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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran and Iraq signed an agreement on Sunday to step up military cooperation and the fight against "terrorism and extremism", Iranian media reported, an accord which is likely to raise concerns in Washington.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan and his Iraqi counterpart Erfan al-Hiyali signed a memorandum of understanding which also covered border security, logistics and training, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"Extending cooperation and exchanging experiences in fighting terrorism and extremism, border security, and educational, logistical, technical and military support are among the provisions of this memorandum," IRNA reported after the signing of the accord in Tehran.

Iran-Iraq ties have improved since Iran's long-time enemy Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003 and an Iraqi government led by Shi'ite Muslims came to power. Iran is mostly a Shi'ite nation.

U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced concern over what he sees as growing Iranian influence in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, where it is aligned with Shi'ite fighters.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have heightened since the election of Trump, who has often accused Tehran of backing militant groups and destabilizing the region.

Earlier this month, Trump said that new threats were emerging from "rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran and Syria and the governments that finance and support them".

The U.S. military has accused Iran of stoking violence in Iraq by funding, training and equipping militias. Iran denies this, blaming the presence of U.S. troops for the violence.

Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra

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Iran and Iraq sign accord to boost military cooperation - Reuters

OVERVIEW

The humanitarian crisis in Iraq remains complex with multiple, unpredictable and volatile dynamics impacting civilians. The pace of displacement, and return, is one of the fastest on recent record. Since military operations began in Mosul in October 2016, about 780,000 people have been displaced from their homes, including over 600,000 people who have been forced to ee from the western neighbourhoods of Mosul city alone. More than 322,000 people are currently sheltering in emergency sites and camps around Mosul while an estimated 288,000 people are staying with families, friends or being hosted by local communities. Humanitarian partners are working to expand camps and ensure people receive emergency supplies and are assisted as they move and settle in safer areas. Humanitarian partners continue to mobilize funding: as of 18 June, the 2017 Humanitarian response Plan (HRP) for Iraq, requesting US$985 million, has received US$414.4 million, amounting to a funding coverage of 42.1 per cent. In May, Mosul humanitarian operations continued to focus on the people in West Mosul, mustering/screening points, camps and out-of-camp settings. Protection of civilians in the old city remained the main concern. There has been an increasing number of people displaced from Western Anbar. There are concerns about discriminatory treatment of families of persons suspected of being aliated or sympathetic to certain armed groups. Partners also focused on contingency activities for people in need in Hawiga.

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Iraq: Humanitarian Dashboard (May 2017) - ReliefWeb

DOHUK, Iraq, (WJTV) Rows and rows of tents full of countless refugee families fill the Khanke Refugee Camp in Dohuk, Iraq. Every single refugee living in these camps has had to flee from ISIS, and ISIS has just come in and destroyed all there villages and cities. They didnt start out being poor people most of them lived in neighborhoods just like you and I.

Lydia Mathis, whos no stranger to the war torn country gained a passion for refugees during her first visit to Iraq. So she mixed that with her passion for dance to bring a little art into the lives of children. Mathis says, they walked into the class which was surprising to me and were just so excited to try everything, they wanted to work hard.

Mathis found that most of the people in these camps deal with some kind of depression everyday. So when she returned this time it was with a mission, this was one of the most rewarding things Ive ever done in my life and even if there was no progression in skill or level which there was I think it was just the most rewarding part was to come in and see them smile.

And though she touched many lives, she says its made the biggest impact on her, I think I will continue to process through all of the things Ive experienced and seen from my students and I think in many ways I came to serve them, but I think theyve given me so much more than I could of ever imagine through this experience.

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Belhaven student brings hope to Iraq through dance - WJTV

A German girl who ran away from home after converting to Islam has been found as Iraqi forces liberated the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State extremists, German and Iraqi officials said Saturday. She is reported to be in good health and will be interrogated next week by Iraqi officials.

The 16-year-old teenager, only identified as Linda W. in line with German privacy laws, is getting consular assistance from the German Embassy in Iraq, prosecutor Lorenz Haase said from the eastern German city of Dresden.

Three Iraqi intelligence and investigative sources confirmed to The Associated Press that the German teenager, who was apprehended in the basement of a home in Mosul's Old City earlier this month, was Linda W.

The girl is in good health, the Iraqi officials said, adding that on the day of her arrest she was "too stunned" to speak but now she is doing better. They said she had been working with the IS police department.

Linda W. could theoretically face the death sentence, according to Iraqi's counter-terrorism law. However, even if she is sentenced to death in Iraq, she would not be executed before the age of 22.

Photos of a disheveled young woman in the presence of Iraqi soldiers went viral online last week, but there were contradicting reports about the girl's identity.

The German teenager had married a Muslim Arab she met online after arriving in the group's territory, the Iraqi officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information was not public. They said Linda W. was one of 26 foreigners arrested in Mosul since the retreat of the extremists there.

So far, the young German has not made any statement. The officials said she is currently being held together with other foreign women at a prison near Baghdad's airport. Starting next week, she'll be investigated by the Iraqis, who will bring in German interpreters for the interrogation since she does not speak much Arabic.

Haase, the German prosecutor, told the AP that the girl ran away from her family home in Pulsnitz in eastern Germany last summer. It's not clear yet whether she will return to Germany, he said.

"We, as the public prosecutor's office Dresden, have not applied for an arrest warrant and will therefore not be able to request extradition," Haase said. "There is the possibility that Linda might be put on trial in Iraq. She might be expelled for being a foreigner or, because she is a minor reported missing in Germany, she could be handed over to Germany."

The 26 foreigners found in Mosul included two men, eight children and 16 women, the Iraqi officials said. Some of those arrested were from Chechnya, and the women were from Russia, Iran, Syria, France, Belgium and Germany.

In addition to Linda W., the Iraqis found three other women from Germany, with roots in Morocco, Algeria and Chechnya. The Iraqi officials said the German-Moroccan woman has a child and both were arrested in Mosul about ten days ago.

They said the women allegedly worked with IS in the police department. Their husbands were IS fighters but their fates were not clear.

French and German Embassy personnel have already visited the arrested women, they said. The children will be handed over to the countries they belong to, while the women will be tried on terrorism charges in Iraq, according to the officials.

More than 930 people, among them several girls and young women, have left Germany to join IS in Syria and Iraq in recent years, the German news agency dpa reported.

While some have been killed in battle and suicide bombings and others have returned to Germany, there's also a large number that are unaccounted for, German security officials say. Many of them were radicalized via social media.

Local newspapers reported last year that Linda W. was in touch with IS members online before she ran away from home. She started wearing long gowns before she disappeared from her family's home last summer. Her mother later found a copy of the girl's plane ticket to Turkey under a bed, German media reported.

The mayor of Pulsnitz, Barbara Kueke, told dpa on Saturday that she was relieved the girl had been found. She described the teenager's family as very reclusive.

Lueke said the school had been aware of the girl's conversion to Islam and the principal had talked to the parents about it, adding that "it was very surprising, though, that the girl has been radicalized in such a way."

In a different case, a French woman captured earlier this month in Mosul with her four children is facing possible prosecution in Iraq for allegedly collaborating with IS.

The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was arrested July 9 along with her two sons and two daughters in a basement in Mosul's Old City, according to Iraqi intelligence officials.

Two Iraqi intelligence officials told the AP on Wednesday that the woman is being investigated in Baghdad and could face terrorism charges for illegally entering Iraq and joining IS, and that the French government wants the children handed over to France.

Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad, Iraq.

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German runaway girl who converted to Islam is found in Iraq - ABC News

NEW DELHI: India has displaced Pakistan on a list of countries facing terror attacks in 2016, with higher fatalities and injuries than its restive neighbour, according to data compiled by the US state department.

The data, analysed by a national consortium for the study of terrorism and responses to terrorism, contracted with the US state department, reveals India is third after Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of terror attacks. Pakistan had held the position earlier.

Out of 11,072 terror attacks in 2016 worldwide, India bore the brunt of 927, 16% more than 2015 (798). The number of deaths in India also rose 17% from 289 in 2015 to 337 last year while the number of injured increased from 500 in 2015 to 636 last year. On the other hand, the number of terror attacks in Pakistan reduced by 27% to 734 in 2016 from 1,010 in 2015.

However, a crucial difference needs to be noted while comparing India and Pakistan and the incidence of terror.

Pakistan is largely the victim of terrorist groups it has harboured and raised since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and its extremist seminaries attract terror recruits from around the world. India, on the other hand, has to deal with terror groups operating from safe havens in Pakistan and a clear upsurge in attacks in Jammu & Kashmir directed from across the border in 2016.

Interestingly, the US analysis has labelled Naxals the third most deadly terror organisation in the world after IS and Taliban, even ahead of Boko Haram. The CPI (Maoist) was behind 336 terror attacks last year in which 174 people were killed and 141 were injured. More than half of the terror attacks in India in 2016 took place in four states - J&K, Chhattisgarh, Manipur and Jharkhand.

File photo he geographical areas show that left-wing extremism led by Maoists also contributed to terror incidents in parts of east India.

Jammu & Kashmir saw a surge of 93% in terror attacks last year, the data says. The Indian home ministry's annual report 2016-17, however, reports a 54.81% increase in terror incidents in the state.

The Modi government has taken a "tough line" against terrorism. The government has decided not to seek a political outreach and concentrate on intensive security operations, going by the assessment that negotiations will signal weakness rather than accommodation.

According to the NCSTRT data, total number of people kidnapped or taken hostage in terrorist attacks in India has, however, reduced 63% from 866 in 2015 to 317 in 2016. On average, terrorist attacks in India caused 0.4 total deaths per attack in 2016, compared to 2.4 deaths per attack worldwide. Nearly three quarters of attacks (73%) in India in 2016 were non-lethal.

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India 3rd largest terror target after Iraq and Afghanistan: US report - Times of India