Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Car Bomb Targets Iraqi Justice Minister
A suicide bomber has attacked a convoy carrying the Iraqi justice minister in Baghdad, killing four of his security guards.
The Minister, Malik Dohan al-Hassan, was uninjured.
The blast rocked an intersection in central Baghdad, just 500m from the minister's home, and a plume of smoke was seen rising over the city.
The bomb struck the tail-end of his convoy of cars as he was leaving home, setting off secondary fires.
"A car was parking on the opposite direction of the road, when the driver saw us and exploded himself," Loae Hassan, one of the minister's bodyguards, told the Associated Press.
A militant group linked to top al-Qaeda suspect Abu Musab al- Zarqawi - Tawhid and Jihad - said it had carried out the attack against "the justice minister of the apostate government".
Wave of attacks
Insurgents have repeatedly targeted top Iraqi officials and US-led coalition forces in a wave of car bombings and suicide attacks.
A US soldier was killed and another wounded on Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded near Baiji, 180km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the US Army said.
And in Mahmudiyah, 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, two people were reported killed when a car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi National Guard headquarters.
Another 25 people were reported injured, as prospective recruits waited to enter the building at 0745 (0345GMT).
The blasts came on the 36th anniversary of the coup that brought Saddam Hussein's Baath party to power in Iraq.
On Wednesday at least 10 people were killed and about 40 injured in a car bomb explosion in Baghdad - the first major attack in the capital since the handover of sovereignty at the end of June.
Hours later the governor of Mosul, Usama Kashmula, was killed when his convoy was ambushed, in an attack claimed by a group linked to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has vowed to crush the insurgents behind the attacks.
On Thursday he announced plans for a new intelligence unit to "annihilate those terrorist groups".
In a bid to contain the spiralling violence Iraq has introduced tough new laws allowing the government to impose martial law in certain areas, declare curfews, set up checkpoints and detain suspects.
The violence threatens to trigger an Iraqi brain-drain, according to Ismael Zayer, editor in chief of al-Sabah al-Jadid, a Baghdad-based newspaper.
He told the BBC's World Tonight programme that doctors, professors and economists had begun to lose confidence in Iraqi society because of the insecurity and many had already decided to emigrate to the Gulf states and Jordan.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3902465.stm
The blast rocked an intersection in central Baghdad, just 500m from the minister's home, and a plume of smoke was seen rising over the city.
The bomb struck the tail-end of his convoy of cars as he was leaving home, setting off secondary fires.
"A car was parking on the opposite direction of the road, when the driver saw us and exploded himself," Loae Hassan, one of the minister's bodyguards, told the Associated Press.
A militant group linked to top al-Qaeda suspect Abu Musab al- Zarqawi - Tawhid and Jihad - said it had carried out the attack against "the justice minister of the apostate government".
Wave of attacks
Insurgents have repeatedly targeted top Iraqi officials and US-led coalition forces in a wave of car bombings and suicide attacks.
A US soldier was killed and another wounded on Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded near Baiji, 180km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the US Army said.
And in Mahmudiyah, 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, two people were reported killed when a car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi National Guard headquarters.
Another 25 people were reported injured, as prospective recruits waited to enter the building at 0745 (0345GMT).
The blasts came on the 36th anniversary of the coup that brought Saddam Hussein's Baath party to power in Iraq.
On Wednesday at least 10 people were killed and about 40 injured in a car bomb explosion in Baghdad - the first major attack in the capital since the handover of sovereignty at the end of June.
Hours later the governor of Mosul, Usama Kashmula, was killed when his convoy was ambushed, in an attack claimed by a group linked to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has vowed to crush the insurgents behind the attacks.
On Thursday he announced plans for a new intelligence unit to "annihilate those terrorist groups".
In a bid to contain the spiralling violence Iraq has introduced tough new laws allowing the government to impose martial law in certain areas, declare curfews, set up checkpoints and detain suspects.
The violence threatens to trigger an Iraqi brain-drain, according to Ismael Zayer, editor in chief of al-Sabah al-Jadid, a Baghdad-based newspaper.
He told the BBC's World Tonight programme that doctors, professors and economists had begun to lose confidence in Iraqi society because of the insecurity and many had already decided to emigrate to the Gulf states and Jordan.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3902465.stm
Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$135.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network