Baghdad bombing: ISIS Suicide bomber attacks football stadium, killing 29

A suicide attacker detonated an explosive belt in a park outside Baghdad on Friday, killing 26 people and wounding 71, said the security head in Babel province where the bomb - claimed by Islamic State - went off.

The blast in Iskandariya, a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim town 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital, happened around 7:15 pm (1615 GMT) at the end of an amateur soccer game, said Falah al-Khafaji.

Islamic State militants, who control swathes of territory in Iraq's north and west, were behind the attack, according to Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with the group.

At least 60 people were killed earlier this month in an attack claimed by Islamic State 80 km further south, in Hilla, when an explosives-laden fuel tanker slammed into an Iraqi security checkpoint.

An apparent escalation of large bombings targeting areas outside Islamic State's primary control suggests that Iraqi government forces may be stretched thin after recent gains against the group in the western and northern provinces.

News
Church leaders call for peace at Easter
Church leaders call for peace at Easter

Church leaders have used their Easter messages to appeal for peace in the world. 

How a chance encounter led to an Easter song
How a chance encounter led to an Easter song

At Easter one of the lesser-known songs is “Wounded for Me”. It has an interesting backstory …

Fear and silence grip Colombian hamlet after eight Christians vanish
Fear and silence grip Colombian hamlet after eight Christians vanish

A Colombian hamlet is gripped by fear following the forced disappearance of eight residents - seven of them Protestant church leaders and members - after responding to orders issued by a guerrilla group earlier this month.

A decade of bloodshed: NGO report reveals more than 20,000 Christians slain in south-east Nigeria
A decade of bloodshed: NGO report reveals more than 20,000 Christians slain in south-east Nigeria

More than 20,000 Christians have reportedly been brutally killed over the past decade across south-east Nigeria, according to a disturbing report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a Catholic-inspired human rights organisation.