Lebanese authorities detained a wife and suspected son of the leader of the Islamic State group several days ago, and she is being questioned, two senior Lebanese officials said.

The head of the extremist Islamic State group has said it will fight to the last man.

Iraqi officials said yesterday that an airstrike wounded the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Pentagon officials said they had no immediate information on such a strike or al-Baghdadi being wounded.

An airstrike has wounded the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to Iraqi officials.

A video posted online purports to show the leader of the Islamic State extremist group that has overrun much of Syria and Iraq delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq.

The al Qaida breakaway group that has seized much of Syria and Iraq has formally declared the establishment of a new Islamic state.

The al-Qaida breakaway group that has seized much of north-eastern Syria and huge tracts of Iraq formally declared the establishment of a new Islamic state.

Eighteen people were killed and more than 50 injured when bombs struck two Sunni towns at sundown, just as Iraqis were preparing to break their holy day’s fast.

Tunisia will extradite former Libyan prime minister Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi - currently being held in Tunis – back to Libya, officials said today.

Muammar Gaddafi’s former prime minister has been arrested in Tunisia, officials said.

Five loud explosions shook the centre of Libya’s capital Tripoli today as rebels in the western mountains claimed control of the Zawiya oil refinery.

SEVERAL large explosions rocked the Libyan capital Tripoli last night and a column of smoke was seen rising from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound.

Libya’s government is pushing a new ceasefire proposal and said for the first time it was prepared to talk to the rebels.

An al-Qaida front group in Iraq declared in a statement posted on the internet today that its two top figures have been killed.

Two of the most wanted al-Qaida in Iraq figures have been killed in a joint operation with the US, Iraq’s prime minister said today.

The purported leader of al-Qaida’s umbrella group in Iraq has confirmed the death of a top militant who the US military said was killed in an attack last month, according to a new audiotape.

A car bomb struck a bakery crowded with customers lining up for bread today, killing at least 11 people as they ended their daytime Ramadan fast, officials said.

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered money for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist who recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam, in a statement carried by Islamist websites today.

The highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, the US command said today.

US-led forces conducting a crackdown on al-Qaida killed a senior member of the insurgent group who was responsible for the high-profile kidnappings of several Westerners, a military spokesman said today.

A TOP insurgent leader boasted that his al-Qaida-linked group was making its own rockets, while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki said his government was talking with militant groups to try to stop the violence.

A top Iraqi insurgent leader today claimed in an audiotape posted online that his al-Qaida-linked group had begun manufacturing its own rockets.

The leader of al-Qaida-linked militants in Iraq has warned against US attempts to convince fellow Sunni Muslims to back the Baghdad government, saying those who support Washington are “infidels” and would be killed, according to an internet audio recording.

Iraqi officials said today they were holding a top al-Qaida official, but not the terror mastermind Abu Omar al-Baghdadi who they believed was captured a day earlier.

The leader of the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, has been captured, an Iraqi military spokesman said today.