World
Two separate bombs in Iraq's capital Baghdad leave at least 20 people dead and dozens more injured amid rising sectarian tension in the country. The BBC writes:
A car bomb in Kadhamiya, a mainly Shia area that has seen several attacks in recent days, killed at least 11. Separately, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a police checkpoint in central Baghdad, killing nine people.
Sectarian tension has been rising in Iraq in recent months amid political chaos and an Islamic State offensive. Last week, a car bomb in the mainly Shia neighbourhood of Jadida killed at least eight and wound about 20 others.
There was also an attack on a Shia mosque. The spate of attacks on Shia came after at least 68 people were shot dead at a Sunni mosque earlier in August, in a mass shooting blamed on Shia militia.
Tension between Shia and Sunni groups in Iraq has been further heightened by the advance of Islamic State militants and the Sunni groups allied with them.
Meanwhile, Fierce fighting continued across swathes of Iraq as Kurdish peshmerga and Iraqi forces beat back ISIS jihadists and advanced deeper into rebel-held territory. The Daily Mail reports:
Today there were front line clashes between the groups as the violence spilled into Buyuk Yeniga village, a small township located between halfway Baghdad and Kirkuk.
In recent weeks Iraqi forces, boosted by American airstrikes and a steady stream of armaments, have put ISIS on the back foot with victories in a series of key towns.
Only two days ago Shiite militias and Kurdish Peshmerga imposed full control over the towns of Amerli, Enjana and Sulaiman Pek, all of which are located in between Baghdad and Kirkuk.
All three towns were ISIS strongholds earlier this year and reason for alarm over the jihadists' growing proximity to Baghdad.
