Baghdad takes aim at stray dogs

Baghdad officials said Saturday that 58,000 stray dogs have been killed in and around the Iraqi capital over the past three months as part of a campaign to curb an increasing number of strays blamed for attacks on residents.

A statement released from the Baghdad provincial government said 20 teams, made up of police shooters and veterinarians, had been moving around Baghdad and the outer-lying regions daily looking for and putting down the strays. The operation, which was first announced in 2008, truly took off in April after funds were allocated.

The surge in strays — estimated by provincial officials to have reached 1.25 million — is ironically linked to what officials say is an improvement in some elements of daily life in Baghdad, a city that for seven years has been struggling to return to normalcy after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Officials with the provincial veterinary directorate said the dogs are eating more and having bigger litters.

Figures for the number of attacks by packs of stray dogs were not available Saturday, the last day of the weekend in Iraq.

But officials said resident complaints have increased steadily in tandem with the rise in the stray population. In the capital, dogs have attacked children, in some cases killing them.

Efforts since the campaign was first announced in 2008 met with limited success because of a lack of funding and follow-through. There are not believed to be any dog shelters in Baghdad.

The teams begin their work daily at 6 a.m., and coordinate with relevant security forces in the area — ostensibly to ensure that their presence does not draw retaliatory fire by security forces who may mistake them for insurgents.

Provincial officials said before the teams move into an area, residents are also notified, and warned to not pick up meat they find on the ground because it could be the poisoned food used to lure and kill the dogs.

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, stray dogs were routinely shot. But their numbers grew steadily following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion when a host of more serious security issues sidelined efforts to deal with the dogs.

Muted reaction to celebrated Lebanese Ayatollah Fadlallah's death

Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah was mourned by hundreds of thousands in Lebanon this week, but in Iraq's Shiite holy city of Najaf, where Fadlallah was born, the influential cleric received a chilly reception. No banners or open displays of mourning were seen as clergy in Najaf expressed discomfort over the ayatollah's legacy.

They faulted his relatively liberal religious teachings. In particular, some cited his defense of women's rights. Clergy also criticized Fadlallah's promotion of an activist role for clergy, far away from the more traditional school of noninterference advocated in Najaf.

"First of all ... Fadlallah belongs to the movement ... that interferes in politics, contrary to the classical or conservative schools that consider Najaf as a headquarters," said Sheik Nima Abbadi, a teacher of political sciences at the Hawza, Najaf's loose confederation of religious schools.

Abbadi said clergy in Najaf considered Fadlallah to be closer to the interventionist spirit of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic.

Najaf's clergy appeared bothered by Fadlallah’s more liberal decrees for men and women in Islam.

"He allows people to shave their beards, and women to beat their husbands," one cleric said, on condition of anonymity.

The disavowals of Fadlallah could also stem from the healthy completion among clergy. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most senior cleric in Iraq, while associated with a hands-off approach to politics, has himself provided guidance to Iraq's democracy since 2003.

Fadlallah's ties to the founders of Iraq's Dawa Party could also have played a factor in Najaf's cool reception to him. Iraq's Shiite elite are divided over who should be the country's next prime minister, and the celebration of a cleric, considered an early Dawa Party member, may have proven unpopular in Najaf. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, the current leader of the Dawa Party, follows Fadlallah's religious teachings. On Thursday, Maliki's office announced that the prime minister had gone to Beirut to pay his respects.

Latest Baghdad bomb blasts kill 7

Bomb blasts across the capital killed at least seven people yesterday, the last day of a Shi’ite religious pilgrimage. In addition, four pilgrims walking back from the ceremony were sprayed with gunfire outside the northern city of Kirkuk. One died; three were injured.

The bloody morning follows a series of blasts Wednesday that killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 250 in the city and surrounding areas. The most deadly was a suicide bombing in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah that killed more than 28 and wounded at least 136 people. Casualties in the attacks rose overnight, police said.

No one has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.

More than 4 million people had gathered yesterday in the city to commemorate the death of the revered Shi’ite figure Imam Moussa al-Kadhim. Pilgrims had walked from across the country to reach the Shi’ite shrine, despite attacks in the previous days.

Also yesterday, four people were killed and five were injured in bomb attacks on officers’ homes in western Ramad, and a farmer was killed in a bomb attack in Kirkuk, police said.

Iraqi Parliament to Convene

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says parliament will convene on July 13, which will mark only the second time lawmakers have met since the inconclusive national elections in March.

Zebari announced the meeting at a Thursday news conference in Irbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

The announcement comes a day after bombings targeting Shi'ite pilgrims killed at least 50 people in Baghdad. Iraqi officials say at least 12 people were killed in similar attacks in the capital, Thursday.

Insurgents have intensified attacks across Iraq in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to exploit a political stalemate that resulted from the country's inconclusive elections in March.

No political group emerged from the election with enough parliamentary seats to form a majority. An alliance led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi won the most seats - two more than a coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

However, Mr. Maliki has insisted he should run the government. His coalition has teamed up with the third-place Iraqi National Alliance.

Parliament convened briefly on June 14. Acting Speaker Fouad Massoum then adjourned the session, saying a speaker and a president for parliament would be chosen at a later date.

Attacks in Iraq kill at least 41, most of them pilgrims

The relentless violence intensified Wednesday evening, with at least 41 people killed by bomb attacks in the capital, an Interior Ministry official said. Another 174 people were wounded, the official said. The vast majority of the victims were Shiite pilgrims.

In the latest attacks, which occurred despite heightened security, a roadside bomb detonated in western Baghdad Wednesday evening, killing at least six pilgrims and wounding 30 others.

Another bombing, in central Baghdad's Haifa street, wounded nine pilgrims on Wednesday evening.

