News Headlines from Independent Iraqi News Agency Aswat al Iraq English Language Service:
Baghdad-Bombing: al-Tayaran Square:Baghdad, Dec 12, (VOI) – A suicide bomber blew himself up amidst a group of day laborers in central Baghdad killing 47 [Reuters are saying it is now 70 Dead and 236 wounded Erdla] and wounding 148 others, an Iraqi interior ministry source said on Tuesday.
 "The suicide bomber parked his vehicle at al-Tayaran Square, where laborers used to gather each morning waiting for jobs, and pretended to hire laborers," the source said, adding the assailant set off his explosives-rigged car as the laborers got into his vehicle, killing 47 and injuring 148."
TV images carried live by the official al-Iraqiya channel showed the destruction left by the explosion. The state-run channel quoted Maj. General Jihad al-Jabri, the director of the interior ministry's explosives department, as saying the powerful explosion and the magnitude of destruction left indicate that the explosives were no less than 120 kg."
Baghdad and other Iraqi cities had recently witnessed similar armed operations that targeted day laborers' hangouts as suicide bombers tried to cause as many civilian casualties as they could.
The bombing comes amidst a series of armed attacks in the capital Baghdad, which witnessed a serious unbridled security deterioration, an immense challenge to the government's efforts to curb killings, assassinations, kidnappings and forced displacement.
Baghdad-Bombing: al-Tayaran Square: Update 1: Death Toll Now 60:Baghdad, Dec 12, (VOI) – The death toll of a suicide car bomb attack that targeted day laborers on Tuesday morning reached 60 as the head of the Iraqi government vowed revenge against perpetrators.
A source from the Iraqi interior ministry said fatalities of a suicide attack that took place at al-Tayaran Square on Tuesday rose to 60 while the wounded climbed to 221.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday said “the organizations behind the deadly bombing want more blood of Iraqis and seek pushing the country towards the pit of a civil war.
"The bombing reveals that the armed groups behind it seek a murderous chaos, ignite sectarian sentiments and hurl the nation into a hellish sedition that would leave no one safe," Maliki said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Those who stand behind this operation are the "takfirists and their pro-Saddam allies," said Maliki, pledging to track down "criminals who committed it and bring them before justice to receive the punishment they deserve."
The premier's statement added that the attack was committed by two car bombs while the interior ministry stated that it was caused by only one car bomb driven by a suicide bomber.
The ministry had announced earlier that the explosion targeted a gathering of day laborers at the area of Tayaran Square in central Baghdad.
Baghdad and other Iraqi cities had witnessed recent similar armed operations that targeted day laborers' hangouts as suicide bombers tried to cause as many civilian casualties as they could.
The bombing comes amidst a series of armed attacks in the capital Baghdad, which witnessed a serious unbridled security deterioration, an immense challenge to the government's efforts to curb killings, assassinations, kidnappings and forced displacement.
Baghdad-Water :
Hurriya mosques warn of poisoned public water supply By Dergham Mohammed Ali
Baghdad, Dec 12, (VOI) – Mosques in the town of al-Hurriya warned citizens on Tuesday via loudspeakers against using drinking water because it is poisoned.
The mosques in Hurriya, a town west of the capital Baghdad, repeated the warnings at dawn on Tuesday and advised citizens not to drink water.
Dr. Sabir al-Issawi, the mayor of Baghdad, however, denied alleged poisoning of water, noting statements carried by the official al-Iraqiya TV channel that "drinking water plants are secured and these reports about poisoning are sheer malicious rumors."
Issawi said "there are no cases of poisoning in Baghdad caused by drinking water."
AP photographer killed in Mosul :Journalist-Killing AP photographer killed in Mosul By Ibrahim Zannun:
Mosul, Dec 12, (VOI) –The Iraqi police said on Tuesday an Associated Press photographer was shot dead outside his house in the northern Iraq’s city of Mosul.
“Gunmen shot and killed on Tuesday morning Aswan Ahmed al-Jaf, AP photographer, outside his house in al-Tameem district, east of Mosul,” a police source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Jaf’s death raises the number of the journalists who have been killed in Mosul up to 29 since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 according to Journalistic Freedoms Observatory count.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory is a non-governmental organization formed of Iraqi journalists to monitor the violations and aggressions against media workers in Iraq.
Senior Iraqi army officer killed in Basra:Basra-Assassination Senior Iraqi army officer killed in Basra By Muhannad al-Saadi
Basra, Dec 12, (VOI) – A staff officer in charge of training in the Iraqi army was killed by gunmen fire in northern Basra on Tuesday morning, according to an official source at the Iraqi armed forces. Full Story:
Top council forms commission to weigh Baker-Hamilton report :
Top council forms commission to weigh Baker-Hamilton report
Baghdad, Dec 12, (VOI) – Iraq's Political Council for National Security will set up a six-man commission to study the Baker-Hamilton report pertaining to the situation in war-torn Iraq.
A statement by the presidency office affirmed on Tuesday that the council met on Monday under President Jalal Talabani to discuss the report and decided to "form a sextet to mull over the report and forward a reading about it to the council." Full story:
Iraq seeks stopping sale of stolen Iraqi antiquities in Germany:
Baghdad, Dec 12, (VOI) – Iraq's tourism and antiquities ministry urged organizations concerned on Tuesday to intervene to stop the selling of what it called “stolen Iraqi antiquities in an auction in Munich, Germany.”
The ministry was tipped that the auction included two important pieces of antiquities stolen earlier from Iraq, the ministry advisor Bahaa al-Mayyah said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The pieces are a 22.7-cm-high headless limestone statue of a Sumerian man wearing a woolen shirt and dates back 2500 years BC, and an 11.7-cm-high intact Cuneiform clay slab with Sumerian inscriptions that dates back to the era of the Ur Dynasty King Shulagi (2097 BC-2095 BC). Full story:
Gunmen set ten houses on fire in southern Baghdad village :
Gunmen set ten houses on fire in southern Baghdad village: By Monther Mohammed Zahi
Baghdad, Dec 12, (VOI) - Unidentified gunmen set ten houses ablaze in a village near the southern Baghdad’s outskirt of al-Madain, a source in the Iraqi police said on Tuesday.
"Unknown armed men set ten houses ablaze in al-Ibousah village near al-Madain outskirt, after two days of evacuating their residents," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The source said “the incident occurred at dawn on Tuesday and the gunmen fled the scene before the arrival of the security forces there.”
This is the second incident of its kind in the area in as many days.
Mashhadani-Resistance:Mashhadani urges “resistance” to show face, adopt dialogue Baghdad, Dec 12, (VOI) – Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Tuesday called upon all sides of the “Iraqi resistance” to come forward and sit at the dialogue table to end the “historic impasse” Iraq is facing.
Mashhadani also denounced a suicide bombing that targeted a workers’ gathering in central Baghdad which left more than 60 people dead and more than 200 wounded.
“These actions do not liberate a country, save a sect or retrieve a right… they are a waste of blood and money,” he told Tuesday’s parliamentary session which he said would be consultative rather than regular for lack of quorum.
He described the deteriorating security situation in Iraq as “a true historic impasse”, and urged those behind the current scene in Iraq to halt and reveal their true face.
“The message you want us to hear is already heard. If you consider yourselves the alternative then show up, express yourselves and come forward,” Mashhadani said.
“If you were part of the Iraqis, then give us a chance to contact you. This whole issue could be solved very simply… if you want us to respect you as an honest resistance, declare your platform and come for a solution,” he added Full article: "Mashhadani-Resistance"
Alertnet Stories And Headlines:
Reuters AlertNet - Four S.African Mercenaries kidnapped in Iraq:JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Four South African security workers have been kidnapped north of Baghdad and their whereabouts remain unknown, South Africa's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said the four, who have not been publicly identified, were kidnapped on Sunday when their convoy was stopped at a road block. Five Iraqis were also abducted, he said.
The men were employed by OSSI-Safenet security service, a sub-contractor for the U.S. Department of Defence, Mamoepa said.
About 2,000 South Africans, many trained as soldiers in the apartheid-era military force, are believed to be working in the security sector in Iraq. Several have been killed there.
Reuters AlertNet - CHRONOLOGY-The deadliest bomb attacks in Iraq:Here is a list of some of the deadliest bomb attacks in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003:
- Aug. 19, 2003 - A truck bomb wrecks U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
- Aug. 29, 2003 - A car bomb kills at least 83 people, including top Shi'ite Muslim leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.
- Feb. 1, 2004 - 117 people are killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in Arbil at the offices of the two main Kurdish factions in northern Iraq.
- Feb. 10, 2004 - Suicide car bomb rips through a police station in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, killing 53.
- Feb. 11, 2004 - Suicide car bomb explodes at an Iraqi army recruitment centre in Baghdad, killing 47.
- March 2, 2004 - 171 people are killed in twin attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala.
- Dec. 19, 2004 - A suicide car bomb blast in Najaf, 300 metres from the Imam Ali shrine, kills 52 and wounds 140.
- Feb. 28, 2005 - A suicide car bomb attack in Hilla, south of Baghdad, kills 125 people and wounds 130. It was postwar Iraq's worst single blast.
- July 16, 2005 - A suicide bomber in a fuel truck near a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Mussayib, near Kerbala, kills 98.
- Sept. 14, 2005 - A suicide bomber kills 114 people and wounds 156 in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad.
- Sept. 29, 2005 - 98 people are killed in three coordinated car bomb attacks in the mixed Shi'ite and Sunni town of Balad.
- Nov. 18, 2005 - At least 74 people are killed and 150 wounded when suicide bombers blew themselves up inside two Shi'ite mosques in Khanaqin.
- Jan. 5, 2006 - Two suicide bombers kill over 120 people and wound more than 200 in the cities of Kerbala and Ramadi. Fifty-three were killed and 148 wounded in Kerbala and 70 killed and 65 wounded in Ramadi.
- July 1, 2006 - A car bomb attack at a crowded market in Sadr city, a Shi'ite district of eastern Baghdad, kills 62 and wounds 114. The Supporters of the Sunni People, a previously unknown Iraqi Sunni Muslim group claim responsibility.
- July 18, 2006 - Fifty-nine people are killed by a suicide bomb in Kufa, near Najaf in an attack claimed by al Qaeda.
- Aug. 10, 2006 - Thirty-five people are killed and 90 injured by bomb blasts near the Imam Ali shrine in southern city of Najaf. The Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba (Soldiers of the Prophet's Companions) group claim responsibility.
- Nov. 23, 2006 - Six car bombs in different parts of the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad kill 202 people. A further 250 people are wounded.
- Dec. 12, 2006 - A suicide bomber kills 60 people and wounds at least 221 in Tayran Square, in central Baghdad after luring a crowd of labourers to his vehicle with promises of work.
Divided Iraqi leaders in talks to find consensus 12 Dec 2006 15:17:12 GMT Source: Reuters By Mariam Karouny BAGHDAD, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Iraqi political leaders are in talks in an effort to find common ground among rival groups so as to halt worsening sectarian violence and strengthen Shi ... Full article Bomb explodes at Iraq's Samarra mosque 12 Dec 2006 15:00:54 GMT Source: Reuters SAMARRA, Iraq, Dec 12 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded on Tuesday near the entrance of Samarra's Golden Mosque, site of a February bombing that unleashed a wave of sectarian violence in Iraq, causing ... Full article CHRONOLOGY-The deadliest bomb attacks in Iraq 12 Dec 2006 13:58:06 GMT Source: Reuters (Updates with new details) Dec 12 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 60 people in central Baghdad on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said. Here is a list of some of the deadliest bomb attacks in ... Full article IRAQ: Shortage of anti-retroviral drugs in Kurdistan 12 Dec 2006 13:28:58 GMT Source: IRIN Health officials in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region have said they lack anti-retroviral drugs and the necessary equipment for testing for the HI virus and that they have been instructed by health authorities in Baghdad to deport foreigners who have been found HIV-positive. Full article
Other Reports
Mothers lose bid to force Iraq war inquiry - Law - Times Online:The mothers of two British soldiers killed in Iraq had challenged the Government’s refusal to hold an independent inquiry.
But this morning the court dismissed their claim that the Government was under an implied obligation to hold an independent inquiry under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the "right to life".
Three appeal judges said: "We have every sympathy for the applicants. The deaths of their sons must be unbearable. However, the deaths will be investigated in detail.
"The only question which will not be investigated is the invasion question, namely whether the Government took reasonable steps to be satisfied that the invasion of Iraq was lawful under the principles of international law."
The case was brought by Beverley Clarke, mother of Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, and Rose Gentle, mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle. Full Article:
The New Anatolian - Gonul asks Baghdad not to impose 'unrealistic' future on Kirkuk:The status of Kirkuk sparked a heated debate between Turkey and Iraq after Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul's request on Sunday not to impose an "unrealistic" future on the oil-rich city drew strong criticism from Baghdad.
Gonul said that Kirkuk's future status carries major implications for Turkey and Iraq's other neighbors, no matter who controls the city and its surrounding oilfields, and asked the Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish-led administration not to impose an "unrealistic" future on Kirkuk.
"We hope the natural resources of Kirkuk will be used by all groups in Iraq without discrimination," Gonul told an International Institute of Strategic Studies conference in the Bahraini capital Manama.
Gonul's remarks were immediately protested by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, who warned Turkey not to meddle in "our Kirkuk."
"You speak of Kirkuk as if it is a Turkish city," Zebari said, adding, "These are matters for Iraq to decide."
Kirkuk is an ancient city that was once part of the Ottoman Empire, with a large minority of ethnic Turks (Turkmen) as well as various Christians, Shiite and Sunni Arabs, Armenians and Assyrians. Read in full:
Xinhua - English:Bush administration bitterly rethinks Iraq policy www.chinaview.cn 2006-12-12 18:40:17
By Zhao Yi
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The year 2006 ends with President George W. Bush bitterly rethinking his Iraq policy, which is widely believed to be the biggest fiasco of his government that even cost the Republicans both houses of Congress in the mid-term elections.
IRAQ POLICY REFERENDUM
Nov. 7, 2006 was far from a good day for Bush and his Republican Party as the ruling GOP lost control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections.
The failure was hardly a surprise at a time when the United States is widely believed to be bogged down in an Iraq war, which has already claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
The other rocky regions where Washington has been deeply involved, are Afghanistan and Gaza, which are both turning from bad to worse. Afghanistan's outlawed Taliban forces are increasingly perceived as making a comeback, and the implementation of the roadmap for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict still remains deadlocked. Read in Full:
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