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37 killed in car bomb blasts in Iraq
Labour MPs demand pullout from Iraq
Arafat neither brain dead nor on life support: Erakat
44 Indian fishermen arrested by Pak
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37 killed in car bomb blasts in Iraq
Samarra, Iraq, November 6 The fourth blast occurred at (1230 hours local time) when a suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station, killing 10 Iraqi police officers and wounding five, the police said. A health official said 23 persons, including nine policemen, were killed and 40 wounded, among them 17 policemen, in the first three bomb explosions in the Sunni Muslim city. The attacks in Samarra came as US forces prepared for a full-scale offensive against the rebel strongholds of Falluja and Ramadi, in Iraq’s central Sunni heartland. The local commander of the Iraqi Rapid Reaction Force, Brigadier Abdul-Razzak al-Jarmin, was among the dead in the first two blasts near the town hall and a nearby checkpoint. Samarra’s mayor, Major General Tariq Oweid, was wounded. “I saw a car trying to reach the town hall,” said bookshop owner Mohammed Ahmed. “When police stopped it, it exploded.” A US spokesman, Captain Bill Coppernoll of the 1st Infantry Division based in Tikrit, said a joint US-Iraqi National Guard patrol had spotted a vehicle bomb near Samarra at (0930 hours local time) and destroyed it. “The soldiers identified, engaged and destroyed the (vehicle bomb). One soldier and four civilians were wounded in the blast. The vehicle appears to have been an Iraqi police truck stolen earlier from the Baiji police station,” he said. The police said insurgents also carried out simultaneous attacks on three police stations in Samarra, 100 km north of Baghdad, killing four policemen, wounding 17 and capturing 10. Coppernoll said three Iraqi police were killed and six wounded when three mortar rounds landed near one Samarra police station at about (0930 hours local time) Small arms fire was also reported. A third car bomb exploded later, targeting a US convoy that was trying to reach the scene of the first two bombings, the police said. They had no word on casualties in that attack. Coppernoll said four Iraqi servicemen were wounded in that explosion.
— Reuters |
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Labour MPs demand pullout from Iraq
LABOUR opponents of the Iraq war on Friday demanded immediate withdrawal of British troops from the "triangle of death" following the fatal ambush of the Black Watch.
As Mr Blair and other senior politicians expressed their shock over Thursday's attack, a dispute erupted between the government and its critics over whether the deployment of the Black Watch towards Baghdad had been political or military. The Prime Minister will be challenged in the House of Commons next week over the decision to draft British troops into the frontline. In Downing Street, there is alarm that more deaths may bring a public backlash. Labour MPs protested in the Commons last month when it emerged that the Black Watch were being moved from the southern city of Basra into more dangerous territory. They redoubled their criticism of the strategy yesterday and demanded an immediate rethink. Mr John McDonnell, leader of the left-wing Campaign Group of MPs, said, "I don't understand why we are fighting Mr Bush's war and this reinforces the view of many Labour MPs that we should never have sent the Black Watch (to their new position) and should be withdrawing them as soon as possible." Mr Peter Kilfoyle, former Armed Forces Minister, described the deployment as "bizarre" and added, "The Prime Minister seems intent upon proving his worth to Mr Bush before any other considerations." Mr Bob Marshall Andrews, MP for Medway, said, "The responsibility for these tragic deaths lies upon those who carried out the ambush and those who have ordered a conflict which is both illegal and devoid of support among British people." —
By arrangement with The Independent, London |
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Arafat neither brain dead nor on life support: Erakat
Ramallah, November 6 “The President is not brain dead. His brain and heart are functioning. He is not living off machines,” Erakat told reporters ahead of a meeting here of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Former Prime Minister Mahmud
Abbas, who is acting leader of the PLO in Arafat’s absence, said: “The meetings are going on. We are following up on the health of the President. His health is stable.” Conflicting reports swirled about Arafat’s condition, with the website of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot saying today the Palestinian leader had opened his eyes overnight and communicated with his doctors. In Paris, top Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said the Palestinian leader remained in critical condition but that he was not beyond recovery.
— AFP |
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44 Indian fishermen arrested by Pak
Islamabad, November 6 The fishermen were arrested off the Karachi coast yesterday by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) which also seized their eight boats, police officials in Karachi said. The arrests took place even as Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Shivshankar Menon met Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao yesterday and discussed modalities to get over 700 Indian prisoners, including 600 fishermen, released in the light of the thaw in relations between the two countries.
— PTI |
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