Guerrilla bombings targeting US and Iraqi forces killed at least four people yesterday as insurgents appeared to rebound after a lull in violence.
A roadside bomb near the northern city of Samarra killed two Iraqi soldiers, an army source said.
Militants exploded three roadside bombs in Baghdad, killing at least one civilian and wounding eight others, officials said of the latest in a string of deadly attacks across the Iraqi capital.
One bomb exploded near a US convoy at 9:30am in the western Mansour district, witnesses said. One damaged Humvee could be scene in the area, which was sealed off by US forces.
At least five civilians were injured in the blast, said Ihssan Abdul Razaq, an official at the Yarmouk Hospital where rescue workers brought the wounded.
Another jerry-rigged device exploded in an eastern neighborhood where US forces were also on patrol, killing one civilian and wounding three others, said a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A third blast didn't appear to cause any injuries, said Captain Talib Thamir. The US military confirmed the trio of attacks, but had no further information.
Pakistan yesterday urged kidnappers in Iraq to release a Pakistani embassy official who disappeared outside his Baghdad home, as Al-Jazeera satellite TV aired a video that claimed to show the man.
Al-Jazeera did not air audio of the tape, but said the man identified himself as Malik Mohammed Javed, who was abducted last Saturday as he left his home to attend prayers at a mosque.
"We again appeal to Javed's kidnappers to free him in the name of Islam," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Amhed said yesterday.
"We appeal to them not to harm him because his aged parents and other family members have already suffered a lot," the minister said.
A US Marine died when an insurgent mortar round landed inside a military base in western Iraq, the military said yesterday.
The Marine, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, died after a Wednesday attack at Camp Hit, in Anbar province, the military said.
A main Baghdad market went up in flames late Thursday, but officials said yesterday they didn't believe foul play was behind the inferno that engulfed the market.
"Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire was not caused by arson," Interior Ministry Captain Ahmed Ismael said. "More investigations are underway.
Reports of daily gunbattles and explosions had died down in the middle of last month, and the Iraqi and US governments declared the lull a sign that their fighters were winning the battle against the insurgency. But this month militants have stepped up assaults.
The bloodshed increased pressure on Iraqi leaders, who have been squabbling over the formation of a new government during a lull in attacks since the Jan. 30 polls. The key interior, oil and defense ministers have yet to be chosen.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS