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Iraqi police officer survives assassination, five terrorists arrested in search operation IRBIL, March 26 (KUNA) -- An Iraqi chief of police survived assassination on Sunday in the city of Kirkuk, northern Iraq. Police sources told reporters that an explosive device targeted the convoy of Chief of Meqdad Police Center, Brigadier Adel Zein Al-Abedin while on his way to work, noting that the blast caused property damages.

Iraq: Irbil’s Kurds live on a hill of undiscovered treasures Source: Radio Free Europe (12-13-05) The kidnapping of a German archeologist in late November highlighted both the historical wealth of Iraq and the perils of exploring that history. In much of the country, archeologists have all but abandoned their work because of security concerns. But officials in Kurdish-administered northern Iraq say the region is secure enough for excavations. The region is rich in potential sites, and only a fraction of them have been researched. One of the most dramatic is in the heart of Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish...

Iraq Insurgents in First Attack on Korean Troops Korea's Zaytun Division in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil took cover late Sunday evening when four shells presumably fired by insurgents landed near the unit's base compound, the first direct attack on Korean troops since they were deployed to the area last September. There were no casualties among Korean soldiers or civilians, but the division's activity is likely to be curtailed for some time. "At around 11:00 p.m., there were blasts and flames as two shells landed in wheat fields 500 m south of the Zaytun Division base walls, and two...

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) -- An Iraqi carrying hidden explosives set them off outside a police recruitment center Wednesday where people were applying for jobs, police said. The U.S. military said at least 50 Iraqis were killed, making it the deadliest insurgent attack in Iraq in more than two months. State-owned TV in Iraq and Al-Arabiya television gave even higher casualty figures, saying 60 were killed and as many as 150 wounded. At least seven cars parked near the center were destroyed by the blast in Irbil, a Kurdish city 220 miles north of Baghdad. Several nearby buildings were damaged. Pools...

ALARM - Forty-five died in an attack commits suicide in Erbil in Iraq ERBIL (Iraq) - Forty-five people were killed and 90 wounded in an attack commits suicide made Wednesday with Erbil, in Kurdistan of Iraq, according to the governor Nawzad Hadi.

IRBIL, Iraq - Adnan Ismael raced to the back of the campaign bus carrying supporters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and frantically pulled aside a dark blue curtain so he could see out. Hundreds of honking cars were following behind in an impromptu rolling celebration late Thursday afternoon through this ancient city. Passengers hung out of vehicles, shouting and waving the yellow flag of the KDP and the red, white and green flag of the Kurdish semiautonomous region here in northern Iraq.

A wedding is being held at the newly built Sheraton hotel in Irbil. The Kurdish bride and groom sit blinking into a video camera, their family clustered around. In the background, American contractors are drinking Turkish beer. This place of smiles and shining marble is the Iraq that was meant to be after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It existed for a brief moment after the invasion when American soldiers were at first greeted as liberators. Now the only place still deeply grateful for getting rid of the dictator is in the north of the country, in Kurdistan, a sanctuary...

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IRBIL, Iraq - Compared to most U.S. soldiers in Iraq, Lt. Col. Gregory Politowicz and his 19 colleagues lead the good life. Instead of sweltering tents or massively fortified bunkers, they stay in rented villas where they cook their own meals and relax without fear of mortars crashing through the roof. When they go to work, repainting schools or repairing wells, Iraqis are genuinely happy to see them. Politowicz has been invited into so many homes to drink chai - tea - that he has lost count. "They don't hate anybody else, they focus on getting their kids an education...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 February 5, 2004Release Number: 04-02-08 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION TRANSFERS AUTHORITY TO TASK FORCE OLYMPIA MOSUL, Iraq – As hundreds of regional Iraqi leaders and Coalition partners looked on, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) transferred authority and operational control of Ninewa, Irbil and Dahuk provinces to Task Force Olympia today at the palace headquarters complex in northern Mosul. Task Force Olympia is a sub-element of I Corps headquarters based at Fort Lewis, Wash. The unit includes representatives...

<p>106 suspected insurgents arrested; no progress in Irbil bombing probe BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. and Iraqi forces captured more than 100 suspected insurgents in raids across the country, arresting a former Iraqi general and another Iraqi believed involved in a suicide bombing last month, the U.S. command said Thursday. Those arrested included former Brig. Gen. Abu Aymad al-Tikriti, former head of military intelligence in northern Iraq, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said. Al-Tikriti was arrested early Thursday along with three others near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, he said.</p>

Al-Qaeda linked group claims blastsFrom correspondents in DubaiFebruary 5, 2004AN Islamist group, Ansar al-Sunna, with alleged links to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility today for the deadly twin suicide attacks in the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil, according to an Islamist Internet site. In a statement posted on the site, the group said "two of our martyr brothers attacked the two dens of Satan in Arbil" on Sunday. "Our joy on Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) was boosted by this attack against the agents of Jews and Christians," the statement said. It was not possible to independently verify the statement....

Video Captures Images of Iraq Suicide Bomber At Least 101 Were Killed in Joint Attacks on Kurdish Groups MSNBC News Services Updated: 2:06 p.m. ET Feb. 03, 2004 IRBIL, Iraq - A video camera captured images of a man shaking hands with a Kurdish official seconds before blowing himself up in one of the two suicide bombings during Muslim holiday celebrations that killed 101 people. Kurds blamed Ansar al-Islam, a militant group allegedly linked to al-Qaida, for the attacks./snip/The PUK video shows only the back of the bomber’s head as he joined the line. The man, apparently in his 20s...

Iraqi deaths caused by the two suicide bombings Feb. 1 in Irbil increased to 67, a senior U.S. officer reported today from Baghdad. The number of people injured in the attacks now stands at 247, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director of Combined Joint Task Force 7, told reporters. U.S. authorities in Baghdad first reported Feb. 1 that 56 people had been killed in the assaults, with more than 200 persons injured. Kimmitt said the FBI has collected evidence from the attack sites at the offices of two American-supported Kurdish political parties. Members of the 101st Airborne Division,...

<p>ERBIL, Iraq -- Kurds blamed Ansar al-Islam, an Al Qaeda-linked militant group, for suicide bombings that killed at least 67 people, saying yesterday that its members increasingly have been slipping into Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster.</p> <p>Thousands gathered to mourn at Erbil's largest mosque, where the two main Kurdish parties -- both US allies, but often at odds with each other -- held a joint memorial in a show of unity.</p>

IRBIL, Iraq -- A video camera has captured images of a man shaking hands with a Kurdish official seconds before blowing himself up in one of the two suicide bombings during Muslim holiday celebrations that killed 67 people. Kurds blamed Ansar al-Islam, a militant group allegedly linked to al-Qaida, for the attacks. The video shows the suicide bomber mingling with hundreds of well-wishers greeting officials of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, on Sunday, the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha. A second attacker slipped in similarly in a gathering of the Kurdish Democratic Party across town....

Wolfowitz: Iraq Attacks Show U.S. Efforts Succeeding Reuters / 2-02-04 By Tabassum Zakaria KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Attacks in Iraq (news - web sites) like the Arbil suicide bombings show efforts to build a new Iraq are succeeding and that extremists are using violence to stop the process, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on Monday. "The most discouraging news in the last couple of the days is the bombing in Arbil," said Wolfowitz, who is on his third trip to Iraq since the war ended last April. "They took advantage of the Muslim holiday when people relaxed," he...

Bombings Cripple More Than Civilians Mon Feb 2, Top Stories - Los Angeles By Alissa J. Rubin Times Staff Writer BAGHDAD — When two suicide bombers blew themselves up inside the offices of the two main Kurdish political parties Sunday, they not only killed scores of civilians but further crippled Iraq (news - web sites)'s move toward self-governance. The violence seems certain to reduce the already slim chances of Iraqi elections before July and could even delay those scheduled for early 2005 — complicating U.S. efforts to turn over power to an interim government that could be regarded as legitimate....

Death Toll Rises in Iraq Bombings - 67 Bremer Statement Condemns Attacks, Promises Justice By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer IRBIL, Iraq - American military officials raised the death toll in suicide bombings at two Kurdish party offices to 67 on Monday, while a Kurdish official said he suspected the bombings were carried out by terrorists linked to al-Qaida. Bremer Statement Condemns Attacks, Promises Justice No group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks, the bloodiest in Iraq (news - web sites) in six months. But American and Kurdish officials suspected foreign militants or Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked Islamic militant group operating...

<p>IRBIL, Iraq -- Suicide bombers with explosives wired to their bodies struck the offices of the country's two main Kurdish parties in nearly simultaneous attacks yesterday, killing at least 56 persons and wounding more than 235 in the deadliest assault in Iraq in six months.</p>