Iraq

Washington, November 05: The top US military officer held out the possibility of a draw-down of American forces from Afghanistan within a few years, citing the troop “surge” in Iraq as a model.

As President Barack Obama weighs a request for more troops in Afghanistan, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen said it was “reasonable” to look at Iraq — where additional American forces were sent to bolster security in 2007 — as a guide.

Baghdad, November 04: Iraqi lawmakers have only a day left to agree on a new bill that would enable the country to hold key parliament elections in January, according to remarks Wednesday by the country’s election commission chairman.

The chairman, Faraj al-Haidari, said he warned the legislators that if they don’t approve the election law by the end of Thursday, the country’s nationwide vote will be delayed.

Baghdad, November 03: The government of Iraq Tuesday signed a contract with a Chinese-British consortium to develop southern Iraq’s massive Rumaila oil field, a spokesman said.

Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Assim Jihad told the DPA that the contract, Iraq’s first with a foreign firm since Iraq nationalised its petroleum resources in 1972, was signed in the presence of Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani and the Chinese and British ambassadors.

Baghdad, November 03: Iraq on Tuesday formally signed a deal worth 14 to 20 billion dollars with Britain’s BP and China’s CNPC to almost triple production at a giant southern oilfield.

The venture is expected to boost production at the southern Rumaila field from the current one million barrels per day to around 2.8 million bpd over its 20-year duration.

Rumaila is already integral to Iraq’s oil output, contributing almost half of the nation’s current production of around 2.5 million bpd, and is estimated to have further reserves of 17.7 billion barrels.

Iraq’s Sunnis have failed to form a united bloc to contest the coming election and instead have joined cross-sectarian alliances that may have stark implications for the Sunni Islamist insurgency, analysts say.

A Sunni boycott of the last national poll in 2005 and the rise to dominance of Iraq’s Shi’ite majority boosted resentment at their loss of power following the fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and helped fuel the still-active insurgency.

Baghdad, October 29: Iraq is to initial this weekend a draft agreement with a consortium led by Italian energy giant ENI to exploit the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq, the oil ministry said on Thursday.

“The oil ministry will sign the preliminary agreement with ENI in Baghdad on Sunday,” spokesman Assem Jihad said, adding that the deal would then be submitted to the cabinet for final approval ahead of a formal signing.

Tehran, October 28: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised visiting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday for his “clear stance against” Israel, Iran’s state media reported.

Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly predicted Israel’s imminent demise, blamed foreign states for regional problems and called for an expansion of Tehran-Ankara ties. His comments appeared aimed at the West, including Turkey’s ally the United States.

Baghdad, October 28: Militants linked to al Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility Tuesday for a pair of powerful truck bombs that killed 155 people and wounded 600 in the latest insurgent assault on the fragile Iraqi government.

The carnage Sunday was the second coordinated attack that al Qaida in Iraq has claimed recently in an apparent campaign to bring down Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s administration ahead of January elections, which are in jeopardy of being postponed by political wrangling and security concerns.

Iraqi education and health officials have closed almost 2,500 schools as a precaution against the spread of swine flu.

On Tuesday spokesmen for the southern provinces of Dhi Qar and Wasit announced that they were shutting all the schools in their districts, while four primary schools and two secondary schools in Baghdad have been closed for a week after suspected cases were found there.

In total almost 1,500 schools in Dhi Qar were closed for 10 days, affecting almost 400,000 pupils, after two children developed the virus.

Baghdad, October 25: At least 132 people were killed and over 500 others injured when two trucks packed with explosives detonated in quick succession in the heart of the Iraqi capital Sunday, the interior ministry said.

“According to latest reports, up to 132 people were killed and 512 others were injured in the massive explosions in downtown Baghdad,” an official told Xinhua requesting anonymity.

Earlier, the official put the toll at 62 killed and 180 injured.

Baghdad, October 25: Twin car bombs near the Iraqi capital’s provincial government building killed at least four people and wounded eight in central Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

The two strong blasts shook buildings and smoke billowed from the area. The death toll was likely to rise, police said.

—Agencies

Iraq, October 24: Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) unleashed a gush of job applications when it advertised 1,600 vacancies as part of a plan to dramatically increase crude production.

In Basra province, where the unemployment rate is in double-digit figures, interest was so overwhelming that SOC officials extended the application acceptance period, before eventually closing it on Wednesday.

Baghdad, October 22: Six suspected Al Qaeda members, including two who were formerly detained by US troops in Iraq, were arrested near the western Iraqi city of Fallujah, a local police chief said on Thursday.

Col. Mahmoud Al Isawi said the six men were wanted on suspicion of involvement in ‘murders’ and ‘attacks’ in and around Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad.

Al-Isawi didn’t say when the arrests were made, but said the six are suspected of planning attacks and planting explosives that killed and injured civilians and members of the Iraqi security forces.

