Prime Minister Ayad Allawi made an unusually strong warning to Iraq's neighbors to crack down on insurgents infiltrating from their territory, saying that Iraq's patience was wearing thin. Al-Qaeda, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for a bold attack on US troops.
Iraqi officials have repeatedly accused Syria and Iran of supporting the insurgents waging a campaign of violence against American forces and Allawi's US-backed government. Both countries have denied helping militants or allowing them to cross the borders into Iraq.
But Allawi's comments on Friday to Baghdad's Al-Iraqiya television were among his toughest yet. "Some countries are hosting people who are involved in harming the Iraqi people," he said, without naming any nations. "Harming Iraq and its people is not allowed."
He said his government had contacted the countries and was waiting for their reply. "According to the answers we will decide what the next step will be," he said.
"Iraq is not a weak country. Iraq is passing through a difficult period but Iraq can respond in a strong way if needed," he said. "Patience has limits and it is beginning to run out."
In new violence, a US Marine assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action on Friday during security operations in the Al Anbar Province, the Marines said in a release, which did not provide any other details.
Meanwhile, the US first Infantry Division detained 49 suspected guerrillas during a midnight raid in the town of Duluiyah, 72km north of Baghdad, it said on Friday. The sweep appeared to be the latest in a series of anti-insurgency campaigns in the so-called Sunni Triangle in central Iraq.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by the country's most wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for a well-coordinated attack on Wednesday on a US post in the northern city of Mosul. The US military said one American soldier and 25 insurgents were killed in the battle.
The militants, however, claimed they had suffered no casualties.
"We, al-Qaeda in Iraq, claim responsibility for the battles of Mosul, may God cleanse it from the impurities of the infidels," said a statement posted on a Web site that often carries militant claims.
Wednesday's attack began with a massive truck bomb exploding just outside a US checkpoint, followed by attacks by squads of 10 to 12 insurgents.
A Stryker vehicle reinforcing the Americans was hit by a roadside bomb and a second car bomb. US forces then called in airstrikes by F-18 and F-16 fighter jets, which launched three Maverick missiles and conducted several strafing runs.
In new violence, a car bomb exploded next to a taxi carrying Iraqi national guardsmen in the town of Beiji, 249km north of Baghdad. A passenger car, which happened to be passing by at that moment, absorbed the brunt of the blast, killing its two occupants while five guardsmen were wounded, Major Neil O'Brien said.
North of Fallujah, a body of an Iraqi national guardsman was found with a handwritten note pinned to it saying: "This is the fate of anyone who collaborates with the occupation forces."
Insurgents have intensified their strikes in a campaign to disrupt the Jan. 30 general elections for a constitutional assembly that will set up the next government and write a new constitution. Rebels have targeted members of the interim government's security forces, perceived as collaborators with American occupiers.
During Friday's prayers in a Baghdad mosque, Sheik Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour Al-Samarie of the Association of Muslim Scholars -- an influential Sunni group -- demanded that the US troops pull out of Iraq.
"We have to realize that God is mightier than America and more powerful than the occupation forces," he said.
"America, which conducted crimes everywhere and supported Israel against Muslims, should take the lesson of the torrent and surge of the ocean in Asia," Al-Samarie said, adding that the US could be destroyed in a similar manner.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
It is one of the world’s most famous unsolved codes whose answer could sell for a fortune — but two US friends say they have already found the secret hidden by Kryptos. The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far. Yet K4, the final passage, has kept codebreakers scratching their heads. Sculptor Jim Sanborn, 80, has been so overwhelmed by guesses that he started charging US$50 for each response. Sanborn in August announced he would auction the 97-character solution to K4
SHOW OF FORCE: The US has held nine multilateral drills near Guam in the past four months, which Australia said was important to deter coercion in the region Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the northwest Pacific last month, as the US stepped up military exercises, data compiled by a Guam-based group shows. Rapid militarization in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, the Pacific Center for Island Security said, adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict. “If you look at the number of US and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity,” Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an
‘DIGNITY’: The Ukrainian president said that ‘we did not not betray Ukraine then, we will not do so now,’ amid US pressure to give significant concessions to Russia Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday pushed back against a US plan to end the war in Ukraine, while Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the proposal that includes many of his hardline demands. With US President Donald Trump giving Ukraine less than a week to sign, Zelenskiy pledged to work to ensure any deal would not “betray” Ukraine’s interests, while acknowledging he risked losing Washington as an ally. Putin said the blueprint could “lay the foundation” for a final peace settlement, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine walked away from negotiations. Ukraine faces one of the most challenging moments in its history,
RSS