Scores killed in Syria ‘barrel’ bombings
At least 57 are killed in two-day assault by Syrian army helicopters on the northern rebel-held town of al-Bab.
Last updated: 01 Dec 2013 18:35
Scores of people have been killed in a two-day assault by the Syrian army on a northern rebel-held town near the city of Aleppo.
Helicopters bombarded al-Bab on Sunday, killing at least 30 people including four women when they dropped improvised ‘barrel bombs’ on a market district, sources in the town told Al Jazeera.
Activists said that the death toll could rise because many people were severely wounded in the raid.
The attack came a day after 27 people were reported killed in a similar attack on the same town by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
A barrel bomb – explosives-filled cylinders or oil barrels – was rolled out of the back off a helicopter and exploded in a residential area, a video uploaded to youtube on Sunday appeared to show.
Suicide bomber targets Iraq funeral
At least 10 people have been killed in northern Iraq after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral. The violence follows one of the deadliest months in Iraq this year.
The bombing happened on Sunday in Muqdadya, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the capital Baghdad, during a funeral for the son of a prominent anti-al Qaeda Sunni tribal sheikh, killed a day earlier by unknown gunman. At least 25 people were injured and hospitalized (pictured above).
“As we were heading to the grave, a stranger ran towards the crowd and blew himself up,” said Firas Ahmed, a relative who suffered a leg wound.
“I was lucky because I was not at the front. The bodies of the killed and wounded people were everywhere,” Ahmed said.
Officials also said four more people were killed on Sunday in violence west of Baghdad.
The deaths come a day after the end of one of Iraq’s deadliest months this year. More than 6,000 people have been killed across the country this year, making it one of the most violent since 2006-07, when Shiite and Sunni militiamen engaged in sectarian reprisal raids.
4 policemen killed, 17 injured in eastern Afghan car bombing
English.news.cn 2013-12-02 13:31:42
MAIDAN SHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) — Four Afghan police officers were killed and 17 policemen wounded early Monday morning in a suicide car bombing in eastern Wardak province, a provincial source said.
“A terrorist rammed an explosive-laden truck into the police station of the Nirkh district at around 6:00 a.m. local time. As a result, four police officers were martyred and 17 others wounded,” provincial government spokesman Attahullah Khogyani told Xinhua.
The injured were shifted to a provincial capital hospital and to a main military hospital in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, he said, adding four of the wounded remained in critical condition.
The blast also destroyed the police station building and damaged several other houses and shops nearby in the province, with Maidan Shar as its capital, 35 km west of Kabul, the official noted.
120 Salafis killed in Yemen: Report
A Yemeni newspaper has reported that over 120 Salafis have been killed in the latest round of clashes between Salafi militants and Houthi fighters in the northern province of Sa’ada.
Yemen’s state-run newspaper al-Thawra quoted a Yemeni government official as saying on Sunday that the death toll among Salafis in the town of Damaj had risen to more than 120, with dozens injured.
Amin al-Hemyari, who heads the government observers monitoring a November ceasefire between the two sides of the conflict, added that no casualty figures were available for the Houthis.
The Yemeni daily also quoted Yehia Abuesbaa, the head of a presidential committee charged with ending the fighting, as saying that Houthi fighters on Saturday seized two government soldiers monitoring the truce on charges of delivering guns and ammunition to the Salafis.
“Shooting with light weapons has not stopped throughout the past few days,” Abuesbaa said.
More here. (Iranian agitprop Press TV)
Death toll rises in north Lebanon clashes
A sniper has killed three men in Tripoli, bringing to nine the number killed in 24 hours of sectarian fighting.
Last updated: 01 Dec 2013 18:14
A sniper has killed three men in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, bringing to nine the number of dead in 24 hours of sectarian clashes linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
A security source said two of those killed on Sunday were in a truck when they were shot dead, while a third was an off-duty soldier.
Their deaths came after a day of fierce clashes that lasted into the night, leaving six dead. In two days, 43 people including 10 army soldiers were wounded in clashes that included the use of rocket-propelled grenades.
The fighting pits residents of the city’s Alawite Jabal Mohsen district against Sunni residents of the neighbouring Bab el-Tebbaneh.
