117 casualties in Karbala blast

مصدر طبي: خمسة قتلى و23 جريحا حصيلة تفجير كربلاء


113 persons killed, injured in Karbala province
7/16/2011 2:36 PM

KARBALA / Aswat al-Iraq: The number of victims from the three explosions that took place in Karbala Province over the past 24 hours have reached 113 killed or injured.

Two medical teams arrived from Baghdad and Najaf to carry out surgical operations for the injured, Karbala’s Health Director General said on Saturday.

“The final result from the Karbala explosions have reached 133 persons, killed or injured,” Dr.
Alaa Hamoud Bidair told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The number of dead have reached about 13, including 3 security elements and a woman, whilst the number of injured had reached 100, including a number of security elements, 5 women and 3 children,” Dr.
Bidair said.

Karbala city, 108 km to the southwest of Baghdad, is presently witnessing thousands of visitors for the anniversary of the birthday of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th most prominent Imam of Shiite Muslims.
The city has witnessed three explosions over the past 24 hours, including one laid by a woman, who set up an explosive charge under a car in a garage north of the city, a booby-trapped car blast in Hindiya township, east of the city and a booby-trapped motorbike blast at the entrance of the city.

“There are some of the wounded persons that require major surgical operations,” Dr.
Bidear said, adding that two medical teams have reached in the city hospitals from Baghdad and Najaf, to help carry out surgical operations.


==
Al-Iraqiya Coalition says it shall have different attitude if the Arbil Agreement won’t be settled within 2 weeks
7/14/2011 4:12 PM

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The Legislature of al-Iraqiya Coalition, led by Iyad Allawi, Nahida al-Dainy, has said on Thursday that her Coalition “shall have a different attitude if the Arbil Agreement won’t be settled within two weeks from now.”



Dainy told Aswat al-Iraq news agency that her Coalition had discussed on Wednesday the agreements with the State of Law Coalition, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the recent meeting at the residence of Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani.



“Wednesday meeting had been one of the most important meetings by al-Iraqiya Coalition, aimed at discussing the recent developments, among its leaders,” Dainy said, adding that the meeting had discussed the current political situation and al-Iraqiya’s position, as well as the agreements with the State of Law and the meeting of the leaders of the political forces, held in President Talabani’s residence.



Iraq’s political leaders had met last Saturday, July 9th, at the residence of the Iraqi President, in a step to settle the differences among the political forces, most outstanding of which are al-Iraqiya and the State of Law Coalitions, and the most outstanding results of the meeting had been the assignment of the negotiation committees to resume their activity, with the extension of their authorities, in order to enable them to present their proposals within two weeks.



Dainy has also demanded the political blocs “to settle the issue of Arbil Agreement within the next two weeks, or else her al-Iraqiya Coalition would have another position towards the political process.”



As regards to the American troops withdrawal from Iraq, and whether the topic was discussed in the said meeting, Dainy said: “The issue of the American withdrawal was not settled by al-Iraqiya Coalition, due to the unclear attitude within the Coalition itself,” pointing out that the “position of al-Iraqiya towards the American withdrawal won’t be different from the position of other blocs.”



Noteworthy is that a meeting was held on Wednesday, attended by al-Iraqiya Coalition’s Leader, Iyad Allawi, Iraq’s Vice-President, Tareq al-Hashimy, along with other Leading Members of al-Iraqiya, with the presence of all its 91 Parliament Members, in which the recent political developments have been discussed.

==
UPDATE /
7/15/2011 6:13 PM

KARBALA / Aswat al-Iraq: The toll from the explosion in north Karbala has reached 17 casualties, in addition to two dead, provincial sources said today.


The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the explosion took place in a garage near a checkpoint in Oun area, 15 km north of the city.


The wounded were sent to hospitals in Baghdad, Najaf and Hilla provinces.


Earleir, Col.
Adnan al-Khafaji told Aswat al-Iraq that a bomb exploded this afternoon in a parked car inside a garage near one of the checkpoints north of the city.


Initial reports indicated that the blast resulted in two dead and three injured.


Starting from today, Karbala city will receive thousands of visitor to commemorate the birth of Imam Mehdi who was born on 15 Sha'ban in Samarra city.
The peak of the visit shall be tomorrow (Saturday).
===

U.S. turns Saddam's half-brothers over to Iraq

15 Jul 2011 12:12

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Saddam's half-brothers face execution

* U.S. prepares for withdrawal by year-end

BAGHDAD, July 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has delivered two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers and his former defence minister into Iraqi custody along with nearly 200 other inmates at a Baghdad prison, a deputy justice minister said on Friday.

The men were transferred to Iraqi authorities on Thursday along with a final section of Cropper prison, a detention centre built in 2006 near the capital's international airport.

Saddam's half-brothers, Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan and Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, and former defence minister Sultan Hashim all face death sentences, Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim said.

They were among 55 people on the U.S. most wanted list after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that deposed Saddam and were later convicted of crimes against humanity.

"The sentences on those men are final. We will implement the sentence (execution) after a presidential decree is issued," Ibrahim said, adding he did not know when the decree would be issued.

U.S. forces are handing over bases, jails and prisoners to Iraqi authorities as they prepare for a full withdrawal at the end of the year, more than eight years after the invasion.

Saddam was executed in December 2006.

The U.S. military turned over most of what was then known as Camp Cropper to Iraq a year ago, ending an ignominious chapter of the invasion that saw thousands of people detained without charges and triggered outrage after disclosures of prisoner abuse.

At the time of the handover last July, U.S. wardens continued to guard about 200 of Cropper's 1,500 detainees, including al Qaeda militants and Saddam's henchmen. The camp was renamed Karkh prison.

The Iraqi Justice Ministry received 196 inmates from the Americans on Thursday, all of the remaining Cropper prisoners but for 10 whose paperwork had not been completed, Ibrahim said.

(Reporting by Khalid al-Ansary; Editing by Matthew Jones)

===

Saddam's half-brothers face execution in Iraq
AFPBy Salam Faraj | AFP – 18 hrs ago

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A picture released by the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) shows Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan -- the half-brother of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein -- responding to questions from an Iraqi judge in 2005. Five Saddam-era officials, including two of his half-brothers, will be executed within a month after being handed over to Iraqi authorities by the US military

A picture released by the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) shows Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan …
Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti -- Saddam Hussein's half-brother -- gives evidence during the late dictator's trial in 2006. Five Saddam-era officials, including two of the late dictator's half-brothers, will be executed within a month after being handed over to Iraqi authorities by the US military

Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti -- Saddam Hussein's half-brother -- gives evidence during …

Iraq will execute two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers within a month along with three other former regime officials, an official said on Friday, after the five were handed over by the US military.

The group, transferred to Iraqi custody on Thursday morning, were among 206 high-value detainees still being held by American forces ahead of a US military pullout due by the end of the year.

"We received the final 206 Iraqi prisoners being held by US forces, including five senior officials from the former regime," said justice ministry spokesman Haidar al-Saadi. "They (the five officials) will be executed within one month.

"They include Watban Ibrahim Hassan and Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti," two half-brothers of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Also among the group handed over and slated to be executed were former defence minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed and ex-generals Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti and Aziz Saleh Numan.

The five had been sentenced to death in different trials from 2007 to 2011.

"Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari visited with the presidency council earlier this week and they agreed not to delay the ratification of their condemnation to death," he said.

"We believe that the council will sign the documents within days and they will be executed within one month."

Under Iraqi law, all death sentences must be formally approved by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, or by either of his two vice presidents.

The 206 prisoners transferred were being held by US forces at a detention facility on Baghdad's outskirts, formerly known as Camp Cropper. Although the site was handed over to Iraq on July 15, 2010, American soldiers were charged with holding the group of high-value detainees.

Saadi said that of the larger group, the paperwork for 10 had not yet been completed.

Saddam, who was deposed in a 2003 US-led invasion, himself spent three years in Camp Cropper until his execution on December 2006.

Watban Ibrahim Hassan, a former interior minister, was sentenced to death in March 2009 for his involvement in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants accused of food price speculation. He is the only senior Saddam-era official to have publicly apologised for wrongs committed by the dictator's Baath party.

Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, a former chief of Saddam's intelligence service, was condemned to death in the same trial.

Former defence minister Ahmed and ex-general Tikriti were sentenced to death in June 2007 in connection with the repression of Iraq's Kurds in the 1987-88 Anfal campaign in which 180,000 died.

Numan received his death sentence last month over the violent suppression of an uprising of Shiite Muslims in south Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War.

"As the Iraqi government gains the ability to hold prisoners requiring higher security standards, they are taking physical custody," said Colonel Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman.

"All detainees are and have been under their (Iraq's) legal custody. We only retained physical custody."

Around 47,000 US soldiers remain stationed in Iraq, with all set to withdraw by the end of the year under a bilateral security pact.