Violence, bombings kill dozens in Iraq

BAGHDAD, March 6 (UPI) -- At least 17 people, including five police officers, died and 43 were wounded in bombing and other attacks across Iraq, security officials said.

In Kirkuk, two car bombs detonated, killing five police officers and wounding 17 civilians and police, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

A car bomb detonated near a sports complex in Bani Saad, a town west of the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba, killing three people and wounding 20 others, a provincial police official said.

Police also reported nine people died and six others were wounded in several attacks in central and northern areas of the country Tuesday, Xinhua said.

Tariq Harrosh, a leader of a government-backed Awakening Council group, was killed by gunmen riding a motorcycle in front of his house in a western suburb of Baghdad, police said.

Officials also said gunmen broke into the house of an Awakenings leader in al-Siniyah, killing his mother and father. The leader was critically injured.

Two people were killed and a third was injured when two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the trio in a village near Tuz-Khurmato, east of Tikrit, a provincial police official said said.

In Baghdad, gunmen attacked a real estate office, killing two people and wounding another, an Interior Ministry official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Two civilians were shot and killed in separate attacks in the al-Saidiyah district in southern Baghdad, the official said.

Meanwhile, a convoy that included the mayor of al-Qayyara, a town south of Mosul, was attacked while on the main road south of the town, authorities said. The mayor and two of his bodyguards were seriously wounded.

Comments

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

Search This Blog