Bashiqa /AFP Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from the IS group, an official said on Tuesday, as US-backed militia forces advanced on the extremists’ Syrian stronghold Raqa. Capturing Bashiqa was one of the final steps in securing the eastern approaches to Mosul, three weeks into an offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the …

  Berlin /AFP German police on Tuesday arrested five men suspected of links to the IS organisation, who allegedly sought to recruit fighters for the jextremist group. “The five accused formed a pan-regional extremist network, with the accused Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A. taking on the leading role,” said a statement from the prosecutors’ office, referring to the 32-year-old Iraqi. “The …

  Berlin / AFP Germany is open to providing protection for Turks who have been “politically persecuted” by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in its widening crackdown following a failed putsch, a senior German official said on Tuesday. “Critics in Turkey should know that the German government stands in solidarity with them,” Michael Roth, state secretary at the foreign ministry, told Die …