Iraq

Baghdad, Iraq, January 26: A car bomb exploded in central Baghdad today killing five people and injuring 20, an interior ministry official said, a day after three huge minibus bombs targeting hotels killed dozens.

The blast occurred in Karrada neighbourhood near a government office which deals with criminal investigations, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Yesterday, three huge and apparently co-ordinated minibus bombs targeted hotels in Baghdad, killing at least 36 people and wounding 71.

Baghdad, January 16: Iraqi authorities say they have captured a senior leader of a militant group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq.

The arrest comes as Iraq’s government looks to bolster its security credentials ahead of parliamentary elections in March.

Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi announced the capture of Ali al-Azzawi in a televised press conference Saturday.

He identified al-Azzawi as a high-level commander in the Islamic State of Iraq who supervised numerous attacks, including the 2003 bombing of the United Nations’ headquarters in Iraq.

Baghdad, January 12: Iraqi security forces on Tuesday arrested 25 people suspected of plotting attacks and imposed a temporary curfew on parts of the capital as they conducted raids and seized explosives.

Police confiscated 200 kg (440 pounds) of C4 explosives, the same amount of TNT, 60 other explosives of different types and a quantity of ammonium nitrate, said Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad security forces.

Ammonium nitrate is a compound used as a fertilizer and an ingredient in bombs.

“They were planning to implement terrorist acts,” Moussawi said.

Baghdad, January 12: Iraqi security forces have declared a state of curfew across major neighborhoods of Baghdad amid reports of probable bombing attacks there.

Security forces are carrying out a massive search operation across Baghdad as part of large-scale lockdowns in the Iraqi capital.

The Iraqi government declined to comment about whether explosives had been found, citing an ongoing investigation.

The measure has heightened concerns about security breaches in Baghdad. The city witnesses violence-related incidents on nearly a daily basis since the US-led invasion in March, 2003.

Baghdad, January 07: Three bombs exploded in a residential area near Ramadi in Iraq’s western Anbar province on Thursday, killing seven people including relatives of an Iraqi Army anti-terrorist special forces commander, police said.

The bombs were planted overnight at the homes of the officer, Waleed al-Hiti, his parents and lawyer, police said.

Hiti was seriously wounded and his father, mother, two sisters and his brother’s wife were killed, police said.

The bombing occurred in the town of Hit, about 130 km (80 miles) west of Baghdad.

—Agencies

Baghdad, January 04: An Iraqi insurgent group claimed responsibility Sunday for a double bombing last month that killed 24 people and severely injured a provincial governor.

The Islamic state of Iraq called the Dec. 30 blasts in Ramadi, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, “a divine blow” against “the criminal security apparatus” in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site. The group purports to speak for a range of insurgent factions linked to al-Qaida in Iraq. It previously claimed responsibility for the Dec. 8 bombings in Baghdad which killed 127 people.

Baghdad, January 02: Iraqis seeking justice for 17 people shot dead at a Baghdad intersection responded with bitterness and outrage Friday at a U.S. judge’s decision to throw out a case against a Blackwater security team accused in the killings.

The Iraqi government vowed to pursue the case, which became a source of contention between the U.S. and the Iraqi government. Many Iraqis also held up the judge’s decision as proof of what they’d long believed: U.S. security contractors were above the law.

Baghdad, December 30: The governor of Iraq’s Anbar province survived a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday, his deputy said, after state television reported the official had died.

Deputy Governor Hikmet Khalaf said that Qassim Mohammed, governor of the mainly Sunni Arab province west of Baghdad, had been sent to hospital after two bombings in central Ramadi, the provincial capital.

Police sources said the twin suicide attacks, which took place near the provincial government headquarters, killed at least 10 people and wounded at least 40.

—Agencies

Kollam, December 26: Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan today paid homage to those who lost their lives in the deadly tsunami which struck the coastal areas of the state five years ago, claiming 176 lives.

The Chief Minister handed over keys of 60 houses constructed as part of a tsunami rehabilitation programme, to beneficiaries at Mudakara in the district.

Assuring people that rehabilitation programmes would be completed on a war-footing, Achuthanandan said all those who had lost their houses in tsunami would get houses in the next two years.

Baghdad, December 23: A bomb killed two men and damaged a historic church in a northern Iraqi city on Wednesday, one day ahead of Christmas Eve services that will be heavily guarded for fear of more attacks on the country’s Christian minority.

The bomb in Mosul was hidden under sacks of baking flour in a handcart left 15 yards (meters) from the Mar Toma Church, also known as Church of St. Thomas, a police officer said.

The officer said the two killed were Muslims, and that five other people were injured. A hospital official confirmed the casualties.

Baghdad, December 21: Five people were killed and seven injured in a suicide bombing in a northern Iraqi town Monday, police said.

The head of the municipal council in the town of Tel Afar, Hussein Mohammed Al al-Kris, was among the dead. The suicide bomber, who had the explosives strapped to his body, was also killed, according to police

Tel Afar, which lies roughly 60 km northwest of the city of Mosul, was the site of intense fighting after the 2003 US-led invasion.

—Agencies

Baghdad, December 21: Iranian forces entered southern Iraq before dawn Friday to seize control of an oil well in disputed territory on the border, a provocation that sent Iraqi security chiefs into emergency meetings, Iraqi government officials said.

Senior officials in Baghdad and in southern Iraq said that an unknown number of Iranian troops crossed into Iraq early Friday, where they raised the Iranian flag at an oil well in Iraq’s part of the Fakkah oil field, one of several fields that Iraq and Iran share. There were no reports of violence or shots fired.

Baghdad, December 19: Iraq’s oil industry will not be affected by a reported cross-border incursion by Iranian troops, which Iran denies, the government spokesman said on Saturday.

Oil prices rose on reports of an incursion by 11 Iranian soldiers who Iraqi officials said had taken over a well at Fakka oilfield in a disputed border area of Iraq’s southeastern Maysan province.

“This event … will not affect Iraqi oil production or exports,” Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters television.

Baghdad, December 19: Abu Ghraib: The top US military officer toured a bustling market on the outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday that is returning to normal as violence ebbs in Iraq.

Prosaic complaints such as a lack of parking have replaced fears of bombings for most merchants at the market in Abu Ghraib, a market town about four miles from the infamous prison of the same name.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff, donned a helmet and flack jacket for a lengthy walk past stalls selling vegetables, childrens’ toys and mouthwash.

Baghdad, December 10: Defense Secretary Robert Gates made an unannounced visit on Thursday to Iraq, where U.S. military leaders are planning to sharply reduce troop numbers by next summer despite delays in Iraq’s forthcoming national polls.

Gates says that Iraq’s decision to hold parliamentary elections in March, a delay of several weeks from the original date, will not affect U.S. plans to end combat operations next August and reduce the number of U.S. troops to 50,000 from around 115,000 now.

—Agencies

Baghdad, December 10: Iraq’s decision to hold parliamentary elections in March will not interfere with the US military’s plans to reduce the number of troops in the country, the Pentagon said.

President Barack Obama has pledged to end U.S combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, ahead of a full pullout by the end of 2011. The U.S. force in Iraq is supposed to be reduced to 50,000 by end of August from around 115,000 now.

Baghdad, December 09: Iraq’s prime minister is calling on Iraqis to stand by their security forces following a string of attacks in Baghdad that have angry lawmakers demanding answers and calling for resignations of security leaders.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked Iraqis to be patient and remain steadfast during a televised address Wednesday on state run television.

Al-Maliki and his top security officials have come under fire for security lapses following Tuesday’s attacks, the third against government buildings in Baghdad since summer.

Baghdad, December 09: Iraqi leaders were set to come under fire Wednesday, having failed to prevent a spate of attacks in Baghdad that killed 127 people, the third major set of bombings to hit the capital since August.

The blasts undermined the government’s claims of improved security and MPs quickly demanded that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the government’s security ministers answer for any failings that led to the attacks.

Baghdad, December 09: Iraqi leaders were set to come under fire Wednesday, having failed to prevent a spate of attacks in Baghdad that killed 127 people, the third major set of bombings to hit the capital since August.

The blasts undermined the government’s claims of improved security and MPs quickly demanded that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the government’s security ministers answer for any failings that led to the attacks.

Baghdad, December 08: The Iraqi presidential council Tuesday set March 6 as the new date for parliamentary elections, Baghdad’s Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported, citing state television.

The announcement followed parliament’s unanimous approval to a law to cover those polls minutes before a midnight deadline Sunday, ending a tense, months-long standoff that highlighted sectarian divisions between Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish political parties.

Baghdad, December 08: A top Iraqi lawmaker says the newly passed electoral law delivered a political blow to Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, which was not reflected in his message.

“Tariq al-Hashemi gained nothing from the new electoral law, as Mosul Province lost five parliamentary seats, three from the provincial and two from the minority quotas,” Baha Araji told Al-Alam on Monday, according to a translation of his comments.

Araji is the spokesman for the National Iraqi Alliance, the most influential Iraqi party, which holds the most seats in parliament.

Baghdad, December 08: A series of coordinated attacks struck across Baghdad Tuesday — including three car-rigged bombs striking near government sites — killing at least 72 people and wounding 115 in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month, authorities said.

The total of four attacks, which also included a suicide car bomb on a police patrol, showed the ability of insurgents to strike high-profile targets in the heart of Baghdad in another embarrassment to Iraqi forces in their expanding role as front-line security as U.S. forces plan their withdrawal.

Baghdad,December 07: An Iraqi election official says discussions are under way to set a new date for the country’s Parliamentary Elections.

The elections had been scheduled for January 16, but officials are now studying at least a six-week delay until late February or early March. Iraqi lawmakers finally approved rules for the election late Sunday after weeks of stalemate.

A senior election commission official, Qassim al-Aboudi, says February 27 elections appear to have the most support after Monday’s discussions. But later dates are still on the table.

Baghdad, December 07: Six children were among eight people killed at a Baghdad school in what the Iraqi security forces said was an ammunition blast on Monday, among a total of 16 people killed in and around the capital.

Just north of Baghdad, six anti-Qaeda militiamen were gunned down in broad daylight and the wife of a militia commander was killed when their home was bombed.

Two hospitals in the Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City said eight people were killed in the school blast, including six pupils from the Abaa Dhar primary school for boys.

Baghdad, December 07: Four children were killed in a bomb blast at a primary school in Iraq Monday, Al-Arabiya TV reported.

At least 18 pupils were injured in the blast in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite Muslim suburb of Sadr City, the Dubai-based channel said.

—Agencies