Suicide Bombing Still Occuring

[Jacob Blues]

Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Police: Suicide bomber kills 30 Shiite pilgrims
By BARBARA SURK, Associated Press Writer Barbara Surk,
Associated Press Writer
33 mins ago

BAGHDAD – Militants struck across the Iraqi capital Wednesday, killing 38 people, including 30 in a suicide bombing targeting pilgrims commemorating a revered Shiite saint, Iraqi police said.

The attacks — the deadliest of which occurred in northern Baghdad's predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah — offered a clear indication of the push by insurgents to exploit Iraq's political vacuum and destabilize country as U.S. troops head home.

Police said the bloody suicide bombing split the hot Wednesday evening air as Shiite pilgrims were about to cross a bridge leading to the a shrine in the Shiite Kazamiyah neighborhood where the seventh imam is buried.

A 30-year-old Sunni resident of Azamiyah said he was drinking tea and watching pilgrims walk by when he and his friends heard the blast.

"We heard a big explosion and everybody rushed to the site to see bodies and hear wounded people, screaming for help, Saif al-Azami told The Associated Press. "We helped carry the wounded to the hospital before the ambulances arrived," he said, adding that some of his Sunni friends who were serving food and water to the Shiite pilgrims were killed and wounded in the attacks.

Militants were able to strike even as security forces were on high alert in the capital, where Shiite pilgrims from all over Iraq converged on a mosque in the northern Baghdad neighborhood to mark the anniversary of the death of Moussa al-Kadhim, the seventh imam.

A vehicle ban was in place across Kazimiyah, and 200,000 members of security forces were deployed along the way to the shrine, searching pilgrims for weapons at various checkpoints.

Though violence has dropped across Iraq, religious processions, holy sites and security forces are still regularly targeted by insurgents trying to re-ignite sectarian bloodshed that had the nation teetering on the brink of civil war from 2005 to 2007.

Earlier Wednesday, police and hospital officials said two pilgrims died and seven were wounded in eastern Baghdad when a mortar shell hit their procession.

In western Baghdad, militants blew up the homes of Iraqi security officers, killing three family members.

Police officials said militants blew up the homes of two police officers, two members of an anti-al-Qaida Awakening Council and that of an ambulance driver in Wednesday's dawn attacks in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib.

None of the targeted men were at home at the time of the attacks, but three of the men's relatives were killed, police and hospital officials in Abu Ghraib said.

Also in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi soldier was killed and six were wounded when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into an army checkpoint. A bomb attached to a car of a police officer exploded in the same western Baghdad suburb, killing his mother and wounding his wife, police officials said.

In the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora in southern Baghdad, a police major was killed when a bomb attached to his car detonated as he drove to work on Wednesday morning, police said.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

[peter]

The odd part in all of this is that the West sees this as an example of ITS failure, or more to the point of US failure.

The US should just pull the hell out instead of sobbing about the power vacuum. If as a country it is unable to develop or have its own leadership structure, whatever it may be, it deserves to implode.

The failure isn't the US, its Iraq, after all these years still unable to have leadership step forward.

[Lynn]

The odd part in all of this is that the West sees this as an example of ITS failure, or more to the point of US failure.

The US should just pull the hell out instead of sobbing about the power vacuum. If as a country it is unable to develop or have its own leadership structure, whatever it may be, it deserves to implode.

The failure isn't the US, its Iraq, after all these years still unable to have leadership step forward.

I would argue the same thing if Iran wasn't looking to take over.

Aren't you worried that if the US would pull out, Iraq would just be another Lebanon? Maybe even worse than that.

[Jacob Blues]

Washington Post
Eight people killed as violence against Shiite pilgrims continues in Iraq
By Leila Fadel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 9, 2010; A09



BAGHDAD -- At least seven people were killed in bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims in the Iraqi capital Thursday, and a pilgrim returning home on foot was shot dead outside the northern city of Kirkuk, on the third day of deadly violence by militants apparently intent on stoking sectarian tensions amid a months-long political stalemate.

On Wednesday, a string of explosions in and around Baghdad killed more than 50 people and wounded more than 250. The deadliest was a suicide bombing aimed at Shiite pilgrims passing through the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah; more than 28 people were killed. Pilgrims were also targeted Tuesday, when at least seven were killed.

The attacks on the Shiite community appeared intended to destabilize the country as politicians remain deadlocked on the formation of a new government, four months after national elections. Elected officials are occupied making backroom deals for top jobs, in sluggish negotiations that observers say are unlikely to be resolved soon.

Violence has dropped significantly since the height of the sectarian war that flared out of control in 2006, but some worry it could rise again as the U.S. military draws down to 50,000 troops by Sept. 1. Last month, at least 135 people were killed in the capital alone.

Many Shiites participating in ceremonies to commemorate the death of the revered Shiite figure Imam Musa al-Kadhim said they felt attackers were trying to drag the country back into civil war. In the darkest days of the past seven years, 100 bodies a day were being found in Baghdad.

Despite the threat of bloodshed, more than 4 million people gathered in northwest Baghdad to mark the anniversary, with some pilgrims taking more than a week to reach the shrine on foot. The attackers struck despite the tens of thousands of security personnel on the streets and the road closures that were imposed to allow pedestrians to pass.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was visiting Lebanon on Thursday, condemned the deadly explosions in Baghdad, the Associated Press reported. "Those who benefit from such acts are the enemies of humanity, the enemies of democracy," he said.

Also Thursday, four people were killed and five injured in bomb attacks on officers' homes in the western city of Ramadi; the dead included a woman and a child. A farmer was also killed in a bombing in Kirkuk, police said.

Special correspondent Aziz Alwan contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02844.html

[Jacob Blues]

Suicide bombing kills scores in Pakistan
Washington Post
By Haq Nawaz Khan and Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 9, 2010; 9:04 AM



PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN -- A massive suicide bombing targeting government offices and a prison in Pakistan's volatile tribal borderlands killed about 50 people Friday and wounded more than 70 others, according to local officials.

The blast -- one of the more deadly in Pakistan this year -- tore through a large crowd, including disabled people who were at the government center in the Mohmand Agency to collect wheelchairs, according to Pakistani officials.

Dozens of shops and buildings buckled, and a barrier wall at a nearby prison also collapsed, freeing several insurgents, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

The explosion showed the resilience of insurgent fighters in the borderlands of Pakistan, the main refuge for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, who remain willing to strike at government installations despite the stepped-up military campaign of the Pakistani army. The army has failed to defeat insurgents in Mohmand, across the border from Afghanistan, after years of fighting.

Ghulam Rasool, the deputy political administrator of Mohmand, told local reporters that the blast was targeting his office but he was not there at the time and escaped unharmed. Rasool put the death toll at 47 people, and other officials said that four policemen were among the dead.

A person on a motorcycle was transporting one bomb, officials said, and the Associated Press reported that a second bomb exploded nearly simultaneously. Some officials described the prison as the primary target. A political officer in the region told local reporters that about 25 prisoners, including four militants, fled the prison when its main gate and a portion of the boundary wall caved in.

"The target was mainly the prison in Yaka Ghund, to release some of the arrested militants," the intelligence official said.

Partlow reported from Kabul.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00552.html

[peter]

The odd part in all of this is that the West sees this as an example of ITS failure, or more to the point of US failure.

The US should just pull the hell out instead of sobbing about the power vacuum. If as a country it is unable to develop or have its own leadership structure, whatever it may be, it deserves to implode.

The failure isn't the US, its Iraq, after all these years still unable to have leadership step forward.

I would argue the same thing if Iran wasn't looking to take over.

Aren't you worried that if the US would pull out, Iraq would just be another Lebanon? Maybe even worse than that.

What's the difference if Iran takes over? Let them rule over a population that either caves or rebels.
If Iraq would become another Lebanon what would that mean....that they kill each other in greater numbers?

A pox on them...if they cannot govern themselves and choke, so be it.

[Jacob Blues]

Twin blasts kill scores of World Cup watchers in Uganda
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 12, 2010; 10:06 AM



KAMPALA, UGANDA -- Powerful explosions tore through two venues in the Ugandan capital where crowds were watching television broadcasts of the World Cup final late Sunday, killing at least 70 people and wounding scores of others, Ugandan police said. At least one American was killed and several were wounded, according to the U.S. Embassy here.

The bombings unfolded at the Lugogo Rugby Club and at the Ethiopian Village restaurant in Kampala where hundreds of boisterous and cheering soccer fans, including clusters of foreigners, had gathered to watch Spain beat the Netherlands in the final in South Africa.

Among the dead at the rugby club was Nate Henn, 25, of Wilmington, Del., a worker for Invisible Children, a California-based aid group that helps child soldiers, the group said on its Web site.

Ugandan Police Chief Kale Kaihura immediately pointed blame at Somalia's al-Shabab, a hard-line militia with growing ties to al-Qaeda that has perpetrated several bombings in recent months in Somalia. But as of early Monday, no group had claimed responsibility for the attacks in a city widely considered to be among the safest on the continent.

In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a spokesman for al-Shabab praised the bombings but stopped short of saying they were carried out by his organization, news agencies reported. Yusuf Sheik Issa, an al-Shabab commander, was quoted as calling Uganda "one of our enemies" and "a major infidel country" supporting the Somali government.

Last week, the militia's top leader, Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubeyr, accused African Union peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu of committing "massacres" against Somalis. Ugandan and Burundian troops make up the peacekeeping force. Abu Zubeyr warned that his forces would take revenge against the peoples of Uganda and Burundi.

Uganda, a key U.S. ally, is also a training ground for soldiers for Somalia's transitional government, which al-Shabab is seeking to overthrow. The training program is backed by the United States and European nations. The United States officially considers al-Shabab a terrorist organization.

The militia, which seeks to create an Islamic emirate and has imposed Taliban-like dictates, has banned playing soccer in many areas and prohibited broadcasts of the World Cup, describing the sport as "a satanic act" that corrupts Muslims.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni visited the bombing sites Monday and vowed to pursue those responsible, according to news agencies.

"This shows you the criminality and terrorism that I have been talking about," he said at the rugby club. "If you want to fight, go and look for soldiers. Don't bomb people watching football."

He also said of the attackers, "We shall go for them wherever they are coming from. We will look for them and get them as we always do."

If al-Shabab carried out Sunday's attacks, the bombings would represent a significant escalation in its efforts to sow chaos in the region. The militia controls much of southern and central Somalia. In recent months, it has staged cross-border raids into neighboring Kenya, but it has never attacked another nation on a scale seen on Sunday. Nevertheless, Somalia's neighbors have long feared that Somalia's civil war could spill across their borders.

Foreign jihadists trained in Afghanistan are gaining influence inside al-Shabab and inspiring the militants to import al-Qaeda's ideology and tactics from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Somali intelligence officials, former al-Shabab fighters and analysts. Last month, two New Jersey men were arrested in New York and charged with planning to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the United States was prepared to assist the Ugandan government in any manner, as both President Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the attacks and offered their condolences.

"The United States stands with Uganda," Clinton said. "We have a long-standing, close friendship with the people and government of Uganda and will work with them to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice." Invisible Children said on its Web site that Henn, the American killed in the rugby club bombing, "sacrificed his comfort to live in the humble service of God and of a better world, and his is a life to be emulated." It added, "Nate's life ended while living out this dream, a selfless dream of putting others first, seeking peace, and living a life of integrity."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00476.html

[odp1]

Aren't you worried that if the US would pull out, Iraq would just be another Lebanon? Maybe even worse than that.

They're already another Lebanon while Iran is Syria. The problem is that just like how Lebanon's independence is somewhat important to the West, letting Iran control Iraq would be devastating to the world.

Unless of course, we let Iran build nukes and destabilize the whole Middle East while playing a role like China's.

[Lynn]

The problem is that just like how Lebanon's independence is somewhat important to the West, letting Iran control Iraq would be devastating to the world.

That's what I was thinking.

[Jacob Blues]

July 13, 2010
"Coffin" Bomb Wounds Nine In Troubled Iraq Province
By REUTERS
Filed at 7:46 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nine people were wounded when a bomb planted inside a symbolic coffin carried by demonstrators blew up in Iraq's troubled northern Diyala province on Tuesday.

The blast took place in the town of Khalis, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, when relatives of the victims of previous bombings demanded severe penalties for suspected members of the Shi'ite militia Asaib al-Haq, or League of the Righteous.

Protestors accused the militia of responsibility for Tuesday's bombing.

"The bomb was a bloody message from the League of the Righteous members to deter us from asking for a fair penalty to those who took the lives of our relatives," said Haider Mahmoud, whose brother was killed when a car bomb blew up at a crowded Khalis market in May, killing at least 30 people.

At least six members of the group have been arrested and claimed responsibility for a series of blasts that killed more than 80 people in Khalis in recent months, police said. The case was referred to a criminal court in Baghdad.

Tensions have been running high in Iraq since an inconclusive March 7 parliamentary election left a power vacuum and raised concerns about a renewal of sectarian violence.

The angry crowd clashed on Tuesday with anti-riot security forces and threw stones at police, forcing them to leave the area. The demonstrators then staged a sit-in, blocking a main highway linking Diyala province with northern Iraq, police said.

Asaib al-Haq split from the Mehdi Army of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The militia was believed to be behind the 2007 abduction of British computer programmer Peter Moore and his four bodyguards in a brazen daytime raid on a fortified government building in Baghdad.

Overall violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the sectarian warfare of 2006-07, but shootings and bombings -- often targeting the security forces, government officials or former Sunni insurgents who switched sides -- are still common.

(Writing and reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Rania El Gamal/David Stamp)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/07/ ... ation.html

[Gerald]

What's the difference if Iran takes over? Let them rule over a population that either caves or rebels.
If Iraq would become another Lebanon what would that mean....that they kill each other in greater numbers?

A pox on them...if they cannot govern themselves and choke, so be it.

Peter the 'difference' is that instability, the same as pox, does not recognise borders and has a nasty and proven habit of spilling over into neighbouring countries and infecting them as well. It may satisfy children to believe that if they turn their back, close their eyes very tight and wish and wish the evil monster will go away in real life it doesn't.

[Jacob Blues]

Blast in Pakistan's Swat Valley kills 5, wounds 58
By SHERIN ZADA and RIAZ KHAN
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 15, 2010; 7:52 AM



MINGORA, Pakistan -- An apparent suicide bombing near a bus terminal in Pakistan's Swat Valley killed five people and wounded at least 58 on Thursday, officials said, a sign that Islamist militants remain active in the northwest region despite a massive army operation.

The explosion went off around noon in Mingora, the main town in the one-time tourist haven that was overrun by the Taliban in 2007.

Pakistani TV footage showed vehicles bent and twisted due to the force of the blast. Some men were desperately trying to open the doors of a car to reach a woman and man sitting in the front who were bloodied and appeared unconscious.

The area struck was crowded, so the death toll could rise significantly. Senior police official Qazi Ghulam Farooq said five people died, including two women, and that officials believed a suicide bomber was involved. At least 58 people were wounded, he said.

The Pakistan military launched its biggest operation against the Taliban in Swat in 2009 after a failed attempt at a peace deal that included pledges to impose Islamic law in the area. The operation forced some 2 million people to flee, but after a few months, the army said it had taken control and many of the refugees returned home.

Still, violence has occasionally flared in Swat, shaking people's confidence. A handful of targeted killings of anti-Taliban elders in particular has worried those who fear the insurgents are staging a comeback in the valley.

In recent weeks, several major suicide attacks have shaken Pakistan. Last week, a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Mohmand tribal region, killing at least 102 people in the deadliest attack in the U.S.-allied nation this year.

The attacks come as Washington is pushing Pakistan to do even more to root out militant groups that use its soil to plan attacks on Western troops across the border in Afghanistan.

The U.S. has also launched more than 100 missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal area along the Afghan border. The attacks have been especially frequent in North Waziristan, the home base of the al-Qaida-linked group led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj.

Militants have responded by assassinating tribesmen whom they accuse of spying, including two men whose bullet riddled bodies were found Thursday in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, said an intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The bodies were accompanied by notes saying they were killed for spying on the Taliban, he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00733.html

[Jacob Blues]

July 15, 2010
Car Bomb Kills Six In Iraqi City Of Tikrit
By REUTERS
Filed at 6:44 a.m. ET

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded on a busy commercial street in the Iraqi city of Tikrit Thursday, killing six people and wounding 14 others, police said.

The blast damaged about 30 shops in central Tikrit and pools of blood were seen in the street. Police swarmed the area, firing shots in the air.

The city, which is located about 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, is the capital of Salahuddin province and hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Four policemen and two civilians were killed by the explosion, and police officers were among the wounded, police said.

"An explosion rocked the area and I found myself in the hospital. I have shrapnel in my head," wounded policeman Ashref Abbas said at a local hospital.

Overall violence has dropped sharply in Iraq since the worst days of the sectarian conflict in 2006-07 but bombings and shootings are still a regular occurrence, often targeting police and government workers.

Hundreds of people have been killed since an inconclusive March 7 parliamentary election that has yet to produce a new government.

Because no coalition won enough seats to form a majority in parliament, Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs have been holding alliance talks and insurgents appear to be taking advantage of the power vacuum.

(Reporting by Sabah al-Bazee; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/07/ ... lence.html

[Jacob Blues]

BBC.com
July 15, 2010
Last Updated: 16:44 ET
More than 20 dead' in suicide bomb blasts in Iran More than 20 people are feared dead and 100 injured in a suspected twin suicide bomb attack at a mosque in Iran.



Iranian state media said "at least" 20 people were killed in the attack outside the Jamia mosque in the south-eastern city of Zahedan.

Thursday's attacks at a Shia mosque in a largely Sunni area were the work of suicide bombers, Iranian media said.

Members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard were reportedly killed in the blast.

No group immediately said it had carried out the attacks, which happenedat around 21.20 local time (16.50 GMT).

The attack on the Grand Mosque in the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province came as worshippers celebrated the anniversary of the birth of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

'Suicide operation'

More than 20 people were killed and at least 100 injured, Fariborz Rashedi, the head of the medical emergency department in the province, was quoted as saying by Iran's Irna state news agency.

Zahedan member of parliament Hossein Ali Shahriari said the first suicide attack was carried out by a bomber dressed as a woman.

"The attacker, dressed in women's clothing, was trying to get in the mosque, but was prevented," Mr Shahriari told Fars, an Iranian news agency.

"When people came to rescue those hit in that blast, another bomber blew himself up. Three to four have been killed at least in the first attack."

Deputy interior minister Ali Abdollahi described the attack as a "suicide operation", AFP news agency said.

The Sistan-Baluchistan province is home to the Jundallah insurgency, a Sunni group that has claimed responsibility for bombings that have killed scores of people in recent years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10655900

[peter]

What's the difference if Iran takes over? Let them rule over a population that either caves or rebels.
If Iraq would become another Lebanon what would that mean....that they kill each other in greater numbers?

A pox on them...if they cannot govern themselves and choke, so be it.

