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Baghdad kills 58,000 stray dogs in 3-month span

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:35:00 +0000

Teams of veterinarians and police shooters have killed some 58,000 stray dogs in and around the Iraqi capital over the past three months as part of a campaign to curb an increasing number of strays blamed for attacks on residents.

The Baghdad provincial government said in a statement released Sunday that 20 teams have been moving around Baghdad and the outer-lying districts daily looking for and putting down the dogs. The operation, which was first announced in late 2008, only truly took off this April after funds were allocated for the project.

The surge in strays -- estimated by provincial officials to number around 1.25 million -- is ironically linked to what officials say is an improvement in some elements of daily life in Baghdad, a city that for seven years has been struggling to return to normalcy after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Officials with the provincial veterinary directorate said that with open-air markets and bustling city life returning, the dogs are able to find more food and are having bigger litters.

Figures for the number of attacks by packs of stray dogs were not available Saturday, the last day of the weekend in Iraq.

Anger spreads over power shortages in Iraq

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:20:16 +0000

Riot police in southern Iraq used water cannons to disperse protesters pelting them with stones Monday during a demonstration against power cuts as anger spread over the lack of basic utilities to fend off the country's searing summer heat.

The protest in the city of Nasiriyah came two days after a similar demonstration turned violent, with two people killed and two wounded after police opened fire in the southern oil hub of Basra.

The unrest has raised concerns that growing public anger over the lack of basic services could jeopardize efforts to stabilize Iraq even as security improves.

Many impoverished Iraqis in the south have been left without air conditioning or fans despite high humidity and summer temperatures that frequently rise above 110 degrees.

Calling for the resignation of Iraq's electricity minister and other officials, protesters threw rocks and wooden bars and scuffled with security forces as they tried to break through a security barrier protecting the local government compound in Nasiriyah, according to witnesses and officials.

Riot police carrying shields lined up behind waist-high red and yellow barriers and a row of barbed wire and sprayed the protesters with water cannons mounted on armored vehicles.

Series of explosions kill at least 58 in Iraq

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:05:00 +0000

A series of bomb attacks mainly targeting Shiite worshippers killed 58 people Friday, including 25 near the main Baghdad office of an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric, officials said.

The violence demonstrated insurgents remain a potent force days after Iraqi authorities announced the killings of the top two al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in what they described as a major blow. Extremists are also seeking to exploit political deadlock after the inconclusive March 7 parliamentary election and ignite sectarian warfare as U.S. forces prepare to go home.

The biggest of Friday's bombings took place just a few hundred yards from the compound of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad's vast slum of Sadr City as worshippers were gathered for Friday prayers at the compound.

Two car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded around 1:30 p.m., killing 25 people and wounding an estimated 150, according to hospital and police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The blasts left blood streaming down muddy streets. Men carried victims away using bed sheets as makeshift stretchers and loaded them into the backs of trucks and rushed them to the hospital. One man fled carrying a young girl whose pink dress was stained with blood.

Iraqi police: Female suicide bomber kills 46

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:26:00 +0000

A female suicide bomber walking among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad detonated an explosives belt on Monday, killing at least 46 people and wounding more than 122, officials said.

The bombing was the first major strike this year against pilgrims making their way to the southern city of Karbala to mark a Shiite holy day. It came as security official warned of a possible increase in attacks by insurgents using new tactics to bypass bomb-detection methods.

The bombing raises fears of an escalation of attacks as hundreds of thousands of Shiites head by Friday to the southern holy city of Karbala to mark the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure.

The bomber hid the explosives underneath an abaya -- a black cloak worn from head to toe by women -- as she joined a group of pilgrims on the outskirts of Baghdad's Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's top military spokesman.

The bomber set off the blast as she lined up with other women to be searched by female security guards at a security checkpoint just inside a rest tent, al-Moussawi said.