Gunmen assassinated the governor of Baghdad province -- the highest ranking government official to be slain since May -- and six of his bodyguards yesterday, and a suicide tanker-truck bomber killed 10 people at an Interior Ministry commando headquarters in western Baghdad, the latest in a steady drumbeat of insurgent violence ahead of Jan. 30 elections.
Governor Ali al-Haidari's three-vehicle convoy was passing through Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Hurriyah when unidentified gunmen opened fire, said the chief of his security detail, who asked only to be identified as Major Mazen.
PHOTO: AFP
"Our convoy was moving in Hurriyah and they came from different directions and opened fire at us," Mazen said.
Al-Haidari, who was the target of another assassination attempt last year that killed two of his bodyguards, worked closely with the US-led multinational forces in Baghdad on rebuilding the capital.
He is the highest-ranking Iraqi official killed since the former president of the now defunct Governing Council, Abdel-Zahraa Othman, better known as Izzadine Saleem, was assassinated in May.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Iraq's most wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for al-Haidari's assassination and the tanker-truck explosion, a statement posted on the Internet said.
"We tell every traitor and supporter of the Jews and Christians that this is your fate," said the statement on a Web site known for carrying militants' claims.
Also yesterday, a tanker truck packed with explosives detonated near an interior ministry commando headquarters in western Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding about 60, the Interior Ministry said.
A suicide driver rammed the truck at an Iraqi police checkpoint near the headquarters, which is also near an entrance of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area in the center of Baghdad that houses both the US embassy and Iraqi government offices. Eight Iraqi commandos and two civilians were killed, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Two US servicemen were also killed in Iraq yesterday. A roadside bomb attack killed one US 1st Infantry Division soldier and wounded another near Balad, 80km north of Baghdad. A US Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was also killed in action in western Iraq's restive Anbar province, which includes the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Later, a roadside bomb killed three Iraqi National Guardsmen and wounded two near Baqouba, 57km northeast of Baghdad, US military spokesman Neal O'Brien said.
In an interview published yesterday, al-Haidari said that infrastructure in Baghdad was improving as a result of cooperation between the governor's office and multinational forces.
However, he had not always sided with the Americans. In October, he demanded that the US leave the Green Zone.
Yesterday's attacks came a day after violence that saw three car bombs and a roadside attack, one near the prime minister's party headquarters in Baghdad and others targeting Iraqi troops and a US security-company convoy. At least 16 people were killed on Monday.
Britain's Foreign Office said yesterday that three Britons and an American were killed a day earlier in a bombing near the Green Zone.
Andrew Marshall, spokesman for US security firm Kroll Inc, said two British employees were killed in Baghdad on Monday when a suicide bomber attacked their vehicle. The blast also killed a third Briton and an American.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS