Two car bomb attacks killed 13 Iraqis and a US soldier yesterday ahead of a UN Security Council vote that was expected to approve a resolution on the country's move from occupation to sovereignty.
In the northern city of Mosul, three men in a taxi blew up their vehicle near the mayor's office, witnesses said. The US military said at least nine Iraqis were killed and 25 wounded.
Some bodies were charred beyond recognition.
An hour earlier, a car bomb exploded outside a US base in the town of Baquba, 65km north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqis and a US soldier. Eleven Iraqis were wounded.
US officials say they expect a surge of guerrilla attacks ahead of the formal handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30. Discussions at the Security Council on a resolution endorsing the political process have been complicated by international wrangling and by divisions within Iraq.
France said on Tuesday it would back the latest draft resolution on Iraq after its US-British sponsors made last-minute adjustments on military policy.
The US and Britain have called for the 15-nation Security Council to vote on the resolution later yesterday.
France, which has veto power on the council, said it would vote in favor, even though it was not fully satisfied.
"This will not prevent us giving a positive vote in New York to constructively help find a positive way out of this tragedy," Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told France Inter radio.
Most diplomats expect a unanimous 15-0 vote for the resolution, which gives international legitimacy to a newly formed Iraqi interim government and authorizes a US-led multinational force, now at 160,000 troops.
"We think this is an excellent resolution," US Ambassador John Negroponte said. "Iraq is entering into a new political phase, one where it is reasserting its full sovereignty."
The Bush administration was keen for a vote early this week so that disputes over the resolution did not overshadow a G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia.
At issue was how much control Baghdad's new leaders would have over major US-run military operations after June 30.
Meanwhile, coalition forces freed three Italians and a Polish contractor and captured their kidnappers in a raid on the outskirts of Baghdad last night, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said.
Just before word came from the Italian government, the commander of the Polish-led multinational force, General Miecyzslaw Bienek, said that the three Italians and a Polish contractor were freed by US special forces.
The hostage-takers "certainly were captured," Berlusconi told private TG5 TV. "The operation was carried out without bloodshed" after the hideout was under observation for a few days, he said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS