Suicide Bomber Kills 60 in Iraq, Etc…
January 18th, 2011 Iraq is in a state of transition. It is no longer the hot spot of international concern that it once was. There are still daily incidents and the occasional dramatic blast like the one in Tikrit, but for the most part it has dropped off the grid and is now just a backwater with occasional human interest stories such as the one in the Washington Post about sleepy soldiers.
Al Qaeda is still there and active along with a few hard core Bathists, but the action has moved to Afghanistan and Yemen if you can believe the notice it was given with last Sunday's 60 Minutes and Secretary of State Clinton's visit. Somalia seems to have dropped out of the news although last year was the biggest year yet for sea pirates. Perhaps it is just boredom.
The big attention getter is the Tunisian revolt and the subsequent unrest throughout the Middle East with people setting themselves on fire in Mauritania, Egypt and Algeria recently. The newly formed government in Tunisia does not seem to be meeting with popular approval and minority ministers have already quit. The media are excited, but what about the average Joe American? Does he/she even know where Tunisia is? I wonder sometimes if this was a sporting event if there might not be more interest.
From the Guardian.uk
Suicide blast kills dozens of Iraqi police recruits
Suicide bomber detonates explosives-laden vest outside crowded police recruitment centre in Tikrit, killing at least 60 people
Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 January 2011 09.17 GMT
A suicide bomber targeting a police recruitment line in the central Iraqi city of Tikrit killed at least 60 people today, with the death toll expected to rise further.
The attack is the most lethal to have hit Iraq for at least six months, and again underlines the ability of insurgents to target the country's institutions despite much-lauded security gains.
Police and military recruitment centres have been a favoured target of Sunni insurgents and militant operatives of the former Ba'athist regime.
Tikrit was Saddam Hussein's birthplace, and remains a stronghold of his residual support base. The Ba'athist leadership is thought to comprise a core group of around 200 former officers who direct terror attacks using operatives remaining interwoven throughout the security forces.
Ba'athists were immediately accused of playing a role in the attack. However, attention quickly shifted to al-Qaida in Iraq, which has regularly used suicide bombers to undermine the government's security credentials throughout the past six years.
At least 150 people were injured in the attack. Many were left with serious wounds, and are not expected to survive.
The method of attack was identical to numerous previous strikes on recruitment centres, mainly in Baghdad and Mosul. The suicide bomber, with an explosive vest, was able to bypass lax security and detonate his explosives amid large numbers of men.
Tikrit's deputy police chief, Brigadier Jassim Hamid, dismissed claims of a security lapse. "The explosion occurred outside the checkpoint," he said.
"Three days ago, the local council called for 2,000 extra police officers, with 200 to turn up at each recruitment centre. The suicide bomber pretended to apply. Al-Qaida's fingerprints are on this attack."
Dr Bashar al-Duleimi, a surgeon at Tikrit hospital, said all the city's medical centres were overrun. "We are all full of serious injuries … at least 150," he said.
Recruitment centre bombings have regularly exacted heavy tolls. Two similar bombings in Baghdad last summer also claimed between 50 and 60 lives.
Al-Qaida in Iraq was believed to be responsible for both blasts, as well as the brutal siege of a Baghdad cathedral, which left 53 dead and scores more wounded in October.
Iraq's government has since claimed al-Qaida is largely defeated in Iraq, echoing US military claims made in 2008. Large-scale explosions have become infrequent. However, Sunni insurgents are still credited with almost daily targeted attacks on officials, particularly in Baghdad, Diyyala and Mosul.
Iraqi security officials have told the Guardian that al-Qaida in Iraq has re-orientated towards its original hardcore ideological roots, having shed criminal elements or opportunists throughout six years of violence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/suicide-blast-iraq-police-centre
From Washington Post
The daily grind of the goodwill tour
By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
AT CAMP RAMADI, IRAQ Officially, the year-long mission remaining for roughly 48,000 U.S. troops in Iraq is to "advise and assist" this country's security forces. Unofficially, it is to fight off boredom and to stay alert and safe in the long, empty stretches that dominate their days.
Assassinations, bombings and gun attacks have killed scores of Iraqi police officers, civilians and government officials since the beginning of the year. U.S. forces have not been asked to assist in the aftermath of any of them.
Rather, from behind their concrete blast walls, in security bubbles that can seem deceptively safe, the end of the Iraq war has for most U.S. soldiers become a monotonous farewell mission of goodwill, a last good deed, impression or chance to set things right.
The front lines are mostly heavily armored office-hour visits with local security commanders and community leaders over Turkish coffee and tea, or to teach Iraqi police or army enlistees the occasional nifty trick, like karate moves or magazine-design layout.
But the exchanges remain dangerous. Two American soldiers were killed and a third was wounded near Mosul on Saturday when an Iraqi army officer receiving tactical training turned a gun on his U.S. military instructors.
"I hope before I get out of the Army I get to go to Afghanistan at least once," said Spec. Randall Brown, 23. His mind wandered and other soldiers dozed on a recent morning as they rode along a cratered highway between Ramadi and Fallujah, a stretch where soldiers used to sit wide-eyed, in radio silence, praying that one of the day's inevitable roadside bombs would miss their convoy.
"I hear they are losing people in Afghanistan every week - I don't want to go because of that," he rushed to add. "But because my job is still needed there; my job doesn't exist here anymore."
Trained to sneak over rocky terrain and scout bombing targets (the United States has dropped one bomb in Iraq in the past 14 months), Brown, of the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Ga., now spends the few mornings a week that he leaves the safe confines of his base to stand in a walled-in, muddy Iraqi police compound in Habbaniyah, smoking cigarettes with a dozen other soldiers from his platoon. They're all tasked with providing security for the day's "mission" - a mind-numbing, 90-minute PowerPoint presentation on disaster management for three Iraqi police lieutenants inside.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/17/AR2011011704486.html
From Iraq Today
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
War News for Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Reported security incidents
Baghdad:
#1: One civilian was killed by an improvised explosive device in western Baghdad, a security source said on Tuesday. "An improvised explosive device went off late Monday (Jan.18) inside a supermarket in al-Jameaa neighborhood, western Baghdad, killing the owner and damaging the supermarket," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: "Anti-explosives department managed to defuse another bomb, planted near al-Badiya school in al-Khaleej neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, without casualties," he said.
#3: An improvised explosive device went off Tuesday (Jan.
18) near a civilian vehicle, wounding three civilians in al-Iskan neighborhood in al-Doura region, southern Baghdad," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#4: "The second bomb exploded in al-Sidiya region, southern Baghdad, targeting a police vehicle patrol, injuring a civilian and a policeman and damaging the vehicle," he added.
#5: "A Sahwa official survived an assassination attempt when a bomb exploded near his car, injuring two of his companions, who were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment," the source noted.
Iskandariya:
#1: One civilian was killed on Monday in a bomb explosion in north of Babel, according to a security source. "An improvised explosive device went off on Monday near a civilian vehicle in a al-Aasriya region in al-Askandariya district, north of Babel, killing a civilian and damaging more than five vehicles," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Two children were wounded in a bomb explosion in north of Babel on Monday, a security source said. "The two children were playing with the bomb, from the remains of the U.S. war on Iraq, near their house in al-Buhairat region in al-Askandariya district, northern Hilla, when it went off," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Tikrit:
#1: A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest in a crowd of police recruits on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, officials said. The death toll was still rising more than three hours after police said the bomber joined a crowd of more than 100 recruits and blew himself up outside the police station in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, some 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad. Tikrit police put the death toll at 45, with 140 wounded. Dr. Anas Abdul-Khaliq of Tikrit hospital confirmed the casualty figures.
Mosul:
#1: Police forces found three female Yazidi bodies in north of Mosul, a media spokesman of the al-Shikhan district said on Monday. "Policemen found late Sunday (Jan. 16) three bodies of a mother, her daughter and her sister, on the road between Talkief and al-Shikhan districts, north of Mosul," Amin Khalaf told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The three women are from the Yazidi sect," he added, noting that this is the first incident of its kind in the region.
#2: Iraqi army forces found on Monday an unknown body of a young man in eastern Mosul, according to a security source. "A force from the Iraqi army found today a bullet-riddled body of a young man in eastern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/
From AFP
Iraq province cuts supplies to national grid
By Marwan Ibrahim (AFP) – 1 hour ago
KIRKUK, Iraq — Iraq's northern Kirkuk province said it had stopped supplying electricity to the national grid on Tuesday, in a bold move to force the central government's hand in a dispute over power rationing.
National Deputy Electricity Minister Aamer al-Duri earlier described the cuts as "illegal" as he said a ministry delegation had been sent to Kirkuk on Tuesday to try to resolve the dispute.
"Kirkuk is not the only province which suffers from power cuts," he told AFP. "It's the same for all provinces like Baghdad, Nineveh and others."
Iraq's power supply remains drastically short of demand, with homes and businesses nationwide suffering daily cuts and relying on generators to fill the gap, as the war-ravaged country struggles to boost capacity.
Yaljin Mehdi, the head of electricity distribution for the province, said the decision to cut off from the national grid would result in Kirkuk receiving all 500 megawatts produced internally.
Iraq's electricity demand totals around 15,000 megawatts, compared with total supply of 7,000 megawatts — 6,000 megawatts produced locally, and 1,000 megawatts imported.
A senior US embassy official said on Monday that for Iraq a "big challenge going forward is the race to provide infrastructure and services to the populace and keep pace with expectations."
"We know come next summer, there's still not going to be enough megawatts online to provide 24-hour electricity — it's just not in the cards," he said at a briefing for foreign press, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We saw riots last summer… that's a concern."
Angry Iraqis staged violent demonstrations last summer in several southern cities over power rationing as temperatures reached 54 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit).
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose electricity minister resigned following those protests, warned in June that two more years of shortages lay ahead as there was no quick fix to the problem.
Iraq's infrastructure was devastated during the 2003 US-led invasion and more than a decade of sanctions that preceded it.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h-PLERSLfr8zvocS-LqJ6uFMQJ_A?docId=CNG.90d48f3f7f6373f113594eccca64a80e.c11
From RTT News
Sea Piracy Reaches Alarming Levels: IMB 1/18/2011 1:16 PM (RTTNews) - There has been a record number of ship hijackings in 2010 which indicates the threat posed by sea piracy had indeed reached alarming proportions, a report by the global maritime watchdog International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said Tuesday.
According to IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre which has tracked worldwide incidents of pirate attacks since 1991, buccaneers seized 53 ships and took 1,181 crew members hostage in 2010 while eight seafarers were killed in attacks by the heavily armed outlaws.
"These figures for the number of hostages and vessels taken are the highest we have ever seen. The continued increase in these numbers is alarming," the Piracy Reporting Centre director Pottengal Mukundan said.
Of the 53 ship hijackings reported last year, 49 took place in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast which also accounted for the 1016 crew members taken hostage. The report said as of December, some 28 ships and 638 hostages were still held captive by corsairs for securing ransom.
The absence of a functional government in Somalia has contributed to the menace and unemployed Somali youth are drawn to piracy by the lure of easy money.
Besides, the IMB report said buccaneers were increasingly using fishing trawlers or cargo vessels as surrogates for mounting attacks on unsuspecting vessels. However, heightened international vigil in troubled waters off Somalia had considerably brought down incidents of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden.
Nevertheless, the success of anti-piracy operations were offset by corsairs who have lately been venturing into uncharted waters of Mozambique Channel and the Indian Ocean. As for weeding out the scourge, the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based IMB says effective governance in Somalia alone could provide a lasting solution to the problem.
Likewise there has been a steady rise in number of pirate attacks reported last year off Bangladesh, the South China Sea and Indonesia which in the past had witnessed several instances of sea piracy.
by RTT Staff Writer
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1529557&SM=1
From NPR
Tunisia's Days-Old Government Shows Cracks
by NPR Staff and Wires
January 18, 2011 Tunisia's newly formed unity government showed cracks Tuesday after a handful of ministers abruptly quit and an opposition party threatened to withdraw, moves that could further destabilize the North African nation days after fiery street protests toppled the country's longtime leader.
The political pressure that brought down autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power continued Tuesday as hundreds of demonstrators massed in the capital, Tunis. Riot police in shielded helmets pummeled and kicked a protester and fired tear gas grenades into the crowd as protesters demanded that the Cabinet be purged of the old guard that served Ben Ali.
At least three ministers resigned Tuesday. The lawmakers — Junior Minister for Transportation and Equipment Anouar Ben Gueddour, Labor Minister Houssine Dimassi and minister without portfolio Abdeljelil Bedoui — were all members of the powerful UGTT labor union, which helped mobilize the protests. It was not immediately clear whether the resignations could bring down the government unveiled Sunday, which has 40 full and junior ministers.
Meanwhile, state TV reported that one of the most vocal opposition parties, Ettajdid, issued a statement Tuesday that it planned to pull out of the coalition government if ministers from Ben Ali's party did not give up party membership.
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson, reporting from the capital, said most Tunisians are unhappy with the new government but that many others want to give the coalition a chance.
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/18/133020451/tunisias-days-old-government-shows-cracks
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