Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, Jan. 8

At least seven people were killed and 30 others wounded in two suicide bomb attack in and near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday, a police source said. (Iraq-Attacks)

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CAIRO -- Egypt said it plans to hold the much-awaited parliamentary elections from March 21 to May 7, said the country's election authorities on Thursday.

Choosing a new parliament was a key and final step of the political roadmap announced by the army after it overthrew the country's first freely-elected President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. (Egypt-Parliament-Elections)

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TIKRIT, Iraq -- Islamic State (IS) militants launched a major attack on Samarra, a city of Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said.

The attack occurred at dawn when five suicide bombers blew up their explosive-laden trucks near the security checkpoints on a highway and at the western entrance of Samarra, some 120km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-IS)

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ISTANBUL -- A Russian woman has been identified as the suicide bomber in Tuesday's blast at a police station in Istanbul which killed a police officer and injured another, local media reported on Thursday.

Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala told reporters that the woman had been identified, but refrained from naming the perpetrator. "We don't think it is right to make a detailed statement at this stage in terms of safety of the investigation," he said. (Turkey-Bomber-Identification) Endit