Insurgents killed 19 Iraqi soldiers and wounded four others in a coordinated ambush northeast of Baghdad just two days after the deadliest attack against US Marines in four months.
The bloodshed confirmed US and Iraqi warnings of a surge in insurgent attacks ahead of national elections set for Dec. 15. So far this month, 14 US service members have died, 10 of them in a huge bombing on Thursday near Fallujah.
The Saturday attack occurred as an Iraqi army unit was on patrol near Adhaim, north of Baghdad. Survivors said insurgents triggered a roadside bomb, then showered the patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and machine gunfire.
Earlier this week, US President George W. Bush outlined his strategy for victory in Iraq, calling for Iraqi forces to eventually replace US troops in the fight against insurgents.
Elsewhere, the US base at the airport in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, came under mortar or rocket fire on Saturday, wounding two US soldiers. The US command has released few details of the bombing which killed 10 members of the Marines' Regimental Combat Team 8, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. A witness said it occurred at a mill in the village of Amiriyat al Fallujah, just outside the city. The bomb was fashioned out of four large artillery shells, US officials said.
Later on Saturday, Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape from the Islamic Army of Iraq showing a huge explosion targeting a US foot patrol near Fallujah. The tape did not directly link the explosion to Thursday's attack, but the Al-Jazeera announcer noted the Marine deaths as the tape aired. The grainy video showed ground troops walking down a street on both sides of a Humvee when a huge fireball engulfed the scene, sending terrified Iraqis running.
In another video aired by Al-Jazeera, a group called Mujahedeen of Tal Afar claimed responsibility for destroying a US Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the northern city.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
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