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Fighting Near Baghdad And In Northern Iraq

There have been deadly clashes between security forces and militants around Baghdad and fierce fighting in northern Iraq between militants and Kurdish forces.

Hassan Fadaam, a Babil province councilman, said fighting overnight in the town of Jufr al-Sakhar, some 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, left nine soldiers and "dozens" of militants dead.

A suicide bomber crashed his explosives-laden vehicle into a group of Iraqi soldiers in the town of Balad, north of Baghdad, killing eight soldiers and wounding 23 others.

In northern Iraq, militants from the Islamic State clashed with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in a battle that left some 100 combatants dead.

The militants attempted to seize the mostly Kurdish town of Zamar, north of Mosul.

Jabbar Yawar, the secretary general of the Pershmerga forces, claimed his troops had beaten back the attack but some residents of Zamar reported seeing Islamic State flags flying from some buildings in the town.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa