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Bahrain’s crackdown on demonstrations kills 5 protesters

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:24:00 +0000

Soldiers and riot police expelled hundreds of protesters from a landmark square in Bahrain's capital on Wednesday, using tear gas and armored vehicles to try to subdue the growing movement challenging the 200-year-old monarchy. At least five people were killed as clashes flared across the kingdom, according to witnesses and officials.

The unrest that began last month has increasingly showed signs of a sectarian showdown: The country's Sunni leaders are desperate to hold power, and majority Shiites are calling for an end to their dynasty. A Saudi-led force from Gulf allies, fearful for their own regimes and worried about Shiite Iran's growing influence, has grown to more than 1,000 soldiers.

Wednesday's full-scale assault was launched at dawn in Pearl Square, the center of the uprising inspired by Arab revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. Hours later, security forces were picking through burned debris and other remains of the protest camp.

In another area of Bahrain, one witness described police in a village "hunting" Shiites in what could be part of a wider campaign of intimidation.

Bahrain military sweeps into protest camp

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:11:00 +0000

Soldiers and riot police used tear gas and armored vehicles Wednesday to drive out hundreds of anti-government protesters occupying a landmark square in Bahrain's capital, a day after emergency rule was imposed in the violence-wracked Gulf kingdom. At least six people were killed, according to witnesses and officials.

The full-scale assault launched at daybreak swept into Pearl Square, which has been the center of uprising against Bahrain's rulers since it began more than a month ago. Stinging clouds of tear gas filled streets and black smoke rose from the square from the protesters' tents set ablaze.

Witnesses said at least two protesters were killed when the square was stormed. Officials at Ibn Nafees Hospital said a third protester later died from gunshot wounds in his back. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisals from authorities.

Meanwhile, Bahrain state TV also reported that two policemen died when they were hit by a vehicle after anti-government protesters were driven out. The Interior Ministry also at least one other policeman was killed, but did not give the cause.

Car bombs in Iraqi Shiite cities kill 21

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:37:00 +0000

Car bombs struck three Shiite cities in southern Iraq on Monday, killing more than 20 people in an apparent move to derail progress toward forming a new government as political leaders tried to break the eight-month deadlock.

The blasts in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf and in Iraq's second largest city of Basra were the third major attacks since last week, after the slaughter of more than 50 Christians in a Baghdad church and a string of 13 coordinated bombings across Baghdad that killed more than 90 people.

There was no claim of responsibility for Monday's attacks, but the violence underscores the desire of al-Qaida and other Sunni extremists to foment sectarian division at a time when Iraqis are watching to see if their leaders can form a new government accepted by both the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority.

In the northern town of Irbil, leaders of Iraq's major political blocs met Monday for the first time since parliamentary elections in March. The 90-minute televised session, the start of three days of talks, did not lead to a breakthrough.

The battle is largely a contest between the Iranian-favored coalition of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki along with followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr against a Sunni-backed secular coalition led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi.

Top Saddam ally sentenced to death by hanging

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:41:00 +0000

Tariq Aziz, the dapper diplomat and highest-ranking Christian in Saddam Hussein's regime, was sentenced Tuesday to death by hanging for persecuting members of the Shiite religious parties that now dominate the country.

The decision to execute the 74-year-old Aziz, who has suffered a series of strokes in prison, shows the depth of hatred among the country's current Shiite leadership for top figures in a Baathist regime that sent hundreds of thousands of opponents to death or exile.

Among Shiites in the vast, eastern Baghdad slum called Sadr City, a gallows death for one of Saddam's ardent aides was considered a fitting end.

"This is a fair judicial court ruling against those whose hands are still bloodied," said Kamil Jassim, a 32-year-old teacher.

Many Sunnis, the minority Muslim sect that dominated Iraq under Saddam, questioned whether the death sentence was merely revenge masquerading as justice.

"The aim of this court, formed by this government, is to kill and liquidate all of the former regime's senior figures if they committed crimes or not. It is an unfair trial and unfair verdict," said Jameel Sahib Ali, a 50-year-old merchant in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.

Attacks in Iraq kill 56, raise fears of insurgents

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:04:00 +0000

Bombers and gunmen killed at least 56 Iraqis in more than two dozen attacks across the country Wednesday, mostly targeting security forces and rekindling memories of the days when insurgents ruled the streets.

The attacks made August the deadliest month for Iraqi policemen and soldiers in two years, and came a day after the U.S. declared the number of U.S. troops had fallen to fewer than 50,000, their lowest level since the war began in 2003.

Powerful blasts targeting security forces struck where they are supposed to be the safest, turning police stations into rubble and bringing down concrete walls erected to protect them from insurgents.

"Where is the protection, where are the security troops?" said Abu Mohammed, an eyewitness to a car bombing near Baghdad's Adan Square that killed two passers-by. "What is going on in the country?"

Iraq's foreign minister said insurgents are attempting to sow as much chaos as possible, as lawmakers struggle to form a new government and Americans withdraw troops.

"Here you have a government paralysis, you have a political vacuum ... you have the U.S. troop withdrawal," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said. "And, in such environment, these terrorist networks flourish."

Gunmen kill 5 Iraqi oil workers, steal payroll

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:28:00 +0000

Gunmen ambushed a car with five Iraqi oil refinery employees carrying the company payroll, killing them and fleeing with $300,000 in cash on Monday, Iraqi officials said.

The brazen attack just outside Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, hit the employees right after they had picked up the payroll for the Haditha refinery in western Iraq from the main refining headquarters in Beiji, 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of Baghdad, police said.

Hospital officials in Tikrit confirmed the death toll.

Three accountants, an engineer and a driver were killed in the afternoon attack, said an official with the main refinery in Beiji. The incident was the latest in a rising trend of criminal attacks that many believe is part of insurgent efforts to raise funds.

On Sunday, gunmen in western Baghdad held up a car with five employees of the Veterinary Collage outside a bank until they handed over the $600,000 payroll, police officials said. There were no casualties.

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

A series of bank robberies, attacks on gold jewelers and money changers have occurred over the past several weeks across Iraq raising suspicions that that al-Qaida-linked insurgents could be replenishing their coffers for future attacks.

Car bomb kills 4 north of Baghdad

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:15:00 +0000

Police say a car bomb has killed four Iraqis and wounded 21 more in a one-time insurgent stronghold northeast of Baghdad.

Police and hospital officials said the blast occurred Monday evening near a restaurant and coffee shop in Baqouba. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Baqouba is 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. It was once controlled by al-Qaida in Iraq before a series of U.S.-Iraqi offensives led to a drop in violence.

The attack came hours after another car bomb killed a British contractor in Mosul, about 225 miles (360 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

Violence has dropped sharply since the height of Iraq's insurgency in 2007, but insurgents still wage attacks aimed at destabilizing Iraq's government.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) -- A British national died Monday when an explosives-laden car blew up near his convoy in the northern city of Mosul, said the British Embassy in Baghdad.

In Baghdad, gunmen on a speeding motorcycle gunned down one of Iraq's top judo athletes while he stood at a bus stop.

U.S. transfers last prison under its control to Iraq

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:48:00 +0000

The United States handed over the last detention facility under its control to Iraqi authorities on Thursday, a milestone in Iraq's push for complete sovereignty seven years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Iraq's assumption of control over the base near the international airport on the southwestern outskirts of Baghdad also marks the end of a troubling chapter in the U.S. presence in the country -- one defined for years by the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. With the handover, Iraq has now assumed control of the last of three such prisons controlled by U.S. forces.

The transfer raises questions about how well prepared the Iraqis are to handle the detainees, with concerns about sectarian tensions spilling over into the prison system. Inmates in Iraqi detention facilities have repeatedly complained about torture and beatings by the police, as well as overcrowding and poor conditions behind bars.

Prisoners in U.S. custody, meanwhile, have benefited from reforms in the wake of photographs showing mistreatment of inmates by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib in 2004.

The American general in charge of detainee centers in Iraq said the Iraqis were ready for the added responsibility.

Over 50 killed in attacks across Baghdad

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Militants struck across the Iraqi capital Wednesday, killing more than 50 people, including 32 in a suicide bombing that targeted 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 the country as U.S. troops head home.

Police said the bloody suicide bombing that killed 32 and wounded more than 90 people, split the hot Wednesday evening air as Shiite pilgrims were about to cross a bridge leading to the a shrine in the Shiite Kazimiyah neighborhood where a revered 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.

Indebted Dubai World rejected asset sale

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:14:00 +0000

Dubai World "totally rejected" the possibility of selling off some of its top performing assets in the months before the heavily indebted conglomerate turned to creditors with a plea to defer payments on some of the $60 billion it owes, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The company, whose holdings range from ports to real estate, shocked world markets on Wednesday with an announcement that it would seek, until at least May, a deferment on its debts and those of its real estate arm, Nakheel PJSC. That subsidiary has a $3.5 billion bond coming due next month.

The announcement was the clearest indication yet that the conglomerate, which has been a primary engine behind Dubai's meteoric growth over the past decade, was in way over its head in terms of debts. The company's obligations alone account for the overwhelming majority of the at least $80 billion Dubai owes to creditors.

Dubai World "totally rejected the idea of selling some of its good investment and real estate assets at low prices," a company official was quoted as saying by Al-Itihad newspaper on Sunday.

The official said that any asset sale needed to be in a "commercially fair manner in order to achieve (Dubai World's) long-term strategic objectives, away from ... economic pressures."