Iraq

It is awfully suspicious that as soon as a firm date was set for new provincial elections in Iraq (October 1), the truce broke down between the paramilitary of Muqtada al-Sadr and that of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. This according to Nassar al-Rubaie, the leader of the Sadrist bloc in parliament. The Sadrists say that the […]

Two bombings shook Iraq Sunday morning. In the Misbah commercial center in the upscale Shiite Karrada district, a female suicide bomber detonated a belt bomb, killing 3 persons and wounding 10. Meanwhile, in Mosul a car bomb killed 3. Mosul is the site of a major push against foreign fighters styled ‘al-Qaeda’ (really mainly Salafi […]

AP reports that two suicide bombers attacked a Shiite mosque congregation in the northern Turkmen city of Tal Afar on Friday. The first was stopped and his belt bomb only killed him. But the second managed to detonate his belt in a crowd, killing four persons and wounding over 20. The scene of the attack […]

The Herald Sun reports via correspondents in Baghdad, ‘ A bomb planted in a minibus ripped through a market in Baghdad’s teeming Sadr City neighbourhood on Thursdya night (AEDT), killing five people and wounding 30. The bomb exploded about midday local time when the market in the mainly-Shi’ite neighbourhood was bustling with people. ‘ Al-Hayat […]

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic on the passage by the Iraqi parliament of three important laws. These included the annual budget, a general amnesty that will free thousands of mostly Sunni Arab prisoners in the teeming Iraqi security prisons, and finally a “law on the provinces.” The action came in the wake of threats by powerful […]

The Daily Star summarizes reports coming out of Iraq that the Speaker of the House is threatening to dissolve parliament. Iraq’s legislature has been deadlocked for months over the budget and also setting a date for badly needed provincial elections. It is likely a hollow threat, but the Iraqi constitution does state, “The Council of […]

Sunni Arab guerrillas deployed two massive car bombs in Baghdad to attack leaders of the Al-Anbar Awakening Council who were meeting in the city, killing at least 22 persons and wounding 42. McClatchy says that at least one major al-Anbar Awakening leader was among the dead, and that major figure Ali al-Hatem was wounded. Also […]

So first on Sunday, Sunni Arab guerrillas tried to overwhelm Iraqi security forces, Awakening Council members and US troops at two villages near Sinjar not far from the Syrian border. The pro-US forces fought them off, but 22 died in the encounter, some on each side. McClatchy describes the events thusly: ‘ A source in […]

5 US soldiers were killed by roadside bombs on Friday, 4 northwest of Baghdad and one in Kirkuk Province. Note that both these regions are Sunni Arab, and that it makes no sense that Shiite Iran gave explosively formed projectiles to Sunni Arab guerrillas in these areas, since they could also be deployed against Shiite […]