50 dead in Baghdad bombings, raising fears of a return to warfare
Source;HCNONLINE
BAGHDAD— Bombs ripped through apartment buildings and a market in mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 50 people in postelection bloodshed that threatens to rekindle sectarian warfare that nearly destroyed the country three years ago.
The attacks appeared to be an attempt by al-Qaida in Iraq or other extremists to exploit a power vacuum during what promises to be lengthy negotiations to form a new government. About 120 people have been killed in and around the capital over the past five days — some of the most brutal strikes on civilians in months.
For two terrifying hours on a warm, sunny Tuesday morning, at least seven bombs rocked a broad swath of Baghdad. In a new tactic, several bombs were planted inside empty apartments after renters offered high prices for the properties, the government said.
The explosions reduced one building to rubble, knocked out windows and doors and ripped off facades. People rushed to the blast sites, digging through the rubble with their hands to find loved ones.
“Cars began to collide with one another in the street,” said Ali Hussein, a 22-year-old college student who was riding the bus to school when one of the bombs went off. “We saw a cloud of fire and black smoke.”
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic “hate” campaign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Vatican Radio broadcast comments by two senior cardinals explaining “the motive for these attacks” on the pope and the Vatican newspaper chipped in with spirited comments from another top cardinal.
“The pope defends life and the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely different” agenda, Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials, said on the radio.
Herranz didn’t identify the lobbies but “defense of life” is Vatican shorthand for anti-abortion efforts.
Also arguing that Benedict’s promotion of conservative family models had provoked the so-called attacks was the Vatican’s dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano.
BEIJING — China-based hackers stole Indian national security information, 1,500 e-mails from the Dalai Lama’s office and other sensitive documents, a new report said Tuesday.
Researchers at the University of Toronto said they were able to observe the hacking and trace it to core servers located in China and to people based in the southwestern city of Chengdu. The researchers said they monitored the hacking for the past eight months.
The report said it has no evidence of involvement by the Chinese government, but it again put Beijing on the defensive. Separate reports earlier this year said security investigators had traced attacks on Google and other companies to China-based computers.
“We have from time to time heard this kind of news. I don’t know the purpose of stirring up these issues,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press conference in response to questions about the report.
“We are firmly opposed to various kinds of hacking activities through the Internet,” Jiang said. She said China will fight cybercrime according to law.
She added the researchers have not formally contacted China.
ANKARA, Turkey — A power struggle between Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government and its fiercely secular military escalated Tuesday when a court formally charged a senior general with plotting to overthrow the civilian leadership.
The former head of the country’s National Security Council, Gen. Sukru Sariisik, joined dozens of serving and retired senior officers accused of conspiring to destabilize the government in a conspiracy dubbed Balyoz, or “the sledgehammer.” The court also charged another retired general and a colonel.
Prosecutors have not made public any evidence or even details of the accusations since they were first made in January. But the national newspaper Taraf has published what it calls leaked copies of documents by the conspirators detailing their plans. Those include blowing up at least two major mosques during Friday prayers; assassinating some Christian and Jewish leaders; and shooting down a Turkish warplane and blaming it on Greece, the country’s historic rival.
Taraf says the conspirators hoped the chaos would lead to calls for a military takeover, and even planned to turn stadiums into open-air prisons capable of holding tens of thousands of people if they challenged the troops. The paper says it has provided the documents to prosecutors, who are using them in their case.
Unable to independently assess the evidence, Turks remain divided on the authenticity of the plot and the threat it may have posed. What is clear, however, is that the balance of power in Turkey has tipped significantly in favor of civilian authorities, whose arrests of high-ranking military officers would have once been unimaginable.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Gaining fast on the pirates who had seized a German freighter, Dutch naval captain Col. Hans Lodder had no time to waste on bureaucracy.
Sidestepping the command of the European Union’s anti-piracy task force, he went instead to his own government for authorization to recapture the ship by force.
Lodder first ascertained that the Taipan’s crew had locked itself in a bulletproof room. Then he launched his ship’s Lynx helicopter with a team of six special forces marines.
With troops providing cover fire from the helicopter, the marines rappelled onto the ship’s deck of the MV Taipan to shoot it out, if need be, with the pirates. But they met no resistance. The 15-man crew was rescued, and 10 Somali pirates were captured.
“The pirates surrendered the moment they saw the marines,” Lodder said in a telephone interview Tuesday from the Dutch frigate Tromp. No one was injured.
Monday’s successful rescue showed that, when swift decisions are needed, it can be quicker to work around the European Union’s command.
Onlookers and rescue teams gather at the scene of a bomb blast in Baghdad today.
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| Munther Muhsen grieves over the dead body of his brother Wessam Muhsen, 28, during his funeral in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraq, Monday. Suicide attackers detonated three car bombs in quick succession near foreign embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing more than 40 people in coordinated strikes that Iraqi officials said were intended to disrupt efforts to form a new government. |
The attacks appeared to be an attempt by al-Qaida in Iraq or other extremists to exploit a power vacuum during what promises to be lengthy negotiations to form a new government. About 120 people have been killed in and around the capital over the past five days — some of the most brutal strikes on civilians in months.
For two terrifying hours on a warm, sunny Tuesday morning, at least seven bombs rocked a broad swath of Baghdad. In a new tactic, several bombs were planted inside empty apartments after renters offered high prices for the properties, the government said.
The explosions reduced one building to rubble, knocked out windows and doors and ripped off facades. People rushed to the blast sites, digging through the rubble with their hands to find loved ones.
“Cars began to collide with one another in the street,” said Ali Hussein, a 22-year-old college student who was riding the bus to school when one of the bombs went off. “We saw a cloud of fire and black smoke.”
Rome cardinals decry alleged ’hate’ campaign
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic “hate” campaign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Vatican Radio broadcast comments by two senior cardinals explaining “the motive for these attacks” on the pope and the Vatican newspaper chipped in with spirited comments from another top cardinal.
“The pope defends life and the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely different” agenda, Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials, said on the radio.
Herranz didn’t identify the lobbies but “defense of life” is Vatican shorthand for anti-abortion efforts.
Also arguing that Benedict’s promotion of conservative family models had provoked the so-called attacks was the Vatican’s dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano.
Report: China-based hackers stole secrets
BEIJING — China-based hackers stole Indian national security information, 1,500 e-mails from the Dalai Lama’s office and other sensitive documents, a new report said Tuesday.
Researchers at the University of Toronto said they were able to observe the hacking and trace it to core servers located in China and to people based in the southwestern city of Chengdu. The researchers said they monitored the hacking for the past eight months.
The report said it has no evidence of involvement by the Chinese government, but it again put Beijing on the defensive. Separate reports earlier this year said security investigators had traced attacks on Google and other companies to China-based computers.
“We have from time to time heard this kind of news. I don’t know the purpose of stirring up these issues,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press conference in response to questions about the report.
“We are firmly opposed to various kinds of hacking activities through the Internet,” Jiang said. She said China will fight cybercrime according to law.
She added the researchers have not formally contacted China.
Power struggle escalates in Turkish coup plot case
ANKARA, Turkey — A power struggle between Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government and its fiercely secular military escalated Tuesday when a court formally charged a senior general with plotting to overthrow the civilian leadership.
The former head of the country’s National Security Council, Gen. Sukru Sariisik, joined dozens of serving and retired senior officers accused of conspiring to destabilize the government in a conspiracy dubbed Balyoz, or “the sledgehammer.” The court also charged another retired general and a colonel.
Prosecutors have not made public any evidence or even details of the accusations since they were first made in January. But the national newspaper Taraf has published what it calls leaked copies of documents by the conspirators detailing their plans. Those include blowing up at least two major mosques during Friday prayers; assassinating some Christian and Jewish leaders; and shooting down a Turkish warplane and blaming it on Greece, the country’s historic rival.
Taraf says the conspirators hoped the chaos would lead to calls for a military takeover, and even planned to turn stadiums into open-air prisons capable of holding tens of thousands of people if they challenged the troops. The paper says it has provided the documents to prosecutors, who are using them in their case.
Unable to independently assess the evidence, Turks remain divided on the authenticity of the plot and the threat it may have posed. What is clear, however, is that the balance of power in Turkey has tipped significantly in favor of civilian authorities, whose arrests of high-ranking military officers would have once been unimaginable.
Dutch sidestep EU red tape to rescue German ship
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Gaining fast on the pirates who had seized a German freighter, Dutch naval captain Col. Hans Lodder had no time to waste on bureaucracy.
Sidestepping the command of the European Union’s anti-piracy task force, he went instead to his own government for authorization to recapture the ship by force.
Lodder first ascertained that the Taipan’s crew had locked itself in a bulletproof room. Then he launched his ship’s Lynx helicopter with a team of six special forces marines.
With troops providing cover fire from the helicopter, the marines rappelled onto the ship’s deck of the MV Taipan to shoot it out, if need be, with the pirates. But they met no resistance. The 15-man crew was rescued, and 10 Somali pirates were captured.
“The pirates surrendered the moment they saw the marines,” Lodder said in a telephone interview Tuesday from the Dutch frigate Tromp. No one was injured.
Monday’s successful rescue showed that, when swift decisions are needed, it can be quicker to work around the European Union’s command.
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