Baghdad - After a series of atrocities against Iraqi Christians in Mosul, around 400 Christians arrived in Syria to escape the harsh conditions of home, according to a statement by a Syrian refugee assistance organization Friday.

In the last few days, some 20 Christian families arrived in the city of Qamhley, which is close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, said Lauren Gul, a representative of the refugee assistance group.

Baghdad- An apparent suicide bomb attack on the convoy of an Iraqi minister killed 11 and injured 22 Thursday, witnesses told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The attack on the convoy of Iraqi Labour Minister Mahmoud al-Radi occurred in the Tahrir Square area in Baghdad, al-Arabiya TV reported.

Al-Radi was not injured in the blast, his ministry said in a statement.

Separately, a blast in a market area injured 16 people in Iraq's Diyala province.

Baghdad - Iraq's Babel province Thursday took over its own, Iraqi-led security duties from the Multi-National Forces (MNF).

"Taking responsibility for Babel province shows that the Iraqi forces are capable of taking control of their own security and fighting terrorism," National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said during the handover ceremony.

US soldiers were present at the ceremony along with high-ranking Iraqi officials and clan chiefs. No other nationalities were present. The mostly Shiite province is the 12th to receive its security file.

Baghdad  - Nine people have been killed in an apparent suicide bomb attack on the convoy of Iraqi Minister of Labour Mahmoud al-Radi on Thursday.

Baghdad  - Five people were killed and nine injured in attacks in Mosul and Baghdad Wednesday.

In western Mosul, four civilians were killed and three injured in a car bomb explosion, a police source said. He told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency that the explosion occurred in the al-Thawra neighborhood.

Mosul, the capital city of Nineveh, lies 405 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Baghdad  - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said that the security pact with the US, also known as Status of Forces Agreement, is unlikely to win approval in Iraq's parliament before the US presidential election on November 4.

The pact would lay down the legal basis for a continued US military presence in Iraq after a UN mandate expires in December

Zebari told al-Arabiya satellite news station Tuesday that Iraq still hoped to enact the pact before the end of this year, when the UN Security Council resolution authorizing the US presence expires. But he acknowledged difficulties reaching agreement among Iraqi political leaders.