Dozens of suspected al-Qaeda militants showered a Shiite village with mortar rounds early on Saturday, then stormed the streets, killing at least 13 Iraqis, torching homes and forcing hundreds of families to flee, police said. Some villagers fought back, leaving three gunmen dead in the heart of one of Iraq's most violent regions.
Even with nationwide violence ebbing to the lowest levels since January last year, US commanders have warned that security is precarious in northern Iraqi regions such as Diyala -- where Saturday's attack took place -- as al-Qaeda and other militants have moved there to avoid coalition operations.
The militant attack on Dwelah, about 75km north of Baghdad in Diyala, began about 6:30am with the mortar rounds, then 50 to 60 suspected al-Qaeda fighters streamed in and opened fire, a police officer said.
Among the 13 dead were three children and two women, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information about the raid. Villagers trying to fight back killed three gunmen, but the militants torched more than two dozen homes and around 500 families took shelter in neighboring towns, police said.
Elsewhere in Diyala, Iraqi officials said US and Iraqi troops, police and members of a local tribe freed four villages from al-Qaeda control, killing 10 militants and arresting 15 in a two-day operation that ended on Saturday. Among the weapons and ammunition seized were 100 barrels of TNT, according the provincial army and police headquarters. The US military said it could not immediately confirm the report.
The number of attacks nationwide has declined overall -- 718 Iraqi civilians were killed last month, according to an Associated Press tally, the lowest monthly civilian death toll since just before last year's bombing of a Shiite shrine that spawned vicious sectarian bloodshed.
As the influx of US troops gained momentum earlier this year, US officials have courted both Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders in Diyala and elsewhere, hoping they will help lead local drives against al-Qaeda. A similar effort saw some success in Iraq's westernmost province, Anbar, where Sunni tribes rose against the organization's brutality and austere version of Islam.
At least 35 Iraqis were killed or found dead across the country, including according to an Associated Press count on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, a roadside bomb struck a US combat patrol in Baghdad, killing one US soldier and wounding three, the military said in a statement.
US commanders have welcomed the relative lull in violence, but warn that Sunni and Shiite extremists still pose a serious threat. The US administration has pushed the Shiite-led government to capitalize on the security gains and make tangible progress toward national reconciliation.
That effort has foundered, and on Saturday lawmakers from parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc walked out of a session to protest what they called the house arrest of their leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi, following the discovery of a car bomb near his compound.
US and Iraqi officials said the keys to the explosives-laden vehicle were found on one of his bodyguards. Al-Dulaimi's son and about 30 other people also were arrested on Friday.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not