Bombs against Kurds, other attacks in Iraq kill 33

BAGHDAD: A double bombing tore through Kurdish political party offices in northern Iraq in the deadliest of a series of attacks nationwide that killed at least 33 people, officials said.

It was the second such assault in as many days. Nobody claimed responsibility for Monday´s attack.

But an al-Qaida splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the previous double bombing Sunday against Kurdish offices in Jalula, northwest of Baghdad, killing 19 people.

The group said in an online statement that the bombings in Jalula were in response to the detention of Muslim women by authorities in the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Iraq is grappling with its worst surge in violence since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006 and 2007, when the country was pushed to the brink of civil war despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops.

The Americans withdrew at the end of 2011.Monday´s attack took place in the town of Tuz Khormato, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden truck into a checkpoint leading up to the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the nearby Kurdistan Communist Party.

Bombs against Kurds, other attacks in Iraq kill 33

BAGHDAD: A double bombing tore through Kurdish political party offices in northern Iraq in the deadliest of a series of attacks nationwide that killed at least 33 people, officials said.

It was the second such assault in as many days. Nobody claimed responsibility for Monday´s attack.

But an al-Qaida splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the previous double bombing Sunday against Kurdish offices in Jalula, northwest of Baghdad, killing 19 people.

The group said in an online statement that the bombings in Jalula were in response to the detention of Muslim women by authorities in the self-rule Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Iraq is grappling with its worst surge in violence since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006 and 2007, when the country was pushed to the brink of civil war despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops.

The Americans withdrew at the end of 2011.Monday´s attack took place in the town of Tuz Khormato, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden truck into a checkpoint leading up to the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the nearby Kurdistan Communist Party.

Iraq attacks kill 33 as 2014 death toll tops 4,000

BAGHDAD: Attacks across Iraq killed 33 people on Wednesday, the latest in a months-long surge in violence that has left more than 4,000 people dead this year.

The shootings and bombings struck in Baghdad and restive parts of the north and west, leaving dozens more wounded, security and medical officials said.

The protracted spike in bloodletting has fuelled fears that Iraq is slipping back into the all-out conflict that plagued it in 2006 and 2007, when a brutal sectarian war left tens of thousands dead.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in north Baghdad, killing at least 16 people and wounding 50 others, security and medical officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Elsewhere in and around the capital, six people were killed in multiple attacks, while three others died in the northern provinces of Kirkuk and Nineveh.

Also in north Iraq, a series of 11 bombings in the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmatu killed five people, four of them members of the same family, and wounded 11.The blasts targeted homes belonging to ethnic Turkmen.

The town, which is also populated by Arabs and Kurds, lies in a stretch of territory that Kurdish leaders want to incorporate into their autonomous region over the objections of the central government.

Insurgents often exploit poor communication between Arab and Kurdish security forces to carry out attacks in the area.

33 killed by bombers at Iraq campaign rally

BAGHDAD: Suicide bombers killed 33 people Friday at a sports stadium hosting a campaign rally for thousands of supporters of a militant Shia group before parliamentary elections, authorities said — an attack that could unleash more sectarian violence.

An al-Qaida breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, claimed responsibility for the attack at the Industrial Stadium in eastern Baghdad, which drew about 10,000 backers of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq group.

It said on a militant website that the bombings were to avenge what it called the killing of Sunnis and their forced removal from their homes by Shia militias.

The authenticity of the claim could not be independently verified. The attack was a stark reminder of the sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq more than two years after U.S. troops ended an eight-year presence that often served as a buffer between the nation´s Shia majority and its Sunni Arab minority.

Last year, the death toll in the country climbed to its highest levels since the worst of the sectarian bloodshed between 2006 and 2008. The U.N. says 8,868 people were killed in 2013, and more than 1,400 people were killed in the first two months of this year alone.

The rally was organized to introduce the group´s candidates for Wednesday´s vote. More than 9,000 candidates are taking part and will vie for 328 seats in parliament

Armed forces running 33 petrol pumps, 62 shopping centres

RAWALPINDI: The National Assembly was told on Wednesday that in certain cantonment areas of the country, the Pakistan armed forces were running at least 33 petrol pumps and 62 shopping centres and markets.

In response to a question by Beelum Hasnain, the defence ministry submitted a written reply to the assembly in which it also mentioned that 54 schools were also operational under the armed forces in the cantonment areas.

According to the details provided by the ministry, there were three petrol pumps of the armed forces, one shopping centre in the Sargodha Circle, two petrol pumps, one shopping centre, 14 schools in the Multan Circle, four petrol pumps, 35 shopping centres, 13 schools in the Lahore Circle, seven petrol pumps, three shopping centres, two schools in the Gujranwala Circle, three petrol pumps and two shopping centres in the Hyderabad Circle, two petrol pumps, seven shopping centres, three schools in the Karachi Circle, seven petrol pumps, six shopping centres, five schools in the Rawalpindi Circle and five petrol pumps, seven shopping centres and 17 schools in the Abbottabad Circle.

In its written reply, the defence ministry did not show the income from these petrol pumps, shopping centres and schools. Also it did not inform the House whether this amount had been submitted to the national kitty or not.

However, it has been mentioned in the reply that the relevant board of officers was drawing an estimate of the total income. After such an estimate was made, the respective details will be submitted to the House.

The defence ministry is of the view that the largest number of shopping centres and markets are situated in the Lahore Circle. This number is found to be 35. Moreover, the largest number of petrol pumps are located in Gujranwala and Rawalpindi circles. There are seven petrol pumps in each of these circles.

In the cantonment areas of the militancy-hit capital of Balochistan i.e. Quetta, there are seven shopping centres of the armed forces, while in the Abbottabad Circle and Rawalpindi Circle, there are seven and six shopping centres respectively.

Most of the schools are located in the Abbottabad Circle. Their number is 17.It is pertinent to mention here that the reply covers only the details of businesses run by the armed forces in the country’s cantonment areas. Armed forces and institutions such as Rangers also run petrol pumps, bakeries and general stores in areas other than cantonment, the details of which have not been given in the defence ministry’s written reply.