Car bombs ripped through crowded areas at lunch hour in the former Sunni insurgent strongholds of Baqubah and Ramadi yesterday, killing more than 50 people in one of the deadliest days in Iraq in months.
A parked car bomb also targeted a police patrol in central Baghdad, killing four civilians who were passing by and wounding 15 other people, police said.
The first attack occurred in Baqubah, 60km northeast of Baghdad, when an explosives-laden car parked in front of a restaurant exploded just before noon across the street from the courthouse and other government offices in the city center.
Many of the victims were people visiting the government offices, petition writers helping people with documents in outside stalls or the occupants of cars that were caught in the explosion as they passed through the area, witnesses said.
One man who was there described a huge fire that sent black smoke billowing into the sky and left charred bodies inside their cars.
“I was on my way to the government office when a big explosion occurred near by,” said the witness, who would only identify himself by his nickname Abu Ali.
“As I approached the site, I saw cars on fire, burned bodies and damaged shops damaged with shattered glass everywhere,” he said.
Blast walls protect the government compound and the road in front of it is closed, causing traffic jams as cars must travel in two directions in the adjacent lane.
Several cars and minibuses were set ablaze, while more than 10 shops and the restaurant were heavily damaged.
At least 38 people were killed and 64 wounded in the blast, police and hospital officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information.
It was the deadliest blast in Baqubah since Oct. 29, when 27 people were killed in a suicide bombing outside a police camp.
Another parked car bomb exploded near a kebab restaurant at about 12:30pm in Ramadi, killing at least 14 people and wounding 14 others, police Lieutenant Colonel Jubair al-Dulaimi said. He said the attack occurred in an area known as the Five Kilometers area for its distance west of the city center.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda attacks.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS