At least 80 killed in attack in Baghdad Shi'ite stronghold

At least 65 killed in attack in Baghdad Shi'ite stronghold Sat, Sep 21 14:21 PM EDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 65 people were killed in a triple bombing that targeted a tent filled with mourners in Baghdad's Shi'ite Muslim stronghold of Sadr City on Saturday, police and medical sources said. A car bomb went off near the tent where a funeral was being held, a suicide bomber driving a car then blew himself up, and a third explosion followed as police, ambulances and firefighter were gathering at the scene, police said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, in which at least 120 others were wounded, medics said. "Crowds of people were visiting the tent to offer their condolences when suddenly a powerful blast ... threw me to ground," said 35-year-old Basim Raheem. "When I tried to get up, a second blast happened. My clothes were covered with blood and human flesh. I thought I was wounded, but later discovered I was lying in a pool of others' blood," he added. A Reuters reporter said distraught survivors attacked policemen and firefighters who tried to move them away from the scene. Puddles of blood surrounded the tent. In a separate incident, at least eight people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a busy street in the predominantly Shi'ite Ur district of northern Baghdad, police said. Iraq's delicate sectarian balance has come under growing strain from the civil war in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are fighting to overthrow a leader backed by Shi'ite Iran. Both Sunnis and Shi'ites have crossed into Syria from Iraq to fight on opposite sides of the conflict. Al Qaeda's Iraqi and Syrian branches merged earlier this year to form the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has claimed responsibility for attacks on both sides of the border. Around 800 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence in August, according to the United Nations. Earlier on Saturday, four attackers killed six officers in an assault on a police station in Baiji, about 110 miles north of Baghdad. (Reporting by Kareem Raheem; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Andrew Heavens) ========================= At least 78 killed in Pakistan church attack: minister Sun, Sep 22 11:55 AM EDT image 1 of 5 ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - At least 78 people were killed on Sunday in a twin suicide bomb attack on a church in Pakistan, including 34 women and seven children, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said. "Who are these terrorists killing women and children?" he said on live television, speaking from the northwestern city of Peshawar where the attack took place outside the church after Sunday mass. (Reporting by Syed Raza Hassad; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Suicide bombers kill 78 Christians outside Pakistani church Sun, Sep 22 18:49 PM EDT image 1 of 5 By Fayaz Aziz PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old Anglican church in Pakistan after Sunday Mass, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country. Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in past months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's efforts to tame the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban. Within hours of the attack, Sharif toughened his stance considerably but fell short of calling for outright military action against insurgents holed up in tribal areas on the Afghan border - an option supported by Pakistan's all-powerful army. "Such incidents are not conducive of peace talks," Sharif said in televised remarks. "Unfortunately, because of this, the government is unable to move forward on what it had envisaged, on what it had wished for." Explosions struck the historic white-stone All Saints Church in the city of Peshawar, near the frontier tribal areas where Islamist militants have their strongholds, as hundreds of parishioners, many of them women and children, streamed out of the building. "I heard two explosions. People started to run. Human remains were strewn all over the church," said one parishioner, who gave only her first name, Margrette. Her voice breaking with emotion, she said she had not seen her sister since the explosions ripped through the area around the gate of the church enclosure. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the death toll of 78 included 34 women and seven children, in remarks televised live from Peshawar. More than 100 people were wounded. "Who are these terrorists killing women and children?" Nisar said. The Taliban-linked militant group TTP Jundullah claimed responsibility within hours of the attack. "They are the enemies of Islam, therefore we target them," said the group's spokesman, Ahmed Marwat. "We will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land." TURNING POINT? An assault of such scale and audacity could be a turning point for Sharif after months of inconclusive efforts to engage the Pakistani Taliban in talks, offering him a cue to give in to the tougher approach backed by the military. The army, which keeps thousands of troops in the tribal belt, an area where insurgents are based, opposes talks with the Pakistani Taliban, saying previous attempts to bring the militants to the negotiating table yielded no results. Christians make up about 4 percent of Pakistan's population of 180 million, and tend to keep a low profile in a country where Sunni Muslim militants frequently bomb targets they see as heretical, including Christians and Sufi and Shi'ite Muslims. Attacks on Christian areas occur sporadically around the country but Sunday's assault, in a densely populated Christian residential area in the old walled city in Peshawar, was the most violent in recent history. In 2009, 40 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob of 1,000 Muslims in the town of Gojra in Punjab province. At least seven Christians were burnt to death. Seventeen Christians were killed in an attack on a church in Bahawalpur in 2001. Some residents, enraged at the lack of adequate security at the church, took to the streets immediately after the attack, burning tires and shouting slogans. Shops were closed in the Kohati Gate area where several other churches are located. "Terrorists have not spared mosques, temples and churches. Please have mercy on us," one man outside the church, his face distorted by fear and anger, told Pakistan's private Geo television channel. Protests by Christians were also reported in other cities including Multan and the violent port city of Karachi. A bomb disposal source said two blasts had been set off by a pair of attackers. More than 600 parishioners were inside the church for the service. (Writing by Maria Golovnina; Additional reporting by Hameedullah Khan in Peshawar, Syed Raza Hassan in Islamabad, Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Asim Tanveer in Multan; Editing by Andrew Heavens) =============== Smoke pours from Kenya mall as forces 'close in' Mon, Sep 23 11:58 AM EDT image 1 of 15 By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Richard