Baghdad, February 25: No sectarian slogans or chanting supportive of the former regime would be allowed in the protests expected on Friday, according to the Baghdad Operations Command on Thursday.
“Security forces won’t be lenient with anyone chanting sectarian slogans or others supportive of the former regime,” BOC official spokesman, Maj.
“We reiterate warnings against terrorist schemes targeting the protesters.
Falluja, February 25: A suicide bomber blew himself up during a ceremony in a cultural center in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi Thursday, killing 15 people and wounding 21, government officials and a hospital source said.
The bomber attacked during a commemoration of Prophet Mohammad’s birthday, said Anbar province Deputy Governor Hikmet Khalaf, who was injured in the explosion.
Baghdad, February 25: Such protests have been growing across the nation and the region alike, but Friday will finally be Iraq’s own “day of rage,” with protesters expected to rally en masse even as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announces an absolute curfew and threats in an effort to keep anyone from attending.
Maliki insisted that Iraqis are free, and can therefore hold public protests any time they want, before adding that they were not allowed to protest on Friday and claiming that the Friday protests were a plot of Saddam Hussein backers. Hussein has been dead for years.
Baghdad, February 24: Although he was assigned by Saddam Hussein’s information ministry to monitor my movements, Na’il was no fan of the Iraqi dictator. Whenever we were alone, he spoke candidly about his desire to leave the country. He had no hope that Saddam may one day be toppled. “Iraqi people are cursed,” he kept saying.
Baghdad, February 22: A leading human rights group released a report Monday documenting the proliferation of human rights abuses in Iraq since the United States invasion in 2003.
Among the most egregious cases, the 102-page report by Human Rights Watch identifies women, journalists, detainees, and marginalized groups, including internally displaced persons and religious minorities, as the most vulnerable populations in Iraq.
“Beyond the continuing violence and crimes associated with it, human rights abuses are commonplace,” the report found.
Baghdad, February 22: Iraqi Kurdistan has announced that they are planning to hold an “extraordinary session” of their regional parliament to discuss the growing unrest and demand for reforms amongst protesters.
Protests and the violent crackdowns against them have been growing over the past week, and the final toll of last week’s Sulaymaniyah protests have at least three people killed and another 121 wounded.
Baghdad, February 18: A statement released today by the Baghdad city council has publicly demanded $1 billion and an official apology from the US military for damages done to the city over the course of the past eight years of occupation.
“Anyone can recognise what American forces have done to Baghdad by turning this beautiful city into a military camp,” the statement noted, adding that US military vehicles left the streets littered with potholes and military operations built annoying concrete barriers that the city will eventually have to pay to remove.
New Delhi, February 17: Former communications minister A. Raja, arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam, Thursday headed to Tihar Jail after a Delhi court sent him to 14 days judicial custody.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini, who sent him to judicial custody till March 3 as the investigation agency did not seek any further remand for interrogation, allowed him to have homecooked food, reading glasses and medicines.
Baghdad, February 17: The mass protests against poor services and corruption continued today, including one that left a significant number of casualties in southern Iraq. At least six Iraqis were killed across the country in new violence or demonstrations while 59 more were wounded. In Europe, British and Swiss researchers studying Iraq’s war dead have discovered a disturbingly high proportion of civilians deaths from Coalition operations.
Baghdad, February 17: An American service member was killed in central Iraq on Tuesday, the U.S. military confirmed on Wednesday morning, but few details were immediately released.
A statement from U.S. Forces – Iraq said a U.S. service member was killed as a result of a non-hostile incident in central Iraq, but provided no other information. “The name of the deceased and details of the incident are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense,” the statement said.
Security developments in Iraq,
Baghdad,February 17:Following are security developments in Iraq as of 2000 IST today.
KUT – Three people were killed and dozens wounded when protesters demanding better services clashed with police and set fire to government buildings in the southern city of Kut, 150 km southeast of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.
MUSSAYAB – A bomb planted near a police station went off and wounded two policemen in the town of Mussayab, 60 km south of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
New Delhi, February 16: Declaring that he “had a job to do and was not quitting”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday responded to questions on corruption and other issues confronting his 21-month-old United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II government, announced that “wrongdoers will not escape” and added that the country will witness the next round of economic reforms soon.
Baghdad, February 16: Iraq has been facing a myriad of problems, from a totally demolished infrastructure after eight years of US occupation to rising food shortages and a stubborn insurgency. They also are facing the prospect of life after that occupation, with the US pushing them to build a massive military to replace the US forces.
Beyond that, protests have been growing across the country, with protesters hammering the religiously dominated government blocks for corruption and a total lack of basic services, in the face of a rising budget deficit.
Baghdad, February 15: Iraq has been facing a myriad of problems, from a totally demolished infrastructure after eight years of US occupation to rising food shortages and a stubborn insurgency. They also are facing the prospect of life after that occupation, with the US pushing them to build a massive military to replace the US forces.
Beyond that, protests have been growing across the country, with protesters hammering the religiously dominated government blocks for corruption and a total lack of basic services, in the face of a rising budget deficit.
Baghdad, February 14: “We want reforms to take place,” said Hanaa Adwar, an activist from the nonprofit watchdog group, al Amal. “We have witnessed the popular revolution carried by Tunisian and Egyptian people that led to the toppling of their regime.”
Hundreds of Iraqis rallied on Monday in central Baghdad, protesting the rampant corruption and the lack of government services that have plagued the country for years.
Tikrit (Iraq), February 13: The death toll in a suicide bomb attack on Shia pilgrims near the holy city of Samarra in northern Iraq rose to 33 Sunday, Xinhua reports.
“Our latest report about Saturday’s suicide bomb attack on a bus carrying Shia pilgrims near Samarra, indicates that 33 people were killed and 27 wounded,” a police official said.
Officials put the toll at 28 killed and 22 wounded Saturday.
Baghdad, February 12: A bomb explosion has claimed the lives of 28 people, all Shia pilgrims, and has wounded 22 others in Iraq’s northern Salahudin Province, police say.
The explosion took place Saturday afternoon when a bomber struck a bus carrying Shia pilgrims outside Samarra, 110 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source said,
The attack comes two days after a similar incident killed nine people in the same area.
Baghdad, February 11: A car bomb exploded near a procession of Shiite Muslim pilgrims south of the holy city of Samarra on Thursday, killing nine people, including one child, and wounding 39 people, 5 of them children, a police official said.
The procession was headed for Samarra’s gold-domed shrine, where a bombing by insurgents in 2006 helped set off a sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
Baghdad, February 11: Officials have been downplaying the prospect of such protests in Iraq, but it seems that the Tunisia-Egypt bug has spread to Baghdad, where some 3,000 people marched through a Sunni neighborhood protesting against the corruption and incompetence of the Maliki government.
The protests, which were organized by an Iraqi lawyers’ union, included calls for the government to sack judges and for a full investigation into the human rights NGOs’ reports of secret prisons in the nation.
Baghdad, February 07: Hundreds of Iraqis took part in scattered demonstrations on Sunday, calling for an improvement in basic services and the resignation of local government officials as unrest sweeps much of the Arab world.
In Baghdad, around 250 people gathered in the impoverished district of Bab al-Sham to protest against a lack of services. “It is a tragedy. Even during the Middle Ages, people were not living in this situation,” said engineer Furat al-Janabi.
Baghdad, February 07: The rumors of Iraq’s first case of self-immolation to protest poor services and corrupt government proved not to be true on Sunday.
But the growing discontent in Iraq – inspired by people power protests in Tunisia and Egypt that were both galvanized by protesters setting themselves alight – is such that an Iraqi policeman posted in Baghdad’s downtown Firdous Square on Sunday knew the question he was being asked, even before it was finished.
“There is news that someone…” an Iraqi journalist asked.
Baghdad, February 07: With the shadow of Egypt’s uprising looming large on the horizon, officials seem to be keen on staving off concerns that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been eagerly centralizing his power (he is currently simultaneously PM, Interior Minister, Defense Minister and Internal Security Minister), has designs on being a Mubarak-style strongman.
Mumbai, February 07: The Bombay High Court will deliver the final verdict on lone surviving militant of 2008 Mumbai attacks on February 21.
The High Court, who had reserved its verdict on death sentence to Kasab, on Monday announced the final date for the judgment.
Apart from Kasab, the court will also pronounce the verdict on Faheem Ansari and Sabahuddin Shaikh. Ansari and Shaikh are Indian accused in the case, who were acquitted by the special court. The state government had challenged the acquittal of both Indian accused in the High Court.
Baghdad, February 06:American officials suggest that tens of thousands of US troops in Iraq may extend their stay in the country well beyond the 2011withdrawal deadline.
US Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey said on Friday that more US military forces may be needed to counter what he called “threats to Iraq’s stability, [and they] will remain in 2012.”
The prospects of a longer US military stay in Iraq contradict the clauses of a 2008 agreement between Baghdad and Washington.
Baghdad, February 06:American officials suggest that tens of thousands of US troops in Iraq may extend their stay in the country well beyond the 2011withdrawal deadline.
US Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey said on Friday that more US military forces may be needed to counter what he called “threats to Iraq’s stability, [and they] will remain in 2012.”
The prospects of a longer US military stay in Iraq contradict the clauses of a 2008 agreement between Baghdad and Washington.