A car bomb exploded in the holy Shiite city of Karbala yesterday, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 30, and insurgents also struck in Baghdad, shooting dead three Election Commission employees.
Shortly afterwards, a separate explosion struck a market in Najaf -- another Shiite religious city south of Karbala. The blast took place near the city's Imam Ali mosque, but there were no immediate reports of any dead or wounded.
PHOTO: AP
The main hospital said 30 people were killed and at least 65 wounded, but an official emphasized that it was a provisional toll and the numbers could rise. He said all appeared to be civilians and there were many women and children among them.
It was the second attack in five days in Karbala, home to two important Shiite shrines.
Election Workers
In Baghdad, insurgents dragged three employees of Iraq's Electoral Commission from a car and shot them dead, the latest in a series of attacks designed to disrupt plans for the poll.
A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said three junior employees had been killed in the assault but said it was unclear if they were targeted because they worked with the commission, which is charged with conducting next month's vote.
"We don't know if they were targeted specifically," spokesman and Commission board member Farid Ayar said.
Witnesses said insurgents opened fire on the vehicle before dragging three people from it and shooting them. The car was set on fire and the bodies left lying near the burning wreckage.
Guerrillas armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols then set up a roadblock on the street, stopping and searching every car that passed, pointing their guns in through the windows.
Fierce gunbattles ensued, witnesses said, as police tried for several hours to get to the scene of the attack. US military helicopters flew low over the area, which echoed with gunfire and small explosions, residents said.
Militants kidnapped and are threatening to kill 10 Iraqis employed by a US security company unless the firm pulls out of Iraq, a caller from the militants told Reuters. A tape broadcast by Arab satellite channels yesterday showed the hostages.
Saddam Trial
Meanwhile, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is preparing a legal challenge in the US to his trial for war crimes, a newspaper reported yesterday, citing leaked papers prepared by his defense team.
Clive Stafford Smith, a British human rights lawyer, has prepared a 50-page brief which contains advice to take the case to US courts to ensure he receives a fair trial, the Sunday Times reported after saying it had seen the document.
The action is to ensure that Saddam receives the basic legal rights given to those tried in the US, such as full access to his defense team and an independent judge and jury, the newspaper said.
It said the leaked brief is entitled "The Iraqi Special Tribunal as Victors' Justice -- the Inherent Illegality and Bias of the Whole Process."
The brief argues that US law should prevail in the case because the trial is effectively being taken at the behest of the US government.
On Saturday, Saddam's feared cousin "Chemical Ali" and a former defense minister were questioned by an investigating judge, launching the first phase in war crimes trials of leaders of the toppled Iraqi government.
The hearings are expected to eventually see the former strongman and 11 aides charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, officials said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS