Baghdad / AFP An air strike killed 21 Iraqi pro-government Sunni tribal fighters early on Wednesday in an area south of the country’s extremist-held second city Mosul, a commander and a minister said. It was unclear whether it was the Iraqi military or the US-led coalition against the IS group — the two forces flying armed aircraft in Iraq — …

  ERBIL / Reuters The battle for Mosul will be a make-or-break moment for Iraq that could split the country along ethnic and sectarian lines, said the former regional governor who has assembled a force which will take part in the campaign. Iraq has been preparing for more than a year for its offensive to drive IS out of its …

  Tbilisi / AFP Georgia was probing on Wednesday the attempted murder of an opposition lawmaker whose car exploded in central Tbilisi just days before parliamentary polls. Givi Targamadze, who is running for office for the ex-Soviet republic’s main opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, told journalists that an explosive device planted in the back of his car detonated on …