A car bomb exploded yesterday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, killing at least 13 people and threatening to sharpen sectarian tensions. Shiite politicians blocked a bid to have parliament try to break the deadlock on forming a new government.
Elsewhere, the US military announced the arrest of a top insurgent leader believed to have been behind last year's kidnapping of Italian journalist Guiliana Sgrena.
About 30 people were wounded in the Najaf car bombing, which occurred about 300m from the Imam Ali shrine, police chief Major General Abbas Miadal said. The shrine is among the world's most sacred sites for Shiite Muslims and contains the tomb of the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law, Imam Ali.
Munther al-Ethari, director of the city's health services, earlier said 10 people were killed.
Such attacks are rare in Najaf, which is tightly controlled by police and Shiite security guards. Even though the casualty figure was modest by Iraqi standards, such attacks within Najaf are seen by Shiites as a grave provocation because of the city's stature as one of the world's most sacred in Shiite Islam.
The bombing on Feb. 22 that destroyed the golden dome of a Shiite shrine in Samarra triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics, plunging the country to the brink of civil war.
Following yesterday's blast, Iraqi police and army sealed off the center of Najaf and ordered people to leave the area for fear other bombs may be hidden there. The bomb exploded on Tosi street which leads to the city's massive cemetery. The route is often used for funeral processions of Shiites from throughout the country who come to Najaf to bury their dead.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS