Iraqi forces are ready to take security control of the north of the war-torn country, one of the last bastions of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, US military General Tony Thomas told AFP.

`I think they are ready now, if needed,` Thomas said in an interview at the Marez US base on the outskirts of the northern city of Mosul.

Iraqi forces are ready to take security control of the north of the war-torn country, one of the last bastions of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, US military General Tony Thomas told AFP.

`I think they are ready now, if needed,` Thomas said in an interview at the Marez US base on the outskirts of the northern city of Mosul.

Gunmen killed two Christian sisters after breaking into a home in the volatile northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday and then leaving behind a booby-trap bomb for security forces, police said.

A car bomb killed four people and wounded three in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, known for its Al-Qaeda presence and recently the site of violence against Christians.

The attack targeting civilians occurred in the Ath-Thawra neighbourhood of Mosul, 370 kilometres (230 miles) north of Baghdad, said policeman Hazim Ahmed.

BAGHDAD, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - The US military said it had detained on Monday six suspected insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the scene of some of the worst violence against Christians in five years.

It said in a statement that three of those seized during operations in the city are believed to have links to foreign insurgency groups.

BAGHDAD, Oct 12, 2008 (AFP) - At least five Iraqis, mostly children, were killed and 35 wounded on Sunday in two suicide car bomb attacks targeted at American and Iraqi soldiers, the US military said.

'In the first suicide car bomb, the one targeting coalition forces but with no coalition casualties, we have five killed and 10 wounded,' US army spokesman Staff Sergeant Sam Smith said.

BAGHDAD, Oct 12, 2008 (AFP) - At least seven Iraqis were killed and several dozen wounded on Sunday in three attacks in Mosul, two of them suicide car bombs aimed at American and Iraqi soldiers, the US military and a police source said.

BAGHDAD, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - Eleven people were killed, including three women and three children, when a suicide bomber struck during a US raid on a house in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday, the US military said.

American troops came under fire as they entered the house in Mosul, 370 kilometres (230 miles) from Baghdad, looking for a wanted man, it said in a statement.

BAGHDAD, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - Eleven people were killed, including three women and three children, as a suicide bomber struck and a gunbattle broke out during a US raid on a house in northern Mosul on Sunday, the US military said.

MOSUL, Iraq, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi security forces on Thursday killed three Al-Qaeda militants planning suicide attacks in the northern city of Mosul during the Muslim holidays which follow Ramadan, the defence ministry said.

MOSUL, Iraq, Sept 22, 2008 (AFP) - A bomb blast near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed five children and wounded three as they were playing near their homes on Monday, police and a doctor told AFP.

The bombers struck around 6:30 pm (1530 GMT) in the town of Hammam al-Ali, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Mosul, police officer Mohammed Sadeeq said.

MOSUL, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq on Friday, killing two worshippers as they were heading for weekly prayers, police and medic told AFP.

TEL ASQUF, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - With Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders, Iraq's first Christian militia enforces one simple rule on the border of this little village. 'Anyone not from Tel Asquf, is banned.'

MOSUL, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi student Ali Taha gazed down the street, shrugged his shoulders and gave his grim assessment of efforts to combat insurgents in his city of Mosul, one of Al-Qaeda's last bastions. 'Nothing here has changed.'

'On this street alone, there have been four car bombs since May,' Taha added with a sigh.

MOSUL, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - The historic centre of Iraq's main northern city of Mosul is dotted with church spires but it has become a key battleground between US troops and Al-Qaeda.

MOSUL, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Three police officers were killed and four others wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber tried to ram his car into a police station in northern Iraq, police said.

The attack occurred in the small town of Al-Geyar, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the violence-ridden northern city of Mosul, police captain Ayhmed al-Jiburi said.

MOSUL, July 18, 2008 (AFP) - Two bombs killed at least three people and wounded 12 in attacks on an Iraqi army patrol and a police convoy in northern Iraq on Friday, defence and interior ministry officials said.

Two of the dead were Iraqi soldiers hit by a car bomb near Mosul, the northern city described by the US military as the 'last urban bastion' of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

MOSUL, July 15, 2008 (AFP) - Two suicide attacks targeting Iraqi policemen in the northern city of Mosul killed at least nine people and wounded 11 more on Tuesday, a police officer and a medic told AFP.

BAGHDAD, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-filled car against the convoy of an Iraqi general in the main northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, killing seven people, the officer, who was unharmed, told AFP.

BAGHDAD, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - A dual car bombing targeting a top Iraqi army officer in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday killed six people and wounded 28, the US military said, adding the officer escaped unharmed.

MOSUL, July 1, 2008 (AFP) - A suicide bomber rammed a truck full of explosives into the house of a top Sunni sheikh in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding 25 others, a local police officer said.

MOSUL, July 1, 2008 (AFP) - A suicide bomber rammed a truck full of explosives into the house of a top Sunni sheikh in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding 25 others, a local police officer said.

MOSUL, July 1, 2008 (AFP) - A suicide bomber rammed a truck full of explosives into the house of a top Sunni sheikh in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding 25 others, a local police officer said.

MOSUL, June 3, 2008 (AFP) - The death toll from a suicide car bombing against the main police headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has risen to 13, including children, police said on Tuesday.

Four more people succumbed to their injuries suffered in the Monday night bombing in the centre of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, police Colonel Saad al-Juburi said.

MOSUL, June 3, 2008 (AFP) - The death toll from a suicide car bomb attack against the main police headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul rose to 11 on Tuesday, police said.

Two more people succumbed to their injuries following the Monday night bombing in the centre of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, police Colonel Saad al-Juburi said.

MOSUL, June 2, 2008 (AFP) - A suicide bomber killed at least nine people, four of them policemen, on Monday when he blew up his vehicle at police headquarters in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police said.

At least three people, including two policemen, were killed in a suicide car bomb attack against a police patrol in northern Iraq on Thursday, police said.

The bomber drove into the group of police officers and detonated the explosives in Al-Gabat, just north of the main northern city of Mosul, police Captain Aziz Imara told AFP.

Fear of unwittingly offending Al-Qaeda executioners hung for months over the residents of Iraq's northern town of Mosul, where even an innocent cucumber could earn a street trader death.

The list of 'sins' that could offend Al-Qaeda was long and, often enough, not explicit until the offender found himself a target for 'execution'.

MOSUL, Iraq, May 26, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi troops on Monday arrested six teenage boys suspected of being forcibly trained by Al-Qaeda to carry out suicide bombings, the interior ministry said.

MOSUL, Iraq, May 25, 2008 (AFP) - Ata Taha tied the knot with his university sweetheart in a popular park and traditional meeting point for lovers in Iraq's northern city of Mosul -- but only after Al-Qaeda went on the retreat.

BAGHDAD, May 24, 2008 (AFP) - A 10-day operation by Iraqi troops in Mosul has succeeded in dismantling Al-Qaeda's network in Iraq's main northern city, regarded by US commanders as the jihadists' last urban bastion, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

MOSUL, May 19, 2008 (AFP) - Eleven Iraqi soldiers were killed in an ambush Monday by unidentified attackers in a northern region around Mosul, where a major crackdown against Al-Qaeda began last week, a local leader told AFP.

MOSUL, May 19, 2008 (AFP) - Eleven Iraqi soldiers were killed in an ambush Monday by unidentified attackers in a northern region around Mosul, where a major sweep against Al-Qaeda began last week, a local leader told AFP.

MOSUL, Iraq, May 17, 2008 (AFP) - Around 1,100 people have been arrested during the first four days of a government crackdown on Al-Qaeda jihadists in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, the defence minstry said on Saturday.

MOSUL, Iraq, May 16, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi security forces on Friday offered an amnesty and cash in exchange for heavy weapons in the main northern city of Mosul where a crackdown against Al-Qaeda operatives entered its third day.

MOSUL, Iraq, May 14, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi security forces and US troops launched on Wednesday a new offensive against Al-Qaeda in the northern town of Mosul, defence ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Kareem Khalaf told AFP.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki travelled to Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, which borders Syria and Turkey, to lead the drive, officials said.

MOSUL, Iraq, May 14, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki travelled to the city of Mosul on Wednesday as security forces kept up a drive against Al-Qaeda operatives in the northern region, witnesses said.

He was accompanied by Interior Minister Jawad Bolani and Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed, an AFP correspondent said.

BAGHDAD, May 11, 2008 (AFP) - American troops killed a woman and a child along with two gunmen near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul during a new assault against Al-Qaeda militants, the military said on Sunday.

It said Saturday's shooting occurred when soldiers fired on a car that failed to stop despite warnings to do so.

MOSUL, Iraq, April 26, 2008 (AFP) - Three suicide bombers and a car bomb rocked the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Saturday, killing nine people and wounding 31 others, a top Iraqi security official said.

MOSUL, Iraq, April 26, 2008 (AFP) - Two suicide bombers and a car bomb rocked the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Saturday, killing three people and wounding 26 more, a top Iraqi security official said.