A series of attacks on Iraqi police and volunteer patrols killed at least seven people in Baghdad and neighboring provinces, including Diyala, where clashes erupted in villages ringing the provincial capital, officials said.
The US military also announced the death of a US soldier shot on Friday in Ninevah Province.
Early on Saturday in eastern Baghdad, a pair of synchronized roadside bombs targeted a passing police patrol, killing two civilians. The second bomb detonated about two minutes after the first, hitting bystanders who had gathered at the site, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details of the attack.
In the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Azamiyah, a member of a US-backed volunteer patrol was killed by an explosives-rigged bag he received from a stranger who claimed to have found it in the street, according to Iraqi army Colonel Riadh al-Samaraie. The explosion wounded a second security volunteer, al-Samaraie said.
Sunnis have been turning against al-Qaeda in significant numbers and signing up for the volunteer security forces -- partly in disgust at the militant group's brutal tactics, and partly to seek US protection against what they see as government-backed Shiite militias. US officials say the volunteers now number about 72,000 nationwide, and as their numbers grow, they are increasingly targeted.
In southern Baghdad, gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by another anti-al-Qaeda group, wounding three volunteers, police said. At a similar roadblock in Salahuddin Province, about 90km north of the capital, gunmen in a passing car opened fire on the volunteers, killing one, police said.
And in neighboring Diyala, which has suffered from repeated al-Qaeda attacks, the provincial deputy police chief resigned on Friday after al-Qaeda abducted his son and threatened to kill him. Brigadier General Ayad Ismael quit in hopes his son -- kidnapped two weeks ago -- would be freed, Diyala police Brigadier General Khudhayer al-Timimi said.
Police officials in Ismael's hometown of Kanan, who spoke on condition of anonymity in the town heavily infiltrated by militants from al-Qaeda in Iraq, said the terror group was warning villagers in surrounding areas not to let their sons join Iraqi security forces. People on Kanan's outskirts have left for the town center, hoping for protection from police and the local anti-al-Qaeda groups, also known as "awakening councils."
Fighting erupted on Saturday in villages outside Baqubah, beginning when gunmen attacked a police checkpoint 14km north of the provincial capital, killing three officers, a police official said. The onslaught lasted 90 minutes, until reinforcements arrived, the official said.
There were also clashes about 12km south of Baqubah between al-Qaeda militants and members of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, former insurgents who joined the Sunni revolt against al-Qaeda, a police officer said. The officer said the fighting lasted about an hour and casualties were unknown.
Iraqi security forces also attacked al-Qaeda militants west of Baqubah, an army officer said.
In central and northern Iraq, the US military said operations on Friday targeting al-Qaeda led to the capture of 18 suspects and left four militants dead.
In one raid outside Muqdadiyah, about 100km north of Baghdad, the target was a group the military said attacked US forces. Three suspects were killed in a US airstrike, the military said. After the airstrike, their vehicle blew up, indicating it had been storing explosives, the military said.
Near Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, Iraqi and US officials launched an attack against al-Qaeda and weapons smugglers, destroying two buildings used to store roadside bomb materials, the military said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of