MOSUL, Iraq: Suicide bombings and fighting between security forces and militants killed 36 people in north Iraq yesterday, and the prime minister said militants targeted a revered Shia shrine.
The violence came as the United Nations said that close to 480,000 people have been displaced during a crisis in Anbar province, where security forces have been battling anti-government fighters for months. The two suicide bombers blew up vehicles in the Shabak village of Al Muwaffaqiyah, located east of Nineveh provincial capital Mosul, killing four people and wounding 45.
Iraq’s 30,000 Shabaks largely follow a blend of Shiite Islam and local beliefs viewed as heretical by Sunni extremists, and have been periodically targeted in attacks.
In west Mosul, four police, three soldiers and 16 militants were killed in clashes, while a mortar round killed a civilian, officials said. Three more soldiers were killed in fighting with militants in east Mosul, and security forces shot dead five would-be suicide bombers in the Hamam Al Alil area, south of the city.
KHARTOUM: Club-wielding police broke up a protest yesterday by supporters of jailed Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq Al Mahdi, beating up demonstrators.
Mahdi, an ex-premier who heads the opposition Umma Party, was arrested on May 17 for alleged treason after he reportedly accused a counter-insurgency unit, the Rapid Support Forces, of rape and other abuses of civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
Hundreds of youths after weekly Muslim prayers emerged from a mosque in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city, chanting slogans of support for Mahdi and calling for the fall of the government. “Sadiq’s voice is the voice of the people,” and “The people demand the fall of the regime,” they chanted, while also blocking off a main road in the city.Agencies
