Category: Iraq

Suicide attacks and bombings across Iraq killed at least 21 people on Monday, medical and police sources said, the latest in a series of attacks that has brought violence in Iraq to its highest level in five years. The deadliest attack took place in Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, where four bombers wearing explosive belts took over a police station after detonating a parked car bomb outside the building, police sources said. Two blew themselves up inside the station, killing five policemen. The other two took control of the station for about an hour before detonating themselves as Iraqi special forces raided the station, the sources said. "We believe that the attack was aimed at freeing the detainees who are being held in the building next door," said Major Salih al-Qaisi, a police officer who was at the scene. "All militants were killed […]

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Iraqi officials say bombings in and around Baghdad have killed at least nine people and wounded 28. Police officials say a parked car bomb exploded at an outdoor market in Baghdad’s central Sadriyah neighborhood Monday, killing four people and wounding 11. They say another bomb went off near a bus station in the nearby al-Nahda area, killing three people and wounding seven. A car bomb in a parking lot in the southeastern Bayaa neighborhood and a bomb in the eastern suburb of Hussainiyah killed two civilians and wounded 10. Medical officials confirmed the figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media. At least 233 people have died in attacks across Iraq so far this month, according to an Associated Press count. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

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The escape of 22 terror suspects in Baghdad led to heightened security on Friday Fifteen Iranian and three Iraqi gas pipeline workers have been shot dead by gunmen north-east of Baghdad. The attackers sped up in three cars before opening fire on the workers as they dug a trench to extend the pipeline near the city of Baquba. Another five Iranians and two Iraqis were wounded in the attack. At least 17 people were killed in separate attacks elsewhere in Iraq on Friday and 22 terrorism suspects escaped from detention. The gas pipeline workers were digging a trench to extend the line, intended to connect Iraq’s gas network to supplies from neighbouring Iran. A worker injured in the attack told Reuters that the gunmen approached them in three cars. "Three of them got out […]

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Twenty-five suspects held on terrorism charges, some facing the death penalty, escaped early Friday from a prison north of Baghdad, killing two guards and raising the question of whether they had received inside help, security officials said. The prison is where Saddam Hussein was hanged in 2006. In another sign of the escalating violence crippling the country, 16 Iranians working on a gas pipeline and three Iraqis were killed by gunmen in S.U.V.s who surrounded their bus on Friday and opened fire in Khanaqin in Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, according to the police and medical sources. Among the Iranians killed were engineers and construction workers; the bus driver and an escort were two of the Iraqis killed. Four Iranian workers survived and were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. The pipeline runs between Iraq and Iran. The prison escape came a few weeks short of […]

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Iraqi authorities say bombings and a shooting have killed six people around the capital. Police officials say the deadliest of Saturday’s attacks came when a bomb exploded at an outdoor market in Baghdad’s southeastern suburbs, killing three and wounding 11 others. Two people were killed and seven others were wounded in a bomb blast inside a restaurant in the capital’s northeastern suburb of Husseiniyah, said police. Also in Baghdad, gunmen killed the owner of a grocery store as he was walking near his house in the neighborhood of Hurriyah. Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to talk to media. At least 190 people have died in attacks across the country so far this month, according to an Associated Press count © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

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Hundreds of workers in Basra’s oil sector, including those seconded to fields operated by foreign oil companies, have restarted a campaign to pressure the Iraqi government to accede to demands for increased compensation, better living conditions and an end to punishment of union leaders.A rally held Tuesday outside the state-run South Oil Company (SOC) headquarters included politicians who, though not the most powerful in the country, will give the workers’ plight an added spotlight just fou…

Iraqi forces battled gunmen trying to infiltrate the country from neighboring Syria on Monday, while attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital killed more than 20 people, officials said. Twenty sport utility vehicles and more than two dozen motorcycles carrying gunmen tried to enter Iraq in Anbar Province, but Iraqi border forces turned them back after a two-hour clash, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement. It gave no details about casualties or the identities of the armed men. Iraq has been seized by violence that has taken on sectarian overtones, and many fear that the civil war in neighboring Syria will only intensify those divisions. Some militant Sunnis linked to Al Qaeda have flocked to the rebel cause in Syria, fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Shiites backing his government. Major bombings in Iraq have become an almost daily occurrence, and on Monday […]

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