Islamic State fighters using US arms: study

AFP, London

Islamic State fighters appear to be using captured US military issue arms and weapons supplied to moderate rebels in Syria by Saudi Arabia, according to a report published yesterday. The study by the London-based small-arms research organisation Conflict Armament Research documented weapons seized by Kurdish forces from militants in Iraq and Syria over a 10-day period in July.

Head of Al-Azharsays IS are'criminals'

AFP, Cairo

The head of Egypt's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, said yesterday that jihadists of the Islamic State were "criminals" serving a "Zionist" plot to "destroy the Arab world."

"These criminals have been able to transmit to the world a tarnished and alarming image of Muslims," Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb said. "These fundamentalist terrorist groups, whatever their names, and their backers are colonial creations that serve Zionism in its plot to destroy the Arab world."

Jihadists wantto create 'house of blood':

new UN rights chief

AFP, Geneva

The jihadist militants who have seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria are intent upon creating “a house of blood", the UN's new human rights chief said yesterday. In his maiden address to the UN Human Rights Council, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein lashed out at the IS, which has carved out a stronghold and declared a "caliphate" in an area straddling the border of the two conflict-torn nations.

Arab governments agree to 'confront' IS

AFP, Cairo

Arab states agreed Sunday to take the "necessary measures" and were prepared to cooperate internationally to confront Islamic State militants, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said. At the start of a foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo, Arabi had called for a political and military confrontation with the jihadists and other militants he said threatened the existence of Arab states. He later stopped short of explicitly backing US air strikes targeting IS jihadists who control swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Turkey fears PKK could obtain armssentto Iraq

AFP, Istanbul

Weapons sent by Western countries to forces fighting Islamic militants in Iraq may end up in the hands of Kurdish rebels in Turkey, Turkish foreign minister warned yesterday. Branded a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies, the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) has joined forces with other Kurdish units in the US-backed operation to halt the advance of Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

New U N Syria envoy to visit Damascus today

AFP, Damascus

The new United Nations envoy on the Syria conflict, Staffan de Mistura, is to make his first trip to Damascus today, Syrian media and activists said. De Mistura will hold three days of talks on the "prospects for a solution" to the conflict that has ravaged Syria since March 2011, the Al-Watan newapaper, which is close to the government, reported yesterday.

Suicide bombers, gunmen kill 18in Iraqtown

AFP, Samarra

Militants, including two suicide bombers, attacked a town north of Baghdad that has resisted jihadists, killing 18 people yesterday, police and a doctor said. A first suicide bomber blew up a vehicle packed with explosives to breach a barrier in a southern neighbourhood of Dhuluiyah, which the second bomber then penetrated, the sources said. Security forces and allied tribesmen then clashed with the militants in the Jubur neighbourhood.