Shiite demonstrators raised the Iraqi flag over Jordan's Embassy after more than 2,000 people marched through Baghdad demanding an apology for the alleged involvement of a Jordanian in a suicide bombing that killed 125 people.
Friday's protest -- the largest in a week of mounting anger -- came two days after the leader of the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance claimed during Iraq's first National Assembly meeting that neighboring Jordan wasn't doing enough to prevent terrorists from slipping into Iraq.
A US soldier was killed Friday when attackers fired on an patrol in Baghdad, the military said. At least 1,519 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war started two years ago, according to an Associated Press count.
PHOTO: AP
Yesterday, assailants targeted security forces in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, gunning down one police officer on his way to work then later blowing up a roadside bomb near a funeral procession carrying his corpse, police officials said.
Four police died in total and two others suffered injuries, said police Captain Ahmed Shinrani.
Also yesterday, a suicide attacker detonated an explosives-laden vehicle against a US military patrol on a highway 5km northwest of Ramadi, a city 113km west of Baghdad, said Sergeant Laith Ismael of the Iraqi police.
There was no word on casualties and US military officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
US and Iraqi forces also clashed Friday with gunmen in Ramadi after militants attacked a government building. No casualties were immediately reported.
On Friday, hundreds of protesters converged on the Jordanian Embassy after finishing prayers at three Shiite mosques around Baghdad. They burned Israeli and Jordanian flags and shouted slogans against Jordan's King Abdullah II, such as "Take your embassy away. We do not want to see you!" and "There's no God but God, Abdullah is the enemy of God!"
Three men in green camouflage, including one wearing a black balaclava mask, were later seen on an embassy roof raising an Iraqi flag on a makeshift flagpole. Another pole that previously held the Jordanian standard was bare.
Shiites have staged smaller protests in recent days after the Iraqi government on Monday condemned celebrations allegedly held by the family of a Jordanian man suspected of carrying out a Feb. 28 terrorist attack that killed 125 people in Hillah, 96km south of Baghdad. Nearly all the victims were Shiite police and army recruits.
The Jordanian daily Al-Ghad reported that Raed Mansour al-Banna carried out the attack, the single deadliest of the Iraqi insurgency. The paper later issued a correction, however, saying it was not known where in Iraq al-Banna carried out an assault.
"The Jordanian king must apologize to the people of Hillah and the people of Iraq," said Qasim Hussein, a Shiite cleric at the protest. "Blood money must be paid to the victims of Hillah."
Iraqi police and special forces gathered outside the embassy but failed to prevent demonstrators from reaching the building. The protesters later dispersed. No violence was reported.
A number of Iraqi politicians, including interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, have demanded explanations from the Jordanian government.
Jordanian government spokeswoman Asma Khader said her country condemned all terrorism and reconfirmed Jordan's solidarity with the Iraqi people.
In another development, Minas Ibrahim al-Yousifi, an Iraqi-born Swede kidnapped in Iraq, was freed Friday after more than a month in captivity, Swedish and Iraqi officials said. His family said earlier that the kidnappers demanded US$3 million ransom and a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops, but the terms of his release were not known.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese