US and Kurdish forces took Iraq's third city of Mosul without a fight yesterday, sealing their victory in the north, but gunbattles and looting continued in Baghdad in the absence of any government.
Kurdish guerrillas said they would hand over the important oil hub of Kirkuk to US troops later yesterday. The rich city, traditional capital of the Kurds, fell on Thursday to mixed units of Kurdish guerrillas and US special forces.
In Baghdad, Iraqi gunmen, apparently from the long oppressed Shiite majority in the east-side slums, battled Fedayeen paramilitaries loyal to deposed President Saddam Hussein overnight, US military sources said.
Elsewhere in the capital, there was a fresh outbreak of intense looting in an area newly abandoned by non-Iraqi Arab paramilitary fighters.
Hundreds of Iraqi civilians besieged the national headquarters of Iraq's military intelligence, searching for relatives they say had been detained there.
The chaos in Baghdad, the murder of a religious leader in the holy city of Najaf and a suicide bombing at a Baghdad checkpoint on Thursday highlighted the problems US troops face in restoring order despite a crushing military victory.
Humanitarian organizations criticized the US troops, saying the failure to prevent looting and anarchy threatened their efforts to provide desperately needed assistance.
Two days after US forces drove tanks into the heart of Baghdad, the whereabouts of Saddam and other former Iraqi leaders were still unknown.
US troops moved to take control of the strategic prize of Kirkuk and began by spreading through the oilfields near the city, which provide 40 percent of Iraq's oil revenue. Hundreds of dejected Iraqis were seen walking south.
The Kurds have promised to leave Kirkuk, helping to calm Turkish alarm after the Kurdish peshmerga militia took it over in a largely bloodless rout of Iraqi forces.
"Yes, we expect to be leaving when the Americans arrive, and that may well be later today," said Mam Rostam, a Kurdish commander whose forces had rushed into Kirkuk, apparently without the full agreement of Washington.
Ankara fears the Kurds could use the city's wealth to finance an independent state and stimulate separatist demands by Turkey's large Kurdish minority.
A Kurdish commander at a checkpoint just outside Mosul said fighters loyal to Saddam had fled. Journalists in Mosul said they saw no fighting but crowds went on a looting rampage, stripping buildings bare and torching a central market.
Events in the north left Saddam's home town of Tikrit, which is 175km north of Baghdad on the main road from Mosul, as the one significant target left to the US-led forces. Mosul is 390km north of the capital.
US forces pressed on with efforts to hunt down deposed Iraqi leaders.
A US aircraft hit the residence of Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and former head of Iraq's Mukhabarat intelligence service, with six "smart bombs."
The results of the attack on the building, which was also an operations center for the intelligence service, were not yet known. There was no indication US forces thought Saddam might be in the house near Ramadi, 110km west of Baghdad.
In Najaf on Thursday, a mob stabbed and shot to death Iraqi Shiite leader Abdul Majid al-Khoei and an aide in the gold-domed Imam Ali Mosque, the city's holiest shrine. The killings seemed certain to widen divisions and sow hatred among Shiites, who are 60 percent of the population.
A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a US checkpoint in the capital on Thursday evening. "Some are dead in the attack but I don't know how many," Marine officer Matt Baker said. A Pentagon spokesman said four soldiers were wounded.
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
‘EXTREME PRESSURE’: Beijing’s goal is to ‘force Taiwan to make mistakes,’ Admiral Tang Hua said, adding that mishaps could serve as ‘excuses’ for launching a blockade China’s authoritarian expansionism threatens not only Taiwan, but the rules-based international order, the navy said yesterday, after its top commander said in an interview that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could blockade the nation at will. The object of Beijing’s expansionist activities is not limited to Taiwan and its use of pressure is not confined to specific political groups or people, the navy said in a statement. China utilizes a mixture of cognitive warfare and “gray zone” military activities to pressure Taiwan, the navy said, adding that PLA sea and air forces are compressing the nation’s defensive depth. The navy continues to
MAKING PROGRESS: Officials and industry leaders who participated in a defense forum last month agreed that Taiwan has the capabilities to work with the US, the report said Taiwan’s high-tech defense industry is to enhance collaboration with the US to produce weapons needed for self-defense, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) discussed building regional and global industry alliances with US partners at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia held from Sept. 22 to Tuesday last week, the ministry said in the declassified portion of the report. The visit contributed to maintaining bilateral ties, facilitated Taiwan’s efforts to acquire weapons and equipment, and strengthened the resilience of the two nation’s defense industries, it said. Taiwan-US ties
CONCERNS: Allowing the government, political parties or the military to own up to 10 percent of a large media firm is a risk Taiwan cannot afford to take, a lawyer said A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator has proposed amendments to allow the government, political parties and the military to indirectly invest in broadcast media, prompting concerns of potential political interference. Under Article 1 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the government and political parties — as well as foundations established with their endowments, and those commissioned by them — cannot directly or indirectly invest in satellite broadcasting businesses. A similar regulation is in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法). “The purpose of banning the government, political parties and the military from investing in the media is to prevent them from interfering
RSS