ISIS

Seeking clues to ISIS strategy in corpses and cellphones left in Kirkuk

Eighty-four bodies of Islamic State fighters were piled high at the Kirkuk hospital morgue, as the pathologists went through the gruesome work of gathering intelligence on the group’s sudden counterattack on the city. One by one, the corpses were removed from black body bags so fingerprints and DNA could be preserved. If no relatives come […]

ISIS ‘Executes’ 232 Near Mosul and Takes ‘Thousands as Human Shields’

ISIS has “executed” 232 people near Mosul and taken tens of thousands of people to use as human shields against advancing Iraqi forces, the UN says. A spokeswoman for the UN’s human rights arm told CNN that the terror group had carried out the mass killings on Wednesday, punishing people who had defied its orders. […]

Islamic State uses religious texts to substantiate coming loss in Mosul

The Islamic State relies on religious precedence to absolve responsibility for the individual and group. As such, they’re finding authority to run from the battle. Nearly everything that the Islamic State does, in their view, has some kind of canonical precedent. They wish to create their own currency, based on the Quranic meaning of currency, […]

US Military says ISIS plotting new attacks against West from Syria

ISIS is planning additional “significant” external operations against the West from its de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria, the top U.S. commander in Iraq told reporters Wednesday. “I will say that we actually aren’t sure how pressing it is, and that’s what’s worrying us,” Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said via teleconference from Baghdad. “We know they’re […]

Women fight for survival by hiding from ISIS

The small dorm room in Kirkuk, with gray-speckled terrazzo floors and wooden cots, was home to Monaly Najeeb and six other Christian women after ISIS took hold in Mosul and they were forced to abandon college. They restarted their studies in the Kurdish-controlled city, in that humble room, where they could once again study, pray and even […]

Mosul Battle: Islamic State ‘Loses hundreds of fighters’ – US Generals

Hundreds of Islamic State militants are thought to have been killed since Iraqi forces launched an offensive to retake Mosul last week, the US military says. Two generals said the jihadist group had suffered the losses as troops and allied fighters, backed by US-led air strikes, advanced on several axes. Up to 5,000 IS fighters […]

Boko Haram attacks signal resilience of ISIS and its branches

The military convoy was rumbling across a river near the border last month when soldiers suddenly realized they were surrounded. More than 100 Boko Haram fighters, some of them on horseback, had encircled the vehicles, ready to strike. The 300 soldiers from Niger and the handful of American Special Operations forces accompanying them called for […]

Iraqis find bomb factory, tunnels on long road to Mosul

Iraqi forces explored a network of tunnels and uncovered a bomb-making facility on Thursday in a village near Mosul that was recently retaken from the Islamic State group, offering a glimpse of the challenge they will face as they move closer to the city. Ten days into the offensive, the special forces are still at […]

ISIS Sends ‘Suicide Squads’ to Iraqi Stronghold

ISIS is sending “suicide squads” from Syria to its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, witnesses have told CNN, as tens of thousands of troops close in on the key city to take it from the militant group’s control. Witnesses said hundreds of new arrivals had streamed into Mosul from the group’s heartland of Raqqa, Syria, in […]

‘I’m Scared These Men Will Kill Everyone’: ISIS Takes a Somalia Town

The black flag of the Islamic State went up over an old, crumbling coastal town in Somalia at dawn on Wednesday, the latest sign of a sharpening duel between Somalia’s top two militant groups. According to officials and residents, dozens of masked men carrying heavy machine guns, assault rifles and the Islamic State flag marched into Qandala, […]

ISIS kidnaps, kills 30 in Afghanistan

ISIS militants have kidnapped and killed 30 people in Afghanistan’s Ghor province, according to a provincial spokesman. The group was abducted as they entered the mountains of Ghor to collect wood for winter, Abdul Hai Khatibi, the spokesman for the governor of the province, told CNN. The kidnapped people were all shot and killed during […]