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.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS