Islamic State Group

"Victory at Beiji is a crucial step toward ending Daesh's presence in Iraq," Haider al-Abadi told military and militia commanders during a visit to the area the day before, using an Arabic acronym for the extremist group.

The military retook the town of Beiji from the IS group in November, but government forces and allied Shiite militiamen there have come under mounting pressure in recent weeks. Militants now control up to half of the town and oil refinery to the north, a top commander told The Associated Press.

The extremist group posted photos on social media Friday showing bulldozers destroying the Saint Elian Monastery near the town of Qaryatain, which IS captured in early August.

A Christian clergyman told The Associated Press in Damascus that IS militants also wrecked a church inside the monastery that dates back to 5th century. The priest, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the monastery included an Assyrian Catholic church.

Forced to fire 65 percent of his staff and close two of his six aluminum and glass factories, al-Aboudi's troubles mirror those facing business owners across Iraq. As the country battles the Islamic State group on the ground, it faces massive budget deficits brought on by the lowest global oil prices in six and a half years.

The deadlier of Monday's two attacks happened near the provincial capital, Baquba, located 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. Police said a suicide car bomb tore through a marketplace, killing at least 35 people and wounding 72.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement distributed on Twitter, saying an Iraqi fighter named Abdullah al-Ansai detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Huwaydah.

The move by the Nusra Front came two weeks after Turkey began carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Syria. 

Turkey also agreed to allow U.S. warplanes to use the strategic Incirlik Air Base for operations against IS in Syria. The two countries have agreed on the outlines of a plan to create an IS-free zone along the border.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syria-based activist Bebars al-Talawy say they have no information where IS militants took the residents after overrunning the heavily populated town of Qaryatain.

The Observatory said Friday that "dozens" of Christian were among the people abducted, while al-Talawy put the number at 60. He says the rest of those abducted are Sunni Muslims.

The group had earlier said it would do so in the coming hours if the Egyptian government does not release jailed "Muslim women."

Doaa el-Taweel, sister of jailed photographer and activist Esraa el-Taweel, said on Friday that her sister is innocent but that "her release should not come at the expense of another innocent person."

The claims by the so-called Hijaz Province of the Islamic State appeared hours after Thursday's attack in the city of Abha, close to Saudi Arabia's southern border with war-torn Yemen.

It was carried on IS-affiliated Twitter accounts and was also reported by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks militant messages.

The statement says an IS suicide bomber targeted a "monument of the apostate".

Interior ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski told The Associated Press Thursday that all those arrested are Macedonian nationals. They are suspected of being volunteers or recruiters for the group to fight in Syria and Iraq.

Islamic State is banned in Macedonia, where participation of the country's citizens in overseas militant groups carries a sentence of at least four years in prison.