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Six Sunni tribal fighters (Hashd al-Ashaeri) were killed Wednesday, and another 30 people injured, in a suicide attack in Iraq’s Saladin province north of Baghdad, according to a local police source.
“A suicide bomber detonated his explosive device at a checkpoint manned by [pro-government] Hashd al-Ashaeri fighters… in the town of Shirqat north of provincial capital Tikrit,” Police Lieutenant Salahuddin al-Jabouri told Anadolu Agency.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, al-Jabouri pointed the finger at the Daesh terrorist group.
Last year, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but destroyed following three years of conflict with the Iraqi army and a U.S.-led international coalition.
The notorious terrorist group, however, still appears to maintain a limited presence in certain parts of the country.
The Iraqi Federal Court on Sunday approved the results of the May 12 parliamentary election, according to a court spokesman.“The court approved the final results of the parliamentary election during a session attended by all court members,” Iyad al-Samok said in a statement.For the last two months, results of Iraq’s hard-fought May 12 parliamentary polls have remained the subject of bitter dispute amid widespread allegations of fraud.Earlier this month, Iraq's electoral commission announced that a manual recount of the vote results were more or less the same as the initial electronic vote count.According to the commission, only one seat from Iraq’s Baghdad Coalition had moved to the Al-Fatih Bloc, which is part of a Hashd al-Shaabi-led coalition (giving the latter 48 -- instead of 47 -- assembly seats).Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Sairoon Coalition won 54 parliamentary seats, followed by a Hashd al-Shaabi-led coalition (48 seats) and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's Victory Bloc (42 seats), according to the results.By Sunday's approval, incoming MPs will hold a first session to elect a new assembly speaker.Within 30 days of that first session, the assembly will elect -- by a two-thirds majority -- the country’s next president.The president will then task the largest bloc in parliament with drawing up a government, which must be referred back to parliament for approval.
Iraqi Federal Court approves parliamentary vote results
Dozens of Iraqis on Thursday staged a sit-in in the southern, oil-rich city of Basra to protest the reported death of a protester -- and the injury of several others -- at the hands of security forces.Within the past 48 hours, Iraqi security forces forcibly dispersed two demonstrations in Basra -- one near the West Qurna 2 Oilfield and another in the city’s Ezz al-Din Salim district.According to an Iraqi military source, the protest dispersals left at least one demonstrator dead and another 20 in police custody.Protester Rafed al-Kanaani told Anadolu Agency that protesters had set up tents outside the governor’s office on Wednesday, where they announced the launch of an open-ended sit-in “to protest police heavy-handedness and the government’s apparent unwillingness to meet our demands”.“Security forces are using teargas and heavy ammunition against unarmed demonstrators,” he said.Iraq’s state-run Human Rights Commission, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into the recent violence.In a statement, commission member Fadhil al-Gharrawi said he had received reports of arbitrary arrests being made in Basra, going on to assert that more than 20 protesters had recently been detained.Popular protests erupted in Iraq’s Shia-majority southern provinces last month and have since spread to capital Baghdad.Demonstrators demand improved public services, more job opportunities and an end to perceived government corruption.Iraqi court sentences Daesh militant to deathIraqi forces uncover Daesh tunnels near Mosul
Protesters in Iraq's Basra decry murder of demonstrator
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed issues between Baghdad and Erbil in separate phone calls Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Kurdish Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement that Pompeo "expressed appreciation for the two leaders’ progress in resolving outstanding Baghdad-Erbil issues according to the Iraqi constitution’s framework for dialogue."Nauert said Pompeo emphasized the importance of forming a moderate new Iraqi government pursuant to the constitutional timeline that is responsive to the expectations of the Iraqi people.Hailing the recent "successful" joint operations by Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga against the Daesh terrorist group, Pompeo "underscored continuing U.S. support for a strong, sovereign and prosperous Iraq as outlined in our bilateral Strategic Framework Agreement".On Friday, al-Abadi’s Victory Bloc reportedly reached an agreement to form the country’s next government.According to a statement released by the bloc, the agreement includes nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Sairoon coalition, the frontrunner in Iraq’s May 12 parliamentary polls, Ammar al-Hakim’s National Wisdom Movement and Iyad Allawi’s National Coalition.On Thursday, Iraq's official electoral commission announced that a manual recount of the May 12 poll results was more or less the same as the initial electronic vote count.For the last two months, results of the poll had remained the subject of a bitter dispute amid widespread allegations of vote-rigging.According to those initial results, al-Sadr's Sairoon coalition clinched 54 seats, followed by Al-Fatih (47 seats) and al-Abadi's Victory Bloc (42 seats).Once Iraq’s Federal Court approves the results of the manual recount, incoming MPs will hold a first session to elect a new assembly speaker.Within 30 days of that first session, the assembly will elect -- by a two-thirds majority -- the country’s next president.The president will then task the largest bloc in parliament with drawing up a government, which must be referred back to parliament for approval.Iraq says no plans by premier to visit IranIraqi premier flies to Turkey for talksTurkey, Iraq to discuss opening of new border crossingIraqi forces uncover Daesh tunnels near Mosul
Pompeo discusses Baghdad-Erbil issues with PMs