19 killed in violence in Iraq
At least 19 people were killed and 19 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq, police said on Sunday.Tw o people were killed and seven wounded when a car bomb Continue Reading
Iraq governor gives Anbar militants one-week ultimatum
An Iraqi provincial governor Saturday gave militants controlling a city near Baghdad one week to surrender as government forces made steady progress in an effort to end a weeks-long crisis. The Anbar governor’s ultimatum was directed at anti-government fighters who have held Fallujah for more than a month. It comes amid a protracted surge in violence with security forces grappling with near-daily attacks nationwide in addition to the fighting in the western desert province. Analysts and diplomats have called for the Shiite-led government to address Sunni grievances in order to undermine support for militants, but with April elections looming, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has taken a hard line. "People of Anbar, criminals have kidnapped Fallujah," Governor Ahmed al-Dulaimi said in a statement. "But, I swear to God, we will achieve victory against injustice and Fallujah will return to normal." Dulaimi gave anti-government fighters a week to lay down […]
Shiite militias in Iraq begin to remobilize
The carnage has raised concerns that the Shiite militias that stalked members of the minority Sunni population in the dark days of 2006 and 2007 could be remobilizing, in response to attacks by Sunni extremists. Members of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iranian-backed Shiite group responsible for thousands of attacks on U.S. forces during the Iraq war, admit they have ramped up targeted killings in response to a cascade of bomb attacks on their neighborhoods. “We’ve had to be much more active,” said an Asaib Ahl al-Haq commander who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sajad. “Those who are trying to incite sectarianism, we have to deal with them,” he said, drawing his hand over his throat like a knife. More than 1,000 people were killed in January in Iraq, according to Agence France-Presse. That was the highest death toll since April 2008. Iraq’s Shiite-led government is struggling to […]
Iraq attacks kill nine including election candidate
Attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital killed nine people on Friday, including a supporter of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who was standing in April’s parliamentary elections. The murder of Hamza al-Shammari, the first of an election candidate, comes amid a protracted surge in bloodshed with near-daily attacks nationwide and security forces battling anti-government fighters in Anbar province. Election candidates have been targeted in the past, with nearly 20 hopefuls killed ahead of April 2013 provincial council elections. Shammari, a senior leader of the Shammar tribe in Baghdad, was killed by gunmen using silenced pistols in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Ghazaliyah, two security officials said. He had been due to stand in the April 30 election as part of the Ahrar list, which is loyal to the Sadrists. North of Baghdad, separate bombings killed eight people, security and medical officials said. In Tuz Khurmatu, a […]
Bombing, shooting kill 6 people in Iraq
Iraqi authorities say a car bomb and a shooting have killed six people in the country’s north. The explosion killed four people and wounded 28 others on Friday on a commercial street in Tuz Khormato, said the town’s mayor Shalal Abdoul. Tuz Khormato is 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad. In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen shot dead two members of the Shabak minority in a drive-by shooting, said police and hospital officials. The Shabak are small ethnic minority, many of whose members follow an offshoot of Islam. Most live in villages east of Mosul, the provincial capital of the ethnically mixed Ninevah province that is predominantly Sunni Muslim. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to media. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn […]
Tensions rise as Iraqi Kurds’ oil flows to Turkey
As Iraqi Kurdistan exports oil northward to Turkey through its own pipeline despite dire warnings from Baghdad about the consequences of such independent action, the prospect of a collision between Iraq’s central government and the semiautonomous Kurds increases. But as parliamentary elections loom in April, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki seeking a third term amid a swelling al-Qaida insurgency raging in western Iraq, Baghdad may not be in a position to get tough right now or pick a fight with the restive Kurds and their new ally Turkey. Analysts have long speculated that the likely outcome of the Kurds’ defiance is that they could eventually declare their enclave across Iraq’s three northern provinces an independent state. The fear is that other regions, particularly the south, which contains two-thirds of Iraq’s oil reserves of 143.1 billion barrels, will also want greater autonomy from a […]
Tensions rise as Iraqi Kurds' oil flows to Turkey
As Iraqi Kurdistan exports oil northward to Turkey through its own pipeline despite dire warnings from Baghdad about the consequences of such independent action, the prospect of a collision between Iraq’s central government and the semiautonomous Kurds increases. But as parliamentary elections loom in April, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki seeking a third term amid a swelling al-Qaida insurgency raging in western Iraq, Baghdad may not be in a position to get tough right now or pick a fight with the restive Kurds and their new ally Turkey. Analysts have long speculated that the likely outcome of the Kurds’ defiance is that they could eventually declare their enclave across Iraq’s three northern provinces an independent state. The fear is that other regions, particularly the south, which contains two-thirds of Iraq’s oil reserves of 143.1 billion barrels, will also want greater autonomy from a […]
U.S. stands by Baghdad in oil contract policy
The U.S. State Department said it believes any revenue generated in Iraq through oil sales should go through the central government. The U.S. Embassy in Iraq said a meeting was held Wednesday in Baghdad between Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani and top U.S. envoys on energy policy. The embassy in a statement said both sides reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate fully in areas of oil production and contracts. "As you know, our position has long been that we believe that all of these [oil] contracts and any revenue should go through the central government," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said during her Wednesday press conference. The central government in Baghdad threatened legal action against the semiautonomous Kurdish government in the north for working independently with foreign oil companies. Kurdish oil is planned for an export terminal in Turkey, something Baghdad says […]
Iraqi Tribes to Take Lead in Falluja Fight, U.S. Says
The Iraqi Army is planning to cordon off a key Sunni city now occupied by jihadists so that Sunni tribes can lead the mission to secure it one neighborhood at a time, a senior State Department official told Congress on Wednesday. “The plan is to have the tribes out in front, but with the army in support,” said Brett McGurk, the State Department’s top official on Iraq, describing preparations to try to oust the jihadists from the city of Falluja, in Anbar Province. The Iraqi strategy to take on the militants has been developed with advice from American military officers, including General Lloyd J. Austin III, the head of the United States Central Command, who met in Baghdad last week with Iraqi officials and military […]
48 killed, 119 wounded in Iraq violence
A total of 48 people were killed and 119 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq on Wednesday, mostly in the capital city of Baghdad, officials and police said. A series of bomb explosions rocked the Iraqi capital from morning to evening on Wednesday, killing at least 37 people and wounding 91 others. In the morning, a car bomb went off at a parking lot outside the Iraqi Foreign Ministry building in the city center, which is adjacent to the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses some government offices and the U.S. embassy, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua […]