Violence and atrocities : baghdad

Showing posts with label baghdad. Show all posts

Monday, October 27, 2014

At least 38 killed in car bombings in Iraq

At least 38 persons are believed to have been killed in two car bombings in Iraq foxnews.com– in one of the attacks, a suicide attacker drove a Humvee into a checkpoint that was manned by Iraqi troops and pro-government Shiite militiamen.

The attacks, apparently engineered by Islamic State militants, took place on the outskirts of the Sunni town of Jurf al-Skhar. Here, the suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden Humvee into the checkpoint and killed at least 24 people and wounded another 25. Most of the dead were reported to be members of the Shiite militia.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the location of Jurf al-Sakhar is 30 miles south of Baghdad and the bombing bore all the hallmarks of an attack by the Islamic State group.
This could be true because the Islamic State group militants, who had captured it in July last, lost control of the town when Iraqi soldiers and the Shiite militia retook it from the Sunni extremist group.
Incidentally, Jurf al-Sakhar is part of a predominantly Sunni ribbon of territory that runs just south of Baghdad and lies on a road usually taken by Shite pilgrims to the holy Shiite city of Karbala further south. Pilgrims would be following the route next week to commemorate the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein -- one of the most revered Shiite martyrs.

Moreover, on Monday night, a car bomb blast near a line of shops and restaurants in downtown Baghdad killed 14 people and wounded 23.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Triple car bombing kills at least 28 Peshmerga veterans

Triple car bombing by IS militants have killed 28 Peshmerga veterans and injured another 90 – the veterans were on their way to re-enlist in the fight against Islamic State militants news.sky.com.

As per reports, the attack took place in a government compound in Qara Qubah – the dead included both civilians and soldiers. The actual casualty numbers is still not known because many others are still trapped in the debris.
Islamic State fighters have apparently claimed responsibility for the attacks – in Twitter they have indicated that three of the bombers were non-Iraqis who had been sent from Germany, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The attack was timed to coincide with the beginning of training that the British Army planned to impart to Kurdish forces on how to use heavy machine guns against the IS.

The attack on the Peshmerga fighters came after a bloody day of violence in Baghdad in which over 45 people were killed in a series of bombings that rocked Iraq's capital city. Three bombs were detonated in busy shopping areas - the first of these killed eight people outside an ice cream shop. And then just meters down the road in the neighborhood of Shaoula, another car blast killed 18 people.
Moreover, in countryside north of the city, a bomber wearing a suicide vest left 11 others fatally wounded.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Mi-35 helicopter shot down by IS militants in Iraq – pilot and co-pilot dead

IS militants have shot down a Mi-35 helicopter of the Iraqi military between the towns of Beiji and al Senniyah in northern Iraq killing both the pilot and the co-pilot news.sky.com. Beiji, incidentally, which is located 130 miles north of Baghdad and is home to Iraq's biggest oil refinery.
The Islamic State extremist group had used a rocket launcher to shoot down the helicopter.
This shooting is seen by observers as a challenge to the air strikes because it reveals the ability of the insurgents to hit back against air operations by Iraqi authorities and the US-led coalition.
It seems the IS jihadists have taken control of large parts of western and northern Iraq in recent months once the government forces melted away in the onslaught and left behind US-made military equipment including tanks.
Incidentally, the IS have seized a number of refineries in Iraq and Syria which helps increase their revenues. The air strikes carried out by the US and its coalition, including Arab and European allies, are aimed at destroying these oil wells and refineries in order to counter the militant threat.
The aerial raids include several by RAF Tornado fighter jets over Iraq in recent days and Canada is also set to join the military campaign as indicated by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Iraqi ground forces backed by air power arrest the advance of Islamic State militants

The advancing Islamic State (IS) militants in Amariya al-Falluja, 40-Km from Baghdad have been checked by Iraqi ground forces who, backed by air strikes, appear to have halted IS militants, who have been making gains towards the capital Baghdad bbc.com.
Amariya al-Falluja is believed to be a key strategic town and the attacks by Iraqi forces appear to have come as a US-led coalition continues to carry out air strikes on IS targets in Syria and Iraq.
The area around Amariya al-Falluja is now reported to be calm, but there is a standoff along the main road to Falluja to the north, which is controlled by IS.
The Pentagon has confirmed that US air strikes overnight had targeted other IS positions in Anbar province, 80-Km from Baghdad.
In Syria US war planes also struck four more oil fields controlled by IS militants near the group's stronghold in Raqqa. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the conflict in Syria, has revealed that casualties in US airstrikes were mostly civilians.
The air strikes in Syria appear to be focused on cutting off IS's revenue by targeting oil fields and, US President Barack Obama has indicated that a political solution to the crisis can come only when Sunni and Shia populations come together to defeat the IS jihadists.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warns that war with ISIS will not be easy or brief

As authorized by President Barack Obama, the US has taken the fight with ISIS extremists to its doorstep in Baghdad and, instead of being defensive till now, has turned offensive. US warplanes struck an Islamic State target southwest of Baghdad to show that the US has stepped up the offensive against the terrorist group news.sky.com.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has warned that the war would not be easy or brief. AS he has remarked - victory will come only when the mission of degrading, destroying and defeating ISIL is completed.
Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has indicated to the senators that the US was ready to strike the extremists in Syria and it will not be 'shock and awe' because that is not how ISIL is organized – rather, it will be persistent and sustainable.
Similar sentiments were echoed by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond who said the UK Government was doing all it could to save British hostage Alan Henning, and warned it would not be deterred from its goal of "crushing" the Islamic State fighters who were behind his abduction.
ISIS have threatened Britain that Alan Henning, an aid convoy volunteer, would be next to be killed after David Haines. Incidentally, while US Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to drum up support with Middle East and Gulf state allies to show a united front, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has revealed that he had rejected a request from the US to join the fight against IS because Washington's intentions were unclean.
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