As much of the world celebrated the birth of Christ, Iraq continued to see continued unrest. Protests all over Iraq have declared the recent elections a ‘fraud’. Ayad Allawi, the former interim Prime Minister, also criticized the election and has called for an investigation. There were many attacks on candidates and party headquarters throughout the election according to Allawi, who won fewer seats this time round. Attacks have not diminished since the elections nor over the Christmas period. On Monday, 2 police officers and a civilian were killed by a bomber in Baghdad. And in Baquba 5 officers were killed by another suicide bomber. The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Viktor Yushenko, made a surprise visit to the country on Monday, this followed the high profile visits by British PM Tony Blair and US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld last week. On Tuesday the BBC reported a pipeline attack in another part of the country. The oil industry has been under constant attack since hostilities began. Prison violence was reported on Wednesday in which a prisoner grabbed a prison guard’s gun an open fire. Four guards and the prisoner were killed according to CNN. Meanwhile there has been no word from the four westerners kidnapped last month. Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Virginia, USA, James Loney, 41, of Toronto, Canada, Norman Kember, 74, from Britain, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 of Toronto, Canada, were kidnapped in western Baghdad on Saturday 26th November 2005. All were part of Chicago based Christian Peacemakers Team when they taken by insurgents. Further appeals for their release were made during the Christmas break.
[20:20 GMT 28/12/2005]
No comments:
Post a Comment