36 killed, 53 wounded in violent attacks across Iraq
English.news.cn 2014-04-16 22:47:12
BAGHDAD, April 16 (Xinhua) — Thirty-six people were killed and 53 others wounded in separate attacks across Iraq on Wednesday, police and medical source said.
In Anbar province, two suicide bombers blew up their explosive- laden cars into two checkpoints at the entrance of a compound including Anbar Operations Command in the northern part of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The blasts killed five soldiers and three policemen, and wounded seven others, the source said.
In a separate incident, gunmen attacked a joint checkpoint of policemen and members of a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group in al-Houze district in central Ramadi, causing three policemen killed and two policemen and four Sahwa members wounded, the source said.
Three Lebanese TV staff killed in Syria
Three members of a Lebanese television news crew were shot dead in the Syrian town of Al-Maaloula, 60 km south of Damascus, on Monday (14 April).
They were reporter Hajj Hassan, cameraman Mohammed Mantash and technician Halim Allaw, who worked for Al-Manar, a TV station owned byLebanon’s Hezbollah.
The broadcaster said the vehicles used by its employees clearly display “Press” signs. It is believed the three were killed by rebels after the town was retaken by government forces backed by Hezbollah.
Australian and New Zealander killed in drone attacks in Yemen
Both men had links to terrorism, says NZ prime minister, as deaths in November strikes are revealed
Wednesday 16 April 2014 04.29 BST
An Australian and a New Zealander with links to terrorism were killed in November during a drone strike in Yemen, the New Zealand prime minister said on Wednesday.
John Key said he believed the New Zealander had attended a terrorist training camp. He said that among those killed in the strike were three known al-Qaida operatives.
Key said the New Zealand man was being watched by intelligence agencies and that he had been informed last year that the man had travelled to Yemen. He said he was told in late 2013 that it was highly likely the man had been killed in the drone strike, but that it took some time for DNA results to confirm that.
Officials from both Australia and New Zealand said the New Zealand man had dual citizenship in both countries. Key said he was born in New Zealand.
Australian officials released a statement about both men.
“We understand the men were killed during a counter-terrorism operation and do not intend to discuss its details,” the department of foreign affairs said in a statement. “There was no Australian involvement in, or prior awareness of, the operation.”
Female Afghan lawmaker shot in leg during assassination attempt in Kabul
The Afghan government claimed the cop responsible for the attack had a personal dispute with victim Maryam Koofi. But Koofi’s sister Fawzia Koofi says the assassination attempt was a politically-motivated attack on women’s rights.
SHAH MARAI/AFP/GETTY IMAGESThis is the second attack against a high-profile lawmaker in Kabul, Afghanistan.KABUL, Afghanistan — A female Afghan lawmaker was wounded in a shooting that her sister called a political attack, but which the government on Wednesday described as resulting from an undetermined personal dispute with a police officer.
Maryam Koofi was recovering in a Kabul hospital from after being shot twice in the leg the previous night as she left her office. Her bodyguard was more seriously wounded with shots to his head and leg.
It was the second attack in a day on a high-profile figure in the capital. On Tuesday morning, Afghanistan’s deputy public works minister was abducted from his car on his way to work.
Ethiopia: Benishangul Region Rebel Group kill nine in Bus Attack
Khartoum (HAN) April 15, 2014 – The bus ambush on Tuesday evening — near the $4 billion-Grand Renaissance Dam — was the second attack on public transportation in the Benishangul Gumuz region in five months.
Four people were killed by a bomb on a minibus in November. Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, Benishangul-Gumuz. Ethiopia embarked upon the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam in April 2011.
‘‘The bus was targeted while travelling 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of (regional capital) Assosa,’’ a report on state-owned Ethiopian Television said.
20 more killed in Nigeria as militants attack again
Suspected Islamic militants have struck for a fourth time in three days in Nigeria, killing 20 people including a traditional ruler in attacks in the northeast, local government and security officials said Wednesday.
STRINGER / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Nigerian workers clean the site of a bomb blast in Abuja on Tuesday after an explosion ripped through a packed bus station Monday killing at least 72 people. Extremist violence continues to rock the country; another 20 people were killed in attacks Wednesday.
ABUJA, NIGERIA—Suspected Islamic militants have struck for a fourth time in three days in Nigeria, killing 20 people including a traditional ruler in attacks in the northeast, local government and security officials said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the military said all but eight of more than 100 teenage students kidnapped on Tuesday are free.
The unprecedented string of attacks, which started with a massive explosion in the capital that killed at least 75 people, has many questioning the ability of Nigeria’s military to contain the five-year-old Islamic uprising. It has killed more than 1,500 people this year alone, compared to an estimated 3,600 between 2010 and 2013.
Somalia: The pair shot dead were Members with the UN Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Nairobi (HAN) April 8, 2014 – Two European consultants have been shot dead on arrival at an airport in Galkayo of Puntland, central Somalia, officials said. A UN source confirmed the pair were international staff members with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
“The two were a Frenchman and a Briton and they were supposedly staying in Galkayo for two days before heading to Garowe,” said Abdirisak Mohamed Dirir, general director of Puntland’s anti-piracy department.
The two men had flown into Galkayo to meet Somali officials on the issue of regulating the money transfer services that replace a formal banking system in Somalia, and were looking at the financial flow of money related to Somalia’s pirate attacks, according to reports.
The executive director of UNODC, Yury Fedotov, said: “I condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing of two of my colleagues in a cruel and senseless attack. I hope the relevant authorities in Somalia will undertake every effort to ensure that their killers are swiftly apprehended and brought to justice. “I would also like to offer my most profound condolences to the family, loved ones, friends and colleagues of these two individuals, who were so committed and dedicated to UNODC’s work.”
Gunmen kidnap Jordan’s ambassador to Libya
Masked gunmen have kidnapped Jordan’s ambassador to Libya. The perpetrators have demanded the release of a Libyan Islamist militant from prison in Jordan.
Libyan authorities scrambled on Tuesday to identify the armed assailants behind the kidnapping of Jordan’s ambassador, the latest in a string of attacks against foreign diplomats in the lawless North African nation.
“We’re trying to understand what the group’s conditions are..,” said Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz. “We have not yet received a formal demand.”
Ambassador Fawaz al-Itan was on his way to work in Tripoli on Tuesday morning, when his car was intercepted by masked gunmen. The assailants shot and wounded the Moroccan driver and abducted the ambassador.
The gunmen reportedly left a message on the ambassador’s cell phone, which was left behind in his car, in which they demanded the release of Mohamed Dersi. A Libyan Islamist militant, Dersi was sentenced to life in prison for a 2007 plot to blow up Jordan’s main airport.
Dangerous precedent
