Balint Szlanko, Author at Valley News

People return back to Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017. Thousands of civilians are streaming back to Kirkuk, a day after fleeing as Iraqi troops pushed Kurdish forces out of the disputed oil-rich city. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

After Kirkuk, Kurdish Forces Pull Out of More Areas in Iraq

by Balint Szlanko Associated PressOctober 17, 2017

Kirkuk, Iraq — Kurdish forces pulled out of disputed areas across northern and eastern Iraq on Tuesday, a day after handing the northern city of Kirkuk over to federal forces amid a tense standoff following last month’s vote for independence.The…

FILE - In this Sunday, July 6, 2014 file photo, the gate of the Great Mosque or al-Nuri Mosque is seen in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. The Islamic State group destroyed Mosul’s al-Nuri mosque and its iconic leaning minaret known as al-Hadba late Wednesday night on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 when fighters detonated explosives inside the structures, according to Iraq’s Ministry of Defense. The mosque is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in 2014 shortly after the city was overrun by the militants and was seen as a key symbolic prize in the fight for Iraq’s second largest city. (AP Photo, File)

In Mosul, Islamic State Destroys Iconic Al-Nuri Mosque, a Key Cultural Site

by Balint Szlanko Associated PressJune 21, 2017

Lamiya Aji Bashar, an 18-year-old Yazidi girl who escaped her Islamic State group enslavers, talks to The Associated Press in northern Iraq in this May 5, 2016, photo. During more than a year of being passed from one militant to another, Bashar attempted to flee many times. On her fifth attempt, in March, she finally reached fighters in a Kurdish-controlled region, a safe haven for Yazidis, but only after a mine exploded, killing two girls fleeing with her and leaving Bashar's face scarred and blinding her in one eye. (AP Photo/Balint Szlanko)

Islamic State Holds Women as Sex Slaves

by Lori Hinnant Associated Press, Maya Alleruzzo Associated Press, and Balint Szlanko Associated PressJuly 5, 2016