Militants unleashed attacks in a northeastern Iraq city that left four people wounded, officials said yesterday, as the country hosted US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Gunmen opened fire late on Monday on a police patrol in the city of Kirkuk, injuring two security service members, police Brigadier Sarhat Kadier said.
Attackers also placed a bomb in the undercarriage of a doctor's car, but the device exploded as the physician entered a Kirkuk store to buy bread, sparing him but wounding two nearby civilians, Kadir said. It wasn't known why attackers targeted the doctor.
Kirkuk is 290km north of Baghdad -- where Rumsfeld arrived before dawn yesterday for his second visit in three months.
The visit by Rumsfeld, who helped design the US-led March 2003 invasion and troubled occupation since, reflected a desire to push the political and military momentum that he believes has been growing since the Jan. 30 elections for a national assembly.
Rumsfeld was expected to meet later yesterday with interim President Jalal Talabani, a former Kurdish rebel leader, and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite Muslim.
En route from Washington, Rumsfeld told reporters he would press the new Iraqi leadership to avoid delays on either the political or security front at a time when US troops are still being killed or wounded and billions of US taxpayer dollars are being invested in rebuilding the country.
"It's important that the new government be attentive to the competence of the people in the ministries and that they avoid unnecessary turbulence," Rumsfeld said.
Some in the administration of US President George W. Bush are concerned that factional maneuvering during the formation of the transitional government could undermine the counterinsurgency effort that is a key to eventually pulling US troops out of Iraq.
"Anything that would delay that or disrupt that as a result of turbulence or incompetence or corruption in government would be unfortunate," Rumsfeld said.
Late Monday, the US embassy in Iraq announced the kidnapping of a US citizen.
A spokesman said the US contractor, who was working on a reconstruction project, had been abducted around noon Monday. The spokesman didn't release the contractor's identity or other details, but said the abductee's family had been informed.
In a small victory against a spate of kidnappings targeting Iraqis and foreigners, a Defense Ministry official said on Monday that Iraqi security forces arrested a man who claimed responsibility for last year's kidnapping of two French journalists.
The hostages, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, were released last December after four months in captivity.
Iraqi soldiers captured Amer Hussein Sheikhan in the Mahmoudiya area on April 4, the official said, without further details.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS