30 Apr 2011 17:37
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Attack targets Iraqi army checkpoint by a market
* Mosul regarded as al Qaeda's last remaining urban base
(Adds details, hospital source, background)
MOSUL, Iraq, April 30 (Reuters) - Eight people were killed and 19 wounded on Saturday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi army checkpoint next to a market in the northern city of Mosul, police and hospital sources said.
Attacks against Iraq's army and police are rising as they prepare to take full responsibility for security in the country ahead of a full withdrawal of U.S. troops by Dec. 31, more than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
"Eight killed, 19 wounded. Five soldiers were killed and three civilians, and two soldiers are among the wounded," Nineveh province police Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud al-Jibouri told Reuters. The toll is final.
A hospital source confirmed the number of dead and wounded and said the attack had taken place at a popular market in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.
"The suicide bomber exploded himself at the entrance where Iraqi soldiers were manning a checkpoint to frisk people entering the market," the hospital source said.
"The attack took place at the peak business hours for this market."
Mosul is regarded as Sunni Islamist al Qaeda's last remaining urban base after the group was kicked out of many parts of Baghdad and western Anbar province by U.S. troops allied with local Sunni Arab tribal militias in 2007.
Although violence has dropped sharply since the height of sectarian warfare in 2006/07, bombings and killings remain a daily occurrence and insurgents are still capable of carrying out lethal attacks.
At least eight people were killed and 17 wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in Diyala province. (Reporting by Jamal al-Badrani; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; editing by Robert Woodward)
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28 Apr 2011 18:59
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Explosion occurred soon after evening prayers
* Diyala province remains volatile
(Updates toll, adds details)
BAGHDAD, April 28 (Reuters) -At least eight people were killed and 17 wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in Iraq's Diyala province, security officials said.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks in recent months, seeking to undermine faith in Iraq's army and police who will take full responsibility for security when U.S. troops withdraw at the end of December, more than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion.
The explosion occurred shortly after evening prayers in Balad Ruz, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Muthana al-Timimi, head of Diyala provincial council's security committee, said.
"A criminal blew himself up inside the mosque, which resulted in this number of casualties," Timimi said.
"Some of the wounded are in a critical condition."
A source at Diyala's joint cooperation centre also put the toll at eight people killed and 17 wounded.
Bombings and attacks remain a daily occurrence in Iraq and while violence has dropped from the height of sectarian warfare in 2006-7, insurgents are still capable of carrying out lethal attacks.
Diyala is one of a few remaining provinces where large numbers of al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents still battle Iraqi security forces. A volatile mix of minority Kurds, majority Shi'ites and Sunnis has made it difficult to bring peace there.
Last month, at least eight soldiers were killed when a car bomb exploded at an Iraqi army unit in the town of Kanaan in Diyala. (Writing by Serena Chaudhry; editing by Tim Pearce)
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Car bomb blast in Iraq kills nine, 27 wounded
03 May 2011 20:09
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Car bomb hits Shi'ite area of Baghdad
* Security forces on alert for bin Laden revenge attacks
(Updates toll, adds background)
BAGHDAD, May 3 (Reuters) - A car bomb explosion near a market in a predominantly Shi'ite area of southern Baghdad on Tuesday killed nine people and wounded 27, security sources said.
Iraqi security forces went on high alert on Monday after U.S. commandos killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Security officials said they expected the Sunni Islamist group's local affiliate to carry out revenge attacks.
Iraq became a major al Qaeda battlefield after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
An Interior Ministry source and a police source put the blast's toll at nine dead and 27 wounded. The sources did not want to be identified.
"It was a bomb inside a vehicle which resulted in the death and injury of a number of civilians in the district of Abu Dsheer," said Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's security spokesman. He declined to give a casualty toll.
Abu Dsheer is a poor, crowded, mainly Shi'ite district surrounded by predominantly Sunni areas, many of them once controlled by al Qaeda.
It was one of the areas hit last November in a series of bombings across the Iraqi capital that killed more than 40 people and wounded scores of others.
Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in recent years from the peak of sectarian violence in 2006-07 but militants still launch dozens of bombings and other attacks each month. Iraqi security officials frequently point the blame at al Qaeda.
The head of Iraq's grain board was wounded in an apparent assassination attempt on Tuesday when a roadside bomb hit his motorcade in Baghdad.
Hassan Ibrahim suffered fractures and other wounds in a blast that killed his driver. He was appointed in March to lead the body that provides Iraq, one of the world's largest grain importers, with wheat and rice for its national food ration programme. (Reporting by Muhanad Mohammed and Reuters Television; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Matthew Jones)
===
Suicide car bomber in Iraq kills at least 15
05 May 2011 06:17
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Attack targeted police building in mainly Shi'ite city
* Iraq on alert for bin Laden revenge attacks
BAGHDAD, May 5 (Reuters) - A car bomb explosion killed at least 15 people and wounded 25 on Thursday in Iraq's predominantly Shi'ite southern city of Hilla, medical and police sources said.
A suicide bomber rammed his car into the entrance of a police headquarters in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, during a shift change when many police officers were outside the building, the sources said.
An Interior Ministry source in Baghdad put the toll at 16 killed and 50 wounded.
Iraqi security forces went on high alert for revenge attacks after U.S. commandos killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Iraq has been a major battlefield for the Islamist militant group since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
U.S. and Iraqi officials say al Qaeda in Iraq has been severely degraded in recent years.
But eight years after Saddam's overthrow, Iraq still faces a lethal insurgency that carries out dozens of bombings and other attacks each month, many of them on Iraqi police, soldiers and government officials.
Hilla was hit by one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq in May last year when two suicide car bombers drove into the entrance of a textile factory as workers were ending a shift, killing at least 35 people and wounding 135. A third bomb exploded as police and medics rushed to the scene.
On Monday four people were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to a car in a parking lot exploded in Hilla. (Reporting by Aseel Kami, Muhanad Mohammed and Serena Chaudhry in Baghdad; writing by Jim Loney; editing by Tim Pearce
====
Suicide car bomber kills more than 20 in Iraq
05 May 2011 16:15
Source: reuters // Reuters
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Residents inspect the remains of a vehicle used in a bomb attack in the district of Abu Dsheer in southern Baghdad May 4, 2011. REUTERS/Stringer
* Attack on police building in mainly Shi'ite city
* Iraq on alert for bin Laden revenge attacks
(Updates toll)
By Habib al-Zubaidi
HILLA, Iraq, May 5 (Reuters) - A car bomber killed more than 20 people and wounded 80 on Thursday at a police building in the mainly Shi'ite city of Hilla, an official said, as Iraq braced for revenge attacks after U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden.
Iraq's army and police have been on high alert since American forces shot dead the al Qaeda leader and security officials said they had received intelligence that the Sunni Islamist group's Iraqi wing would carry out revenge attacks.
The suicide bomber rammed his car into the entrance of a police headquarters in the centre of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, during a shift change at around 6:40 am (0340 GMT), when many police officers were outside the building.
"More than 20 were killed, 80 wounded. Four are missing. All of them are from the police because the explosion happened at one of the main police headquarters," Babil province Deputy Governor Sadeq al-Muhanna told Reuters.
Muhanna said a police expert had determined that the plastic explosive C-4 was used in the attack.
"Although it is too early to pin the responsibility on one party, suicide explosions are mostly done by al Qaeda and we expect (al Qaeda) is behind this explosion. We said before and we say it again, al Qaeda will not be finished by the killing of its leader," he said.
A hospital source in Hilla said the blast killed 25 and wounded 83. Iraqi officials often give conflicting tolls.
Iraq has been a major battlefield for al Qaeda since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Dozens of bombings and other attacks are still mounted each month, although U.S. and Iraqi officials say al Qaeda in Iraq has been severely degraded in recent years.
"These events happen on a daily basis in Iraq and nothing could prove that it has anything to do with the killing of bin Laden. These are routine events in Iraq. Security breaches, we are used to them," an Interior Ministry source said.
U.S. WITHDRAWAL
Attacks on the army and police are rising ahead of a full withdrawal of U.S. troops by Dec. 31, more than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Blast walls in front of the police headquarters in Hilla collapsed and the building was badly damaged, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.
Shops, houses and buildings nearby also were damaged.
"The negligence comes from Baghdad because we're always asking them to increase the number of our policemen, but there is no response," Kadhim Majeed Tuman, the head of the Babil provincial council, said.
Last month, gunmen laid siege to a provincial council headquarters in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. Fifty-eight people were killed and at least 98 wounded.
On Monday four people were wounded when a bomb attached to a car exploded in Hilla. (Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Aseel Kami and Muhanad Mohammed in Baghdad; writing by Serena Chaudhry and Jim Loney; editing by David Stamp)
===
Al Qaeda leader, 17 others killed in Iraq jail clash
08 May 2011 15:02
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Al Qaeda leader "Emir of Baghdad" among dead in jail fight
* Batawi detained in connection with Catholic church attack
(Adds Iraq PM comments pars 5-6, background)
By Muhanad Mohammed
BAGHDAD, May 8 (Reuters) - Eighteen people, including an al Qaeda leader and a senior Iraqi counter-terrorism official, died in a battle between inmates and security officers during a jailbreak attempt in Baghdad on Sunday, security officials said.
Huthaifa al-Batawi, known as al Qaeda's "Emir of Baghdad" and accused of a deadly attack on a Catholic church, was killed along with 10 other senior al Qaeda militants, said Baghdad's security spokesman Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi.
The skirmish at an Interior Ministry counter-terrorism unit jail complex in Baghdad's central Karrada district began when a prisoner grabbed a gun from a guard, killed several guards and ministry officers, and gave a weapon to other inmates, Moussawi said.
Inmates controlled a section of the facility for several hours before a SWAT team brought the siege to an end, security officials said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered an investigation into the incident and told security forces to be extra vigilant.
"We must not allow such setbacks to happen in the security field," Maliki said in a statement issued by his office.
Iraqi security forces are preparing to take sole responsibility for security ahead of a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by Dec. 31 in line with a joint security pact.
The jail housed about 250 inmates, many of them members of al Qaeda, one source said.
UNDER CONTROL
"Security forces and guards responded to the jail of the counter-terrorism department and killed 11 terrorist-prisoners ... including Huthaifa al-Batawi, the Emir of Baghdad, who was in charge of planning the church attack," Moussawi said.
Moussawi said seven security officers -- including Brigadier Muaid Mahdi, head of investigations at the counter-terrorism unit -- were killed in the skirmish and one other was wounded.
A senior security official, who asked not to be named, said eight terrorism suspects, most facing death sentences, were killed along with nine security officers, three of them senior officials.
Batawi was arrested along with 11 others in late November in connection with the Oct. 31 assault on Our Lady of Salvation church during Sunday mass. Dozens of hostages and police died when Iraqi forces tried to free more than 100 Catholic hostages.
The attack was the bloodiest against Iraq's Christian minority since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Security officials said it was Batawi who started the jail battle by seizing a guard's gun in an attempt to flee.
Moussawi said the situation at the jail was under control and no prisoners had escaped.
Iraqi security forces have been on high alert for revenge attacks by al Qaeda since U.S. commandos killed the group's leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on Monday.
Iraq became a major battlefield for the Islamist militant group after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
One Iraqi security official estimates the group is behind 70 percent of the scores of bombings and other attacks carried out in Iraq every month. (Additional reporting by Suadad al-Salhy and Waleed Ibrahim; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Serena Chaudhry)
===
At least 18 killed in Baghdad jail fight-official
08 May 2011 08:22
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Al Qaeda leader "Emir of Baghdad" among dead in jail fight
* Batawi detained in connection with Catholic church attack
(Updates toll from official source, adds details, background)
By Muhanad Mohammed
BAGHDAD, May 8 (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed in fighting between security officers and prisoners at an Iraqi Interior Ministry jail complex in Baghdad on Sunday, a security official said.
The dead included an al Qaeda leader known as the "Emir of Baghdad" who planned an attack on a Catholic church last October in which more than 50 people died, said Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's security spokesman.
The skirmish at a counter-terrorism unit in Baghdad's central Karrada district began when a prisoner grabbed a gun from a guard, killed several guards and Interior Ministry officers, and gave a weapon to other inmates, Moussawi said.
"Security forces and guards responded to the jail of the counter-terrorism department and killed 11 terrorist-prisoners ... including Huthaifa al-Batawi, the Emir of Baghdad, who was in charge of planning the church attack," Moussawi said.
Moussawi said seven security officers were killed in the skirmish and one other was wounded.
Batawi was arrested along with 11 others in late November in connection with the Oct. 31 assault on Our Lady of Salvation church during Sunday mass. Dozens of hostages and police died when Iraqi forces tried to free more than 100 Catholic hostages.
The attack was the bloodiest against Iraq's Christian minority since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Moussawi said the situation at the jail was under control and no prisoners had escaped.
Iraqi security forces have been on high alert for revenge attacks by al Qaeda since U.S. commandos killed the group's leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on Monday. (Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim and Suadad al-Salhy; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Louise Ireland)
==
Egypt says 190 face army court over church clash
08 May 2011 10:09
Source: reuters // Reuters
CAIRO, May 8 (Reuters) - Egypt's army said on Sunday it would try 190 people in a military court over clashes between Muslims and Christians near a Cairo church that left 10 dead.
"The Supreme Military Council decided to send all those who were arrested in yesterday's events, that is 190 people, to the Supreme Military Court...," the army said on its Facebook page. (Reporting by Yasmine Saleh)
Ten dead in Egypt clash, premier calls talks
08 May 2011 09:57
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Death toll rises to 10, 186 injured
* Violence is fresh test for Egypt's military rulers
* Some blame remnants of Mubarak regime for stoking violence
(Adds detail, comments from witnesses, analyst)
By Sarah Mikhail
CAIRO, May 8 (Reuters) - Egypt's prime minister called an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday after 10 people died in bloody clashes in a Cairo suburb over the conversion of a Christian woman to Islam.
The sectarian violence on Saturday was Egypt's worst since 13 people died in clashes on March 9 sparked by a church burning, and throws down a new challenge for generals ruling the country since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.
There was a brief burst of gunfire on Sunday in the neighbourhood where the violence had taken place.
About 500 conservative Islamists known as Salafists massed outside the Saint Mina Church in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba on Saturday demanding that Christians there hand over a woman they said had converted to Islam.
The Salafists were joined by other Muslims who demanded access to the church to see if she was inside. Tensions flared, gunfire broke out and the two sides threw firebombs and stones.
Soldiers and police fired shots in the air and used teargas to separate the two sides but stone-throwing skirmishes went on through the night in streets near the church.
A power cut plunged the neighbourhood into darkness, making it harder for the security forces to quell the violence.
Another church nearby, Saint Mary's, was set on fire and badly damaged in the overnight clashes.
"My son attends this church. How can we ever feel safe?" said Nashaat Boshra, who stood crying in front of Saint Mary's on Sunday. "This is religious strife facilitated by the army and police. Let's just face the truth."
By Sunday morning, the army had stationed tanks in streets around the church and was checking people walking in the area. Residents warned passers-by to avoid the area which was generally calm on Sunday apart from the brief burst of gunfire.
"I think the army is in a state of confusion," said Gamal Eid, a prominent author and human rights activist. "It is afraid to take serious action against extremists so as not to be accused of suppressing these movements."
INTERFAITH TENSIONS
Sectarian strife often flares in Egypt over conversions, family disputes and the construction of churches. Muslims and Christians made demonstrations of unity during the protests that overthrew Mubarak, but interfaith tensions have grown.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf cancelled a tour of Gulf states to call an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday morning to discuss the violence.
Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million population.
Some Christians said the security forces had been too slow to disperse the crowd in front of the church and looked on as tension got out of hand.
Police who deserted the streets during the protests which led to Mubarak's downfall on Feb. 11 have returned to their jobs, but many Egyptians say they feel less safe on the streets.
State media gave the new death toll and revised the number of injured to 186, with two in a critical condition in hospital. At least five were reported dead on Saturday and 75 injured.
One of the new corpses was found inside the church, official news agency MENA reported.
Injured Muslims and Christians being treated in hospital showed reporters small holes that looked like shotgun wounds.
(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer)
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