Suicide Bombing near Iraq Place of Worship Kills a Dozen

There have been reports of a suicide bombing targeted at a Shia place of worship (known as a husseiniyah) in Kirkuk, northern Iraq on Thursday, leading to the deaths of at least 12 people.

According to eyewitness accounts, the suicide bomber had attempted to gain entrance to the al-Zahraa husseiniyah. Realizing that he couldn’t carry out his attack due to the refusal by the police to let him in, he detonated the explosives at the entrance, killing at least 12 people and wounding 18 others.

A senior police officer said that family members of victims from a spate of bomb blasts that had occurred the day before were at the husseiniyah receiving condolences at the time of the attack.

Only on Wednesday, six people were brutally killed in a car bomb explosion in Sadr City with about 17 others wounded. Then, another attack saw the deaths of three people, with nine others wounded, according to reports by the medical officials.

The attacks have been blamed on the unending Sectarian dispute occurring between the Sunni minority, and the Shiites majority, of which the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is a member. Accusations have been passed around, most especially at Nuri’s regime for targeting the Sunni community wrongly

Massacre in Coastal Town Forces Syrian Residents to Flee

A great number of Sunni Muslims and their families have fled their residences in the coastal area of Banias, after Assad’s armed forces massacred dozens of people on Friday night, according to activists.

According to reports, activists claimed that about 77 people were brutally killed in the Ras al-Nabaa district of Banias, only two days after dozens of people were killed in the nearby village of al-Baida by Assad’s forces and militia loyal to the Syrian president.

British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), said that hundreds of families were estimated to have fled the town for nearby towns like Jableh and Tartous.

Head of SOHR Rami Abdelrahman said, “The army is turning people back at the checkpoints outside the town, telling them to go back to Banias, that nothing is wrong. There are also announcements going out on mosque loudspeakers telling people to return home.”

There was a footage posted online by the SOHR of a gory scene in Ras al-Nabaa. Mutilated and burnt bodies littered the area. Some were lying in pools of blood, and most of the victims were children.

Another footage showing the bodies of dozens of people killed in Banias on Friday night was posted online by activists. The bodies were those of a family, with women and children included.

The US state department released a statement after it got wind of the incidents that occurred lately.

“We strongly condemn atrocities against the civilian population and reinforce our solidarity with the Syrian people. As the Assad regime’s violence against innocent civilians escalates, we will not lose sight of the men, women and children whose lives are being so brutally cut short.”

“Those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law and serious violations and abuses of human rights law must be held accountable.”

Dozens of People Dead after Iraqi Raid on Sunni Protest Camp

At least 27 people, mostly Sunni protesters and gunmen were left dead with 70 others injured in the northern city of Hawija on Tuesday, after a clash between gunmen and Iraq’s security forces in Kirkuk province, according to a senior Iraqi official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.  

Although, there have been conflicting reports on the actual death toll, but, there were losses on both sides as 3 security officers and 20 protesters were killed, according to the defense ministry.

The clash began when Iraq’s security forces, who were on the manhunt for wanted persons, raided the al-Atisam Square, which happen to be the site where the Sunni protesters were demonstrating.

In a statement, the defense ministry said, ‘when the armed forces started to enforce the law using units of riot control forces, they were confronted with heavy fire.’ In the raid, they detained some protesters and confiscated a huge arsenal of assorted weapons like AK-47s, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

In a contrasting report, the protesters have claimed that they were unarmed when the security forces raided their site. A protester, Ahmed Hawija, claimed that when the security forces raided the square, they (the protesters) were unprepared and unarmed, and the security forces crushed some of them (the protesters) in their vehicles.

The violence didn’t end there. 3 checkpoints around Hawija were also seized by tribal Sunni militants for a short while, until government forces took control later.

Earlier Tuesday, some Sunnis also came under attack in southern Baghdad when two roadside bombs went off as worshippers exited a mosque. 7 people were reported dead, with about 13 others injured, according to police reports.

Tensions between the Shiites and the Sunnis have only grown worse with the latest development. In the Anbar province of Falluja, there have been reports of angered citizens setting two army vehicles on fire, and others near Falluja attacked an army convoy.

While Sunni politicians have pointed accusing fingers at the Shiite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, for the assault on the peaceful Sunni protesters, Iraqi House Speaker, Osama al-Najafi issued a strong condemnation on the military.

He said, ‘we condemn in the strongest words of condemnation and denunciation the unfortunate crime committed by the army against the demonstrators in Hawija.’

Al-Maliki has ordered an investigation, and instructed that aid be given to the wounded, with compensation to the aggrieved families.

It was also reported that two Sunni Cabinet members- Mohammed Tameem and Abdul Karim al-Samarrai, Minister of Education and Minister of Science and Technology respectively, have resigned over the actions on the protesters by security forces.

Thousands of protesters left their homes to protest on the streets that are predominantly Sunni provinces, demanding that the Shiite-led government should stop looking down on Sunni community, since December.