Mosul University

French special forces have for months enlisted Iraqi soldiers to hunt and kill French nationals who have joined the senior ranks of Islamic State, according to Iraqi officers and current and former French officials.

Leaning on his crutch, Nizar picks through the rubble where the main building of Mosul University used to be, looking for whatever administrative documents can still be salvaged.

As Iraqi forces fight to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an artist in nearby Arbil is chiseling at clay in a tiny, unheated studio to recreate historic Assyrian monuments destroyed by the group. 

The U.N. atomic agency said on Thursday it believed nuclear material Iraq said had been seized by insurgents was "low grade" and did not pose a significant security risk.