Iraq militants announce new Islamic state
c. 2014 USA Today
(RNS) An al-Qaeda breakaway group that seized large swaths of Iraq in recent weeks declared Sunday (June 29) the creation of a new religious state in Iraq and Syria, as it continued to repel government forces in Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
The militant group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced it will now be known as The Islamic State.
