The Islamic State group, on the defensive and under heavy pressure in Iraq, has struck back with bloody attacks in Baghdad, where persistent gaps in security increase the city's exposure.

Powerful Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his armed followers to withdraw from the streets of Baghdad districts that have been hit by deadly bombings claimed by Islamic State, an aide said on Wednesday.

Libyan military forces said on Tuesday they recaptured one of the main checkpoints south of the city of Misrata from Islamic State, reversing some of the gains the militant group made earlier this month.

Air raids carried out by Syrian government warplanes killed at least 13 people from one family in a town in the west of the country on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.

Explosives that detonated in a village in southeastern Turkey last week, killing 16 people, had been intended for use in a suicide bombing in a city, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday.

At least six Egyptian citizens have been reportedly abducted by armed groups in Libya, Youm7 reported Tuesday citing relatives of the abductees.

Two bombings hit Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 44 people and wounding more than 90, police and medical sources said, following the bloodiest week of attacks inside the capital so far this year.

Pope Francis criticized Western powers for trying to export their own brand of democracy to countries such as Iraq and Libya without respecting indigenous political cultures, according to an interview published on Monday.

Angelina Jolie lashed out at US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday for his controversial remarks against Muslims, comments that have prompted waves of anger in Islamic communities

A group of 51 Muslim states has blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending a high-level meeting at the United Nations next month on ending AIDS, sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Egypt's Dar Al-Ifta, the authority that issues Islamic edicts, warned on Monday against a reported android application that is made by the Islamic State militant group and is geared towards children.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has praised an initiative launched by Egypt’s Islamic Sunni Institute of Al-Azhar and the Coptic Orthodox Church against child abuse.

The United States and other world powers say they are ready to supply Libya’s internationally recognized governments with weapons to counter Islamic State and other terrorists and will push for exemptions to an arms embargo imposed on the country.

The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, the coalition leading the operations said.

Myanmar police said Monday said they have begun legal action against five protesters over a weekend rally intended to promote religious tolerance.

One police conscript was killed and a junior officer injured in a terrorist bomb blast in Arish, North Sinai, on early on Sunday.

There are signs that Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists are sending fighters to join Islamic State in Libya, and of increased cooperation between the two groups, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

A suicide bomber killed at least 25 Yemeni police recruits in the southeastern port city of Mukalla on Sunday, medics said, the second attack this week claimed by the Islamic State group.

The Islamic State( IS) group launched a coordinated assault on a natural gas plant north of Baghdad that killed at least 14 people, while a string of other bomb attacks in or close to the capital killed 15 others, Iraqi officials said.

A Turkish soldier and six members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Sunday, the Turkish military said, in the latest violence related to the insurgency in the largely Kurdish southeast.

Pope Francis says he’s willing to create a commission to study whether women can serve as deacons in the Catholic Church, signaling the possibility of letting women serve in ordained ministry.