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TWO SEPARATE CAR bomb explosions targeted Sunday morning commuters in Baghdad, killing at least 13 civilians, officials said, amid an ongoing stand-off between Iraqi forces and al-Qaida-linked militants west of the Iraqi capital.
The deadliest blast occurred at a bustling bus station in central Baghdad when an explosives-laden car exploded outside the station in the Allawi area, killing at least nine people and wounding 16, a police officer said.
Bombs
Thousands of people use the bus station every day or pass through the area. Last Thursday, a suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of security force recruits nearby, killing nearly two dozen.
Another parked car bomb targeted a gathering of buses and taxis in Baghdad’s northern Hurriyah neighbourhood, killing four civilians and wounding 12 others, the same police officer said.
Two medical officials confirmed the causality figures, which included 16 wounded.
The attacks come as Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni tribal militias have been battling al-Qaida-linked militants in Anbar to recapture strategic territory overrun by militants from the local al-Qaida franchise, known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
Iraqi forces have yet to militarily try to reassert control over Fallujah, which remains in the hands of the militants and tribal gunmen opposed to the central government. Militants and tribal fighters also control part of the provincial capital, Ramadi. Sporadic clashes there and in surrounding areas continue to take place.
Families
Thousands of families have left the area, fearing a government offensive. Clashes between militants and security forces have left at least 60 people dead since violence erupted after the arrest of a Sunni lawmaker sought on terrorism charges and the dismantling of an anti-government Sunni protest camp in Ramadi.
Political tensions and violence has escalated in Iraq over the past year. Last year, the country saw the highest death told since the worst of the country’s sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007, according to United Nations figures. The UN said violence killed 8,868 last year.
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I cannot understand why this project has not been started already. Surly a loan can be sought from the European investment bank. This will be a money making entity once it is operational so it will be paid back over time
@Leitrim303: very few public transport systems make a profit so I doubt it would make much money
@J M Raw: m50 toll is profit on profit with more profit on top.
@Tom Shine: M50 is a road. Public transport systems are buses, trams, metro etc.
@J M Raw: the dart runs at a profit. Some regional services don’t. Anyway, it’s an investment into getting workers to work which has other benefits for the economy.
Alternate headline..”Dublin office building rejected by An Board Pleanala because it would interfere with Dart Underground station which won’t be built because it was rejected funding by Dublin City Council”..All that’s missing is some Benny Hill music.
@Dj: ha ha is that actually true.
@Dj: Benny hill music if not all ready Dublin City Council theme tune it should be.
By the time this Metro is built most of us will be transported by Hearse!
Maltese company ???
@RJ.Fallon: Looks like a shell set up in May 2016. No websites and address is a building with euphmistically entitled businesses such as PDK investments and LT Textile Holding Limited. Considering no publication in Ireland is willing to name the owners of the company Id say it’s probably safe to say it’s “he who cannot be named”.. and I don’t mean Voldemort…
@John Ryan: well then it is a nice report.
@John Ryan: I take it you mean the scruffy little elf who looks after Harry Potter?
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: I have no comment to make as I really can’t afford a High Court case right now (or ever). ;-)
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: I could be entirely worng of course but it looks like likely.
@John Ryan: Thanks for that info, it puts a perspective on it.
Ok. Will we ever get underground metro system in this country?
@The Girl:
No.
@The Girl: I’d say our debt repayments over next few years will make it tough to fund.
@Lurfic: Don’t you mean all the give away budgets will make it hard to fund?
@Tony Stack: Give away?!…I think you mean give the back the people their hard earned cash which you so happened to thieve in the first instance!
So blocked by a project that they arent working on and never will…seems legit
The maltese company should bring this to the high court. DART underground is still a figment of our imaginations. There’s plenty of other land and routes it could take. All development can’t be stopped just in case we do something 30 years from now. Ridiculous.
@Fred Jonsen: The Maltese company is also a figment of someone’s imagination. It exist only on paper.
Need a few brown envelopes lads
The state should just buy the site at current market value …
Someone come and take this place over again! Please!
Brown envelopes must have been a little light.
Maltese Elf must receive compo from the Taxpayers.. here we go again..
Make it part of the building (underground station hub)…
Government have been buying property along this planned underground railroad for years, the wording used was neutralized ground, Next they will be looking to store all the human sludge/faeces from Dublin next to the airport…..
have your say