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Baghdad Cafe Attack Pushes Iraq Toll to 46 Dead

Late night bombings at a Baghdad cafe left 13 people dead, officials said Thursday, pushing the toll from a day of nationwide blasts, shootings and shellings to at least 46. The violence has been primarily driven by discontent in the minority Sunni Arab community, which alleges mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government and security forces, and by the civil war raging in neighboring Syria. The coordinated bombings struck the cafe in the Washash area of western Baghdad at around 9:00 pm (2100 GMT) Wednesday, killing 13 people and wounding 40, according to a revised toll Thursday by security and medical officials. An initial roadside bombing near the cafe was followed by a suicide blast, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Violence elsewhere in and around the capital on Wednesday killed eight people, while four policemen were killed by a booby-trapped corpse north of Baghdad. Attacks […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Baghdad regains control in oil disputes

Maliki’s government is using harsh tactics to reassert itself against Kurdistan’s increasingly autonomous oil policy, while the core disputes remain unresolved. Iraqi central government authorities have regained leverage in their long-standing oil disputes with the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).Just a few months ago, the KRG seemed poised to solidify the independence of its oil sector by sending crude through its new pipeline to the Turkish border. But those plans have been complicated both by scandals swirling around Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and by a newly assertive government in Baghdad.As more than 1.3 mill… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Suicide attack in Baghdad cafe kills 12 people

A suicide bomber struck inside a Baghdad cafe overnight where customers were watching a football game on TV, killing at least 12 people and wounding 38, Iraqi officials said Thursday. The attack in the western Washash neighborhood took place late on Wednesday night, two police officers said. The bomber had mingled with the cafe crowd and set off his explosives-laden belt as they watched the game. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media. Iraq has been struck by a surge in violence unseen since 2007, relentless attacks that have become the Shiite-led government’s most serious challenge. Violence has spiked since last April, when security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp north of Baghdad in clashes that left 45 dead. Scores of people have been killed in the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New Kurdish oil online for DNO International

Norwegian energy company DNO International said Monday it started producing oil from new wells in the Tawke field in the Kurdish region of Iraq. DNO said Tawke-21 and Tawke-22 were producing oil at a combined rate of 37,000 barrels per day. Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said in a statement production from the Tawke field was close to what the company can deliver through existing pipeline infrastructure and by road. "With the exceptional results from these latest wells … we are on track to meet our ambitious deliverability goal of 200,000 barrels per day in 2014," he said Monday. Genel Energy, led by former BP boss Tony Hayward , said in January an energy agreement between the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government and Turkey, coupled with the completion of new pipeline infrastructure, should lead to a rise in oil exports from oil fields in the Kurdish region. Kurdish oil issues are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Embassy of the United States Baghdad, Iraq

The United States continues to accelerate delivery of weapons and ammunition to Iraq consistent with our Strategic Framework Agreement and long-term security partnership. These deliveries are made in response to specific Iraqi requests and pursuant to a holistic counter-terrorism policy that incorporates political, economic, and security measures. On the security side, it is essential that Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are equipped with modern and effective weaponry given the serious threat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) now poses to Iraq and the region. The United States is determined to help the ISF respond to this threat and protect the population in coordination with local leaders and tribes. Earlier this month, the United States delivered nearly 100 Hellfire missiles together with hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition and M4 rifles. These deliveries addressed a critical assessment of needs conducted jointly by Iraq and U.S. security experts, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Controlled by Iran, the deadly militia recruiting Iraq's men to die in Syria

Each day for the past nine months, the bodies have been coming. Some are carried in simple wooden coffins strapped to car roofs. Others arrive with more ceremony, escorted by black-clad mourners or men in military fatigues to a hypnotic soundtrack of Islamic hymns. The convoys turn into the lanes of the Valley of Peace cemetery, squeezing past tombstones weathered by millennia and stopping next to freshly dug holes in the desert soil. The newest inhabitants of the world’s biggest cemetery were killed not here in Iraq but in Syria , where they fought under the green flag of the Middle East’s most potent new Shia Islamic political force, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous). The militia has been busy readying for the afterlife, buying up more than 2,500 square metres of burial plots and erecting shrines for its fallen. In Baghdad, nearly 100 miles north, the group has […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Controlled by Iran, the deadly militia recruiting Iraq’s men to die in Syria

Each day for the past nine months, the bodies have been coming. Some are carried in simple wooden coffins strapped to car roofs. Others arrive with more ceremony, escorted by black-clad mourners or men in military fatigues to a hypnotic soundtrack of Islamic hymns. The convoys turn into the lanes of the Valley of Peace cemetery, squeezing past tombstones weathered by millennia and stopping next to freshly dug holes in the desert soil. The newest inhabitants of the world’s biggest cemetery were killed not here in Iraq but in Syria , where they fought under the green flag of the Middle East’s most potent new Shia Islamic political force, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous). The militia has been busy readying for the afterlife, buying up more than 2,500 square metres of burial plots and erecting shrines for its fallen. In Baghdad, nearly 100 miles north, the group has […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kurdistan tourist towns last resort for Iraqi refugees

The holiday season has yet to begin, but hotels in the mountain resort towns of Iraq’s Kurdistan region are already fully booked. The patrons are not tourists but refugees who have fled conflict in the country’s arid Sunni Arab heartland for the relative safety of its autonomous north, where Kurds run their own affairs. Shaqlawa may seem an unlikely refuge, but the resort town’s population has swollen by almost a half since the start of the year. On the main street of the town, crowded with construction sites, motels and guest houses, the newly opened "Falluja Kebab Restaurant" is testimony to its new residents. It is no small irony in a country with a historic enmity between Sunni Arabs and Kurds that residents of Anbar, a place synonmous with Arab nationalism, should now seek sanctuary with their onetime foe. In this mix, there is mistrust […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kurdistan Authorities, NGOs Struggle to Cope With Influx of Anbar Refugees

An hour after giving birth in Iraq’s war-torn Anbar province, 16-year-old Heyan Hussein was bundled into a vehicle with her newborn baby and whisked north to the city of Kalar in the Kurdistan Region, the only peaceful portion of Iraq which has become a last haven for tens of thousands of refugees from all parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.  “I left the city of Fallujah (in Anbar) 15 days ago, one hour after my son was born,” the teenager said, clutching her baby as she stood in line with her parents at a food distribution carried out by two foreign non-governmental organization (NGO). “My husband is still there with his own parents. There was no room for him to come with us,” she explained. Hussein stressed that the Iraqi government was not differentiating between civilians and the terrorists they are fighting, a sentiment […]

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Jordan, Iraq, Egypt join hands on natural gas, oil

The Jordanian government said it signed natural gas deals with Egypt and discussed the prospects for future oil cooperation with Iraq. Egyptian Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail Mohamed joined Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi in Amman for a trilateral energy meeting. During the meeting, Jordan and Egypt signed deals to secure natural gas deliveries through the Arab Gas Pipeline, a 750-mile pipeline from Egypt. A separate deal called for connecting future liquefied natural gas supplies through the pipeline for Jordanian energy companies, the official Jordan News Agency reported Thursday. The Egyptian section of the pipeline has been the frequent target of terrorist attacks, causing problems for Jordan. Last month, Jordanian companies Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine secured a total gross quantity of 66 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Tamar field, located off the Israeli coast. With Iraq, the Jordanian government said both sides expected an oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple