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.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS