Stretching the frontlines
IS militants have massed near the town of Qara Tappa, 120 km north of Baghdad, according to Reuters.
Security sources and a local official told Reuters that it is an apparent bid to broaden their front with Kurdish peshmerga fighters. The movement around Qara Tappa suggests they are becoming more confident and seeking to grab more territory closer to the capital after stalling in that region, they said.
Al Jazeera has a video report about Peshmerga Kurdish forces taking the battle to IS militants in the hope of retaking lost territory.
Peshmerga on offensive
More of Maliki's speech
"I announce before you today, to ease the movement of the political process and the formation of the new government, the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of brother Dr. Haider al-Abadi."
"From the beginning I ruled out the option of using force, because I do not believe in this choice, which would without a doubt return Iraq to the ages of dictatorship, oppression and tyranny, except to confront terrorism and terrorists and those violating the will and interests of the people."
More praise for Maliki
Since we concluded the live-blog yesterday, there have been two key developments:
Obama: 'Siege' Of Sinjar Mountain Broken
U.S. President Barack Obama said the situation for Yazidis on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq has greatly improved since last week when he ordered air strikes to relieve pressure on the refugees from militants of the Islamic State.
U.S., UN Praise Maliki's Departure, Support For Abadi
The U.S. has praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for deciding not to stay in his post, calling it a "major step forward" in uniting Iraq. Maliki announced early today in a national television address that he was "withdrawing" his candidacy for the post of prime minister in favor of Abadi.
Welcome back to our live-blog of all the developments in Iraq.
That concludes our live-blogging for today, Thursday August 14. We will be back at 9:00 a.m. (Prague time) tomorrow. In the meantime, you can visit RFE/RL's Iraq page for all the latest news.