Hundreds of US and Iraqi forces yesterday launched their biggest Baghdad raid in recent weeks, moving on foot through a central neighborhood and rounding up dozens of suspected insurgents, the military said.
About 500 members of Iraq's police and army swept through buildings in the Rashid neighborhood along with a "couple hundred" US soldiers, detaining 65 suspected militants, Lieutenant Colonel Clifford Kent of the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division said.
One Iraqi soldier suffered in-juries but no US casualties were reported in the largest joint US-Iraqi raid in Iraq's capital since the Fort Stewart, Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division assumed responsibility for the city on Feb. 27, Kent said.
One suspected insurgent was also being treated for wounds, the military said in a statement.
In the western town of Qaim, witnesses said insurgents hit the main gates of a US military base with twin suicide car bombs early yesterday.
At least three civilians were injured, said Ammar Fuad, a doctor at the hospital where they were taken. US military officials had no immediate comment.
In Baqouba, 60km northeast of Baghdad, demonstrators chanted anti-US slogans, continuing three days of protests against US forces. Tens of thousands gathered on Saturday in Baghdad to call for US-led troops to leave, and more demonstrations were held on Sunday.
A Defense Ministry official said yesterday that Iraqi security forces have arrested a person claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two French journalists abducted and later released in Iraq. Iraqi army soldiers detained Amer Hussein Sheikhan in the Mahmoudiya area on April 4, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. No further details were available.
Journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were released in December after four months in captivity.
A group claiming to have kidnapped a Pakistani diplomat in Iraq has demanded money for his release, a senior Pakistani government official said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Malik Mohammed Javed, a deputy counselor at the Pakistani mission in Baghdad, went missing late Saturday after leaving home for prayers at a nearby mosque.
Pakistan, a key US ally in the war against terrorism, has refused to deploy peacekeepers and has urged its citizens to avoid coming here.
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US accused of seizing Iraqi women hostages
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
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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.
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