A suicide bomber killed 32 mourners and injured dozens at a funeral for the nephew of a Shiite politician, one of several attacks yesterday across Iraq that killed a total of 53 people -- making it the deadliest day since the Dec. 15 elections.
The increased violence came as Iraq's three major political parties were close to forming a coalition government that would include Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, according to a Shiite politician.
Iraq's election commission said it planned to release the results of its investigation into almost 2,000 complaints stemming from last month's parliamentary elections within the next two days.
More than 100 mourners were standing in a cemetery in Muqdadiyah, about 90km north of Baghdad, for the burial of a nephew of Ahmed al-Bakka when the bomber struck, the Diyala provincial police said. The cemetery was strewn with body parts and the tombstones were stained with blood.
At least 32 people were killed and 42 injured, said Dr Firas al-Nida of the Muqdadiyah hospital.
Al-Bakka had survived an assassination attempt on Tuesday that killed his nephew. Al-Bakka is the head of the local Dawa party, led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and a main partner in the country's largest Shiite political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance.
Shiites have been targeted by extremist Sunni groups.
A senior official in the Dawa party said such attacks are meant to exert pressure on the United Iraqi Alliance to accept a less optimal compromise in the formation of the government.
"We expect attacks to increase before the formation of the government," Ali al-Adib said.
A partner in the largest Sunni Arab party denounced the attack.
"The Islamic Party condemns such ugly acts that are aimed at dividing the country," Nassir al-Ani said. "The perpetrators want to cause divisions and hinder the political process in Iraq, but they will fail and we will establish a national unity government."
Insurgents attacked a convoy of 60 tanker trucks with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, destroying three of the tankers and damaging 15 others, police Lieutenant Abdul Zahra Qassim said. Three Iraqi army vehicles, which had been guarding the convoy, were also destroyed in the attack about 40km north of Baghdad, police said.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS