Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki yesterday vowed to use "maximum force against terrorism," as bombs exploded in Baghdad during the first meeting of his national unity Cabinet.
Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Maliki said, however, that his government would hold out the offer of dialogue to those prepared to renounce violence.
"We will use maximum force against terrorism, but we also need a national initiative," he said.
PHOTO: AP
Maliki's Cabinet of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds was formed in the hope that a broad-based coalition will ease sectarian violence and consolidate a US-piloted transition to democracy.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, a key power broker behind the scenes in Baghdad, said the formation of the government, with crucial involvement from former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's once dominant fellow Sunnis, brought US troops closer to going home.
"I believe that, with the political changes taking place -- the emphasis on unity and reconciliation, with effective ministers ... -- that conditions are likely to move in the right direction and that would allow adjustment in terms of the size, composition and mission of our forces," he said.
"We are going to be moving in the direction of downsizing our forces. But that is always dependent on the conditions," Khalilzad said.
Maliki, outlining his program to parliament, said his government aimed to complete rebuilding Iraq's armed forces with "an objective timetable for ... the end of the tasks of the multinational forces and their return to their countries."
A suicide bomber killed at least 12 people and injured 14 after detonating his explosive vest inside a downtown Baghdad restaurant popular with police officers, police said.
The 12 dead included three police officers, said Police Colonel Abbas Mohammed.
In the second of yesterday's bomb attacks two devices exploded in a crowded fruit market in New Baghdad, a mixed area in an eastern part of the capital, said police Lieutenant Ali Abbas.
Police found the first bomb and detonated it after trying to evacuate the market, Abbas said. But a second hidden bomb exploded moments later, killing three civilians and wounding 23, all of whom had ignored the evacuation order, he said.
Earlier, a roadside bomb on the eastern bank of the Tigris killed three people and wounded 24 in a blast apparently targeting Iraqi police in a busy commercial street.
Elsewhere gunmen killed Ali Abdul-Hussein al-Kinani, 57, who was standing outside his food store in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Ubaidi, said a police spokesman.
Meanwhile Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said on Saturday that the Italian government would begin planning the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq next week.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS