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Blasts Kill at Least 12 Mourners at Funeral of Iraq Sunni Leader

Three blasts struck mourners at a funeral in northern Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 42, security officials and medical workers said. The mourners in Diyala Province, northeast of Baghdad, were burying Mudher Shalal, a leader of the province’s Sunni Awakening movement, the units of fighters who were paid to switch sides and fight alongside the United States against Al Qaeda at the height of the war in Iraq. Mr. Shalal was killed by a bomb placed in his car on Saturday. Abu Kareem, one of the survivors of the attack on Sunday, said: “We were on our way to bury the martyr, while we were near the gate of the cemetery. Then there was a blast. I saw people who were carrying the coffin wounded on the ground, and the Iraqi flag that was covering the coffin was on fire.” Also on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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659 people killed in Iraq’s violence in November

A total of 659 Iraqis were killed and 1,373 others were wounded in violent attacks in Iraq in November, according to a statement released by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Sunday. The statement said that 565 civilians (including 120 civilian police personnel) and 94 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed in terrorist and violent acts in November, while 1,186 civilians and 187 Security Forces members were injured. Baghdad was the worst-affected province with 224 civilians killed and 399 others injured, followed by Nineveh, Salahudin and Diyala, while other provinces of Anbar, Kirkuk, Babil and Wasit reported less casualties, it said. As the bloodshed continues in the country, Nickolay Mladenov, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq and head of the UNAMI, urged the Iraqi authorities to make necessary efforts to protect the people, it added. “While indiscriminate […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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659 people killed in Iraq's violence in November

A total of 659 Iraqis were killed and 1,373 others were wounded in violent attacks in Iraq in November, according to a statement released by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Sunday. The statement said that 565 civilians (including 120 civilian police personnel) and 94 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed in terrorist and violent acts in November, while 1,186 civilians and 187 Security Forces members were injured. Baghdad was the worst-affected province with 224 civilians killed and 399 others injured, followed by Nineveh, Salahudin and Diyala, while other provinces of Anbar, Kirkuk, Babil and Wasit reported less casualties, it said. As the bloodshed continues in the country, Nickolay Mladenov, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq and head of the UNAMI, urged the Iraqi authorities to make necessary efforts to protect the people, it added. “While indiscriminate […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC Rift Emerging Over Iraq Output, Possible Return of Iran

Tensions are emerging within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries over which member countries should trim oil production to make room for a resurgence in Iraqi exports and the possible return of more Iranian crude to world markets if sanctions are eased. There is no expectation of a decision to cut back at the OPEC cartel’s meeting in Vienna on Wednesday. The group of 12 of the world’s largest producers, though long riven by squabbling, has kept its overall production ceiling at 30 million barrels a day since December 2011. OPEC expects overall demand for its crude to drop by about 300,000 barrels a day next year and some members are pushing to trim output, according to people familiar with the debate. Members will have to decide whether to cut production as early as the first half of the year, with the risk that short-term global supply might […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Victims of violence struggle for medical treatment in Iraq

Ilham Nori Wahid’s eyes fill with tears as he speaks about the bomb attack that left him wounded, and killed his friends and neighbours in northern Iraq’s Kirkuk province. “The sound was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything for three days afterwards. There were five people in front of me and all of them were killed.” The blast came as people were leaving Al-Quds mosque on the first day of the Muslim celebration, Eid al-Adha. Wahid survived, but now has to cope with his physical and psychological scars in a country where violence is at its highest level in five years and the healthcare system is struggling to respond to the needs of patients. Over 135,000 Iraqi civilians were injured in conflict and violence between March 2003 and March 2013 according to Iraq Body Count , but figures from the Iraqi Human […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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52 dead in throwback to Iraq's sectarian bloodshed

A wave of violence Friday killed 52 people in Iraq, most of whom were kidnapped and shot dead with their corpses abandoned, in scenes harking back to Iraq’s sectarian war. The killings come amid a surge in violence that has left more than 600 people dead this month, including several who were snatched from their homes, only for their bodies to be found later, fuelling fears Iraq is slipping back into the communal bloodshed that plagued it from 2005 to 2007. More than 6,000 people have been killed this year, forcing Baghdad to appeal for international help in battling militancy just months before a general election, as official concern focuses on a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the war in neighbouring Syria. Violence on Friday struck in Baghdad and mostly Sunni […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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52 dead in throwback to Iraq’s sectarian bloodshed

A wave of violence Friday killed 52 people in Iraq, most of whom were kidnapped and shot dead with their corpses abandoned, in scenes harking back to Iraq’s sectarian war. The killings come amid a surge in violence that has left more than 600 people dead this month, including several who were snatched from their homes, only for their bodies to be found later, fuelling fears Iraq is slipping back into the communal bloodshed that plagued it from 2005 to 2007. More than 6,000 people have been killed this year, forcing Baghdad to appeal for international help in battling militancy just months before a general election, as official concern focuses on a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the war in neighbouring Syria. Violence on Friday struck in Baghdad and mostly Sunni […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Turkey, Kurdistan cement massive energy deal

Turkey has signed multiple agreements that flesh out its energy alliance with Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, despite last-ditch efforts by Baghdad and Washington to forestall the deal.In a Nov. 27 meeting in Ankara between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, the two sides signed documents to govern export pipelines, the sale of gas, and the handling of revenue, according to two people involved in the negot… 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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18 People, Abducted in Baghdad, Are Found Shot to Death

Eighteen people were found dead in what appeared to be an execution-style killing on Friday, their bodies dumped on a farm near the predominantly Sunni neighborhood where they had been rounded up the night before, according to the police. Armed men in sport utility vehicles and dressed in military uniforms swarmed into the neighborhood of Mashahdi in northern Baghdad late on Thursday and singled out 18 people, taking them from separate residences, the police said, quoting witness accounts. The bodies of the victims, who were all Sunnis, were discovered in the morning riddled with bullets, the police said. The victims included a leader from the Dulaimi tribe, one of the largest and most prominent Sunni tribes in Iraq; his son; a local municipal official; an army officer; and a police officer. A farmer in the area, Kareem al-Jasim, said he had witnessed the roundup in Mashahdi by […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Exclusive: Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan ink landmark energy contracts

Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package this week that will help transform the semi-autonomous region into an oil and gas powerhouse but infuriate the central government in Baghdad. The move follows months of negotiations and was learned from sources close to the deal on Friday after being kept secret. Baghdad says any independent Kurdish oil exports are illegal and that it has the sole authority to manage Iraqi oil. For energy-hungry Turkey, dependent on imports for almost all of its needs, exploiting Iraqi Kurdistan’s rich hydrocarbon resources will help diversify its energy supplies and reduce the country’s ballooning $60 billion energy bill. Ankara’s close partnership with Iraqi Kurds is historic and to many, marks the beginning of a new era, given the decades-long fight with Kurdish militants on Turkish soil that has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The deal came in the early […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple