Iraqi troops foiled an attempted car bombing yesterday outside their headquarters in a city northeast of Baghdad after security forces opened fire on a man who threatened to blow up his vehicle, according to local officials.
Meanwhile, a Lebanese foreign ministry official said that Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, a 24-year old US Marine of Lebanese heritage, was believed to have been killed by insurgents in Iraq.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday, said the ministry received a call from Lebanon's chief of mission in Baghdad saying Hassoun had been killed.
"He [the diplomat] is trying to confirm the killing 100 percent, but it seems to be over. He is now trying to learn where his body is. He believes it is in Fallujah," the official said. "We understand that he was slaughtered. God help him."
The killing was first claimed by an Iraqi militant group -- the Army of Ansar al-Sunna -- in an Islamic Web site positing on Saturday. The US military in Baghdad said it was checking into the report of Hassoun's death but had no confirmation.
However, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna issued a statement on its Web site yesterday denying reports that it had killed the Marine.
"This statement that claimed to be from us has no basis in truth ... and we have an official Web site through which we publish statements," the group said, referring to a statement issued on two Islamist Web sites on Saturday in the name of Ansar which said the militant group had beheaded the Marine.
The posting on Saturday claimed Hassoun had been killed after he was lured into a trap involving a love affair with an Arab woman. That statement said video would be released later. It also said the group had taken another hostage but did not give details.
Hassoun's brother Sami said from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli that "we don't have any news."
Iraqi officials in the city of Baqubah said yesterday morning that a man driving a car rigged with explosives tried to attack the National Guard building there.
The attacker got out of the car and the Iraqi troops opened fire, killing the man and setting off the explosives in the car, according to police chief Waleed al-Azawi.
Hospital officials reported that two bystanders were killed in the explosion.
Another car bombing targeted a passing US convoy west of Baghdad around 8:30am causing no injuries, said Major Phil Smith of the 1st Cavalry Division.
In Baghdad, an explosion shook the home of an Education Ministry employee, in another attack targeting officials working with the interim government.
An Iraqi police official announced yesterday that US and Iraqi forces have detained six members of a militant group suspected of carrying out a string of assassinations in the north.
The men were reportedly members of Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish group believed linked to al-Qaeda, said Colonel Sarhat Qader of the Iraqi police.
Also see story:
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
RSS