Iraq War

Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaida and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening ``blood for blood, destruction for destruction.''

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq said that violent attacks in the country had fallen by 60 percent since June but cautioned that security gains were "tenuous" and "fragile," requiring political and economic progress to cement them.

Every week, more and more Iraqis show up at the airline office, looking for a ticket home. Similar scenes are unfolding at airline offices and bus stations in Jordan and Syria, the countries with the largest Iraqi refugee populations.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flew to London Saturday for what one of his advisers described as a regularly scheduled medical checkup. Yassin Majeed said al-Maliki had delayed a previous trip because the "security situation did not allow it."

Iraq has pulled back from the brink of civil war, but recent security gains are fragile and still reversible, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said on Saturday.

Staff Sgt. Michael Lage was the only survivor of a blast that killed four others. Lage suffered third-degree burns to nearly half his body; part of his nose and ears were missing, and his face, scalp, arms and torso were seared.

The Iraqi army has arrested two senior al-Qaida members, including one of their religious leaders, a military official said Saturday. Iraq army Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the two men included the defense minister of the Islamic State of Iraq...

A child was killed and two wounded, including one soldier, by a roadside bomb near an Iraqi army checkpoint in Kirkuk on Friday, police said.

A car bomb exploded in the city’s busiest intersection Friday, killing at least eight and injuring 64 others, underscoring the violence still facing Iraq despite a steep drop in attacks in recent months.

Iraq's interior ministry spokesman said Saturday that 75 percent of al-Qaida in Iraq's terrorist network had been destroyed this year, but the top American commander in the country said the terror group remained his chief concern.

Sgt. Benjamin B. Portell, 27, of Bakersfield, Calif...died Dec. 26 in Mosul, Iraq, of wounds suffered from small arms fire during dismounted combat operations.They were assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment...

Sgt. Bryan J. Tutten, 33, of St. Augustine, Fla., died Dec. 25 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position during combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment..

Shiite taxi driver Aly Kaabi used to fear for his life each time his Mercedes needed a spare part. The place to seek replacements was a Sunni-dominated Baghdad neighbourhood ruled at the time by militants from "al-Qaida in Iraq."

Former Sunni insurgents are signing up to fight al-Qaida, Shiite militias have toned down attacks, commerce is reviving and monthly casualty counts are falling. But the failure of Iraq's leaders to strike power-sharing deals raises questions...

Chris Dana came home from the war in Iraq in 2005 and slipped into a mental abyss so quietly that neither his family nor the Montana Army National Guard noticed.

What does it take to heal — and live with — the physical trauma of war? Dr. Tracy Ringo, a medical corps officer with the Army National Guard, was sent to Baghdad to work with wounded soldiers in 2004. Now, Dr. Ringo is back in the United States...

It was one of the more chilling attacks on U.S. troops: an ambush on an isolated highway that left four American soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter dead and three Americans missing.

Armed guards frisked attendees at two separate checkpoints and foreign directors skipped the four-day event out of safety concerns. But with its red carpet, half a dozen television crews circling like paparazzi and a roster of 58 films...

Police found four bodies in Baghdad, one in New Baghdad, in Qahira, in Zafaraniyah and in Amil.

The body of a man was found with gunshot wounds on Thursday in western Mosul 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.