Bombings kill 19 people in Iraq
12:54 P.M. Bombings kill 19 people in Iraq
A series of car bombs on Saturday ripped through a crowded marketplace and a Shiite militia's checkpoint, killing a total of 19 people in separate attacks north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials said, as the country's prime minister vowed to punish those who smashed ancient artifacts in a northern city.
Police said the first attack took place Saturday morning when a car bomb exploded near a busy market in the town of Balad Ruz. Minutes later, a second car bomb went off, targeting people who gathered to inspect the site of the first blast.
Balad Ruz is 70 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Police and hospital officials said 11 people were killed and 50 wounded.
Later on, a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a checkpoint manned by Shiite militiamen who are fighting Islamic State militants near the city of Samarra, killing eight Shite fighters and wounding 15 others.
Samarra and the surrounding areas have been under constant attacks by the Islamic State group, which captured large swaths of western and northern Iraq last summer. (AP)
10:10 A.M. ISIS fighters attack Samarra ahead of Iraqi army offensive
Islamic State suicide bombers and fighters struck targets on Saturday in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra, where security forces and their Shi'ite militia allies have been gathering for an offensive against the radical militants.
Security sources and residents said the attack on Samarra was launched at 5.30 am (0230 GMT) when two Islamic State suicide bombers blew up their cars in the northern area of Sur Shnas.
At the same time a man drove a Humvee rigged with explosives into the south of the city and detonated it, while Islamic State fighters attacked security forces to the west with sniper fire, mortars and rocket propelled grenades.
Thousands of troops and fighters from Shi'ite militias known as Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) have gathered around Samarra for a campaign to drive Islamic State out of nearby strongholds on the Tigris River, including the city of Tikrit 50 km (30 miles) to the north. (Reuters)
3:20 A.M. UN condemns ISIS's 'barbaric terrorist acts' in Iraq
The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned what it described as the latest "barbaric terrorist acts" in Iraq by Islamic State militants, including the destruction of priceless religious and cultural artifacts.
A video published by the ultra-radical Islamist militant group Islamic State on Thursday showed men attacking ancient Assyrian statues and sculptures, some of them identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC, with sledgehammers and drills, saying they were symbols of idolatry.
"The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the ongoing barbaric terrorist acts in Iraq by ISIL (Islamic State)" the council said in a statement. It also reiterated that the group "must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence, and hatred it espouses must be stamped out."
Among the recent acts by Islamic State the 15-nation council cited were the abduction of 100 Sunni tribesmen from outside Tikrit, the immolation of 45 Iraqis and daily attacks targeting civilians in Baghdad.
It also condemned "the deliberate destruction of irreplaceable religious and cultural artifacts housed in the Mosul Museum and burning of thousands of books and rare manuscripts from the Mosul Library."
Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, has taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and has been accused of numerous human rights violations, including mass murder, beheadings, burning hostages alive and other atrocities.
Earlier this month the Security Council banned all trade in antiquities from war-torn Syria, threatened sanctions on anyone buying oil from Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front militants and urged states to stop kidnap ransom payments.
It is not clear how much money Islamic State has generate from sale of illicitly traded antiquities, but Security Council diplomats have said that it was significant.
The head of the UN culture, education and science agency UNESCO, Irina Bokova, also condemned the destruction of artifacts in the Mosul Museum.
"I condemn this as a deliberate attack against Iraq's millennial history and culture, and as an inflammatory incitement to violence and hatred," she said in a statement. (Reuters)
Thursday:
9:20 P.M. White House "hopeful" on coalition for Iran nuclear talks amid Netanyahu visit
The White House said on Friday the United States is hopeful that it can hold together the coalition of countries working toward an agreement with Iran on its nuclear capabilities.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration does not see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Washington as bad for the negotiations.
Netanyahu is opposed to the nuclear talks with Iran and has been invited by Republicans who share his view to address Congress next week. (Reuters)
8:50 P.M. Iraqi-born cleric faces custody for praising Paris attack
An Iraqi-born cleric recently released from prison in Norway was jailed Friday for four weeks after praising the slaying of cartoonists at the satirical Charlie Hebdo paper in Paris that had lampooned Islam and other religions.
Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, known as Mullah Krekar, was arrested Thursday in Oslo on preliminary charges of inciting to commit criminal offense, a day after giving an interview to Norwegian broadcaster NRK. He was also apprehended on preliminary charges for threating a Kurdish immigrant living in Norway in the same TV interview. Preliminary charges are one step short of formal charges.
"Whoever offends our religion and our honor, must understand that this is a conflict about life and death," Ahmad told NRK. "The cartoonist has become a fighting heathen whom it is permissible to kill."
Before Friday's ruling at the Oslo court, Ahmad said "I think only of my religion." He refused to comment on the TV interview. (AP)
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