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Iraqi floods provide Internet fodder for frustrated residents

Flooding across Iraq that has left at least 13 people dead and caused widespread structural damage has also provided rich fodder for sarcastic Iraqis bemoaning their decrepit public services. The floodwaters, which have cut off entire areas of Baghdad and several other cities to most vehicles, were caused by several days of heavy rainfall that overwhelmed the crumbling drainage system. Video footage posted on Facebook depicted residents of the Iraqi capital negotiating water-logged streets in life rafts or on planks of wood, armed with makeshift oars. Edited pictures proliferated on social networks, jokingly placing crocodiles in the Baghdad floodwaters. Another superimposed Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s characters from 1998 blockbuster film Titanic on a bus making its way through the capital’s flooded streets. Another depicted a bikini-clad Western woman in the waters with the accompanying comment: “We have turned our neighbourhood into a tourist resort.” Others still […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Sunnis close Iraqi capital mosques in protest

Iraqi Sunni religious leaders said Saturday they closed the sect’s mosques in Baghdad indefinitely to protest attacks targeting clerics and worshippers, highlighting the country’s deepening sectarian rift. The closures came as violence across the country killed 12 people Saturday. Sheik Mustafa al-Bayati, a member of a council of senior Sunni scholars that issue religious edicts, said the decision taken Thursday came into effect Saturday. He said mosques would reopen Sunday. Many mosques appeared to comply. In Baghdad’s Sunni northern district of Azamiya, a banner at the closed gate of the hallowed Abu Hanifa mosque read: “The mosque is closed until further notice because of the targeting of imams, preachers and worshippers.” The mosque closures were “prompted by the systematic targeting of and injustice against Sunni clerics, mosques and worshippers,” al-Bayati told The Associated Press. “Today, it is not forbidden […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Bomb attacks in Iraq kill 5 troops near Baghdad

Iraqi officials say a suicide car bomb and another bombing near Baghdad have killed five members of the country’s security forces. Police officials say the suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car against a police checkpoint in southern Baghdad on Monday, killing three policemen and wounding four others. Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb struck the car with two anti-al-Qaida Sunni militiamen in Baghdad’s northeastern suburb of Husseiniyah, killing them both. The militia, known as Sahwa, joined forces with U.S. troops at the height of the Iraq war to fight al-Qaida. Iraqi troops and Sahwa fighters have been a favorite target for Sunni insurgents, who consider them to be traitors. Medical officials confirmed the causalities. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to talk to media. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Car bomb in Iraq kills 25: mayor, medics

A car bomb exploded in a busy market in northeastern Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 30, the town’s mayor and medical sources said. Iraq is suffering its worst wave of violence in at least five years, with insurgents targeting mainly Shi’ite Muslim civilians in attacks on public places such as shopping areas and cafes. Thursday’s attack took place in Sadiya, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad. "I was sitting in my store when I heard a huge explosion. I could not recognize anything because dust engulfed the place. Shattered glass was everywhere," grocery store owner Suhair Gadhban told Reuters by telephone, adding that he had been wounded in the leg. Suhair said he had seen dozens of people lying near the scene of the explosion as he was being taken for medical aid. "Some of them had […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Wave of attacks in Iraqi capital kills at least 24

BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of attacks, mostly by car bombs, hit mainly Shiite and commercial areas of Baghdad on Wednesday morning, killing at least 24 people and wounding 87, Iraqi officials said. The bombings were part of a surge in violence that has rocked Iraq over the past months as insurgents seek to thwart the Shiite-led government’s efforts to stabilize the country. Five of Wednesday’s attacks were carried out by parked car bombs while at least one was carried out by a remotely detonated bomb, police officials said. The deadliest attack was in the central Sadria neighborhood, where a parked car bomb went off at an outdoor market, killing five shoppers and wounding 15, they said. Other attacks took place in Hurriyah, Shaab, Tobchi, Karrada, Azamiyah and Amil neighborhoods. Medical officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to […]

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Iraq executes 12 ‘terror’ convicts, says judicial official

The growing resort to the death penalty comes as violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008. — AFP The growing resort to the death penalty comes as violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008. — AFP BAGHDAD, Nov 18 — Iraqi authorities have executed 12 men convicted of crimes related to “terrorism”, a senior judicial official said today, amid widespread international condemnation against Baghdad’s use of the death penalty. “Yesterday (Sunday), we executed 12 convicts,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “All of them were Iraqi men accused of terrorism.” The latest executions bring the number of people who have been put to death in Iraq this year to at least 144, compared to 129 executions in all of 2012, according to an AFP tally based on reports from the justice ministry and officials. Among them were 42 convicts […]

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Kurdistan sets stage for independent exports

Kurdistan sets stage for independent exports As Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region nears completion of its direct oil export pipeline to Turkey, the government has finished laying a legal foundation that could, in effect, give it economic independence from Baghdad.The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs said Monday that Iraq’s federal government owes $384.7 billion in reparations for acts committed against the country’s Kurdish population.”This is one of the rights of the Kurds,” said Sabah A… 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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Sectarian fury could threaten Iraq's push for record oil output

BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 17 (UPI) — The Iraqi government is seeking to restore calm in the southern province of Basra, the country’s main oil production center, after hundreds of foreign oilmen were hastily evacuated amid violent protests by Iraqi oil workers. The evacuation, after rioters wrecked a camp used by Houston-based Schlumberger Inc., the world’s largest oilfield services company, came amid a worsening surge of sectarian warfare across Iraq that threatens to undermine a drive by the government to boost oil production to record levels and challenge Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil power. Until recently, the bloodletting, largely the work of Sunni extremists of al-Qaida against Iraq’s Shiite majority, had not seriously threatened the Basra oil fields, which produce around two-thirds of Iraq’s output. But in the last few weeks the Shiites around Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, have become targets, and any major escalation could impact […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Sectarian fury could threaten Iraq’s push for record oil output

BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 17 (UPI) — The Iraqi government is seeking to restore calm in the southern province of Basra, the country’s main oil production center, after hundreds of foreign oilmen were hastily evacuated amid violent protests by Iraqi oil workers. The evacuation, after rioters wrecked a camp used by Houston-based Schlumberger Inc., the world’s largest oilfield services company, came amid a worsening surge of sectarian warfare across Iraq that threatens to undermine a drive by the government to boost oil production to record levels and challenge Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil power. Until recently, the bloodletting, largely the work of Sunni extremists of al-Qaida against Iraq’s Shiite majority, had not seriously threatened the Basra oil fields, which produce around two-thirds of Iraq’s output. But in the last few weeks the Shiites around Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, have become targets, and any major escalation could impact […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple