Monday, June 25, 2007
12 killed in Mansour Hotel bombing
Security
(AP) - A suicide bomber who penetrated layers of security blew himself up in the busy lobby of a leading Baghdad hotel on Monday, killing at least 12 people, including a U.S.-allied tribal sheik, police reported. The attack, in which 21 others were wounded, was just one in a surge of five suicide and other bombings Monday that killed at least 32 people across Iraq.
In an equally deadly attack, a suicide truck bomber targeted an Iraqi police station shared with U.S. troops in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, killing nine people. Five American soldiers suffered minor wounds, the U.S. command said.
The bombing at the high-rise Mansour Hotel, on the west bank of the Tigris River in central Baghdad, struck at about noon as the lobby bustled with members of news media organizations headquartered at the hotel and other guests, witnesses said. A man wearing a belt of explosives walked into the lobby, approached the reception desk and detonated his bomb, police reported.
"It was a great breach of security because there are three checkpoints, one outside and two inside," said hotel worker Saif al-Rubaie, 28, who witnessed the blast and said all the casualties were Iraqis, most employees in the reception area.
Police said the dead included hotel resident Fassal al-Guood, a Ramadi tribal sheik and former governor of Anbar province who was a leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, which has partnered with U.S. and Iraqi officials to fight al-Qaida influence in Anbar. A noted Iraqi poet, Rahim al-Maliki, also was killed, said Iraqi Media Net, the government organization on whose television network al-Maliki appeared. Reports that al-Guood was a target of the bombing, possibly along with other Salvation Council sheiks, could not be confirmed.
The Mansour, which also houses the Chinese Embassy and is the Baghdad home for a number of Iraqi parliament members, is just a half-mile from the heavily fortified International Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices are situated. The attack was the fifth in a string of suicide and other bombings Monday morning, from Mosul and Beiji in the north to Hillah in the south. Two were aimed at U.S. targets.
In an equally deadly attack, a suicide truck bomber targeted an Iraqi police station shared with U.S. troops in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, killing nine people. Five American soldiers suffered minor wounds, the U.S. command said.
The bombing at the high-rise Mansour Hotel, on the west bank of the Tigris River in central Baghdad, struck at about noon as the lobby bustled with members of news media organizations headquartered at the hotel and other guests, witnesses said. A man wearing a belt of explosives walked into the lobby, approached the reception desk and detonated his bomb, police reported.
"It was a great breach of security because there are three checkpoints, one outside and two inside," said hotel worker Saif al-Rubaie, 28, who witnessed the blast and said all the casualties were Iraqis, most employees in the reception area.
Police said the dead included hotel resident Fassal al-Guood, a Ramadi tribal sheik and former governor of Anbar province who was a leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, which has partnered with U.S. and Iraqi officials to fight al-Qaida influence in Anbar. A noted Iraqi poet, Rahim al-Maliki, also was killed, said Iraqi Media Net, the government organization on whose television network al-Maliki appeared. Reports that al-Guood was a target of the bombing, possibly along with other Salvation Council sheiks, could not be confirmed.
The Mansour, which also houses the Chinese Embassy and is the Baghdad home for a number of Iraqi parliament members, is just a half-mile from the heavily fortified International Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices are situated. The attack was the fifth in a string of suicide and other bombings Monday morning, from Mosul and Beiji in the north to Hillah in the south. Two were aimed at U.S. targets.
Labels: Anbar Salvation Council, Beiji, Fassal al-Guood, Hillah, Mansour Hotel, Rahim al-Maliki, Siniyah, suicide bomber
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Jordan to receive Iraqi oil at preferential prices
Oil
(Iraq Directory) - Iraqi Minister of Planning, Ali Baban, said that the oil agreement between Iraq and Jordan provides for the latter to provide oil at preferential prices, up to $18 per discount on the worldwide price of oil.
He added, during his presence in the fourth international exhibition for the reconstruction of Iraq held in Amman, that the problem is in the unstable security situation on the road between Beiji and the Iraqi border, which impede the implementation of the agreement signed in Baghdad, when the Jordanian Prime Minister, Maaroof Al-Bikheet visited it last year, and not in the relations between Iraq and Jordan. He stressed the needed of the two countries for pipeline between them, but such a pipeline has not been built despite the need for it.
He pointed out that after this period, the Jordanian government found the road unsafe for the transport of oil from Iraq, and we are still ready to implement this project if not for the security dilemmas that accompany the transport process. He said that there is a complex security situation, but this does not prevent us from the construction process.
(Iraq Directory) - Iraqi Minister of Planning, Ali Baban, said that the oil agreement between Iraq and Jordan provides for the latter to provide oil at preferential prices, up to $18 per discount on the worldwide price of oil.
He added, during his presence in the fourth international exhibition for the reconstruction of Iraq held in Amman, that the problem is in the unstable security situation on the road between Beiji and the Iraqi border, which impede the implementation of the agreement signed in Baghdad, when the Jordanian Prime Minister, Maaroof Al-Bikheet visited it last year, and not in the relations between Iraq and Jordan. He stressed the needed of the two countries for pipeline between them, but such a pipeline has not been built despite the need for it.
He pointed out that after this period, the Jordanian government found the road unsafe for the transport of oil from Iraq, and we are still ready to implement this project if not for the security dilemmas that accompany the transport process. He said that there is a complex security situation, but this does not prevent us from the construction process.
Labels: Beiji, Jordan, oil, Planning Minister Ali Baban
