Najaf

Pope Francis extended his hand to the world's Shiite Muslims on March 6, meeting top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in a landmark moment in modern religious history.

The two elderly, respected men of religion met at Sistani's humble home in the shrine city of Najaf early on Saturday, the second day of the first-ever papal visit to Iraq.

Iraq's president on March 17 named ex-Najaf city governor Adnan Zurfi as the new prime minister, tasked with ruling a country hit by street protests, military unrest and now the coronavirus pandemic.

The nomination came hours after two rockets hit an Iraqi military base hosting U.S-led coalition and NATO troops, the third such attack within a week, without causing casualties.

In this Tuesday, June 26, 2018 photo, a farmer walks through his dry field were designated for growing rice in Mishkhab town south of Najaf. AP Photo/Anmar Khalil

The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia.

The claim was posted on Twitter with an image of the suicide bomber, according to reports of the BBC News.

Some media outlets, however, question the credibility of the Twitter posting.

Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has vowed to "shake the ground" under the feet of advancing Sunni militants, as Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki warned rivals against exploiting the crisis to sideline him.