A guerrilla attack on a tented dining hall at a US base in northern Iraq killed 18 Americans and four Iraqis in the deadliest strike on US forces since last year's war to oust Saddam Hussein.
US officials initially said a number of rocket and mortar rounds were fired at the base in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, but a militant group claimed a suicide bomber was behind the attack, in which a further 72 people were wounded.
"A suicide bomber has not been ruled out," a US Army official said later in Washington.
The military in Baghdad said 14 US soldiers, four US civilians and four Iraqi security force members were killed.
Fifty-one of the wounded were US military personnel. Of the 72 hurt, 43 were still being treated.
A spokesman in Mosul said it could take days before a clear picture emerged of what happened and who was killed.
"There's some tedious forensic work to be done. It could be a couple of days," said Captain Phil Ludvigson, who said it was not clear what caused the explosion.
Mosul residents said US forces sealed off areas of the city yesterday, including bridges crossing the Tigris river, and carried out raids in a hunt for suspects behind the attack.
Two French journalists, held hostage for four months were freed, ending a saga that had embarrassed the Paris government.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the two journalists would be home for Christmas. A military plane was due to arrive in Baghdad from Paris to take them home.
Meanwhile, Iran's most senior dissident cleric urged Iraqis to vote and said their planned Jan. 30 elections could mean peace and independence.
"Under the supervision of the top clerics, all Iraqis should vote to form a powerful government through free, nationwide and broad-based elections," Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said in a letter to leading Iraqi Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
RSS