Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a suicide bombing that targeted US-allied sheikhs in Baghdad as the White House warned it expected more "spectacular acts of terror" ahead.
The claim came as another sheikh was gunned down in Baghdad and US forces pressed ahead with an offensive northeast of Baghdad to root out al-Qaeda militants based in and around the flashpoint town of Baqubah.
An alliance of Sunni groups led by al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed in an Internet statement that one of its "heroes" had penetrated security at the Al-Mansour Melia hotel on Monday and detonated himself, killing at least 12 people.
PHOTO: AFP
"A hero of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Othman al-Dulami, wearing an explosives belt ... infiltrated the Al-Mansour Melia hotel during a gathering of apostates and infidels," said the statement, which could not be verified.
The explosion in the hotel's crowded lobby targeted a meeting of Sunni and Shiite tribal sheikhs who have allied with US forces to fight al-Qaeda. The attack succeeded despite the security "surge" of extra US troops to the city.
The dead included Fassal al-Gawud, an ex-governor of Anbar Province where tribal leaders have turned against al-Qaeda, and Hussein Shaalan, a Shiite tribal chief from the central city of Diwaniyah.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned what he called an attempt to "conceal the terrorists' defeats in Anbar and Diyala provinces at the hands of our armed forces and the tribes."
Another Sunni sheikh, Hamed Abed al-Shijeri, was shot dead in Baghdad on Tuesday, one of several people killed in attacks across the country including three policemen and a university lecturer.
The US military also announced the loss of another soldier, killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, taking its losses to 74 this month.
In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow defended the US "surge" strategy of deploying tens of thousands of additional troops in Iraq and called on lawmakers to be patient.
"Let's make no mistake about it, it's likely to be a very difficult summer," he said. "Terrorists are going to do their very best to try to create very spectacular acts of terror."
While small by Iraqi standards in terms of the number of victims, Monday's attack on the Baghdad hotel was spectacular in its targeting and timing.
The US military's forging of alliances with Sunni sheikhs has been credited with a significant reduction in insurgent violence in areas under their control, particularly Anbar Province.
But elsewhere in the country the bloodletting seems unstoppable, fueled by sectarian tensions and rivalries between well-armed militias.
At least five people were killed when Shiite militiamen ambushed an Iraqi army patrol in Diwaniyah, officials said.
Police said two policemen were killed and 22 wounded when dozens of militants attacked the Al-Asad Iraqi National Police base in Madain, 25km south of Baghdad.
A civilian was killed and six more wounded in a roadside bomb attack against a bus in Baghdad's al-Ghadeer neighborhood.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion