Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Islamic State of Iraq claims Mansour Hotel blast
Insurgency
(Associated Press) - An Al-Qaida front group in Iraq claimed on Tuesday responsibility for the suicide bombing at Baghdad's Mansour hotel which killed 13 and wounded 27 people at a gathering of U.S.-allied tribal sheiks. In a statement on a Web site commonly used by the militants, the Islamic State of Iraq said that Monday's bombing was a "quick response" for an Iraqi police raid on a Sunni family house in the Anbar province in which the policemen detained the father and raped his daughters.
"The ministry of interior followed the heads of infidels and apostasy who brought those disgraceful police to the land of Muslims to make disaster and destruction," said the statement. Its authenticity could not be independently verified. The Monday hotel blast undermined efforts to forge a front against al-Qaida extremists in Iraq. Four of the tribal chiefs were among the 13 victims, police said.
After the noontime explosion, which also devastated the ground-floor lobby of the high-rise Mansour, Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki quickly vowed renewed support for Anbar province's tribal leaders. The statement also identified the suicide bomber who had slipped past security checkpoints to detonate his suicide belt in the hotel lobby as "a lion of the Islamic State of Iraq's martyrs brigade, brother Abu Othman al-Duliemi."
"God accept him and let heaven be his final destination," the statement said. It also claimed the group had set up a special operation "to track down and follow up anyone allied with the crusaders or al-Maliki government." Crusaders is a term militants use for U.S. troops in Iraq.
The statement also urged other "sons of the Islamic state of Iraq" to cooperate with the group and to come forward with information about those allied with the "crusaders or the infidel government." The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group of several insurgent groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq. Both have been blamed for some of the deadliest bombings in the country's conflict.
"The ministry of interior followed the heads of infidels and apostasy who brought those disgraceful police to the land of Muslims to make disaster and destruction," said the statement. Its authenticity could not be independently verified. The Monday hotel blast undermined efforts to forge a front against al-Qaida extremists in Iraq. Four of the tribal chiefs were among the 13 victims, police said.
After the noontime explosion, which also devastated the ground-floor lobby of the high-rise Mansour, Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki quickly vowed renewed support for Anbar province's tribal leaders. The statement also identified the suicide bomber who had slipped past security checkpoints to detonate his suicide belt in the hotel lobby as "a lion of the Islamic State of Iraq's martyrs brigade, brother Abu Othman al-Duliemi."
"God accept him and let heaven be his final destination," the statement said. It also claimed the group had set up a special operation "to track down and follow up anyone allied with the crusaders or al-Maliki government." Crusaders is a term militants use for U.S. troops in Iraq.
The statement also urged other "sons of the Islamic state of Iraq" to cooperate with the group and to come forward with information about those allied with the "crusaders or the infidel government." The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group of several insurgent groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq. Both have been blamed for some of the deadliest bombings in the country's conflict.
Labels: Islamic State of Iraq, Mansour Hotel, tribal sheiks
Anbar tribes and politicians blame al-Maliki's govt for death of tribal leaders
Tribal, Security
(Azzaman) - There is fury and anger in the rebellious Province of Anbar where tribes and politicians blame the government of Nouri al-Maliki for the killing of five of the province’s most senior tribal chiefs. Five sheiks were among 12 people killed when an explosion ripped through the conference hall where they were to meet to explore ways of reinstating stability in the violent province.
The government blamed a suicide bomber but the power of the explosion and the collapse of the ceiling as well as tight security at one of Baghdad’s most fortified and guarded hotels gives the government’s version little credence. The Sunni sheiks had traveled to Baghdad to attend a conference at the hotel Mansour Melia to meet with Shiite counterparts on ways to stem al-Qaeda influence in Iraq.
The early afternoon attack was of a force which experts say was impossible to have been caused by a suicide bomber. Maliki had publicly criticized attempts to arm the tribes in their struggle against al-Qaeda elements in their areas. Anbar is an al-Qaeda hotbed where the group is almost in total control of large swathes of the country’s largest province.
Repeated U.S. military offensives have failed to dislodge the group whose fighters have inflicted heavy losses on U.S. troops and armor. Maliki’s government and U.S. officials have blamed al-Qaeda but the group which usually brags about its operations has yet to issue a statement on the explosion. The bombing is a severe blow to U.S. efforts and its emerging alliance between Sunni tribal leaders and the country’s Shiite majority.
The government blamed a suicide bomber but the power of the explosion and the collapse of the ceiling as well as tight security at one of Baghdad’s most fortified and guarded hotels gives the government’s version little credence. The Sunni sheiks had traveled to Baghdad to attend a conference at the hotel Mansour Melia to meet with Shiite counterparts on ways to stem al-Qaeda influence in Iraq.
The early afternoon attack was of a force which experts say was impossible to have been caused by a suicide bomber. Maliki had publicly criticized attempts to arm the tribes in their struggle against al-Qaeda elements in their areas. Anbar is an al-Qaeda hotbed where the group is almost in total control of large swathes of the country’s largest province.
Repeated U.S. military offensives have failed to dislodge the group whose fighters have inflicted heavy losses on U.S. troops and armor. Maliki’s government and U.S. officials have blamed al-Qaeda but the group which usually brags about its operations has yet to issue a statement on the explosion. The bombing is a severe blow to U.S. efforts and its emerging alliance between Sunni tribal leaders and the country’s Shiite majority.
Labels: Al Anbar, Mansour Hotel, Nouri Al-Maliki, tribal leaders
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