A suicide bomber struck at pilgrims in northern Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Adhamiya district as they were walking toward neighboring Kadhimiya, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had gathered to mark the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Musa al-Kadhim. Twenty-eight were killed and 81 were wounded, the official said.

Two roadside bombs left at least five pilgrims dead and 36 wounded in eastern Baghdad's mostly Shiite districts of New Baghdad and al-Fudhailiya, the official said.

A roadside bomb targeting pilgrims exploded in al-Bayaa, in southeastern Baghdad, wounding at least six. In central Baghdad, another five pilgrims were wounded in a roadside bomb blast.

Earlier Wednesday, soldiers at an army checkpoint west of Baghdad fired upon a vehicle driven by a suicide attacker when he refused to stop, Interior Ministry officials told CNN. The vehicle exploded, leaving one civilian dead and four Iraqi army soldiers and police wounded. It was unclear whether the attacker detonated the bomb or if shots fired at the vehicle triggered the explosion.

In another incident, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol exploded in the Al-Jamia neighborhood of western Baghdad, wounding three soldiers.

A bomb attached to a police officer's car went off Wednesday as he was driving in the Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad. The officer was killed, officials said.

The attacks came a day after bombings left at least nine dead and 43 wounded. Pilgrims have been targeted since Friday.

The capital is under tight security for the pilgrimage, with many roads blocked and a ban on motorcycles and bicycles in place.

Security measures include: Vehicles to transport pilgrims; thousands of deployed troops; security cameras in and around the shrine; aerial surveillance; and 500 personnel to combat the threat of female suicide bombers.

The Kadhimiya shrine is one of the holiest to Shiite Muslims around the world. The imam died more than 1,200 years ago.

At least 7 killed in Baghdad on last day of Shiite holiday

At least seven people were killed by bombs across the Iraqi capital Thursday, the last day of a Shiite religious pilgrimage. In addition, four pilgrims walking back from the ceremony were sprayed with gunfire outside the northern city of Kirkuk. One died; three were injured.


The bloody morning follows a series of blasts on Wednesday that killed more than 50 people and wounded more than 250 in the city and surrounding areas. The most deadly was a suicide bombing in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah that killed more than 28 and wounded at least 136 people. Casualties in the attacks rose overnight, police said.

No one has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks in the past few days.

On Thursday, more than 4 million people had gathered in the city to commemorate the death of the revered Shiite figure Imam Moussa al-Kadhim. Pilgrims had walked from all across the country to reach the Shiite shrine, despite attacks in the previous days. The attackers hit as tens of thousands of security forces patrolled the streets and most roads were blocked to allow pedestrians.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was visitingLebanon on Thursday, condemned the blasts in Baghdad of the past two days, the Associated Press reported.

"Those who benefit from such acts are the enemies of humanity, the enemies of democracy," he said.

Militants have struck a heavy blow against the Shiite community in a bid to destabilize the nation in the midst of political uncertainty. The attacks come as Iraqi politicians remain deadlocked on the formation of a new government, four months after national elections.

Violence has dropped significantly since the height of the sectarian fighting that erupted in 2006, but some worry it will increase as the U.S. military draws down to 50,000 troops in the country by Sept. 1.

Also Thursday, four people were killed and five were injured in bomb attacks on officers' homes in western Ramadi; the dead included a woman and child. A farmer also was killed in a bomb attack in Kirkuk, police said.

Shiite pilgrims stream into Baghdad

Tens of thousands of Shiite worshippers streamed into the Iraqi capital on Wednesday amid heightened security for a major pilgrimage, a day after six people were killed in a string of attacks.

Around 25 people were also wounded in Tuesday's mortar and bomb attacks as they travelled to the mausoleum of Musa Kadhim, the seventh of the 12 revered imams in Shiite Islam, in Kadhimiyah, a district named in his honour.

Hundreds of tents have been erected to feed people as they pour into the city for the event, which reaches a climax on Wednesday night and early Thursday. The mausoleum has previously been targeted by bombers.

Traffic was banned on Tuesday on several bridges spanning the Tigris River, increasing already bad congestion in the capital, where traffic control is already complicated by hundreds of security checkpoints.

"Everything is going very well today," Major General Qassim Atta, a Baghdad security forces spokesman, told AFP, referring to special safety measures such as road closures put in place to protect worshippers.

"We continue to organise transport for pilgrims and air surveillance for their benefit," he said.

"The movement of motorcycles, bicycles and carts is banned throughout the city until further notice," Atta added, to reduce the risk of small vehicle-borne attacks.

The Shiite majority in Iraq have been a main target of Sunni armed groups in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

The shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim has not been spared. In April 2009, two female suicide bombers detonated their payloads near the shrine, killing 65 people, including 20 Iranian pilgrims, and wounding 120 others.

The threat of violence did not dent the enthusiasm of worshippers who spoke to AFP, some of whom were planning to pray for a breakthrough to the political hiatus that has blocked a new government taking office after elections.

"I will pray at the mausoleum for (Prime Minister Nuri) al-Maliki and (Iyad) Allawi to find an agreement so that our situation gets better," said Umm Amir, 40, who was wearing a black abaya and had travelled from Mahmudiyah, 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Baghdad.

"Because our lives are very difficult," she said, accompanied by her neighbour Umm Sajjad on the journey and carrying a plastic bad filled with water and an orange for sustenance.

Hamid Taleb, 47, an unemployed man travelling with friends and relatives from Babil, a majority Shiite city south of Baghdad, said nothing would stop him from making the annual journey.

"Even in the time of Saddam I came across the fields despite it being forbidden to travel to attend," he said.

"I would make the pilgrimage whatever the situation is."