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Iraq violence kills eight, police kidnapped

Agence France-PresseMay 18, 2013 10:30
Violence in Iraq on Saturday killed eight people including a police officer, his wife and two children, and gunmen also kidnapped five police officers, officials said. Gunmen broke into the home of the administrator for the Rashid area, south of Baghdad, killing one of his guards, an interior ministry official said. They then moved to the nearby house of Captain Adnan al-Obaidi, a member of a police anti-terrorism unit, and killed him, his wife and their two children, the official said. A medical official confirmed the toll.

U.S. soldier who fled to Canada to avoid Iraq war gets 10 months in jail

The Canadian PressApril 29, 2013 15:03
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A soldier in the U.S. Army who fled to Canada to avoid a second tour of duty in Iraq has been sentenced to 10 months in prison. Kimberly Rivera pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of desertion and was sentenced to the prison term and received a bad-conduct discharge. The 30-year-old has said she became disillusioned with the U.S. mission in Iraq while serving there in 2006. During a two-week leave in the U.S. in 2007, Rivera crossed the Canadian border after she was ordered to serve another tour in Iraq.

Iraq PM points to Syria over deadly 'sectarian' unrest

Agence France-PresseApril 27, 2013 08:16
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pointed a finger on Saturday at the civil war in neighbouring Syria for the return of sectarian strife to Iraq, as a five-day wave of violence has killed 215 people. And the head of the Sahwa anti-Qaeda militia forces threatened war on militants if those who have killed Iraqi soldiers are not turned over. Sectarian strife "came back to Iraq, because it began in another place in this region," Maliki said in televised remarks.

AFP World News Agenda

Agence France-PresseApril 25, 2013 17:30
What's happening around the world Friday: -- TOP STORIES -- + Death toll from Bangladesh factory tragedy passes 250 + Spain unveils reforms to battle crisis + Iraq warns of return to 'sectarian war' + Hagel says chemical weapons appear to have been used in Syria DHAKA: Full coverage as rescuers search desperately for survivors from the collapse of a garment factory compound in Bangladesh that has killed at least 256 people (BANGLADESH-BUILDING-DISASTER)

US soldier admits 2009 killings in Iraq

Agence France-PresseApril 22, 2013 18:18
A US soldier pleaded guilty Monday to killing five of his colleagues in Iraq four years ago, in a plea deal to escape a death sentence, a military spokesman said. Army Sergeant John Russell was accused of the May 2009 killings at a clinic for soldiers suffering from war-related stress at Camp Liberty, the largest US base in Iraq. Russell, who has previously denied responsablity, "said 'I killed these people,' he acknowledged that," said Gary Dangerfield, a spokesman for the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), south of Seattle.

Bombs, mortars fail to stop first Iraq vote since U.S. exit

April 20, 2013 09:45
By Patrick Markey BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bomb attacks and mortar fire failed to prevent Iraqis voting on Saturday in the first nationwide elections since the last U.S. troops left more than a year ago. The provincial elections will measure political parties' strength before a parliamentary election in 2014 to chose a new government in a country deeply divided along sectarian lines.

Baghdad cafe bombing kills 27 ahead of elections

Agence France-PresseApril 18, 2013 17:17
A late-night bombing at a Baghdad cafe frequented by young men playing billiards and video games killed 27 people on Thursday, just days before Iraq's first elections since US troops withdrew. The attack was the single deadliest in the country in a month, and comes amid concerns over the credibility of Saturday's provincial elections as Iraq grapples with a spike in violence and an ongoing political crisis.

Iraq-war aftermath

April 3, 2013 02:00
BAGHDAD, April 3 (Yonhap) -- After enduring over three decades of war, Iraqis continue to be haunted by the legacy of combat violence that seemingly leaves the country in a perpetual state of war. The last of the three wars that the Muslim country had been through since 1980 -- the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War -- ended in 2011. But a local resident who spoke to Yonhap News Agency at Baghdad International Airport claims that an air of conflict has persisted despite the war coming to an end.

Decade on, Iraq grappling with attacks and deadlock

March 20, 2013 10:45
Grappling with a spike in violence and a worsening political situation, Iraq on Wednesday marked 10 years since a US-led invasion that sought to establish a stable, democratic ally in the Middle East. The event was met with little fanfare in Baghdad, though, a day after a wave of bombings and gun attacks killed 56 people across the country, as some ministers began a cabinet boycott and officials delayed provincial polls.

Iraq delays polls in two provinces for security reasons

March 19, 2013 06:16
Iraq's cabinet decided on Tuesday to postpone provincial elections in two provinces that were scheduled for April 20 by up to six months over security concerns, the Iraqi premier's spokesman said. Polls in Anbar province in west Iraq and Nineveh in the north have been delayed, Ali Mussawi told AFP, noting that candidates have been threatened and killed, while there were also requests for a delay from the two provinces. The announcement came as 34 people were killed in more than 20 attacks in Iraq on Tuesday, according to security and medical officials.
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