Conflict Pictures

Bands of Christian fighters travel across the desert in pickup trucks bearing large wooden crosses.

There is an overwhelming sense of uncertainty as Iraqi special forces press ahead with their offensive on the Islamist group's last big stronghold in Iraq.

Arizona Border Recon conduct reconnaissance operations along a 52-mile desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley.

Once the capital of an empire stretching across the ancient Middle East, Nimrud was looted and ransacked by the militants.

Moments of tragedy and tension in ongoing fight to liberate Iraq's second city from jihadists.

Homes, schools and places of worship have disappeared or have enormous holes blasted into their walls.

Church bells rang out for the first time in two years in the town on the outskirts of Mosul.

The tunnels were found in the villages of Bartella and Bazaia, roughly four miles east of Mosul.

Most residents are refusing to leave the rebel-held eastern area as there are no guarantees they won't be arrested.

Fighting is concentrated on a cluster of uninhabited towns and villages littered with roadside bombs planted by Daesh.

Landmines and booby traps suggest the advance into Mosul will be slow and dangerous.

The UN is bracing for the world's biggest humanitarian effort in the battle for Mosul, which could leave up to a million people homeless.

Russian jets have resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held areas of Aleppo after several days of relative calm.

Students throw stones at private security guards and police detonate stun grenades in continuing row over fees.

Families and ativists were forced to disperse as they made their way to Ankara train station.

Major towns and cities across Ethiopia's Oromia region are experiencing unrest and widespread violent protests.

Intensive care wards in hospitals are filled with emaciated and stunted children.

South African police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas at rock-throwing students.

Nish Nalbandian's book, A Whole World Blind, depicts fighters on the front line, as well as everyday people eking out a living amid the ruins.

Jeroen Oerlemans is the third journalist to be killed in Libya this year.

Both countries claim Kashmir as their own, with each governing separate areas of the state.

Colombian president Santos and Farc leader Timochenko use pen made from a bullet to sign peace deal ending 52-year war that killed quarter of a million people.

Shia militia, Sunni Arab tribesmen, Kurdish fighters and US special forces prepare to retake Mosul from Isis.

Graphic images show rescue workers and civilians pulling out bodies – many of them young children and babies.

Created in 1980, the award honours efforts that prize founder, philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, felt were being ignored by the Nobel Prizes.

Protests turn violent amid the deadly police shooting of a black man and the wildly different versions of what happened.

Residents could be seen wandering through the ashes and remains of tents, trailers and containers in which they once lived.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said attacks were carried out by either Syrian or Russian aircraft.

Anti-Kabila protest turns violent, killing at least 17 people including three policemen, one of whom was reportedly burned alive.

Most have known only the armed fight against the system. What will happen to them once they are part of the system?