Middle Orient

.S. and Iraqi forces killed an estimated 15 al Qaeda gunmen during a fierce battle south of Baghdad after the militants launched a major attack on recently formed neighborhood patrols, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

Following are security developments in Iraq at 8:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday.* Denotes new or updated item. * HAWIJA – Gunmen killed a policeman and an Iraqi soldier when they opened fire on their car in central Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, police …

Hamas rounded up dozens of Fatah activists in the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip after its secular rival drew more than 200,000 supporters to a rally that ended in gunfire that killed seven people, officials said on Tuesday.

Corruption among Afghan officials is rife and government must be reformed to help end 30 years of war, misery and oppression, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday in an unusually frank assessment of his country’s woes.

Provincial officials said on Monday that Iraqi forces will take over security for Babel province south of Baghdad next month, but the U.S. military said it was not aware of any plans to transfer control.

Turkish military helicopters bombed villages in northern Iraq in strikes directed against Kurdish rebels, two Turkish television channels reported on Tuesday.

NATO forces in Afghanistan may be breaching their own operating rules by handing detainees to Afghan security services despite reports that they torture their prisoners, rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

One month into the new academic year and education at the sprawling University of Baghdad is as near to normal as it has been for years – the grisly killings of two professors and two students aside.

An Iraqi taxi driver was shot dead by a private security guard hired to protect US convoys driving through Baghdad, Iraqi officials said Monday.

Turkish women protest on Monday against Israel in Istanbul as Israeli President Shimon Peres was in Ankara to address parliament today. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived in Ankara on Monday, is also due to address the assembly.