Washington, October 22: The United States is pressing Iraq not to delay parliamentary elections in early January, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday, acknowledging it could affect plans for drawing down US forces.

Doubts about the election timeline rose again Wednesday after the Iraqi parliament failed to reach agreement on an election law because of a stalemate over oil-rich Kirkuk.

Baghdad, October 19: Politicians from Iraq’s Sunni Arabs have failed to forge a single alliance to fight January’s general election but, with the Shiites also split, analysts say the vote may herald a welcome end to confessional politics.

The last parliamentary election in 2005 was held amid raging sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war and many Sunni Arab voters stayed at home, disenchanted by the US-led invasion.

Baghdad, October 19: In the run-up to a major investment conference in Washington, traders at Iraq’s stock exchange pitched their ideas for where foreigners should put their money for the best return — banks and hotels.

“I would recommend the tourism and banking sectors (for foreign investors),” said Ali Jamal, a senior broker for Al-Jawhara, an investment firm.

“Especially tourism because new hotels are being built and existing ones are being refurbished — the door is being opened for investment in tourism,” he added.

Baghdad, October 18: A suicide bomber driving a dynamite-laden truck destroyed a key bridge Saturday on a highway used by the departing U.S. military, while separate attacks killed nine Iraqis, most of them security force members, police said.

There were no casualties in the blast that destroyed the bridge outside the city of Ramadi, which is about 70 miles (125 kilometers) west of Baghdad, said a local police officer. The highway is used heavily by the U.S. military to transport equipment out of the country, and is also a major roadway for civilian traffic.

Baghdad, October 18: Four Iraqi policemen were killed and 10 injured Saturday when a bomb targeted their truck near the Iraqi city of Falluja, security sources said.

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a bridge was blown up on the highway between Iraq, Syria and Jordan. A police source told DPA a loaded truck exploded on the bridge.

The incident came a day after gunmen blew up a wooden bridge south of Falluja connecting Ameriyat al-Falluja and Abu Ghraib towns near the Euphrates river.

—-Agencies

Baghdad, October 18: A military delegation from Iraq will visit Moscow soon to discuss the purchase of Russian weaponry, an Iraqi parliament member has said.

“A large delegation from the Iraqi defence ministry will travel soon to Moscow for talks on arms purchases (from Russia),” Abbas al-Bayati said in an interview with the Al Iraqiya television.

According to the Iraqi MP, Baghdad is seeking to sign arms contracts with Russia, Germany, France, Serbia and the US by the end of 2011 “to complete the creation of Iraqi Armed Forces and security forces”.

Baghdad, October 16: At least 11 people were killed and 70 others were injured Friday in a suicide bombing that targeted a Shia mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, according to witnesses.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt during the Friday prayers in al-Taqwa mosque in Tel Afar area in Mosul city, killing himself and 10 others, witnesses added.

Sheikh Abdul-Sattar Hussein, the imam of the mosque and a judge in the Tel Afar court was among the killed. Most of the victims were Shia citizens of Turkmen ethnicity.

Baghdad, October 15: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded that Turkey respect Iraq’s sovereignty in its pursuit of Kurdish rebels, as he held talks with his Turkish counterpart in Baghdad on Thursday on the thorniest disputes between their two countries.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit, during which some 20 agreements were due to be signed, was the latest move by Ankara to boost its ties with its Arab neighbours amid a growing spat with Israel.

Baghdad, October 15: The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W Bush said on Wednesday he has no regrets and would carry out his brazen protest again, even if it cost him his life.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi told Swiss television station Leman Bleu that, after being mistreated in Iraqi custody for two days following his outburst last December 14, a judge asked him whether he regretted the gesture.

“I told the judge only one thing: if the hands of the clock could you back I would do the same act even if it cost my life,” al-Zeidi said, speaking through a translator.

Bachdad, October 14: Foreign energy firms have agreed to Iraq’s conditions for investment in two major oilfields in the south of the country, Baghdad announced on Tuesday.

Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told a news conference that the aim is for crude production to be increased to between 10 and 12 million barrels per day within six years — up from the current level of around 2.5 million bpd.

Baghdad,October 14:Iraq’s human rights ministry said on Tuesday that at least 85,000 people had been killed by bombs, murders and fighting in 2004-08, in a rare death toll release by an Iraqi government agency.

Mayhem and bitter clashes erupted after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, followed by years of sectarian carnage that has only recently begun to abate. The number of people killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces or insurgents remains highly contentious.

London, October 10: Former British prime minister Tony Blair was told he had “blood on his hands” by the father of a dead soldier Friday, after a memorial for the fallen of the Iraq war in London.

The ex-premier joined Queen Elizabeth II, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani, current Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as soldiers and families at a service paying tribute to the 179 British troops who died as a result of invading Iraq.