Lough NAIROBI (Reuters) - Thick smoke poured from the besieged Nairobi mall where Kenyan officials said their forces were closing in on Islamists holding hostages on Monday, the third day since Somalia's al Shabaab launched a raid that has killed at least 62 people. It remained unclear how many gunmen and hostages were still cornered in the Westgate shopping center, after a series of loud explosions and gunfire were followed by black smoke billowing from one part of the complex. Kenya's interior minister told a news conference militants had set fire to mattresses in a supermarket on the mall's lower floors. The ministry later said the blaze was under control. Two attackers had been killed on Monday, the minister added. Another assailant had died on Saturday. The gunmen came from "all over the world", Kenya's military chief said, adding: "We are fighting global terrorism here." President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed on Sunday a demand that he pull Kenyan forces out of neighboring Somalia. Kenyatta, who lost one of his own nephews in Saturday's bloodbath, said he would not relent in a "war on terror" in Somalia, where Kenyan troops have pushed al Shabaab onto the defensive over the past two years as part of an African Union-backed peacekeeping mission across the northern border. Security officials near the mall said the explosions heard at lunchtime were caused by Kenyan forces blasting a way in, but Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said he had no information on any blasts and a military spokesman declined to comment when asked if militants had set off charges. Al Shabaab warned it would kill hostages if police moved in. Echoing other officials, who have highlighted successes in rescuing hundreds of trapped people after Saturday's massacre, Ole Lenku said most of the complex was under the authorities' control and escape was impossible. A senior police officer said the authorities, who have been receiving advice from Western and Israeli experts, were "closing in". Ole Lenku said: "We are doing anything reasonably possible, cautiously though, to bring this process to an end. "The terrorists could be running and hiding in some stores, but all floors now are under our control." Ole Lenku said all the attackers were men, after witnesses had reported seeing women brandishing arms in the attack. But three sources, one an intelligence officer and two soldiers, told Reuters that one of the killed attackers was a white woman. This is likely to fuel speculation that she is the wanted widow of one of the suicide bombers who attacked London's transport system in 2005. Asked if it was Samantha Lewthwaite, called the "white widow" by the British press, the intelligence officer said: "We don't know." MULTINATIONAL AFFAIR Ole Lenku acknowledged "support" from foreign governments but said Kenyan forces were managing without it so far. Western powers have been alarmed by a spread of al Qaeda-linked violence across Africa, from Nigeria and Mali in the west, though Algeria and Libya in the north to Somalia and Kenya in the east. Nairobi saw one of the first major attacks by al Qaeda, when it killed more than 200 people by bombing the U.S. embassy in 1998. While some analysts said the latest raid may show al Shabaab lashing out in its weakness after the successes of Kenyan troops in Somalia, the risk of further international violence remains. Julius Karangi, chief of the Kenyan general staff, called the gunmen "a multinational collection". He said they had set the fire as a distraction but could now have no hope of evading capture: "If they wish, they can now surrender," he said. "We have no intention whatsoever of going backwards." On Sunday, President Kenyatta said 10 to 15 assailants were holding an unknown number of hostages in one location, apparently the supermarket. On Monday, it was not clear whether they may be more dispersed, including on the upper floors. A spokesman for al Shabaab warned they would kill hostages if Kenyan security forces tried to storm their positions. "The mujahideen will kill the hostages if the enemies use force," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said in an audio statement posted online. On Twitter, the group posted: "They've obtained large amounts of ammunition and are, by the blessings of Allah alone, still firm and still dominating the show." The Red Cross and Ole Lenku put the death toll so far at 62. The Red Cross said it had also recorded 63 people as missing. Survivors' tales of the assault by squads of attackers throwing grenades and spraying automatic fire have left little doubt the hostage-takers are willing to go on killing. Previous raids around the world, including at a desert gas plant in Algeria nine months ago, suggest they are also ready to die. SECURITY CHALLENGE It remains unclear who the assailants are. Al Shabaab - the name means "The Lads" in Arabic - has thousands of Somali fighters but has also attracted foreigners to fight Western and African Union efforts to establish a stable government. A London man, Jermaine Grant, faces trial in Kenya for possession of explosives. Police suspect an al Shabaab plot to attack restaurants and hotels used by Westerners and have been hunting for the "white widow" Lewthwaite. The term "black widow" has been used by Chechen militants for women taking part in attacks after their husbands have died. Kenya's president, son of post-colonial leader Jomo Kenyatta, is facing his first major security challenge since being elected in March. The crisis might have an impact on his troubles with the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Judges there let his vice president, William Ruto, fly home for a week, suspending a trial on Monday in which Ruto is charged with crimes against humanity for allegedly coordinating violence after an election in 2007. Kenyatta is due to face trial on similar charges in November. Al Shabaab's siege underlined its ability to cause major disruption with relatively limited resources, even after Kenyan and other African troops drove it from Somali cities. "While the group has grown considerably weaker in terms of being able to wage a conventional war, it is now ever more capable of carrying out asymmetric warfare," said Abdi Aynte, director of Mogadishu's Heritage Institute of Policy Studies. Others said divisions within the loose al Shabaab movement may have driven one faction to carry out the kind of high-profile attack that may help win new support. Al Shabaab's last big attack abroad was a double bombing in Uganda that killed 77 people watching soccer on TV in 2010. (Reporting by Edmund Blair, James Macharia, Duncan Miriri, Richard Lough, Drazen Jorgic, Humphrey Malalo, Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Kevin Mwanza in Nairobi, Pascal Fletcher in Johannesburg, Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, Roberta Rampton in Washington, Anthony Deutsch at The Hague, Myra MacDonald in Tbilisi and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Writing by Edmund Blair and Alastair Macdonald; editing by David Stamp) ==================