Violence claims 33 lives in Iraq.

Violence claims 33 lives in Iraq.

KIRKUK | Iraq |26 Sept 2013 :: Militants attacked local government and police buildings in northern Iraq with suicide bombings and mortar fire on Wednesday, sparking clashes that killed 14 people, among 33 deaths nationwide, officials said.

The assault came in Hawijah, a town in ethnically mixed Kirkuk province near which security forces stormed an anti-government protest camp in April, triggering Iraq's deadliest day this year.

One suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle near a police station, while a second blew up another near a local administrative building.

Militants then hit both buildings and a local council office with mortar fire, and gunmen clashed with the army.

Seven civilians, three soldiers and four militants were killed and 22 people wounded, army Staff Major General Mohammed Khalaf al-Dulaimi said.

Troops were combing the area for another nine assailants who were believed to have escaped, Dulaimi added.

The Hawijah assault came a day after militants attacked two police stations and a local official's house in two towns northwest of Baghdad, killing seven police and the official's brother.

In the capital, six members of a single family were shot dead on Wednesday, officials said.

A man, his wife, their three children aged between three and six, and another woman were killed in the Shaab area of east Baghdad, officials said, while at least one person was killed and nine wounded by a bomb near a cafe in the capital.

North of Baghdad, a bomb exploded near Balad, killing five people and wounding three, while gunmen killed two farmers in the Muqdadiyah area and a soldier in Taji.

And a bomb killed three people and wounded 25 in Mosul, while one person was also shot dead in the northern city.(Courtesy:Dawn)

Firefight at U.S. Consulate in Western Afghanistan.

Firefight at U.S. Consulate in Western Afghanistan.

Afghan security forces carried a wounded police officer on
Friday during an attack on the American Consulate in Herat.

KABUL | Afghanistan  | 14 Sep 2013 ::  An attack in the western city of Herat that killed seven people and wounded 20 on Friday morning underscored the continued fragility of the security situation in the country, even in pockets of Afghanistan long considered peaceful.

The attack began around 5:30 a.m. when a group of five suicide bombers detonated a van full of explosives near the auxiliary gate of the American Consulate, according to the office of the governor of Herat Province. As many as 20 civilians in the area were also sent to hospitals for treatment, said Sayed Wahid Qattali, the head of the provincial council.

After the explosion, which shattered the glass of the consulate building and structures in the surrounding area, attackers mounted an assault on the consulate. An hourlong firefight resulted in the deaths of several insurgents, who were unable to breach the gate, according to provincial and police officials. American security personnel helped fight off attackers who tried to enter the compound, according to a statement from the State Department.

The dead included two security guards. The American ambassador to Afghanistan condemned the attack, expressing sadness for the loss of life and the toll suffered by Afghan contract workers at the consulate and civilians swept up in the attack.“We are reminded again of the very real human toll exacted by terrorism,” Ambassador James B. Cunningham said in a statement. “The perpetrators of this attack have shed Afghan blood on Afghan soil.”

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault.

The last few months have been especially violent ones in Herat, an area long known for its rich history and, until recently, its relative stability.

In July, the brother of Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Afghanistan’s national security chief, was fatally shot in a district that neighbors the city of Herat, the provincial capital. In mid-August, insurgents killed nine construction workers and one police officer just outside the capital. Days later, militants executed six government engineers working on a road project in the province. And just last week, violent protests outside the Iranian Consulate in the provincial capital resulted in the fatal shooting of one protester and the wounding of two others.(Courtesy:The New York Times)

Syrian air force bombs hospital in north, say activists.

Syrian air force bombs hospital in north, say activists.

Syrian warplanes have bombed one of the main hospitals serving
 rebel-held territory in the north of the country, according to
activists and video footage. (File photo: Reuters)

Beirut | Reuters | 12 Sep 2013 :: Syrian warplanes have bombed one of the main hospitals serving rebel-held territory in the north of the country, according to activists and video footage.

Eleven civilians, including two doctors, were killed in the strike against the hospital on Wednesday in the town of al-Bab, 30 kilometers northeast of Aleppo city, the opposition Aleppo Media Centre said on Thursday.

Video footage posted on YouTube showed the limp body of a young child being carried out of the hospital by a man. Another boy lies on the floor, blood on his head and dust covering his body.

In the video, dust fills the air. Rubble and smashed up air conditioning units lie on the floor.

The Aleppo Media Centre said that the emergency and radiology departments were destroyed in the attack.

Syrian jets have bombed civilian schools, hospitals and bakeries - illegitimate targets under the laws of war - during the two-and-a-half--year conflict which started with pro-democracy protests against four decades of Assad family rule.

More than 100,000 people have been killed and divided world powers have been unable to halt the violence.

The government has not commented on the strike but state news agency SANA said on Thursday that the army had killed 14 “terrorists” - a term it uses for rebels - north of al-Bab in an operation on a militant convoy.

Iraq officials say bombings kill at least 14.

Iraq officials say bombings kill at least 14.

Officials say separate attacks in Iraq have killed at least 14
civilians and wounded dozens. (File photo: Reuters)

Baghdad | 11 Sep 2013 :: Officials say separate attacks in Iraq have killed at least 14 civilians and wounded dozens.

Police say the deadliest of Tuesday’s attacks took place near the eastern city of Baqouba, where three car bombs targeted outdoor markets, killing at least 10 civilians and wounding 34. Baqouba, a former al-Qaeda stronghold, is 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad.

In the town of Latifiyah, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad, a bomb hidden inside a coffee shop killed four and wounded 14.

Three medical officials confirmed the figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Violence in Iraq has intensified since April to levels not seen since 2008. More than 4,000 people have been killed over the past five months.(Courtesy:Al Arabiya)

U.S. Drone Strike Kills 6 in Pakistan, Fueling Anger.

U.S. Drone Strike Kills 6 in Pakistan, Fueling Anger.

US drones have fired missiles into inaccessible border
 areas such as North Waziristan since 2004 [Reuters]

ISLAMABAD | Pakistan | 06 Sep 2013 :: At least six people were killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal areas early Friday, according to government officials and local news reports.

The strike was directed at a house in the Ghulam Khan area of the North Waziristan tribal region, close to the border with Afghanistan.

A senior Haqqani network commander was killed, a security official said. The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that the ranking Haqqani official in the region, Sangin Zadran, had been killed. “He was the most influential commander in the area,” the official said. “The Americans had been after him for a long time.”

North Waziristan has long been a haven for Taliban and Qaeda militants.

American drone strikes are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, and opposition to them has become an essential staple of local politics and grievances against the United States. Pakistani politicians and government officials condemn the missile strikes, which are directed by the Central Intelligence Agency, as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Opposition politicians like Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party, have campaigned against the strikes, saying that they result more in civilian casualties than militant killings. In October 2012, Mr. Khan led a big protest rally to the edges of the tribal regions against the use of drones on Pakistani soil.

The number of drone strikes has, however, dropped sharply in recent months. The last strike occurred on Aug. 31, when at least four suspected militants were killed in an attack in North Waziristan.(Courtesy:New york times)Read More>>>

Lebanon braces for US strike.

Lebanon braces for US strike.

A Syrian boy looks out from his tent at a temporary refugee
 camp in the eastern Lebanese town of Marj near the border
 with Syria on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013. The Lebanese are
 on the frontline of the latest west Asian crisis as the US laid
 the groundwork for a possible punitive strike.AP Photo

BEIRUT | 04 Sep 2013 :: Up in a small village on Mount Lebanon, an elderly man, Antoine, recounts the horrors of the Lebanese civil war (1975-90). “I had a machine gun. I had an M16 and a Kalashnikov,” he said calmly. “It was a dirty war. We don’t want that again” Not far, across a ridge, lies Syria. He reflects on what that war might bring to his small, coastal country. “We will not return to our civil war,” Antoine says. “We experienced it already. We saw that it is fruitless. We will not return to it.”

Scars of the Lebanese civil war dot the country, but monumentally so in Beirut. During the Battle of the Hotels in the early years of the war, the Christian Phalangists took control of the Holiday Inn in West Beirut to use as a base against the Lebanese National Movement. Today, the Holiday Inn stands as a sentinel of the destruction. At its base sit a force of armoured carriers of the Lebanese army. The floors above are rattled with bullet holes and missile craters. The Holiday Inn would be an artefact in the Museum of Futile Wars. A taxi driver from Idlib, Syria, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, weaves his old Renault past the Holiday Inn. He points frantically at the building and says, “Surya, Surya,” the Arabic for Syria. Previously he had described the devastation in his native city, from where he had fled two years ago. “We had to go,” he said. “Our building had become the frontline.”

The southern suburbs of Beirut, Dahieh, bristle with activity in preparation for more car bombs or even an aerial strike from Israel. Hezbollah, whose main Beirut base is in these neighbourhoods, is constantly on alert for some kind of attack. It is an organisation that is founded on the defence of this fragile country, whose sovereignty has been threatened since it came into existence as a modern state in 1943. Conversations in the area are often punctuated with fears about Israeli agents on the ground or Israeli drones flying overhead.(Courtesy:The Hindu)

Boko Haram kills 44 people in Nigeria.

Boko Haram kills 44 people in Nigeria.

Nigeria | 01 Sep 2013 :: At least 44 people were killed by Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram in North-eastern Nigeria, local security officials said late on Saturday.

The insurgents ambushed and killed 24 members of the civilian Joint Task Force in Monguno, a town in Borno State, on Friday.

The JTF has been set up to assist Nigeria’s military in the fight against the terrorist group.

An additional 36 JTF members were missing after the attack, according to local residents.

The insurgents then moved to the nearby towns of Damboa and Nganza, where they reportedly killed another 20 civilians.

Borno is one of three northern states that the government placed under emergency regulations in May to curb attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sinful”, has been active in the Muslim North of the West African country, regularly carrying out attacks aimed primarily at Christians.

Since 2009, about 1,500 people have been killed in the violence.(Courtesy:The Hindu)

Latest Egypt clashes kill 5 civilians, say Ministry.

Latest Egypt clashes kill 5 civilians, say 

Ministry.

Thousands of Mursi’s supporters had marched across the country
 on Friday denouncing the July 3 coup that overthrew the
 Islamist president. (File photo: Reuters)

Cairo | AFP | 31 Aug 2013 :: Five civilians died in clashes in Egypt on Friday when opponents and supporters of ousted President Mohammad Mursi clashed in several cities, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Three were killed in clashes in the Giza district in Cairo, one in the canal city of Port Said and one in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, the ministry said in a statement.

Thousands of Mursi’s supporters had marched across the country on Friday denouncing the July 3 coup that overthrew the Islamist president.

Separately, the interior ministry said two policemen were killed in militant attacks on Friday in North Sinai, where security forces have been battling a semi-insurgency since Mursi’s overthrow.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

Suicide bombing in park, attacks kill 32 in Iraq.

Suicide bombing in park, attacks kill 32 in Iraq.

BAGHDAD | AP | 24 Aug  2013  :: A suicide bomber attacked a park in northern Baghdad crowded by cafe- and restaurant-goers Friday night, the bloodiest attack in a day of violence that killed at least 32 people across the country, authorities said.

Attacks have been on the rise in Iraq since a deadly security crackdown in April on a Sunni protest camp. More than 3,000 people have been killed in violence during the past few months, raising fears Iraq could see a new round of widespread sectarian bloodshed similar to that which brought the country to the edge of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

The suicide bomber struck a park in the Qahira neighborhood of Baghdad late Friday night, an area popular with locals, police said. The bomber detonated his explosives in a crowd of people, killing at least 26 people and wounding 55.

Violence has stepped up in strikes on so-called soft targets in Iraq — like civilians at coffee shops or those shopping along busy commercial streets.

There was no claim of responsibility for Friday's suicide bombing. Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida's Iraq arm that seek to undermine the Shiite-led government are frequently blamed for attacks targeting civilians.

Elsewhere in the country, police said gunmen broke into a house of a Shiite merchant at dawn Friday in the northern town of Dujail, killing him, his wife and elderly mother. Authorities said the motive behind the killing wasn't immediately unclear.

Dujail, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, is a Shiite Muslim town surrounded by Sunni areas.

Meanwhile, two police officers said bombs exploded near Sunni mosques in two neighborhoods in Baghdad as worshippers were leaving after Friday's sermon, killing three people and wounding 18.

Police officers and medical officials confirmed the casualty figures from the attacks Friday. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information to journalists.(Courtesy:USA TODAY)

17 Afghan civilians killed in roadside bomb: officials.

17 Afghan civilians killed in roadside bomb: officials.

Kabul | AFP | 09 Jul 2013 :: A Taliban bomb in western Afghanistan on Tuesday killed 12 women, four children and one man travelling in a three-wheel minivan, officials said, adding that at least seven other passengers were wounded.

Unfortunately as a result of this blast ,12 women ,four children and one man have been killed and five children, one man and one woman have been wounded," Herat province police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said.

    

Sher Agha, the police chief of Herat's Obe district, said that the three-wheel vehicle struck a roadside mine planted by the Taliban as it travelled from Obe district centre to a nearby village.

    

Also on Tuesday, an Afghan soldier shot dead a Slovakian soldier, officials said, in the latest "insider attack" to shake efforts by the NATO coalition and the Afghan army to work together to defeat the Taliban insurgency.

    

The shooting occurred outside Kandahar airfield, one of the biggest military bases in southern Afghanistan and a hotbed of the 12-year conflict with the Islamist rebels, a senior Afghan officer said.

    

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that a "service member died when an individual wearing an Afghan National Security Force uniform fired his weapon at ISAF individuals".

    In line with NATO policy, the statement said the coalition would defer casualty identification procedures to the victim's national authorities.

Western officials in Kabul confirmed that the victim was Slovakian.(Courtsy:Hindustan Times)