Imran Khan
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US air strikes target top Isis leaders in Iraq
A bombing in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Photograph: Reuters
US-led air strikes targeted a gathering of Islamic State (Isis) leaders in Iraq on Saturday, possibly including the group’s top man, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Hadath television station reported.
Iraqi security officials were not immediately available for comment on the report from the al-Hadath station, which is part of Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television.
On Friday, a suicide truck bomber targeting a senior police officer’s convoy killed eight people, including the ranking official, authorities said.
The attack happened late on Friday, when the attacker drove his bomb-laden truck into the convoy of police lieutenant general Faisal Malik, who was inspecting troops in the town of Beiji, police said. The blast killed Faisal and seven police officers, while wounding 15 people, hospital officials and police officers said.
No one immediately claimed the attack.
Beiji is home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery, and lies 155 miles north of Baghdad.
A US-led coalition has been launching air strikes on Isis militants and facilities in Iraq and Syria for months, as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive. Early on, Isis had gained ground across northern and western Iraq in a lightning advance.
On Friday, Barack Obama authorised the deployment of up to 1,500 more American troops to bolster Iraqi forces, including into Anbar province, where fighting with Isis militants has been fierce. The plan could boost the total number of American troops in Iraq to 3,100. There now are about 1,400 US troops in Iraq, out of the 1,600 previously authorised.
“What is needed from the US is that it should work to bring the Iraqi people together,” said Hamid al-Mutlaq, a Sunni Iraqi lawmaker. “America, and others, should not become an obstacle that hinder the Iraqis’ ambitions for a free Iraqi decision that serves the interests of Iraq.”
Also on Saturday, a series of bombings in and around the capital killed at least 19 people. The deadliest attack took place on a commercial street in Baghdad’s southwestern Amil neighborhood, where two car bombs killed eight people and wounded 16, police officials said.
In the southeastern neighborhood of al-Amin, at least nine people were killed and another 18 wounded when a car bomb tore through a commercial street lined with restaurants. In Yousifiya, a town just south of the capital, two people were killed and four wounded in a bombing near a fruit and vegetable market.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalists.
- Strikes possibly target Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
- Series of bombings in Baghdad kill at least 19 people
A bombing in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Photograph: Reuters
US-led air strikes targeted a gathering of Islamic State (Isis) leaders in Iraq on Saturday, possibly including the group’s top man, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Hadath television station reported.
Iraqi security officials were not immediately available for comment on the report from the al-Hadath station, which is part of Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television.
On Friday, a suicide truck bomber targeting a senior police officer’s convoy killed eight people, including the ranking official, authorities said.
The attack happened late on Friday, when the attacker drove his bomb-laden truck into the convoy of police lieutenant general Faisal Malik, who was inspecting troops in the town of Beiji, police said. The blast killed Faisal and seven police officers, while wounding 15 people, hospital officials and police officers said.
No one immediately claimed the attack.
Beiji is home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery, and lies 155 miles north of Baghdad.
A US-led coalition has been launching air strikes on Isis militants and facilities in Iraq and Syria for months, as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive. Early on, Isis had gained ground across northern and western Iraq in a lightning advance.
On Friday, Barack Obama authorised the deployment of up to 1,500 more American troops to bolster Iraqi forces, including into Anbar province, where fighting with Isis militants has been fierce. The plan could boost the total number of American troops in Iraq to 3,100. There now are about 1,400 US troops in Iraq, out of the 1,600 previously authorised.
“What is needed from the US is that it should work to bring the Iraqi people together,” said Hamid al-Mutlaq, a Sunni Iraqi lawmaker. “America, and others, should not become an obstacle that hinder the Iraqis’ ambitions for a free Iraqi decision that serves the interests of Iraq.”
Also on Saturday, a series of bombings in and around the capital killed at least 19 people. The deadliest attack took place on a commercial street in Baghdad’s southwestern Amil neighborhood, where two car bombs killed eight people and wounded 16, police officials said.
In the southeastern neighborhood of al-Amin, at least nine people were killed and another 18 wounded when a car bomb tore through a commercial street lined with restaurants. In Yousifiya, a town just south of the capital, two people were killed and four wounded in a bombing near a fruit and vegetable market.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalists.
