Baghdad: A series of bombs tore through crowds of Shi'ite pilgrims celebrating a major ritual across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 32 people, mostly women and children, and wounding scores more, local police and witnesses said. The attacks, at the height of Ashura, which commemorates the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein and defines Shi'ite Islam, underscored Iraq's fragile security as the last US troops withdraw from the...
01:23 AM, Dec 06, 2011
Riyadh: Iraq is seeking a joint defence agreement for airspace with Gulf countries as it moves to secure its air borders after the departure of US forces from the country this month, a senior official said on Sunday. Naseer al-Ani, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's chief of staff, told a conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh that Iraq lacked the resources to secure its own air space. "In terms of the...
02:24 AM, Dec 05, 2011
Baghdad: Weeks before the US pullout, Iraq's prime minister confidently predicted on Saturday that his country will achieve stability and remain independent of its giant neighbor Iran even without an American troop presence. Nouri al-Maliki also warned of civil war in Iran's ally Syria if Bashar Assad falls - a view that puts him closer to Tehran's position and at odds with Washington. The foreign policy pronouncement indicates that Iraq...
04:34 AM, Dec 04, 2011
Baghdad: A suicide bomber attacked a military base in the Iraqi town of Taji on Monday, killing at least 19 people, in the latest assault by insurgents trying to undermine the government. In central Baghdad an explosion in a car park at Iraq's parliament killed at least one person and wounded several others, including a politician, security officials said. The Taji bombing was the third major attack in the last...
12:56 AM, Nov 29, 2011
Baghdad: A string of explosions hit a Baghdad market and the capital's western outskirts on Saturday, killing at least 15 people and exposing the challenges still facing Iraqi security forces just over a month before all American troops leave the country. The bombings mark the second major attack against Iraqi civilians this week and come as American forces are packing up to leave and handing over their remaining security responsibilities...
01:33 AM, Nov 27, 2011
Iraq: Three bombs exploded in a busy market in Iraq's southern oil city of Basra on Thursday, killing at least 19 people and wounding 65. Basra, 420 km (240 miles) southeast of Baghdad, is the largest city in the mainly Shi'ite south and the heart of Iraq's oil industry. It hosts a major conference for international oil executives and industry officials starting on Friday. The first bomb was hidden in...
03:39 AM, Nov 25, 2011
Baghdad: The top American general in Iraq said on Monday that al-Qaida and other insurgent groups might seek to step up operations after US forces leave at the end of the year. General Lloyd Austin also told in Baghdad that while he expected "turbulence," he did not see the situation completely disintegrating. He noted that security did not collapse after US forces pulled out of Iraqi cities in 2009. "As...
02:33 AM, Nov 22, 2011
Baghdad: Three bomb blasts rocked a busy market in Iraq's capital on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding 26 others, police and hospital sources said. The blasts occurred in Shurja, an important commercial district in central Baghdad, on the first day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. "I can see fire and black smoke mounting and a large number of fire engines, ambulances and police patrols rushing...
06:11 PM, Nov 06, 2011
Washington: US Republican presidential candidates showed on Sunday how they plan to attack President Barack Obama's credentials as commander in chief by criticizing his actions on Iraq and Libya. Republicans seeking their party's nomination are trying to distinguish themselves from each other and show they can take on the Democratic president in the November 2012 election. Herman Cain, a former pizza executive running first in some opinion polls, and Michele...
01:24 AM, Oct 31, 2011
Tehran: Iran's supreme leader on Sunday hailed the coming withdrawal of US troops from neighbouring Iraq as a "golden" victory. US President Barack Obama plans to withdraw his 40,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year after negotiations on keeping some forces there failed, a move some US politicians say could give Tehran more room to assert its influence. "The uniform stance of all tribes and religions in...
12:18 AM, Oct 31, 2011
Baghdad: Two bombs exploded in northeastern Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 18 people and wounding 37, police and hospital sources said. The first bomb targeted a police patrol in the Iraqi capital's Ur district and the second exploded when emergency services were evacuating the wounded, the sources said. In recent days militants have carried out a campaign against Baghdad's police force, many of the attacks have been aimed at...
11:48 PM, Oct 27, 2011
Washington: America's long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year's end and all US troops ""will definitely be home for the holidays," US President Barack Obama declared on Friday. Stretching more than eight years, the war cost the United States heavily: More than 4,400 members of the military have been killed, and more than 32,000 have been wounded. The final exit date was sealed after months...
07:59 AM, Oct 22, 2011
Washington: President Barack Obama said on Friday the United States will fulfill its pledge to pull troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. "As promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," Obama told reporters. He spoke after a video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki...
12:29 AM, Oct 22, 2011
Pakistan Army Chief General Kayani warned US and said Pakistan is a nuclear power and cannot be compared to Iraq and Afghanistan. ...
02:01 PM, Oct 19, 2011
Baghdad: A bomb blast near a Baghdad liquor store on Monday evening killed seven people and injured another 18, Iraqi medical and police officials said. Three of the dead and five of the injured were police officers, the officials said. The information came from police in eastern Baghdad and the hospital where the dead and injured were taken. It was not immediately clear whether the liquor store was the target...
03:29 AM, Oct 18, 2011
Baghdad: Two explosions in a Shiite neighbourhood of eastern Baghdad killed 17 people and wounded around 50 others, Iraqi officials said. The blasts in the Sadr City neighbourhood on Thursday night, coming a day after attacks across the capital killed 25 people, served as a reminder of the lengths to which Sunni militants are trying to go in order to re-ignite sectarian tensions as American forces prepare to go home....
03:57 AM, Oct 14, 2011
Baghdad: Two suicide car bombers and a car bomb hit police in separate districts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and wounding around 60, interior ministry and police sources said. One bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into a police station in central Alwiya district, killing 6 people including four policemen, and another bomber blew up his car outside a police building in northwestern Hurriya...
01:03 PM, Oct 12, 2011
Baghdad: A string of explosions targeting security officials and people who rushed to the scene to help the injured - killed at least 10 people in western Baghdad on Monday evening, officials said. The first explosion came from a roadside bomb in a Shiite neighborhood, targeting an Iraqi army patrol, a police official said. Minutes later, a second bomb exploded nearby, targeting a passing police patrol. As firefighters arrived on...
02:01 AM, Oct 11, 2011
Washington: The United States has put the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq on a terrorism blacklist and is offering a $ 10 million reward for information on his whereabouts. The State Department said on Tuesday it has added Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, also known as Abu Du'a, to its list of specially designated terrorists. The move freezes any assets he may have in US jurisdictions and bars Americans...
03:19 AM, Oct 05, 2011
Srinagar: Apparently irked over the British Parliament's move to discuss alleged rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said some of the western countries were indulging in grave violations in Iraq, Afghanistan. "Do not lecture us on human rights... We know how you exported people from Iraq and Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay and what kind of treatment was meted to them there," Omar said in...
07:46 AM, Sep 28, 2011
