Last month saw deadly violence in Iraq drop near its lowest levels for the year, figures compiled by Agence France-Presse showed yesterday, despite a wave of attacks a day earlier which killed 23 people.
Overall, 139 people were killed across the country last month, including 40 policemen and 15 soldiers, and 347 were wounded, according to the data based on reports from security and medical officials.
The monthly death toll was near last year’s low of 136 set in October.
However, in a sign insurgents were still capable of carrying out deadly nationwide attacks, a series of shootings and bombings in the north, center and south of the country killed 23 people and wounded 83 on Monday.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants such as al-Qaeda’s front group in Iraq regularly target officials and security forces in a bid to destabilize the government and also often attack Shiite pilgrims.
The violence comes after anti-government protesters blocked a key highway to Syria and Jordan amid political tensions between Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a secular Sunni-backed party in his fragile national unity government.
Much of Monday’s violence targeted Shiite pilgrims, ahead of Arbaeen commemoration ceremonies due this week.
In the deadliest attack, seven people — three women, two children and two men — were killed when three houses were blown up in the town of Mussayib, south of Baghdad, police and a medic said. Four people were wounded.
The victims were apparently targeted because they were Shiites, the officials said.
Attacks on Shiite pilgrims embarking on the traditional walk to the holy shrine city of Karbala for Arbaeen commemorations also killed one person and wounded 19.
Arbaeen marks 40 days after the Ashura anniversary commemorating the slaying of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islam’s most revered figures, by the armies of the caliph Yazid in 680.
Sunni militants often use the rituals as an opportunity to increase attacks against Shiites.
Attacks in Baghdad and north of the city killed 13 people.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese