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111 killed in Iraq’s deadliest day in 2 yrs
A man at the scene of a car bomb blast in the Shi’ite bastion of Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, on Monday. — AFP US Theatre Shooting |
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Malik re-elected as Pak senator Syria talks of using chemical arms against ‘external aggression’
Three injured in blast near Chinese consulate in Pak
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111 killed in Iraq’s deadliest day in 2 yrs Baghdad, July 23 Officials said at least 235 persons were wounded in 28 different attacks launched in 19 cities, shattering a relative calm which had held in the lead-up to the start on Saturday of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The violence drew condemnation from the United Nations special envoy to Iraq, the country's parliament speaker, and neighbouring Iran. In today's deadliest attack, a string of roadside bombs and a car bomb followed by a suicide attack targeting emergency responders in the town of Taji, at least 42 persons were killed and 40 wounded, according to two medical officials. "I heard explosions in the distance so I left my house and I saw a car outside," said 40-year-old Taji resident Abu Mohammed, who added that police inspectors concluded the vehicle was a car bomb. "We asked the neighbours to leave their houses, but when they were leaving, the bomb went off." Abu Mohammed said he witnessed the deaths of an elderly woman carrying a newborn baby and of the policeman who had first concluded the car was packed with explosives. An AFP reporter at the scene said a row of houses were completely destroyed, and residents were rummaging through the rubble in search of victims and their belongings. In Baghdad, meanwhile, a car bomb outside a government office responsible for producing identity papers in the Shiite bastion of Sadr City killed at least 12 people and wounded 33 others, security and medical officials said. "This attack is a terrible crime against humanity, because they did it during Ramadan, while people are fasting," said one elderly witness who declined to be identified. — AFP
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US Theatre Shooting Washington, July 23
Matt McQuinn (27), Jonathan Blunk (26) and Alex Teves (24) were killed when they shielded their girlfriends from the gunman, identified as James Holmes, as he unloaded a fusillade of bullets into a packed Century 16 theatre during the premiere of new Batman movie 'The Dark Knight Rises' in Aurora, Colorado. McQuinn, New York Post reported, dived in front of his girlfriend Samantha Yowler (27), when the gunfire erupted at the much-awaited opening show of the film starring Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway. He was struck fatally by three bullets, while Samantha just scraped with a shot in the knee. His friend Jonathan Blunk tucked his date Jansen Young (21) under the seat, before he was shot to death. "He took the bullets meant for me," Young told NBC recounting the ordeal of the fateful midnight. The third hero Teves of Phoenix used his body to cover girlfriend Amanda Lindgren, his grandmother told the Post. Teves, born in Verona, New Jersey and raised in Phoenix, had just finished Graduate school in Denver. He turned 24 a month ago and had been dating Lindgren for just over a year. Nine others were also murdered and 59 injured in the carnage. — PTI
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Malik re-elected as Pak senator Rehman Malik, Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Interior Affairs, was today re-elected as a Senator from Sindh province in the wake of the suspension of his membership of Parliament by the Supreme Court for allegedly having British citizenship. Malik resigned from the Senate or upper house of Parliament after the apex court suspended his membership. He filed nomination papers for re-election to the Senate last week and was elected unopposed as no parties fielded candidates against him. The Sindh Election Commissioner issued a notification on Malik's re-election on Monday after scrutinising his nomination papers. Malik was elected to the same seat reserved for technocrats that had fallen vacant when he resigned from the upper house of Parliament. Malik was the Interior Minister when his membership of the Senate was suspended by the apex court after he failed to provide proof that he had renounced his British citizenship.
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Syria talks of using chemical arms against ‘external aggression’ Beirut, July 23
Assad's forces have launched fierce counter-offensives, reflecting his determination to hold on to power even at great cost and he has dismissed an Arab offer to grant him a safe exit in return for a swift step down. Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the army would not use chemical weapons to crush rebels but they could be used against forces from outside the country. "Any chemical or bacterial weapons will never be used ... during the crisis in Syria regardless of the developments," Makdissi said. "These weapons are stored and secured by Syrian military forces and under its direct supervision and will never be used unless Syria faces external aggression." Damascus has not signed a 1992 international convention that bans the use, production or stockpiling of chemical weapons, but officials in the past have denied that it had any stockpiles. As violence escalates in Syria, insurgents have said they fear Assad's forces will resort to non-conventional weapons as they seek to claw back rebel gains across the country. Western and Israeli countries have also expressed fears that chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups as Assad's authority erodes. Defying Arab foreign ministers who on Sunday offered Assad a "safe exit" if he stepped down swiftly, the Syrian leader has waged a counter-attack in the capital to defeat rebels district by district. — Reuters
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Three injured in blast near Chinese consulate in Pak Karachi/Islamabad, July 23 "Initial investigations show that the bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked in the Institute of Hotel Management and it was detonated by a remote control," Inspector-General of Police, Fayyaz Leghari, told reporters. The hotel management institute is located in the same lane and next to the Chinese Consulate in Defence area. Leghari said three persons were injured in the blast, including a Rangers official who was on duty close by. One car and up to three motorcycles parked nearby were reported to have been destroyed as a result of the blast. Various police teams, including the Crime Investigation Department and the Special Investigation Unit, reached the spot to probe the incident which has caused concern in the government circles. "We have also set a reward of one million rupees for any person who can provide us valid information which can lead to the arrest of the people behind this blast," Leghari said. A large number of Chinese nationals who are either settled here with their businesses or who have come to Pakistan as part of different projects are based in Karachi. Recently, extortionists had also targeted the office of a construction company in the nearby Khayaban-e-Shamsheer area in which one person was injured. The advisor to the home department, Sharfuddin Memon, said information had been received that terrorist activities would take place in the ongoing month of Ramazan. (With inputs from Afzal Khan in Islamabad & PTI)
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Baghdad, July 23
A remote-controlled bomb was detonated close to the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi today, leaving at least three people, including a paramilitary personnel, injured. The blast, which took place around noon, caused panic in the area which is surrounded by residences.
