Preparations are underway to hold meetings between the US-led forces and representatives of the Iraqi insurgency at the US embassy in Amman, a Jordanian newspaper reported yesterday.
"An Iraqi delegation will arrive shortly in the Jordanian capital to conduct the final arrangements for such meetings and fix demands of the participant Iraqi rebel groups," the daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm quoted sources close to the insurgents as saying. "About 10 insurgent factions have expressed readiness to take part in such direct meetings but with preconditions."
During a recent visit to Jordan, Iraqi Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi said that he intended to re-open talks with rebel groups with a view to ending the current security turmoil in Iraq.
He reportedly met with insurgent representatives who mainly belonged to the Sunni community.
Meanwhile, gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Iraqi pilgrims bound for Mecca yesterday, killing at least one person, while US forces said they launched air and ground attacks that killed an estimated 17 insurgents preparing to ambush a US column.
The pilgrims were traveling south about 25km from the city of Baqubah, when the unidentified shooters showered their convoy with machine gun fire at about 9:30am, a spokesman for Diyala Province's Public Relations and Information Bureau said.
In Baqubah itself, gunmen shot dead two policemen at a downtown intersection around noon, said an officer in the city, who asked not to be identified, citing standard security procedures to protect the identities of police personnel.
The US military said its troops encountered insurgents near Balad, 80km north of Baghdad, early yesterday, tipping them off to the planned ambush. In the counterattack, US warplanes killed three suspected insurgents in an initial attack and 14 more in a second in conjunction with ground forces, the military said.
It said the US attacks then set off other secondary blasts among the insurgents, showing they were armed with homemade mines and other explosives.
Iraqi and US forces encircled the town of Hawija, 265km north of Baghdad, and were searching for armed men who had fired on patrols, said Brigadier Sarhat Qadir of the Kirkuk police force.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
RSS