No image available
/ 14 January 2008
The United States military said on Monday it had killed 60 militants during a week-long, US-led offensive in northern Iraq against al-Qaeda, a resilient foe that has resisted previous attempts to drive it from the region. The US military, which has declared al-Qaeda the single greatest threat to Iraq’s security, launched the offensive on January 8.
A suicide bomber killed nine people during celebrations to mark Army Day in the eastern Baghdad suburb of Karrada on Sunday, the latest in an upsurge of suicide bombings in Iraq. The blast took place outside the offices of an NGO called the Iraqi Unity Gathering, which had been hosting an event for army officers and tribal leaders from both of Iraq’s religious sects.
No image available
/ 29 October 2007
A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed 28 Iraqi police officers doing their morning exercises at a base north of Baghdad on Monday in one of the deadliest strikes on security forces in months. The attack was a reminder that despite a United States-led crackdown, groups such as al-Qaeda are determined to carry on fighting.
An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced to death Saddam Hussein’s cousin, widely known as ”Chemical Ali”, for masterminding a genocidal campaign against Iraq’s ethnic Kurds in the 1980s. A tired-looking Ali Hassan al-Majeed, wearing traditional Arab robes, trembled as the judge read the verdict, one witness said.
The United States urged Iran on Monday to stop supporting militias in Iraq in the most high-profile meeting between the two countries in almost 30 years, which both sides later described as positive. The rare talks in Baghdad were narrowly focused on Iraq’s spiralling sectarian violence and did not touch on Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.
Iraq plans to take security control of the whole country from foreign forces by the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday after British forces handed over control of a southern province. Fiery anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is increasing pressure on Maliki to set a timetable for the withdrawal of 146 000 United States troops from Iraq.
Suicide bombers struck in Baghdad and to the west and south of the capital on Saturday in a string of attacks on mostly Iraqi police targets that killed more than 30 people and wounded dozens, most of them policemen. In the worst attack, a man driving a truck packed with explosives blew up outside a police station in Baghdad’s volatile southern district of Dora, killing 20.
No image available
/ 18 February 2007
Two car bombs tore through a shopping area of a mainly Shi’ite district of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 56 people and wounding scores as militants defied a military offensive by United States and Iraqi troops. The blasts came two days after Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki trumpeted what he called the ”brilliant success” of Operation Imposing Law in quelling sectarian violence.
No image available
/ 15 February 2007
Iraq closed its borders with Iran and Syria as United States and Iraqi troops tightened their grip on Baghdad on Thursday, setting up more checkpoints that stopped and searched even official convoys for weapons. Residents of Sadr City, stronghold of the Mehdi Army of anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, reported seeing fewer militiamen on the streets.
No image available
/ 5 February 2007
Like many of his colleagues, Abu Zaid was issued an Austrian-made Glock pistol when he joined the new United States-trained and equipped Iraqi police force. But after narrowly escaping death twice, including being shot at near a polling station in Baghdad during national elections in December 2005, he decided to quit, he said.