Iraq forces kill 40 militants near Baghdad

Iraqi soldiers killed more than 40 militants in clashes near Baghdad on Thursday as anti-government fighters edged close to the capital just weeks before national parliamentary elections. The firefight was the latest in a surge in bloodshed over the past year, amid fears insurgents could seek to destabilise the April 30 polls by upping the pace of attacks with violence already at its worst since 2008. The bloodshed comes with campaigning underway ahead of the elections, Iraq's first since March 2010, which the UN's special envoy has warned will be "highly divisive". On Thursday morning, militants attacked an army camp in Yusifiyah, just southwest of the capital, the interior ministry said in a statement, according to AFP.