Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has taken security measures against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels in northern Iraq.
The government has imposed a security blockade around the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq to control PKK rebels' activities in the region, said Qubad Talabani, KRG's representative to the United States who is also the son of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
"To implement measures, we have created a security belt around the Qandil Mountains," he told a panel at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Relations between the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq and Ankara soured over PKK activities, as Turkish officials blamed the KRG for providing a safe haven for the militants.
PKK militants who have been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the international community are holed up in mountainous areas inside Iraq, using the region as a launch pad for mounting attacks against Turkish troops.
The activities of the outlawed group have prompted Turkish authorities to launch cross-border operations against the PKK.
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02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen by 10.9 percent at constant prices and 44.2 percent at current prices in 2008, compared to the previous year. "The rise in the GDP is attributed to the increase in crude oil activity, which jumped by 50.4 percent at current prices and 18 percent at constant prices in 2008, compared to 2007," according to a statement released by the Central Agency for Statistics in the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation. "The amount of oil produced has increased from 742.079 million barrels in 2007 to 850.239 million barrels in 2008," the statement revealed.
The statement has also indicated a 13.3 percent increase in the amount of crude oil exported in 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They really don't want this as front page new, or second, or third...
Someone might be able to connect those who made it work with maybe being able to do the same here, but that would mean the 'wrong' people would get the authority and power.
Aswat al-Iraq: An Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leader on Wednesday was killed by unknown gunmen in western Mosul, according to a local police source. "On Wednesday evening, unidentified gunmen assassinated Ahmed Fathi al-Jabouri, an IIP leader, in al-Islah al-Ziraie area, western Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Jabouri was shot down while leaving al-Abadi mosque after performing the al-Maghrib (sunset) prayers. The gunmen shot him in the head before fleeing the scene," the source added.
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Aswat al-Iraq: Three policemen were killed when gunmen attacked their patrol in eastern Mosul, a source from Ninewa police said on Wednesday. "The armed men opened fire on the policemen's patrol in al-Dargazliya neighborhood, eastern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The gunmen were walking when they opened fire on the stationed police patrol, killing three of the patrol's personnel," he said. The source pointed out that the armed men were able to escape after launching the attack.
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02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: An assistant director of a local department in Ninewa's Mosul city was detained on charges of financing armed groups, an army source said on Wednesday. "A force from the third Brigade of the Quick Intervention Corps (QIC) arrested the assistant director of the Social Care Department in Ninewa, alongside his son, in al-Sukar neighborhood, northern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Investigations are currently underway," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I bet they wish they had been picked up by the Americans.
#2
No, Tip, if the Americans had them, the FBI might be torturing them by making them watch pron with naked female agents (and since Janet Reno's not head of Justice anymore, so it wouldn't be her, or it would be ok.)
Aswat al-Iraq: Casualties from the car bomb blast that occurred earlier today in southwestern Baghdad have reached 42, according to an official source. "The toll has reached 10 dead and 32 wounded," an official spokesperson for Baghdad's Operations Command (BOC), Qassem Ata, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Earlier today, a source from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said that a parked car bomb detonated near a parking lot in al-Biyaa, southwestern Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding 20 others, according to an initial count.
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(AKI) - Two car bomb blasts at a bus station in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday have killed at least 16 people and injured 45 others.
The simultaneous explosions took place at a bus station in the mainly Shia area of al-Biyaa in southwestern Baghdad. The booby-trapped cars exploded as they were parked at the terminal. The force of the attack -which occurred during rush hour - damaged nearby cars and buses.
The blasts takes place the same day Shia Muslims celebrate the festival of Arbain (40 in Arabic), which happens 40 days after the holy day of Ashura, which commemorates the martyrdom of the grandson of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.
Other unrelated attacks also took place on Wednesday in northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, and in Iskandria, south of Baghdad. One soldier and two policemen died in the attacks.
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Aswat al-Iraq: Army forces have arrested two leaders from the self-styled "Islamic State of Iraq" in eastern Mosul, an army source said on Wednesday. "On Wednesday, a force from the third Brigade of the Quick Intervention Corps (QIC) arrested two leaders from the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq' in Mosul's eastern neighborhood of al-Zahraa," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Intelligence reports have led to their whereabouts," the source noted, adding that the leaders were arrested in two separate houses in the same area.
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#1
no divine intervention from Allan on this one huh? If there was a head-to-head stupidity contest I'm not sure if 57% of the American electorate or the Brave Lions of Islamy thingy would win.
BAGHDAD - Iraq will reopen later this month its renowned national museum, home to priceless artefacts plundered in the unchecked chaos following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, an Iraqi minister said. The long-awaited reopening marks a milestone in the governments efforts to retrieve and preserve artefacts and archaeological sites from Iraqs history after almost six years of theft, destruction and violence.
The country is said to be the site of the cradle of civilisation, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the looting of relicssome thousands of years oldwas seen as a tragedy for Iraq and for the world.
Qahtan al-Jibouri, Iraqs minister of state for tourism and antiquities, said the government had been renovating the museum in central Baghdad for several months and planned to open its doors to the public before the end of February.
The museum and other archaeological sites will be protected by a newly formed Interior Ministry force called the relics protection force, Jibouri said in an interview. The force will aim to prevent a repeat of the devastation of April 2003 when looters robbed the museum of some 15,000 priceless artefacts as part of a wave of theft from public buildings after Saddam Husseins regime fell. Officials have since struggled to rebuild the museums collection, recouping about a third of what was looted.
Even as violence across Iraq dropped sharply, officials put off reopening the museum until its security could be assured. Now, with violence at its lowest point since the war began, the museumand Iraqhas been deemed ready.
Jibouri said Iraq was trying to encourage the return and repatriation of other stolen artefacts, offering a reward and promising not to file charges for ill-gotten goods. A good number of relics are being returned, he said. The amount of the reward depends on officials assessment of the pieces worth along with its authenticity. Even under Saddam, poorly guarded archaeological sites were widely plundered.
The museum is a central plank in the strategy of Prime Minister Nuri al-Malikis government to bolster tourism in Iraq and protect valuable historical sites. The ministry is serious about carrying out its plans, but our funding is extremely limited, he said.
Washington provided $13 million to help restore the museum and $700,000 to repair ruins at the ancient city of Babylon, which have been damaged by U.S. and coalition soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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home to priceless artefacts plundered..
By its own employees as it turned out. Something MSM skipped over in its hype.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Aswat al-Iraq: Army forces have arrested two leaders from the self-styled "Islamic State of Iraq" in eastern Mosul, an army source said on Wednesday. "On Wednesday, a force from the third Brigade of the Quick Intervention Corps (QIC) arrested two leaders from the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq' in Mosul's eastern neighborhood of al-Zahraa," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Intelligence reports have led to their whereabouts," the source noted, adding that the leaders were arrested in two separate houses in the same area.
