Gunmen killed 21 people, including a dozen high school students, after they dragged them off buses northeast of Baghdad. The gunmen spared four Sunni Arabs in one of the worst sectarian atrocities in recent weeks.
The mayor of Qara Tappah, Serwan Shokir, said one person was also wounded in the attack which occurred in the early morning after three minibuses left his town headed for Baqubah, 60km northeast of Baghdad. There were 26 people on the buses, including the 12 students who were killed.
The students were apparently headed for Baqubah to take exams. Of the dead, 19 were Shiite Turkomen and two were Kurds.
The four Sunni Arabs who survived were being questioned at Qara Tappah police station, Shokir said.
The attack occurred on the outskirts of Diyala Province, a mixed region that in recent weeks has been transformed into a sectarian powder keg -- including attacks against Sunni Arab and Shiite Shrines.
A firefight broke out after police surrounded a Sunni Arab mosque in Basra early yesterday, leaving at least nine people dead.
The standoff began when police stormed four Sunni mosques in Iraq's second-largest city late on Saturday, hours after a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a crowded market, killing 28 people and wounding 62.
Basra police said they surrounded the al-Arab mosque at about 2am after being tipped off that militants had holed up inside and gunmen opened fire from within. Iraqi forces also said they found two vehicles packed with explosives near the mosque.
Nine people were killed in the firefight and six terror suspects were arrested, police said, adding that part of the mosque was damaged and burned.
In other violence, gunmen in a car also opened fire on a minibus carrying telecommunications employees to work in an area near Sadr City yesterday, killing four and wounding two, Colonel Hassan Challoub said.
In political developments, parliament was postponed yesterday after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki again failed to reach any consensus on candidates for the crucial ministers who will run the country's armed forces and police.
Al-Maliki had promised to name candidates for approval by the 275-member parliament despite the disagreement, but was apparently convinced to wait.
Deputy Parliament Speaker Khalid al-Atiya, a Shiite, said that due to the large number of candidates and failure to reach any agreement, the parties decided "to give the prime minister another chance to have more negotiations."
Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports yesterday over the fate of four Russian diplomats who were kidnapped in Baghdad.
An Interior Ministry spokesman yesterday denied a report that four Russian hostages had been released the night before in a raid by Iraqi commandos. The Russian Embassy in Baghdad said it had no new information.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique