Heavy explosions rattled Baghdad yesterday, with a roadside bomb killing at least nine passers-by and injuring six, police said.
The deadly blast targeted an Iraqi army patrol in Amariyah, a mostly Sunni neighborhood in west Baghdad, according to Interior Ministry Major Falah al-Mohammedawi.
At least four other large blasts were heard but police only had reports on one, a roadside bomb that was aimed at a police patrol in Jihad, another mostly Sunni western neighborhood. Three bystanders were hurt.
PHOTO: AP
Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities yesterday said they were investigating the mysterious abduction of 33 employees from a local security firm as politicians bickered over who will head the next coalition government.
The employees, all Iraqi, were seized on Wednesday by men in military uniforms who raided the headquarters of the al-Rawafed security firm in Baghdad, security officials and local residents said.
The gunmen arrived aboard 10 white landcruisers, searched the premises and took away weapons and telephones before hustling employees into their cars and driving off, local residents said.
"As far as we're concerned, there were no interior ministry orders to arrest these men," the head of the police commandos, General Rasheed Flaih, said.
"It's very strange that so many security guards could have been abducted without any shots being fired," he added.
Fadel Jaber, head of the Action Group firm, responsible for al-Rawafed, said that "33 Iraqi employees involved in the management of the firm are missing."
"Six armed security guards were not taken," he said in a telephone interview from Amman, in Jordan. He declined to speak of "kidnapping", saying he hoped for "good news in the coming hours."
The incident took place at a time when the Iraqi government is seeking to reduce the number of security firms working in the country.
Thousands of Iraqis and foreign contractors work as private security guards in a country racked by violence, both political and criminal in nature.
The Jordanian-Iraqi security firm, which employs ex-officers of former president Saddam Hussein's army, was involved in protecting the Iraqna telephone company.
"We're looking at all possibilities," deputy interior minister Ali Ghaleb said. "We're investigating this at the highest level," he added.
The abduction came amid growing tension in the country where sectarian violence flared in the wake of the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine, which led to reprisals against the minority Sunni community.
US authorities are seeking to pressure Iraq's political factions to agree to form a government of national unity in an attempt to undermine the Sunni-backed insurgency.
But nearly three months after general elections, negotiations on forming a coalition government are still deadlocked over attempts by Sunnis and Kurds to prevent outgoing Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari from heading the next government.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance yesterday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the country’s army, navy and air force. “We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island yesterday and
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
RSS