BAGHDAD: A bomb struck the acting Iraqi defence minister’s convoy west of Baghdad yesterday, wounding two of his guards, the ministry said. The roadside bomb hit Saadun Al Dulaimi’s convoy as it travelled between Fallujah and Ramadi, “wounding two of his guards and damaging one of the vehicles,” spokesman Mohammed Al Askari was quoted as saying.
Askari did not specify whether or not Dulaimi was travelling in the convoy at the time of the attack.
The bombing comes after five senior officers, among them a divisional commander, and 10 other soldiers were killed on Saturday during an operation against militants in Anbar province, where Dulaimi’s convoy was travelling when it was attacked.
The Iraqi government responded by launching an operation dubbed “Avenge the Leader Mohammed,” named after the divisional commander who was killed, and Askari said on Monday that Iraqi forces had destroyed two militant camps in Anbar.
Qaeda claims attack that killed scribes
BAGHDAD: An Al Qaeda-linked militant group has claimed an attack on an Iraqi television station headquarters in which five journalists were killed. At the direction of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s “war ministry,” militants attacked “the headquarters of the Salaheddin satellite (channel) which... distorts the facts and fights the Sunni people,” the group said on online jihadist forums.
It said two militants took part in the attack on Monday, although police said four suicide bombers assaulted the channel’s headquarters in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. The attack killed five of the channel’s journalists — the chief news editor, a copy editor, a producer, a presenter and the archives manager — and wounded five more of its employees.
Iraq has come in for repeated criticism over the lack of media freedom and the number of unsolved killings of journalists.
The country is experiencing the worst violence against journalists in years, with 12 killed in attacks since October 5.
Violence has reached a level not seen since 2008, when Iraq was just emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings. More than 6,650 people have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
Laden son-in-law faces new charges
NEW YORK: US prosecutors yesterday linked Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law to the 2001 Al Qaeda shoe bomber plot after adding two extra charges against the Kuwaiti, who faces life behind bars if convicted. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, whose trial in New York is scheduled to begin on February 3, was initially charged with one count of conspiracy to kill Americans after his arrest last February.
But a superceding indictment Friday added charges of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists, and providing material support and resources to terrorists.
The former Al-Qaeda spokesman, who was captured by US agents in Jordan, on Monday entered a not guilty plea to all charges.
He appeared relaxed, greeting his defense team with smiles and wearing a blue T-shirt over an orange standard-issue prison shirt, his salt and pepper curls escaping a white Muslim cap.
Agencies
