Month: May 2014

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is profoundly disturbed by the ongoing fighting in Anbar province, particularly in Fallujah, between the Iraqi security forces and armed groups. The fighting has severely disrupted the flow of food, water, fuel, medical and other supplies to civilians in the city. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are estimated to have fled their homes in Anbar province since hostilities erupted in December 2013. Ramadi, Anbar province, Iraq. Boys stand on debris from the roof of a mosque that collapsed following fighting. @Reuters / A.a "In the past few days alone, more than 35,000 people have been reportedly displaced. A large number of civilians are still trapped inside the city by fighting," said Patrick Youssef, head of the ICRC delegation in Iraq, who recently went to the area to assess the humanitarian situation. "Supplies of water, food, and other basic […]

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Up to 35 people were killed and 70 others wounded in separate bomb attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, police and medical sources said. The deadliest attack occurred at noon in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a crowd of Shiite worshippers inside Abu al-Timan mosque, leaving 19 people killed and 34 others wounded, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Insurgent groups frequently attacked Shiite pilgrims who perform communal rituals in the Iraqi cities, killing and wounding hundreds of them in attempt to provoke sectarian strife. In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off at a popular marketplace at the predominantly Shiite district of Sadr City in the eastern part of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding nine others, along with damaging several nearby shops and stalls, the source said. Also in […]

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The revival in Iraqi oil output has stalled. Again. Production forecasts for 2014 are getting less optimistic. The Oil Ministry’s official target is 4 million barrels a day by the end of the year. More likely it will be 3.75 million, Thamir Ghadhban , an adviser to the prime minister, said in an interview May 14. Or perhaps 3.4 million, about the same as last month, according to the average of six analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News . Violence and conflict are pinching growth for OPEC’s second-biggest member. While Iraq added about 2 million barrels to daily production since 2003, the year of Saddam Hussein ’s ouster, attacks on pipelines and an oil-revenue dispute with the semi-autonomous Kurdish region are diminishing the country’s dependability as a supplier. They’re also contributing to making oil more expensive, VTB Capital said. “Iraq always seems to be the producer of the future,” […]

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Personnel from the Iraqi security forces detain suspected militants of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, during a raid operation in Jurf al-Sakhar, May 27, 2014. The operation led to the arrest of wanted figures in Jurf al-Sakhar south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, according to an Iraqi security forces officer. (MUSHTAQ MUHAMMED/Reuters) At least four Iranian technicians building a gas pipeline in Diyala province were killed in a bombing Saturday morning – the latest in a series of attacks affecting the energy sector in northern Iraq. The pipeline, which is slated to send Iranian natural gas to the Mansuriya power plant and then down to Baghdad’s Sadr and Quds power plants, is behind schedule in part because of deteriorating security along its path. As workers were traveling by bus at 8:30 a.m. on May 24, a roadside bomb… This content is for registered users. […]

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The Iraq Red Crescent Society has announced the displacement of 65,000 families since the beginning of the ongoing military battles in Anbar province in western Iraq. Mohammad Al-khozai, Assistant Secretary-General of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society said in a press statement that number of families displaced since the beginning of the crisis in Anbar province was now 65,000 families, the majority from Fallujah. He pointed out that the Iraqi Red Crescent is the only humanitarian organisation in the field since the beginning of the crisis and was able to provide assistance for up to 50,000 families. He added that the majority of those displaced families were focused within the borders of the province in areas far from the conflict; the rest of the families were distributed within provinces adjacent to Anbar in addition to the cities of the provinces of northern Iraq. WAM

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A suicide bomber has killed at least 19 people at a Shia mosque in central Baghdad, officials have said, while violence elsewhere in Iraq left four dead, the latest in a protracted surge in bloodshed. The bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the mosque in Baghdad’s Shorja district on Tuesday as worshippers were preparing for midday prayers. Another 26 people were wounded in the blast, security and medical officials said. Elsewhere in the capital, roadside bombs in the Sadr City and Dura districts left two people dead. Bombings in the main northern city of Mosul killed another two people. The attacks came as Iraq’s Shia-led government struggles to contain the worst surge in sectarian violence since the country was pushed to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. The UN says violence killed 8,868 people last year. Violence has surged in the past year to […]

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