A bomb exploded outside a bank in the northern city of Kirkuk yesterday killing 19 people, while five Iraqi soldiers died in a suicide attack north of Baghdad. The bodies of 24 men were found after falling victim to two ambushes in western Iraq.
The spree of killings across the country comes as lawmakers wrangle over how big a say Sunni Arab Muslims should have drawing up the country's new constitution. The wrangling threatens to further alienate Sunni Arabs, who fell from power after their patron, former president Saddam Hussein, was ousted and detained. Sunni Arabs account for most of the insurgents wreaking havoc across Iraq.
New footage of a subdued-looking Saddam released by the Iraqi Special Tribunal on Monday showed the former dictator being quizzed by a judge -- apparently on Sunday -- about the killings of at least 50 Iraqis in a Shiite town.
PHOTO: EPA
Unlike Saddam's combative appearance at his arraignment on July 1, last year -- the last time he was seen on video -- the new tape reveals a man who appears a shadow of his former self.
Saddam's fall from power is seen as a contributing factor to the raging insurgency, which is being fanned by Sunni Muslim extremists and Saddam loyalists.
A bomb killed 19 people, including pensioners waiting for checks and child street vendors, outside the Rafidiyan Bank in downtown Kirkuk, 290km north of Baghdad, said police Brigadier Sarhad Qadir. He said another 81 people were injured.
The bomb exploded close to a walkover bridge crossing the road in front of the bank. Children and other vendors selling products from sugar to kitchen utensils on both the bridge and the road underneath were among those killed.
"I came here to get my wages and I brought my grandson with me who insisted on accompanying me," said Hussein Mohammed, a 70-year old retired employee of the Northern Oil Company, his head swathed in bandages. "The bomb exploded as we queued outside the bank and we were injured and rushed to hospital."
The child survived.
The pavement outside the bank was strewn with rubble and glass from the building, while several bodies were seen lying underneath wreckage. At least two cars parked nearby were set ablaze.
Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed oil-rich city where insurgents have routinely launched deadly attacks apparently seeking to foment ethnic tension.
A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing five soldiers and wounding two others in Kan'an, 45km north of Baghdad, Iraqi Army Colonel Ismael Ibrahim said. Two civilians were also wounded.
The bodies of 24 men -- some of which were beheaded -- that had been killed in recent ambushes on convoys in western Iraq were brought to a Baghdad hospital, a hospital morgue official yesterday.
Ali Chijan said two batches of bodies were brought to western Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital late Monday.
Seventeen of the bodies believed to be all Iraqis were found near Khaldiyah, a town 120km west of Baghdad, Chijan said.
Hospital official Dr. Mohammed Jawad said some of the bodies had been decapitated and the others had been shot in the head.
Jawad said the bodies might belong to men who have been missing since their convoy delivering supplies for the US military was ambushed near Khaldiyah on Thursday.
Two of the bodies were identified as an Iraqi policeman and an interpreter, but it was not immediately clear which company they worked for.
Chijan said the badly decomposed bodies of another seven men, including one Iraqi and six believed to be "Asians," were brought to the hospital after being killed in a convoy ambush several days ago. Most had been shot in the face.
The slain Iraqi was identified as Ahmed Adnan, said his cousin, Hussein Ali, who was interviewed by reporters at the hospital.
Ali said his cousin worked for a US-owned company American-Iraqi Solution group.
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