UN chief praises moves toward stability in rare Iraq visit

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.N. chief has praised Iraq for repatriating citizens detained in neighboring Syria on suspicion of ties to the Islamic State group during a rare visit to Baghdad. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also on Wednesday pledged international support for the country’s efforts to regain stability and security. The visit comes ahead of this month’s 20-year anniversary of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The years that followed saw widespread sectarian violence and the rise first of al-Qaida in the region and later IS, which at one point controlled wide swaths of territory, including Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul.