BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber blew himself up in a soccer stadium south of the Iraqi capital on Friday, killing 29 people and wounding 60, security officials said, as the military announced new gains on the ground against the Islamic State group.
The bombing took place during a match in the small stadium in the city of Iskanderiyah, 30 miles from Baghdad, the officials said. Medical officials confirmed the death toll. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamic State group has been waging a campaign of suicide bombings in and around the capital.
SEOUL, South Korea – An American detained in North Korea said he had spied against the country and asked for forgiveness at a media presentation Friday, nine days after a U.S. tourist was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion.
Kim Tong Chol told a press conference in Pyongyang that he had collaborated with and spied for South Korean intelligence authorities in a plot to bring down the North’s leadership and tried to spread religious ideas among North Koreans.
Describing his acts as “shameful and ineffaceable,” Kim said he feels sorry for his crime and appealed to North Korean authorities to show him mercy by forgiving him.
WASHINGTON – U.S. forces killed a senior Islamic State leader, among several key members of the militant group eliminated this week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday. The successful attack is the latest in a string of strikes targeting the group’s leadership even as it loses territory in both Iraq and Syria.
Carter identified the senior IS leader as Haji Imam and described him as the group’s finance minister. He said he was a “well-known terrorist” who had a hand in terrorist plots outside of Iraq and Syria. He said he was not aware of any link between Haji Imam and this week’s terrorist attack in Brussels.
“We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s cabinet,” Carter told a Pentagon news conference. “Indeed, the U.S. military killed several key ISIL terrorists this week, including we believe Haji Iman, who was an ISIL senior leader serving as a finance minister and who also was responsible for some external affairs and plots.”
WASHINGTON – Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk is slated to be the first Republican senator to meet with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
Kirk’s office says the senator is scheduled to sit down with Garland on Tuesday.
Kirk was the first Republican senator to break with his party and call for a vote on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court selection. The senator is facing a difficult re-election battle in a Democratic-leaning state and Garland, the chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is a Chicago native.
The White House says Garland will also continue meetings with several Democrats, including Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Ben Cardin of Maryland on Monday, and Al Franken of Minnesota and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York on Wednesday.
Associated Press
