A series of bombings struck Baghdad and a neighboring province on Monday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 40, including a deputy oil minister who was injured when a bomb went off in front of his house as he left for work.
Most of the blasts occurred in Baghdad, reinforcing US military warnings that extremists remain capable of launching attacks in the capital despite an overall improvement in security.
The attacks took place on the eve of the US presidential election between Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain, who hold widely differing views on the war in Iraq.
Six people died when a pair of bombs — one of them hidden in a trash can — exploded in Tahariyat square in the Karradah district of central Baghdad during the morning rush hour.
Police said 21 people were wounded, including 10 policemen and two women. The blasts blew out store fronts lining the square in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad.
Soon afterward, a bomb went off in front of the north Baghdad home of Abdul-Sahib Salman Qutub, deputy oil minister in charge of crude oil production. Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said the bomb was attached to Qutub’s car and went off as he was walking to the vehicle.
Qutub was treated and released from a hospital, but his driver was seriously injured, Jihad said.
One policeman was killed and six were injured in a roadside bombing in east Baghdad, police said. Another policeman and a civilian were wounded when a bomb went off near a police patrol in the western part of the capital.
In Baqubah, about 60km northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb blew up across the street from the provincial council headquarters, killing two policemen and a 10-year-old girl, Diyala provincial police said. Nine people were wounded.
A group of people were inside the council headquarters attending a conference on how to protect journalists in Diyala, one of Iraq’s most unstable provinces. None of the participants was hurt, police said.
The police officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information.
US officials say attacks in Baghdad are averaging about four a day, down nearly 90 percent from levels of late 2006 when Shiite-Sunni fighting was at its highpoint and just before the US troop surge, which helped bring down violence in the capital.
Nevertheless, Monday’s bombings show that extremists retain the capability to stage bombings even in the heart of the heavily guarded Iraqi capital.
Last week, unknown assailants blew up a major water pipeline in northern Baghdad, interrupting water supplies to thousands of people before the damage was repaired.
US military commanders have warned that both Sunni and Shiite extremists remain active and have cautioned against major reductions in the 145,000-strong US force until Iraqi police and soldiers are capable of maintaining security.
But US strategy in Iraq may change depending on the outcome of today’s presidential contest.
Obama opposed the Iraq invasion of 2003 and has called for a complete withdrawal of combat troops in 16 months. McCain supported the decision to go to war and opposes scheduling a troop withdrawal, saying the US strategy since the troop surge last year was succeeding.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS