IRAQ

The UK has lost track of hundreds of British jihadist fighters who travelled to the Middle East to join radical Islamic groups, the security minister admitted.

Iraqi courts are sending alleged Islamic State fighters to death in rapid-fire trials lasting less than 20 minutes, according to reports.

Isis fighters fleeing Iraq and Syria are thought to have headed towards Turkey, the route many British travelled to join the group.

Mosul's gravediggers, its morgue workers and the volunteers who retrieve bodies from the city's rubble are keeping count.

IBTimes UK looks back at how the fight to rid Iraq and Syria of the jihadists played out across the year, in 100 powerful photos.

A senior Iraqi military commander says his country's war against the Islamic State (Isis) group is over.

Russia's participation is less than certain after Kremlin expresses concern about length of the proposed extension.

A group of Iraqi hackers have created fake Isis propaganda sites to disrupt the communication network used be the terrorist organisation.

Remains of more than 340 Yazidi Kurds were found in a mass grave outside Mosul. They are believed to have been executed by Isis terrorists.

"Sarah is trying her best despite the difficult circumstances," said a representative in an exclusive interview with IBTimes UK.

Iraqi forces, aided by the US and local tribal fighters, have liberated the town of Rawah in western Anbar.

Iraq's interior minister Qasim al-Araji has said agents from his country have infiltrated Isis sleeper cells to prevent further bomb attacks.

Human rights activists protest against Iraq's bill of Jafaari Personal Status Law that could legalise child marriage, marital rape and ban Muslims from marrying non-Muslims.

Zana Yusif has been jailed for 15 years after he killed vulnerable Bangladeshi grandfather Tarek Chowdhury, 64, in a cell at the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre in London.

At least 61 people have died in Iran after a powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Halabja, Iraq, close to the border of Iran.

The former prime minster suggested that the UK may never have entered had crucial intelligence been revealed sooner.

Hours after the Syrian army liberated the city of Deir al-Zour from Isis, came the news that Iraqi forces had entered al-Qaim.

A six-month pregnant American teenager, who was taken to Syria against her will by her father, is set to return home to Kansas.

Mohamad Khweis found life in Syrian and Iraq distasteful and escaped after a few months. He surrendered in northern Iraq to Kurdish forces, who broadcast his capture around the world.

Even at these taxing times, the urge only to punish has to be curbed. If it isn't, a liberal democracy will become an elected autocracy. And then no one is safe.

Kurdish forces, called the peshmerga, had driven Isis out of Kirkuk. Now their positions in the city are under attack from the Iraqi army, its former ally against Islamic State.