sinai Peninsula on high alert.

Islamist terrorist groups have grown more daring since the 2011 Egyptian revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, and have carried out regular attacks on UN and Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula, kidnappings of tourists, and raids on the gas pipelines that pump fuel to Israel and Jordan.(Courtesy:The Time of Israel )

Gunmen Attack Sinai Airport, Military Checkpoints.

Gunmen Attack Sinai Airport, Military Checkpoints.

At least one Egyptian soldier was killed and two were wounded as Islamist gunmen opened fire on the El Arish airport in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and at three military checkpoints early on Friday, state television reported.

According to the report, the attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at the army checkpoints outside the airport, close to the border with Gaza and Israel.

It was not clear whether the coordinated attack was related to the military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday.

The Sinai has seen an upsurge in lawlessness since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 that has sparked warnings from Western governments against travel to most parts of the peninsula.

On Tuesday, Egypt's military boosted its presence in the Sinai Peninsula near the border with Gaza.

The IDF confirmed that Egypt had boosted its military presence in the Sinai, where the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries imposed strict controls on deployments, but said the action had been coordinated with Israeli leaders.

Criminal activity such as drugs smuggling and human trafficking has flourished in the Sinai, alongside a growing presence by terrorist groups that has seen attacks on Egyptian security personnel and across the border against Israel.

In August 2012, terrorists killed 16 Egyptian soldiers near the border before commandeering an armored vehicle which they drove into Israel, where they were killed in a helicopter strike.

In March, Bedouin kidnapped an Israeli and a Norwegian tourist in the south of the peninsula, which is dotted with beach resorts, to press for the release of jailed relatives.(Courtesy:Relegion Peace)