Peter the 'difference' is that instability, the same as pox, does not recognise borders and has a nasty and proven habit of spilling over into neighbouring countries and infecting them as well. It may satisfy children to believe that if they turn their back, close their eyes very tight and wish and wish the evil monster will go away in real life it doesn't.

The evil monster is there one way or the other, if Iran "takes over" Iraq what will happen?
Irani soldiers instead of American being attacked, Muslims will kill Muslims in greater numbers.
Syria will be all that much more worried and afraid than it is right now as will Jordan.

I'm not closing my eyes at all.

[Gerald]

The evil monster is there one way or the other, if Iran "takes over" Iraq what will happen?
Irani soldiers instead of American being attacked, Muslims will kill Muslims in greater numbers.
Syria will be all that much more worried and afraid than it is right now as will Jordan.

I'm not closing my eyes at all.

If Iran was to stop at the borders of Iraq after they took it over, you may be right. If there were not hordes of refugees from the fighting fleeing to other countries, you may be right.
If all that were to happen was that the regimes in Syria and Jordan were to become more worried and afraid, you may be right.
But my country has a sad history of wrongly thinking you can appease the territorial demands of Fascist regimes, it doesn't work and they don't stop until they are stopped by force. Do you really think Iran and its terrorist proxies would stop at the borders of Iraq? Have you forgotten Arafat's boast at the start of the first Gulf War that he would ride into Jerusalem on the back of Saddam's victorious tanks? Do you think Hamas would not want/believe the same if the Iranian forces were on a roll?
What about the instability the floods of refugees would cause to neighbouring states? States that are already failing the people who live there. With the extra instability caused by the refugees and no doubt subversion caused by Iran's proxies the regimes in Syria and Jordan could well fall, can you be sure that the regimes that replace them would be any better?
You may well have your eyes open but then so did Admiral Nelson and he missed the signals as well.

[Jacob Blues]

Washington Post
By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, July 19, 2010

MAHMUDIYAH, IRAQ -- Two suicide bombings targeting members of local guard forces killed at least 48 people Sunday and heightened concern about the future of the groups as the number of U.S. troops in the country is reduced.

The deadliest attack occurred at about 7 a.m. outside an army base in Radwaniyah, a district southwest of Baghdad, where dozens of members of the groups, known as the Awakening councils, were lined up to collect their monthly salaries, officials said. The bombing killed at least 45 people and wounded nearly 50.

Shortly afterward, a militant stormed into a meeting of Awakening council leaders in al-Qaim, a town near the Syrian border, and detonated explosives, Iraqi security officials said. At least three people were killed.

A third explosion, in a village near Radwaniyah targeting a house that Iraqi soldiers were using as a temporary base, killed two officers and three soldiers, police said.

The attack in Radwaniyah, the deadliest in Iraq since the spring, incensed members of the Awakening councils. Leaders say the groups, once backed and financed by the U.S. military, are withering because of continuing insurgent attacks and the slow pace with which the government is moving them into civilian ministries.

"The Iraqi government is responsible," Khadum Feiad Mezel, 63, said outside the Mahmudiyah hospital, where most of the wounded were taken, as he awaited news about a nephew who had been at the blast site. "There is no other side we blame."

American officials have sought -- with mixed results -- to get the Iraqi government to care for the members of the Awakening councils, which were instrumental in turning the tide on a worsening war during the 2007 U.S. troop surge.

Sunday's attacks marked one of the deadliest days in Iraq this year, underscoring fears that insurgents are exploiting a period of political impasse. Iraqi lawmakers have been bickering since the March 7 parliamentary elections over who will form the next government, and many worry the stalemate could drag on for months.

Vice President Biden said Sunday morning that the political dispute will not affect U.S. plans to draw down its presence to 50,000 troops by the end of August.

"There is a government in place that is working," Biden said in an interview on ABC's "This Week." "Iraqi security is being provided by the Iraqis, with our assistance."

At the Mahmudiyah hospital Sunday afternoon, dozens of relatives waited for information about loved ones. Electricity from generators was insufficient to power most wings in the hospital, forcing doctors and nurses to work in sweltering rooms and to use flashlights to study charts.

The U.S. military established the armed Sunni groups in 2006 and 2007 in an effort to wean the Sunni insurgency off recruits and local support. The groups, which included thousands of former fighters, turned on al-Qaeda in Iraq, an insurgent organization that had come to control large parts of western Iraq and predominantly Sunni areas of Baghdad and surrounding villages.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has killed scores of Awakening members, viewing them as traitors for siding with U.S. forces.

In 2008, the U.S. military stopped paying members of the Awakening councils, also known as the Sons of Iraq, after Iraqi officials agreed to give them salaries and civilian ministry jobs.

The government has not made good on its promise to move at least 20 percent of the Awakening members into police and army jobs. Former fighters with jobs in the civilian ministries complain they are often paid late -- if at all.

"I haven't been paid in four months," said Ayed Mohammed Bahar, 38, a former Awakening member in Radwaniyah who was offered a job at the Health Ministry in Baghdad. "Right now we are consumed by worry. We are relying on these salaries. We have nothing else but these jobs."

Special correspondent Aziz Alwan contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00825.html

[Jacob Blues]

BBC.com
26 July 2010
Last updated at 14:00 ET
Twin car bomb in Iraq kills 20

Two car bombs have exploded near the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, killing at least 20 people, officials say.

The bombs went off on the road from the city of Najaf, which is often used by Shia pilgrims travelling to shrines.

Dozens of people were wounded in the blast, hospital officials told reporters.

Iraq has been without a government since elections in March and it is feared that insurgents are exploiting the power vacuum.

Hundreds have been killed in attacks by insurgents since the election.

Level of violence

The blasts come as Shia pilgrims from around the country gather in Karbala to celebrate the birthday of the 9th century Imam Muhammad al-Mehdi.

Elsewhere in Iraq, four people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked the headquarters of Arabic TV station al-Arabiya in Baghdad.

The level of violence in Iraq has decreased since 2006 and 2007 when Sunnis and Shias fought a bloody sectarian conflict, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad.

But Shia pilgrims, who often travel to shrines by foot, are still targets for Sunni insurgents, adds our correspondent.

The US hopes to withdraw its 50,000 combat troops from Iraq by the end of August, ahead of a total withdrawal by 2012.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10767867

[Jacob Blues]

Minibus bomb hits Iraqi base, killing 4 soldiers
By SAAD ABDUL-KADIR
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 29, 2010; 2:45 AM



BAGHDAD -- Iraqi police say a suicide attacker has driven a bomb-laden minibus into the entrance of an Iraqi army base near Saddam Hussein's hometown, setting off an explosion that killed four soldiers and wounded 10 others.

Dr. Samir Issa said two of the soldiers died while they were being treated at a hospital just north of the city of Tikrit.

A police official said the bomber drove the minibus into the main gate of the base.

The policeman spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

A witness said the explosion happened around 7 a.m. Thursday, during a shift change for soldiers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00721.html

[Jacob Blues]

Bus hits roadside bomb, killing 25 in Afghanistan
By AMIR SHAH
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 28, 2010; 1:11 PM



KABUL, Afghanistan -- A packed bus hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing 25 people aboard, as NATO announced another U.S. service member died in a rapidly rising monthly death toll.

The passenger bus was traveling in Nimroz province on a main highway toward the capital, Kabul, when it struck the explosive about 7 a.m., said Nazir Ahmad, a provincial government spokesman. Another 20 people were wounded, he said.

The explosion occurred near Delaram - a volatile area close to the borders of Helmand and Farah provinces.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack. "The criminals who did this are the enemies of Muslims," he said in a statement.

