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US Attack on Iraq
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Mammoth
anti-war rallies in Iran, Egypt cities
US
alleges Syria supplying military equipment to Iraq Ship
with humanitarian cargo docks in Umm Qasr
Dethronement
of Saddam not an easy task: Blair
China
to send humanitarian aid for Iraqi people (Updated
at 1645 PST) BEIJING:
China will send humanitarian aid for people of Iraq, said a Foreign
Ministry spokesman here, said a press report. China
is deeply concerned over the sudden deterioration of the humanitarian
situation in Iraq. The aid would be transported to Jordan for distribution
among the Iraqi people within couple of days, he said. Iraqi
imam urges holy war against invaders BAGHDAD: A leading Iraqi imam, holding a rifle as he led weekly prayers here Friday, called on Muslims worldwide to launch holy war against the US-led onslaught against Iraq.
Prayer day for safety of US troops (Updated
at 1530 PST) (Updated at 1500 PST) BAGHDAD:
Iraqi ambassador in Moscow Friday said about 700 US and British troops
were killed in the war against Iraq, said a press report.
26
dead, 60 wounded in Najaf fighting: al-Sahhaf
Basra
still in Saddam's control: British TV
Pakistan
will send relief consignment for Iraq soon: Jamali
Republican
Guards deployed to Karbala's defence
Anti-war
strike closes down H- Kashmir for second day
Baghdad
rocked by more blasts Friday morning
Rocket
carrying Japan's first spy satellite launched TOKYO:
A Japanese H-2A rocket carrying the nation's first spy satellites lifted
off on Friday, an official said. Tomahawk
missiles fired on Baghdad BAGHDAD:
Around 10 Tomahawk missiles were fired on Baghdad overnight Friday from US
destroyers in the Mediterranean, a spokesman for the USS Theodore
Roosevelt aircraft carrier said. Command
and Control system in Baghdad destroyed (Updated
at 0730 PST) BAGHDAD:
The Pentagon claimed on Friday that the coalition warplanes and missiles
in an attack destroyed the command and control system in Baghdad, a
British TV reported. German
'human shield' activists expelled from Iraq The
Tuebingen Peace Society, named for the southwestern German town which is
its home, said the official reason given for the move was that the risks
of them staying where they were had become too great. The
four activists, who were on their way out of the country via Syria, had
been assigned to an oil refinery in the capital Baghdad, which has been
under heavy bombardment since US and British forces launched a war against
Iraq on May 20. The group said a total of some 60 "human shields" remained in Iraq. The activists seek to deter attacks on important facilities by their presence, assuming that the attacking forces will not want to risk international condemnation if they are killed. 12
collation forces marines missing, 14 wounded BAGHDAD:
Twelve marines of the coalition forces went missing and 14 wounded in
fighting with Iraqi forces around Nasiriya, a report said. Coalition
forces will be attacked in cities (Updated
at 0640 PST) NEW
YORK: American Army Affairs expert Brigadier
David Grendge has said that the US forces will be attacked in the
cities and added that their forces will have to eliminate Iraqi Republican
Guard and other resisting elements in Baghdad. Coalition
forces will be doubled in Iraq: Pentagon (Updated
at 0640 PST) PENTAGON:
The Pentagon said on Friday that the number of coalition forces would be
doubled in Iraq, a report said.
US
president Bush's advisor resigns WASHINGTON:
Richard Perle, a leading advocate of the war in Iraq, has resigned as
chairman of a top Pentagon advisory panel, but will remain a member, after
a conflict-of-interest controversy, the Pentagon said Thursday. The
controversy involved his dealings with Global Crossing, a now bankrupt
telecommunications firm that retained Perle as an intermediary to gain
Pentagon approval to sell its assets in Asia. US
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a statement he had accepted
Perle's resignation as chairman of the Defense Policy Board but had asked
him to stay on as a member. In
a resignation letter, Perle said he abided by the board's rules but wanted
to step down as chairman so as not to burden Rumsfeld with a controversy
at a time when the country was at war. "With
our nation at war and American troops risking their lives to protect our
freedom and liberate Iraq, I am dismayed that your valuable time ... might
be burdened by the controversy surrounding my presidency," the letter
said. "I
have seen controversies like this before and I know that this one will inevitably distract from the urgent challenge in which you are now engaged," Perle wrote. "I would not wish to cause even a moment's distraction from that challenge."
Baghdad
cannot be taken: minister BAGHDAD:
Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed said Thursday that Baghdad
"cannot be taken", while acknowledging that the first US units
are just 140 kilometers (90 miles) from the city limits.
Iraq
destroys 196 cruise missile of coalition forces BAGHDAD: Iraqi Information Minister said on Friday that they had destroyed 196 cruise missile of US-led coalition forces in series of recent attacks in outskirts of Baghdad, a report said.
Two
suspects linked to murder of Serbian PM killed
FBI
seeks Pakistani pair over possible al-Qaeda link The
FBI's Baltimore office said that authorities want to question Aafia
Siddiqui and her husband, Mohammed Khan, 33, about possible terrorist
activities. Authorities in Florida say the couple may have ties to Adnan
G. El Shukrijumah, 27, a suspected al-Qaeda member who lived in suburban
Miami at one time. The
FBI said Siddiqui, 31, a resident of the Boston area, had visited
Gaithersburg in late December or January. They declined to say who she was
visiting or why. "We would be interested in talking to Siddiqui. She
may have valuable information," said Barry Maddox, an FBI spokesman
in Baltimore. Authorities said Siddiqui has a doctorate in neurological
science and has studied at MIT and Brandeis University in the Boston area,
as well as in Houston, Tex. Siddiqui
listed her home as Karachi, Pakistan. The FBI's Web site lists her
whereabouts as unknown but adds that the bureau believes she is in
Pakistan. While at MIT, she wrote a lengthy paper on the mechanics of
setting up a Muslim student organization. State
corporate records in Massachusetts show that Siddiqui and Khan are
officers of the Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching Inc., which has
a mailing address in Roxbury. The
FBI in Baltimore focused on Siddiqui yesterday because of her visit to the
area, saying she may be wearing either traditional Pakistani clothing or
western attire, and might be traveling with her three young children. Authorities
announced they were searching for El Shukrijumah last week after an alias
he used surfaced in numerous places, including interrogations of captured
al Qaeda lieutenant Khalid Sheik Mohammed. A senior law enforcement
official described El Shukrijumah as a possible terrorism organizer in the
style of Mohamed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks. But authorities said they were unclear about what kind of plot he
may have been involved in. The
FBI has said that El Shukrijumah may be traveling on passports from
Guyana, Trinidad, Canada or Saudi Arabia and could be in Morocco. FBI arrests nine
for transferring money illegally Although
they were not found having links with any terrorist band, but it was
feared that the amount they transferred could be used for terrorist
activities, FBI sources were quoted as saying. They said over last three years around $33 million have been transferred illegally to Pakistan by a money exchange firm in America. Kuwait bans
recruitments of Muslims in army base House rent prices in
Amman rise after Iraq war Expected welcome
of US forces by Iraq oppositions turns wrong Coalition forces
face tough resistance from Iraq army near cities 30
pre-dawn heavy blasts heard in Baghdad The
US-led allied forces were facing intense resistance by the Iraqi army as
they struggled hard to advance to the city. Saddam
shown on Arabic TV attending meeting
National
Guard deployed to guard Los Angeles airport against terror Strikes (Updated
at 0500 PST)
LOS
ANGELES: Armed US military guards were deployed Thursday at Los Angeles'
top potential terror target, its international airport, to ward off any
possible strikes triggered by the war in Iraq. Fully-armed
National Guard troops dressed in camouflage combat gear began patrolling
the airport's perimeter in a bid to boost anti-terror security at the
world's third busiest airfield as war raged in the Gulf. "The
primary job of the National Guard will be to enhance the perimeter defence
of the airport itself to preclude any terrorist attack on the airport,
sources said. UN
Security Council reaches deal on Iraq's oil-for-food programme UNITED
NATIONS: Security Council members have agreed on a draft resolution to
reactivate the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq which, could be put to
the vote within 24 hours, Germany's ambassador to the UN said Thursday.
Two
more powerful explosions hit Baghdad (Updated
at 0330 PST) The latest blasts were heard in the city center following heavy US-British bombardments throughout the day on the capital and its southern outskirts, the site of a major Iraqi military camp. Heavy
bombardment in Baghdad, southeastern outskirts Coalition
forces likely to take ten days to surround Baghdad
Security
Council members wrangle over UN's role in Iraq (Updated
at 0050 PST) UNITED
NATIONS: Security Council members wrangled over the UN's role in Iraq on
Thursday as they wound up a two-day public debate held to allow all
countries to express their views on the US-led war. The
US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, hit back at the
majority of the 85 speakers who took the floor, saying: "We disagree
profoundly with those who avoid the central issue." Iraq was to blame
for the war because it had rejected demands, spelt out in a series of
council resolutions over the past 12 years, to strip itself of its weapons
of mass destruction, he said. "The
coalition action is legitimate and multilateral," he said, rejecting the
criticism that the United States and Britain had invaded Iraq without the
council's authority. While
most of the 70 preceding speakers described the war as a violation of the
UN Charter, condemnation by the 15 council members was in general more
muted. "Even
in the midst of conflict, we must continue our collective efforts to search
for ways and means by which peace can be restored," Pakistan's ambassador Munir Akram said. "Obviously
we will not be able to achieve this through condemnation or recrimination,
however deplorable the use of force." The French ambassador,
Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, did not even call for an end
to hostilities.
few
casualties as possible," he said.
Like other members, he said the council should quickly adopt a
resolution to reactivate the oil-for-food programme, which was suspended
on March 18, when Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered all UN
international staff to leave Iraq. But
Russian ambassador Sergei Lavrov warned the United States and Britain that
it would not allow the UN's humanitarian role to gloss over and justify
their military action. "We will not support the proposal that the
mechanism of the oil-for-food programme be adjusted to the military
scenario," he said. US
ambassador stages walkout from Security Council meeting After staging walk out from Council meeting US ambassador John Negroponte spoke to reporters at UN head quarter, he said that US is pursuing two important issues in Middle East one of the Iraq and other of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict and both the issues deserve high priority attention of US foreign policy. He said that as far as humanitarian supplies were concerned in Iraq it would become possible only when the allies move forward secure their objectives, secure the cities, restore the calm and peace to various parts of the Iraq, then the conditions will be created for the most expedition and effective delivery of humanitarian supplies for example the UN at the movement not allowing it is personnel to go back into Iraq because security reasons as the security gets restored it is easier for UN personnel and other NGOs to go in and do their work. Iraq
downs US helicopter, destroys 3 tanks: Al-Jazeera (Updated
at 0020 PST) DOHA:
Arab news channel Al-Jazeera aired Thursday what it said was exclusive
footage of a US Army Apache attack helicopter, which Iraq claims to have
shot down as well as having destroyed three tanks and an unmanned
aircraft.
Iraq
downs US helicopter, destroys 3 tanks: Al-Jazeera (Updated
at 0020 PST) DOHA: Arab news channel Al-Jazeera aired Thursday what it said was exclusive footage of a US Army Apache attack helicopter, which Iraq claims to have shot down as well as having destroyed three tanks and an unmanned aircraft. Convoy
of food parcels hijacked in Iraq Dr Hilal Al-Sayer said that the tens of
thousands of prepared meals and ration kits of rice, oil, sugar and
cereals destined for farms just north of the Iraqi border, had instead
been hijacked soon after leaving Kuwait. "That aid didn't get to the farms
where the women and children are, our people lost control and young Iraqi
men began emptying the trucks," he said. "It went to the well, young and
healthy." Mr Al-Sayer says British troops advised staff from the Red
Crescent (the local equivalent of the Red Cross) to abandon almost all
their lorries to the crowd, since it was considered too dangerous to
intervene to save the estimated 45,000 meal packs. More than 350
civilians have been killed: Iraq Iraq
war will last until victory: Bush says
Iraq will be disarmed of weapons of mass destruction. And the Iraqi people will be freed. That is our commitment. That is our determination, and we will see it done,'' Blair added.
Bush
calls for immediate oil-for-food resumption Bush
touts "steady progress" in Iraq UN
arms inspectors willing to go Iraq: Belix
Ant-war rally in New York (Updated at 1920 PST) NEW
YORK: An antiwar rally was held in New York Thursday as large number of
people took to the roads, said a press report.
Britain
alleges Iraq contemplated chemical attack
Three
loud blasts in Baghdad, oil wells under fire
No
financial assistance needed to Iraq: embassy Fierce
fighting in Samawa, Iraq
Chemical
suits, masks not proof of weapons: Blix
Explosions
heard as air raid sirens sound in Kuwait
Iraq
says 350 killed, 4,000 injured in war
Two
Nobel laureates arrested in Washington antiwar rally
Russia demands immediate ceasefire in Iraq (Updated at 1310 PST) MOSCOW: Russia has demanded stopping the US-led war on Iraq after a missile attack on civilian population in Baghdad killing 15 people, said a press report.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in an official statement demanded immediate ceasefire and peaceful settlement of the issue under the United Nations Security Council.
The war is badly affecting the civilian population and infrastructure of Iraq, said the Ministry.
Anti-war
strike in Held Kashmir
Fresh
blasts, anti aircraft guns firing in Baghdad
Dozens
of US marines injured in 'friendly fire'
Powell unfolds plan for future government in Iraq (Updated at 0855 PST) LONDON: The US State Secretary Colin Powell unfolded the future government plan before the Congress saaying the plan will also got approved from the United Nations, a British news channel reported Thursday.
The Powell plan suggests a US military government headed by General Tommy Franks after the war, which will be transformed into a US civilian government. The other steps under the plan would be an interim Iraqi setup, which will lead to a regular Iraqi civilian government that will initially work with a UN caretaker.
Allied
forces on move to west Iraq Huge
blasts heard in Baghdad, more than eight blasts reported
Iraq
TV transmission disrupted; 3000 US land troops set for Gulf Post-war
reconstruction expenses of Iraq should be afforded by US: Germany American
forces occupy three bridges on Euphrates River Attack on Iraq
is violation of international law: Iraq
Both
sides in Iraq war may be guilty of war crimes: Amnesty (Updated
at 0425 PST) LONDON:
Both sides of the week-old-war Iraq war may already be guilty of war
crimes, Amnesty International human rights group said Wednesday. The
US-led coalition side would be guilty because of the bombing of state
television in Baghdad, Claudio Cordone, senior director for international
law at the London-based group, said in a statement. "Attacking
a civilian object and carrying out a disproportionate attack are war
crimes," she said.
"The onus is on the coalition forces to demonstrate the
military use of the TV station and, if that is indeed the case, to show
that the attack took into account the risk to civilian lives,"
Cordone said. "The
bombing of a television station simply because it is being used for the
purposes of propaganda is unacceptable. It is a civilian object, and thus protected under international humanitarian law," she said. The Iraqi side would be guilty if its troops are found to have fired mortars on their own people to quell an uprising in Basra, as British officials alleged yesterday.
US
forces parachute into northern Iraq (Updated
at 0400 PST) WASHINGTON:
Elements of the US Army's 173rd Brigade parachuted
into northern Iraq, at an airfield in the first major deployment of forces
in that part of Iraq, US defense official said Wednesday 600
cruise missiles fired, 290,000 troops deployed in Iraq: US (Updated
at 0350 PST)
WASHINGTON:
The Pentagon said Wednesday that US troops had fired 600 Tomahawk cruise
missiles and more than 4,300 precision-guided bombs in the first six days
of the US-led war on Iraq. Outlining
some figures, the Pentagon said more than 250,000 US troops had been
deployed in support of operations, as well as 40,000 mainly British and
Australian coalition troops.
"Our ground forces are pushing north towards Baghdad and Al
Kut," Major General Stanley McChrystal Joint Staff vice-director of
operations said Wednesday. "We
are more than 220 miles (355 kilometers) into Iraqi territory and have done
it in over six days in spite of difficult weather," said McChrystal.
"Since March 20, our forces have fired more than 600 Tomahawks and
dropped more than 4,300 precision-guided weapons," he told reporters. US
troops kill 1,000 in 72 hours near Najaf: commander NEAR
NAJAF: US troops have killed 1,000 Iraqis in the past 72 hours in the
Najaf region, an American officer said Wednesday. Coalition
forces attack massive Iraqi column leaving Basra (Updated
at 0350 PST) BASRA,
Iraq: US-led coalition forces on Wednesday attacked a massive column of Iraqi tanks that poured out of the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a reporter with the British army said.
Annan
urges Security Council to unite around humanitarian aid for Iraq (Updated
at 0200 PST) UNITED
NATIONS: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council on
Wednesday to put aside its differences over reactivating the oil-for-food
programme in Iraq as a channel for war relief. "I
urge the five permanent members, in particular, to show leadership by making
a concerted effort to overcome their differences," Annan said at the
start of a two-day public council debate. The
meeting was the council's first on Iraq since the United States and Britain
invaded last week after giving up their efforts to seek UN authority for
military action. "All of us must regret that our intense efforts to
achieve a peaceful situation through this council did not succeed,"
Annan said. Many
people were asking why Iraq did not take a final opportunity to disarm peacefully,
he said. "At the same time, many people around the world are
seriously questioning whether it was legitimate for some member states to
proceed to such a fateful action now ... without first reaching a
collective decision of this council," he
said. The
invasion "has far-reaching consequences, well beyond the immediate military dimensions," he said.
Security
Council begins open meeting on Iraq UNITED
NATIONS: The UN Security Council began a two-day public debate Wednesday
which was expected to produce denunciations of the US-led war on Iraq but
no practical decision to halt it. Three
Americans killed as spy plane crashes in Colombia (Updated
at 0130 PST) BOGOTA:
Three US nationals died when the US government Cessna they were using to
search for three kidnapped Americans crashed in southern Colombia, an
official said. Huge
explosions as Baghdad comes under more bombardment
France
would help with chemical attack, but would not fight: Villepin (Updated
at 0050 PST) PARIS:
France would provide assistance to US-led forces in the Gulf region if
Iraq used chemical weapons against them, but would not get involved in the
fighting, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Wednesday. Lawmakers
mull aid to airlines in war budget (Updated
at 0050 PST) WASHINGTON:
US lawmakers were scrambling Wednesday to find a way to aid struggling US
airlines that are facing a deepening crisis as a result of the war in
Iraq. Airline
industry leaders as well as employee groups are pleading for urgent help
from Congress to avert what they say will be an industry catastrophe if
the war persists and travel suffers more declines. Bill
Frist, the Senate's majority leader said Tuesday that the chamber would
consider financial assistance to ailing US air carriers. The Senate
"will provide financial assistance to some extent," Frist said. Frist's comments echoed those of Republican Senator John McCain. According to Frist, public funds could be added to a 74.7 billion dollar package requested by President George W. Bush to finance military operations in Iraq, as well as homeland security and other costs linked to the war on terrorism.
(Updated
at 0030 PST)
BAGHDAD:
Iraq said that its elite Republican Guard forces had battled US-led troops
for the first time Wednesday since the war began, and that they had
inflicted "heavy losses" on the coalition. US
acknowledges possible civilian deaths in bombing AS
SALIYAH: The United States acknowledged it might have killed some
civilians with air strikes Wednesday after 14 people were reported dead in
missile attacks on a Baghdad housing block. Aid
experts to discuss situation in Iraq next Wednesday: Swiss official GENEVA:
Representatives from 30 countries and 21 aid agencies are expected to
discuss humanitarian aid for Iraq in a meeting in Geneva next week, the
Swiss foreign ministry said Wednesday. The
participants, mostly technical experts, will decide on the most urgent
needs for the war-torn country and examine how they can be delivered, said
Joachim Ahrens, spokesman for the ministry's development cooperation
department. Iraq's
reconstruction could also be discussed, he said. US,
EU agree on need for humanitarian funds in Iraq BRUSSELS:
US and EU representatives agreed Wednesday on the pressing need for funds
to head off a humanitarian disaster in war-embroiled Iraq, officials said. Alan
Larson, the US undersecretary of state for economic, business and
agricultural affairs, found common ground with European Commission
officials in tackling the most urgent needs of Iraqi civilians, sources
said. But
looking ahead, the question of who will foot the bill to rebuild a
post-war Iraq will prove more controversial in a Europe where many are
bitterly opposed to the US-British campaign to oust Saddam Hussein.
Process
to free Iraqis from ceasefire line would be late: Powell
Russia
calls for end to hostilities after Baghdad attack (Updated
at 0005 PST)
MOSCOW:
Russia called for an immediate end to hostilities in
Iraq Wednesday after a missile attack by US-led forces on a residential
area in
Baghdad left 14 people dead and around 30 people injured. Russian
FM warns US against unleashing "information war" (Updated
at 2330 PST) MOSCOW:
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Wednesday sternly warned the
United States away from unleashing an “information war'' against Russia
and poured scorn on the war in Iraq. While talking to journalists, he said that US reasons for war on Iraq were illogical. In an appearance before the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, Ivanov reiterated Moscow's firm intention to block any attempts to legitimize the war through the United Nations Security Council. He also called on Washington to prevent U.S.-Russian relations from deteriorating in the long-term.
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