Kurdish women pedal, dunk, spike as Iraq’s top athletes
- 12-Nov-2018
When Iraq’s female cycling team snatched bronze and silver medals at a landmark pan-Arab race, it was thanks to athletes from the autonomous Kurdish region. The country’s toughest female competitors, its best-equipped facilities and most experienced coaches are not in the capital Baghdad, but in the Kurdish-majority northern region. And the three medals won by […]
Kurdish refugee wins ‘Nobel of mathematics’ Fields medal
- 02-Aug-2018
Kurdish refugee turned Cambridge University math professor Caucher Birkar was among four winners of the prestigious Fields prize, dubbed the Nobel for mathematics.
Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga agree on ceasefire, US-led coalition says
- 27-Oct-2017
BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters reached an agreement on Friday to stop fighting in northern Iraq, the media office of the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition said. A spokesman for the coalition in Baghdad told Reuters the ceasefire agreement covered all fronts. Iraqi government forces and the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilisation launched a surprise offensive […]
Islamic State’s Baghdadi almost certainly alive: Kurdish security official
- 17-Jul-2017
SULAIMANIA, Iraq: A top Kurdish counter-terrorism official said on Monday he was 99 percent sure that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was alive and located south of the Syrian city of Raqqa, despite reports that he had been killed. “Baghdadi is definitely alive. He is not dead. We have information that he is alive. […]
US Marines deploy artillery battery to Syria
- 09-Mar-2017
WASHINGTON: The United States has sent a Marine Corps artillery battery into Syria to help defeat the Islamic State group in Raqa, the capital of their supposed caliphate, a US official said Wednesday. The official said troops from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit had deployed a battery of 155mm Howitzers to an outpost in Syria. […]
Anti-Islamic State assaults gain ground in Iraq and Syria
- 07-Mar-2017
MOSUL, IRAQ: Iraqi forces advanced in west Mosul and fighters in neighbouring Syria seized a key supply route to Raqa Monday, as twin US-backed offensives gained ground against the Islamic State group. Supported by the US-led anti-IS coalition, Iraqi forces and a Kurdish-Arab alliance in Syria are battling to push the jihadists from Mosul and […]
Eight killed, over 100 wounded by PKK bombing Turkey’s southeast: PM
- 04-Nov-2016
DIYARBAKIR: Eight people were killed, including two police, and over 100 wounded in a car bombing by Kurdish militants in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday, updating an earlier toll. The blast, which Yildirim said was carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), targeted a police headquarters […]
Turkey police detain co-leaders of main pro-Kurdish party
- 04-Nov-2016
ISTANBUL: Turkish police on Friday detained the two co-leaders of the country’s main pro-Kurdish party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), as part of a major crackdown against the group. Selahattin Demirtas was detained at his home in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir while the co-chairperson Figen Yuksekdag was detained in Ankara within the framework of […]
Islamic State drone kills Kurdish fighters, hurts French troops
- 13-Oct-2016
WASHINGTON: A remote-controlled jihadist hobby plane rigged with hidden explosives killed two Kurdish fighters and injured two French special operations troops near Mosul, French and US sources confirmed Wednesday. While the Pentagon has previously said the Islamic State group uses simple, commercially available drones to conduct surveillance and carry small explosives, this was the first […]
How far to go? Photographers divided over graphic war snaps
- 08-Oct-2016
BAYEUX: How far to go in terms of gore and shock value when covering conflict? Capturing violence on camera was hotly debated on the fringes of Bayeux, a major French photography festival. Seasoned photographers discussed where to draw the line at an event Friday on the fringes of the Bayeux Calvados festival, whose main prizes are […]