A suicide car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi army recruitment center yesterday, killing two Iraqi soldiers and a civilian, and wounding 20 people, police said.
The blast occurred in the Azamiaya section of the capital about 18m from the front gate of the center, said police Colonel Rashid Ibrahim.
All the victims appeared to be Iraqis, another police official said.
One of the main goals of the US-led coalition in Iraq has been to train Iraqi security forces to replace US soldiers in the field, and insurgents often target centers where such security forces are being recruited and instructed.
Two other Iraqi civilians died in other attacks yesterday.
In Baghdad, masked men armed with machine guns and traveling in two cars in the capital shot and killed Professor Fuad Ibrahim Mohamed Al-Bayati as he left his home for work at the University of Baghdad. A roadside car bomb that exploded 48km south of the capital killed one man, police said.
In Baqubah a roadside bomb missed a US military convoy but wounded three nearby civilians, police said.
Late Monday night, gunmen ambushed a senior Defense Ministry adviser, Major General Adnan al-Qaraghulli, as he drove home in Baghdad, killing him and his son, the Interior Ministry said.
Elsewhere, Iraqi security forces began scaling back their search operation in Madain, a town south of Baghdad in Iraq's "Triangle of Death," where reports that Sunni militants had taken up to 100 Shiites hostage turned out to be false.
The reports had startled the entire nation, including the country's new National Assembly, raising fears that such a crisis could set off Sunni-Shiite fighting in Iraq.
In Baghdad, the assembly delayed its planned meeting yesterday morning to protest the alleged detention and beating of an Iraqi legislator by US forces at a checkpoint outside the heavily fortified Green Zone where parliament meets.
The alleged beating occurred when Fattah al-Sheik, whose small party has been linked to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, showed his identity card at the checkpoint and was asked to get out of his car, said legislator Tourkit al-Ta'i.
US forces said they had heard of the incident and were investigating it.
The search of Madain by hundreds Iraqi security forces was launched Monday to root out Sunni insurgents in Madain. They found weapons and car bombs but no hostages.
Yesterday, shops began to reopen in the agricultural town of about 1,000 families, far fewer security forces were seen on patrol, and the ones who had been guarding rooftoops were removed. However, Madain remained surrounded by the Iraqi forces, who continued to search all vehicles leaving or entering it.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS