At least 21 people, including a child, were killed in three attacks against Shiites in Baghdad yesterday as Iraq's majority community began a religious mourning period that last year saw the bloodiest attacks since the war.
In the deadliest blast, 17 people died and 23 were wounded when a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up in a Shiite mosque in the southern Baghdad district of Dura.
Extremist Sunni Arab insurgents have pledged to target the country's Shiite majority which swept to victory in the Jan. 30 elections and is set to take power for the first time in the country's history.
"The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt at the Kazimain mosque in Abu Dishr near Dura," a police officer said.
"I had just begun Friday prayers when an enormous explosion rocked the building," said the mosque's imam, Sheikh Malek Kinani.
Twin suicide bombers killed at least one person at the Ali al-Baya mosque, another Shiite place of worship in western Baghdad, as worshippers were about to leave weekly Friday prayers, hospital and police sources said.
In the third blast, three people, including a child, were killed and five wounded when a mortar shell apparently targeting a police station landed outside a cafe in northwest Baghdad's Shula district.
Last week, another anti-Shiite bomb attack on a mosque before Friday prayers killed 14 people in the town of Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad.
Shiites are marking Tasua, the first of two days of mourning for the revered Imam Hussein which will culminate on Saturday with the religious festival of Ashura.
Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and the third Imam in Shiite Islam, was killed in 680 AD during the battle of Karbala.
Meanwhile, two Indonesian journalists are missing in Iraq and a witness reported seeing them stopped by armed men, Indonesia's foreign ministry said yesterday, but declined to say if the men were abducted.
The reporters were working for Indonesia's Metro TV, a 24-hour cable network, and went missing Tuesday. A witness said he saw their car stopped near the Iraqi town of Ramadi by armed men in Iraqi military uniforms, ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.
The government is sending a team to Iraq to seek additional information, he said.
Ramadi, about 110km west of Baghdad, has been a center of insurgent activity in Iraq and the scene of frequent clashes between US forces, their Iraqi allies and militants.
"The car, driver and the two journalists have been taken to an unknown location. However, I will not use the word abduction yet," he told reporters.
"We are trying to ascertain the whereabouts of these two reporters and establish contact with them," he said. "It was reported that the people who stopped them were wearing Iraqi military uniforms."
The Al-Arabiya television station, the Arabic-language satellite network, reported that the two journalists had been kidnapped but did not provide any further details.
Sasha Yusharyahya, a spokeswoman for Metro TV, identified the female reporter as Meutya Hafid and the cameraman as Budianto. She said the station last had contact with the pair on Tuesday afternoon and was working with the foreign ministry to learn their fate.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number