Also Wednesday, officials reported three more international service members were killed - two Italians and an American. The Italians died Wednesday in a roadside bombing north of Herat, the Italian Defense Ministry said. The American was killed Tuesday in the south, NATO said.

July is already one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in the nearly nine-year Afghan war, with 59 service members killed so far. That's just shy of the 60 that died in June - the deadliest month for U.S. forces. Altogether, 82 NATO troops have died in July. In June, 103 NATO forces were killed.

The rising death toll comes as U.S. forces continue the search for a missing Navy sailor believed captured last week by Taliban forces when he and a colleague drove into an insurgent-held area of eastern Afghanistan. One of the sailors was killed in a firefight with militants, and the Taliban has said they seized the other.

NATO officials were unable to say what the two service members were doing in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan.

The Navy identified the missing sailor as Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year-old from the Seattle area. The Pentagon lists Newlove as "whereabouts unknown," and did not confirm he was captured.

The service member killed was Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley - a 30-year-old father of two from Wheatridge, Colorado. NATO recovered his body Sunday.

The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces, according to senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The school was headquartered in Kabul and had classrooms outside the capital, but they were never assigned anywhere near where the body of the sailor was recovered, the officials said.

U.S. forces have pushed into southern Taliban strongholds in recent months and weeks in an attempt to squeeze insurgents out of the area where they have long functioned as a de-facto government. Along with the surge, attacks on military forces and Afghan supporters of the government have increased. Many civilians have also been killed or wounded in incidents such as Wednesday's bus bomb or caught up in the crossfire.

On Wednesday, an Afghan villager was killed by U.S. soldiers in the volatile Arghandab Valley, a strategic area near Kandahar City. An An Associated Press journalist who witnessed the shooting said soldiers approached a compound near where they had found a hidden bomb. Someone fired at the Americans, who shot back, killing a man who the troops said was carrying a rifle.

The villagers insisted that he wasn't Taliban and maintained they didn't hear gunfire although the AP journalist said bullets were flying near the troops.

On Monday, the Afghan government said 52 civilians, including women and children, died when a NATO rocket struck a village in southern Afghanistan last week - a report the international coalition has disputed.

Karzai's office said an investigation by Afghan intelligence officers determined a NATO rocket slammed into Rigi village in Helmand province, one of the most violent areas of the country.

The U.S.-led command also said an investigation was under way but reports of mass civilian casualties in Rigi were unfounded.

NATO said investigators determined alliance and Afghan troops came under attack Friday about 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of the village and responded with helicopter-borne strikes. Coalition forces reported six insurgents killed, including a Taliban commander.

Gulam Farooq, deputy commander for the Afghan National Army in the south, said he too sent investigators to Rigi. Eyewitnesses said 14 civilians from three families were killed in the fighting.

Abdul Whab, who lost seven members of his family, told Afghan army investigators his mother, holding a copy of the Quran, pleaded with insurgents to leave the area so civilians wouldn't be hurt, Farooq said.

Whab told investigators coalition fire killed 60 militants suspected of being foreign fighters, because they didn't speak the local Afghan language of Pashtu, said Farooq.

In central Uruzgan province, meanwhile, three Afghan soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb Wednesday, said Gulab Khan, deputy provincial police chief.

German Army Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz told reporters Wednesday in Kabul the Taliban's senior leadership ordered the assassination of multiple tribal elders in an area of Uruzgan.

"This follows the kidnapping and execution of two tribal elders for cooperating with the coalition," he said, alleging recent attacks can be traced to instructions issued by Taliban leader Mullah Omar in June to attack anyone who supports the Afghan government.

During the past 90 days, 350 Taliban figures have been captured or killed by coalition forces, Blotz said.

Meanwhile, a NATO drone also went down in a Taliban-held area of northern Afghanistan because of mechanical problems, the alliance said in a statement. The craft, called a Luna UAV, contained no weapons or intelligence that could be exploited by enemy forces, NATO said.




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