At least six killed in Kabul suicide attack.

At least six killed in Kabul suicide attack.

Afghan policemen arrive to an area after a suicide vehicle

KABUL | 16 Nov 2013 ::  A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed car in west Kabul, killing at least six people near a compound where Afghan elders will debate a security pact with the US next week, officials said.

Another 22 were injured when the vehicle blew up about 150 metres from the giant tent where some 2500 tribal elders and civil leaders will gather on Thursday to decide on the future of US troops in the country after Nato coalition pulls out in 2014.

“Initial information shows that unfortunately four civilians, one police and one soldier have been killed in today’s attack. Twenty-two more, the majority of whom are civilians, have been injured,” said spokesman for Afghan interior ministry Sediq Sediqqi, adding that the toll may rise.

A statement issued by the Afghan interior ministry said that the bomber was being pursued by security forces shortly before the explosion.

“The attacker driving a vehicle had been identified and was being pursued by security forces. He detonated himself after police opened fire on his vehicle,” a statement issued by interior ministry said.

Nasrullah, a witness, said: “I heard a big bang near the jirga site, and later saw ambulances carrying bloodied people. I saw at least three wounded in army uniforms.”

Earlier in the day, President Hamid Karzai had called on the Taliban and their allies to join the assembly, known as a 'Loya Jirga'.

“We invite them, please come to this national jirga of Afghanistan, raise your voice, raise your objection... and share your views,” he told a news conference in Kabul.

The draft pact was hammered out in Kabul last month during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry. But he left without a final deal as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said only a jirga had the authority to decide the contentious issues.

These include a US demand to retain legal jurisdiction over its troops in Afghanistan, which would give them immunity from Afghan law. The request emerged as the main sticking point after Kerry’s visit.

The Taliban, whose government was toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001, has rejected the jirga and warned members that they would be punished as “traitors” if they endorsed the deal.

Hezb-e-Islami, a Taliban affiliate, has also refused to send members to jirga, calling it “legalising the US occupation”.

If the agreement is passed by both loya jirga and parliament, between 5,000 and 10,000 US troops would stay in Afghanistan to help fight militants and train the national army.

Washington had been pushing for the agreement to be signed by the end of October to allow the US-led Nato coalition to plan the withdrawal of its 75,000 combat troops by December 2014.

The collapse of a similar security agreement with Iraq in 2011 led to the US pulling all its troops out of the country, which is currently suffering its worst sectarian violence since 2008. (Courtesy: Dawn)

Bomb attack near Afghan capital kills influential governor.

Bomb attack near Afghan capital kills influential governor.

Reuters |  15 Oct 2013 :: A bomb attack on a mosque in Afghanistan killed the governor of a province south of Kabul, a friend of the country's president, on Tuesday as he was making an address on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, officials said.

Arsala Jamal was governor of Logar province, a strategically important province on the southern approaches to Kabul and home to one of Afghanistan's richest mines.

He had previously been governor of violence-plagued Khost province on the Pakistani border and the killing of such a senior official will raise new fears for Afghanistan's security as foreign troops prepare to leave by the end of next year.

"When the governor was giving a speech it detonated. He is martyred," said Jamal's spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwish. He said one other person had been killed.

No one claimed responsibility.

Jamal was a close friend of President Hamid Karzai and served as his campaign manager during his successful bid for re-election in 2009.

He had already survived at least one attempt on his life, when a suicide bomber inv him, killing his guards and a local official in 2007.

Darwish said the bomb had been planted inside the mosque and detonated remotely. Police initially said a suicide bomber had been responsible.

A group supporting Afghanistan's administrative development said it suspected Jamal's work to get the Aynak copper mine in Logar province up and running was the reason he was killed.

"Jamal... had done considerable work for the excavation of copper at the Aynak mine," the Independent Directorate of Local Governance agency said in a statement.

"These activities were not acceptable to the enemies of the country and that is why they martyred him on the first day of Eid al-Adha," it said. It did not elaborate on who it thought was behind the attack.

Jamal spent part of his life in Canada, where his wife and two children continue to live.

Taliban insurgents fighting to expel foreign forces have stepped up attacks on government targets ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

The Taliban have rejected government calls for peace talks and have denounced a presidential election due in April as illegitimate.

A Chinese consortium is running the Aynak mine under a $3 billion deal agreed in 2007.

It is Afghanistan's largest foreign investment project but Taliban attacks on the site have prevented work from getting going.

The Chinese investors in August demanded a review of the deal, putting the project at risk. Production was originally scheduled to start this year, but now is seen as unlikely before 2019.

The Taliban's elusive leader, in a message to mark the Eid holiday, urged his fighters to step up their fight against the government.

"My advice to all mujahideen is to stand up to the enemy firmer than before," Mullah Omar said in the message, distributed via email, referring to Muslim holy fighters. (Courtesy: Reuters)

Al-Qaeda affiliate claims attacks against Shi'ites in Baghdad.

Al-Qaeda affiliate claims attacks against Shi'ites in Baghdad.

Baghdad | Retures | 09 Sep 2013 :: An al-Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for a series of car bombs that killed around 60 people in predominantly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital last week.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was formed earlier this year through a merger between al-Qaeda's Syrian and Iraqi branches, said it had carried out the attacks in response to the Shi'ite-led government's tightening security Flames rise from a vehicle at the site of a car bomb in Talibiya in Baghdad on September 3, 2013. (AFP)measures.

Sunni Islamist groups including al Qaeda, which view Shi'ites as non-believers, have been regaining momentum in Iraq, invigorated by a conflict in neighboring Syria which has brought sectarian tensions across the Middle East to the boil.

“The operations encompassed targets that were carefully selected deep within the rejectionist strongholds inside Baghdad,” read a statement posted by the group on militant internet forums, using a derogatory term to refer to Shi'ites.

The group said it could now regularly reach the outskirts of the heavily fortified “Green Zone” in Baghdad, where many foreign embassies are located, online monitoring group SITE said.

The monthly toll of Iraqis killed in acts of violence has risen at times this year to the highest since the intercommunal bloodletting that peaked in 2006-07, raising concerns of a return to full-blown civil conflict.

Some 800 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence in August, according to the United Nations.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

Iraq market car bomb kills 16.

Iraq market car bomb kills 16.

SAMARRA  | 30 Aug 2013 :: A car bomb ripped through a popular fruit and vegetable market north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 16 people as Iraqis searched for cut-price groceries.

The blast, which also wounded 25 people, struck in the predominantly Sunni Arab city of Samarra at about 6:45 pm (1545 GMT). It came a day after a wave of nationwide violence – including a spate of bombings in the Iraqi capital – killed at least 75 people. The attack was the latest in a surge of unrest, with more than 3,700 people killed so far this year.

It follows security operations targeting militants in Baghdad and to the north and west, though the government has faced charges of not dealing with the root causes of the country’s worst violence since 2008.

Thursday evening’s attack struck the Samarra market, locally known as the Mraydi, at a time when struggling Iraqis typically frequent it in order to take advantage of reduced prices as surplus stock is sold before closing.

In all, 16 people were killed, including three women and two children, and 25 people were wounded, a police officer and a doctor said.

The market, the city’s biggest grocery shopping area, lies in the Jiberia neighbourhood of eastern Samarra.

Attacks elsewhere in Iraq left three others dead — a soldier, a civilian and a militant who was shot dead as he was trying to plant a roadside bomb.

On Wednesday, at least 75 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in a wave of shootings and bombings across Iraq, with the violence mostly targeting the country’s Shiite Muslim majority.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest bloodshed.

Sunni militants linked to Al-Qaeda frequently trigger car bombs in the middle of crowded areas packed with civilians, ostensibly in a bid to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led authorities and security forces.

Iraq has seen a marked rise in the level of violence this year, coinciding with demonstrations by the Sunni Arab minority against alleged ill treatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government and security forces.

More than 600 people have already been killed so far this month, according to an AFP tally.

Though diplomats and analysts have urged broad-reaching moves to tackle Sunni frustrations, which they say give militant groups room to recruit and carry out attacks, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to press on with an anti-militant campaign.

Officials say security forces have dismantled militant training camps and bomb-making sites, arrested hundreds of alleged insurgents and killed dozens of others in recent weeks.(Courtesy:The Nation)

Syrian rebels claim they killed 40 Hezbollah, Iranian fighters.

Syrian rebels claim they killed 40 Hezbollah, Iranian fighters.

Opposition says it detonated a car bomb next to a building packed with foreign pro-Assad forces; no official confirmation

Add capSyrian citizens gather near damaged cars that were
 burned after a car bomb exploded in the suburb of Jaramana,
Damascus, Syria, on Thursday, July 25, 2013
. (photo credit: AP Photo/SANA)tion

12 Aug 2013 :: Syrian rebels claim to have killed at least 40 Hezbollah militants and Iranian agents in Damascus over the weekend.

According to their reports, rebels belonging to the Free Syrian Army detonated a car packed with explosives next to a compound belonging to the government defense apparatus, where the pro-Assad fighters were gathered. Members of the Shabiha, the regime’s civilian-clad enforcement apparatus, were reportedly also at the compound when the blast occurred.

FSA reports indicate the incident took place in the al-Shaghour neighborhood within Damascus’ walled old city, which was once a heavily Jewish area. But according to Al Arabiya, state television broadcast images of the blast, claiming it was a roadside bombing that did not take place in the heart of the city.

There has been no independent verification of the claims.

The attack comes during another bloody weekend in Syria. Opposition activists said Saturday that government warplanes bombed a predominantly Sunni village in northwestern Syria, killing at least 20 people as government forces pushed to retake territory in the region along the Mediterranean coast.

The rebel capture last week of 11 villages in the regime stronghold of Latakia province along the coast was a symbolic blow to Assad, whose troops have otherwise been making gains in central Syria. Assad’s forces are trying to retake those villages, which are predominantly populated by members of Assad’s Alawite sect.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)

Police: Attacks around Iraq kill 9 people.

A police officer inspects a police vehicle destroyed by a car
 bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, on July 15, 2013

BAGHDAD  | AP | 15 Jul 2013 ::  Attacks across Iraq killed nine people on Monday, including a 10-year-old boy out swimming with friends, in the latest in a surge of violence rocking Iraq during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Violence in Iraq is now at its deadliest level in half a decade, raising fears the country is returning to the widespread bloodshed that pushed the country to the edge of civil war. More than 2,800 people have been killed since the start of April.

Police said Monday's deadliest attack was a mortar barrage near a group of people trying to escape the blistering summer heat by swimming in the Tigris River near Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Four people were killed in the mortar shelling, including the boy, and 11 others were wounded, police said.

Temperatures in Baghdad soared above 115 degrees.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb went off near a passing security patrol, killing a policeman and wounding 11 other people, including four civilians.

The blast left a crater six feet wide near the side of the road, and the charred hull of the blue police pickup truck lay mangled in the street.

Hours later, a suicide bomber slammed his explosives-laden car into an army checkpoint near Kirkuk, killing two soldiers, according to Lt. Gen. Mohammed Khalaf, a senior military commander in the city.

More than 140 people have been killed since Muslims in Iraq began observing Ramadan on Wednesday.

The American and British Embassies each issued statements Monday condemning the daily rash of attacks.

"That these attacks have taken place during the holy month of Ramadan, a time for charity and compassion is especially disturbing," said Britain's charge d'affaires in Iraq, Robert Deane. "This continued violence is clearly intended to fuel sectarian strife and destabilize the country."

Pious Muslims go without food, drink, smoking and sex in the daytime during the holy month, when feelings of spiritual devotion are high. In the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the start of Ramadan often also brought a wave of insurgent attacks — a pattern being repeated this year.

In other violence on Monday, police said gunmen sprayed a security checkpoint with bullets just south of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding four others.

Hospital officials confirmed the death toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Monday's attacks came a day after a wave of coordinated bombings in mostly Shiite cities and other attacks left at least 38 dead and scores wounded.(Courtesy:USA TODAY)