IRAQ: FOUR EXECUTED INCLUDING AL-QAEDA CHIEF

Iraq executed Al-Qaeda's former Baghdad chief and three other men convicted of terror-related offences.
"These terrorists were executed by hanging," the justice ministry said in a statement. "They committed criminal attacks against the Iraqi people, notably in Baghdad and in (the western province of) Anbar."
Among the group executed was Munaf Abdul Rahim al-Rawi, once described as the "governor of Baghdad" for Al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq, who was arrested in March 2010. He has been blamed for plotting two massive attacks in the Iraqi capital in August and October of 2009 that left 250 dead in total.
Iraq has executed at least 22 people so far this year, according to an AFP tally, compared with 129 in 2012, which was among the highest such figures in the world.