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A giant Saudi oil tanker seized by pirates in the Indian Ocean is nearing the coast of Somalia, the US Navy says.
The Sirius Star is the biggest tanker ever to be hijacked, with a cargo of 2m barrels - a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output - worth more than $100m.
The vessel was captured in what the navy called an "unprecedented" attack 450 nautical miles (830km) off the Kenyan coast on Sunday.
Its international crew of 25, including two Britons, is said to be safe.
The hijacking was highly unusual both in terms of the size of the ship and the fact it was attacked so far from the African coast, says BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner.
The seizure points to the inability of a multi-national naval task force sent to the region earlier this year to stop Somali piracy, he says.
'Holding hostages'
The US Fifth Fleet said the supertanker was "nearing an anchorage point" at Eyl, a port often used by pirates based in Somalia's Puntland region.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the pirates involved were well trained.
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Hijackings off the coast of East Africa and the Gulf of Aden - an area of more than 1m square miles - make up one-third of all global piracy incidents this year, according the International Maritime Bureau.
They are usually resolved peacefully through negotiations for ransom but, given the value of the cargo in this instance, a military response has not been ruled out, our correspondent says.
At least 12 vessels - including the Ukrainian freighter MV Faina, which was seized in September - remain captive and under negotiation with around 250 crew being held hostage.
This month alone, pirates have seized a Japanese cargo ship off Somalia, a Chinese fishing boat off Kenya and a Turkish ship transporting chemicals off Yemen.
War-torn Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991.
'Crew safe'
The South Korean-built Sirius Star was seized as it headed for the US via the southern tip of Africa, prompting a rise in crude oil prices on global markets
The route around the Cape of Good Hope is a main thoroughfare for fully-laden supertankers from the Gulf.
With a capacity of 318,000 dead weight tonnes, the ship is 330m (1,080ft) long - about the length of a US aircraft carrier.
Owned by the Saudi company Aramco, it made its maiden voyage in March.
The ship's operator, Vela International, said all of the crew were reported to be safe and that response teams had been mobilised to ensure their safe release.
As well as the two Britons, the ship's crew members are said to be from Croatia, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. >>>>
No information today. No comment," a Somali pirate shouts over the sound of breaking waves, before abruptly ending the satellite telephone call.
He sounds uptight - anxious to see if a multi-million dollar ransom demand will be met.
He is on board the hijacked Ukrainian vessel, MV Faina - the ship laden with 33 Russian battle tanks that has highlighted the problem of piracy off the Somali coast since it was captured almost a month ago.
But who are these modern-day pirates?
According to residents in the Somali region of Puntland where most of the pirates come from, they live a lavish life.
Fashionable
"They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day," says Abdi Farah Juha who lives in the regional capital, Garowe.
"They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns," he says.
"Piracy in many ways is socially acceptable. They have become fashionable."
Most of them are aged between 20 and 35 years - in it for the money.
And the rewards they receive are rich in a country where almost half the population need food aid after 17 years of non-stop conflict.
Most vessels captured in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf of Aden fetch on average a ransom of $2m.
This is why their hostages are well looked after.
The BBC's reporter in Puntland, Ahmed Mohamed Ali, says it also explains the tight operation the pirates run.
They are never seen fighting because the promise of money keeps them together.
Wounded pirates are seldom seen and our reporter says he has never heard of residents along Puntland's coast finding a body washed ashore.
Given Somalia's history of clan warfare, this is quite a feat.
It probably explains why a report of a deadly shoot-out amongst the pirates onboard the MV Faina was denied by the vessel's hijackers.
Pirate spokesman Sugule Ali told the BBC Somali Service at the time: "Everybody is happy. We were firing guns to celebrate Eid."
Brains, muscle and geeks
The MV Faina was initially attacked by a gang of 62 men.
BBC Somalia analyst Mohamed Mohamed says such pirate gangs are usually made up of three different types:
The three groups share the ever-increasing illicit profits - ransoms paid in cash by the shipping companies.
A report by UK think-tank Chatham House says piracy off the coast of Somalia has cost up to $30m (£17m) in ransoms so far this year.
The study also notes that the pirates are becoming more aggressive and assertive - something the initial $22m ransom demanded for MV Faina proves. The asking price has apparently since fallen to $8m.
Calling the shots
Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, is reportedly where the pirates get most of their weapons from.
A significant number are also bought directly from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Observers say Mogadishu weapon dealers receive deposits for orders via a "hawala" company - an informal money transfer system based on honour.
Militiamen then drive the arms north to the pirates in Puntland, where they are paid the balance on delivery.
It has been reported in the past that wealthy businessmen in Dubai were financing the pirates.
But the BBC's Somali Service says these days it is the businessmen asking the pirates for loans.
Such success is a great attraction for Puntland's youngsters, who have little hope of alternative careers in the war-torn country.
Once a pirate makes his fortune, he tends to take on a second and third wife - often very young women from poor nomadic clans, who are renowned for their beauty.
But not everyone is smitten by Somalia's new elite.
"This piracy has a negative impact on several aspects of our life in Garowe," resident Mohamed Hassan laments.
He cites an escalating lack of security because "hundreds of armed men" are coming to join the pirates.
They have made life more expensive for ordinary people because they "pump huge amounts of US dollars" into the local economy which results in fluctuations in the exchange rate, he says.
Their lifestyle also makes some unhappy.
"They promote the use of drugs - chewing khat [a stimulant which keeps one alert] and smoking hashish - and alcohol," Mr Hassan says.
The trappings of success may be new, but piracy has been a problem in Somali waters for at least 10 years - when Somali fishermen began losing their livelihoods.
Their traditional fishing methods were no match for the illegal trawlers that were raiding their waters.
Piracy initially started along Somalia's southern coast but began shifting north in 2007 - and as a result, the pirate gangs in the Gulf of Aden are now multi-clan operations.
But Garowe resident Abdulkadil Mohamed says, they do not see themselves as pirates.
"Illegal fishing is the root cause of the piracy problem," he says.
"They call themselves coastguards."
Robyn Hunter
The attackers detonated a car bomb in the Sunni district of Adhamiyah, then minutes later a suicide bomber ran into the resulting melee and blew up, according to defence and interior ministry officials.
A third explosion caused by a roadside bomb around 30 metres (yards) from the first two blasts tore through the market moments later, according to an Iraqi police officer who was on the street when the attack took place.
An interior ministry official said at least 68 people were wounded in the rush-hour Baghdad attack, which wreaked the heaviest toll in Baghdad since June 17 when 51 people were killed and 75 wounded in a car bombing.
Monday's attack took place on Kassra street, a road lined with restaurants and tea shops popular for breakfast with Iraqi security forces, as a bus carrying young school girls drove past, according to witnesses.
"There was a huge explosion and before I went out to look another bomb went off," said Fadel Hussein, a waiter at a teahouse near the scene.
"Heavy smoke was everywhere. There were so many bloody victims on the ground, we helped to evacuate those people to ambulances," Hussein told AFP.
The US and Iraqi military cordoned off the area, which was littered with glass, mangled metal and scorched cars as sobbing parents desperately searched for their children.
One woman in her 40s and wearing a black abaya, the traditional black Arab dress, sat on the ground crying uncontrollably.
"I'm waiting for my husband who is inside the area looking for my son. I hope he is still alive," she sobbed.
Witnesses told an AFP photographer that some schoolgirls in the bus had died in the blast.
Seats in the wrecked interior of the minibus were heavily stained with blood, while its exterior was riddled with fist-sized shrapnel holes. Girls' shoes lay strewn on the blood-stained street.
Among those killed were three policemen, three women and five children, police said.
The Medical City hospital received 37 wounded people, including several women and children and two Iraqi soldiers, a medic said.
However, the US military put the toll at four killed and 34 wounded.
Meanwhile in Baquba, a restive city north of Baghdad, a female suicide bomber killed four Sunni guards belonging to Awakening councils and wounded at least 15 civilians at a checkpoint.
A doctor who examined the remains of the attacker said she was likely a 13-year-old girl.
The United Nations envoy to Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, condemned the attacks that "aimed at re-instilling fear, distrust and division among the public just as Iraq prepares itself to assume political normalcy with the upcoming provincial elections."
On Sunday, Baghdad set January 31 as the date for long-awaited provincial elections seen by Washington as a key benchmark towards national reconciliation but also capable of stoking further conflict among Iraq's divided communities.
The bombings also came as Sunni militias which have played a key role in driving Al-Qaeda fighters from Baghdad began receiving pay cheques from a Shiite-led government that has long eyed them with suspicion.
Up to 60 stations opened throughout the Iraqi capital to pay some 50,000 members of the US-allied Awakening Councils or Sahwas which used to receive their monthly salaries from the American military.
Despite the dramatic improvement in security in large swathes of Iraq, militants continue to launch near daily attacks , most of them targeting US and Iraqi security forces.
Baghdad has been hit by a string of bombings in the last week, most of them small roadside bombs that claimed only a handful of victims.
The US military says the capital has become much safer since the launch last year of a joint Iraqi-US security plan. Attacks average four a day, 83 percent less than in 2007. >>>>
A synchronized triple bombing in northern Baghdad killed 28 people early Monday, an Interior Ministry official said, which would make it the deadliest attack in Baghdad since June, when a car bombing killed 51.
The bombers struck a main street of a mixed Sunni and Shiite neighborhood in the Adhamiya district about 8:15 a.m., when commuters were heading to work.
Bombs planted in two parked cars exploded about five minutes apart, an Interior Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. As a crowd gathered in the chaos, a suicide bomber darted into its midst and detonated his explosives.
Two hospitals reported that 49 people had been brought in. The Interior Ministry said 68 had been hurt. The U.S. military later reported lower casualty figures: seven killed and 35 wounded.
The bombings, along with a suicide attack in Baqouba on Monday, seem to be part of an increase in violence after a relatively quiet few weeks. Sunday, at least 12 Iraqis were killed in attacks, outside Baghdad. Saturday, at least 11 people died in attacks in Baghdad and Anbar Province.
In a central Baghdad hospital, Ahmed Abdul Kadr, 13, a day laborer, lay on a bed in the ground floor emergency room, his shorts caked with blood.
Ahmed said he had come to the capital from his home in Hilla, to the south. He found work as a ditch digger and was helping to excavate a stretch of pavement when the first blast knocked him flat.
"I was digging together with one man, but he died right there," Ahmed said. "My legs are filled with shrapnel, but I'll be all right. I'm going to go home for a while, but then I'll come to Baghdad and find another job." >>>>
Kabul's growing security crisis was graphically exposed yesterday when a suicide bomber breached the heavily guarded information ministry building and blew himself up, killing five people and wounding about 20 others. The blast, a rare assault on a high-security site, destroyed the building's entrance, tearing open its steel gate and showering glass into the street. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamist group, said foreign advisers in the ministry were the targets of the attack. He said there were three attackers in all. They threw grenades at ministry guards and opened fire on them before advancing into the building, where one of the militants detonated the explosive belt he was wearing. The blast damaged part of the first floor of the ministry, which is several hundred metres from the presidential palace in central Kabul, and forced the authorities to evacuate ministry officials.
President Hamid Karzai said the violence was an attempt by extremists to destabilise diplomatic overtures towards opposition groups. "Our enemies are trying to undermine the recent efforts by the government for a peaceful solution to end the violence," Karzai said in a statement.
But the insurgency, and its recent proliferation in Kabul, is just one of a growing number of acute problems facing the Afghan authorities. Today a leading British security thinktank warns that a looming food crisis in the country poses an even greater threat than the insurgents.
An estimated 8.4 million Afghans, as much as a third of the population, face famine this winter, the Royal United Services Institute warns. Afghanistan may be on "the brink of a calamity" that could undermine much of the progress achieved in areas such as the north and west, ostensibly free of insurgent activity, it says.
The situation in some areas is so bad that some Afghans are eating grass, the briefing paper, Afghanistan: Preventing an Approaching Crisis, adds.
"If the international community is found wanting, we can expect increasing frustration and anger from a population which once saw international intervention as a source of hope," it warns. It continues: "The fact that many areas vulnerable to famine have reduced or rejected [opium] poppy farming is an added irony."
Paul Smyth of the institute said last night: "To maintain its moral authority to act in Afghanistan, the international community must be timely, concerted and effective in action." In August, the UN World Food Programme estimated that Afghanistan would need 25,000 tonnes of mixed commodities in emergency aid, and an additional 70,000 tonnes before next February. Because of the threat to road convoys from insurgents and bandits, and limited access to rural communities, only an airlift could meet the food needs of the Afghan population, the institute says.
Yesterday's attack in Kabul was the latest episode in escalating violence in Afghanistan this year - the bloodiest period since the Taliban's ousting in 2001. Foreigners are increasingly the targets.
One of the guards who survived the information ministry attack told the Guardian of his battle with the militants.
Sitting on a hospital bed in his blood-stained shirt and cradling a heavily bandaged hand, 25-year-old Amir Muhammad described hearing gunfire and running into the ministry to find his best friend shot dead. He said he engaged the attackers in a gunfight lasting five minutes before the bomber blew himself up. "They were trying to get up the stairs, but I kept firing, then the bomber detonated and I was thrown into the street."
Attacks by militants in Kabul this year:
January 14 Militants storm Serena Hotel, a favourite haunt of foreigners, killing seven, including an American, a Norwegian and a Filipina
July 7 Suicide car bomber outside Indian embassy kills 60 people
August 12 Suicide bomber rams a Nato convoy, killing three civilians
October 20 British aid worker shot dead in street
October 26 British and South African employees of shipping firm DHL shot dead outside office
Clancy Chassay and Richard Norton-Taylor
Scores killed as bomb blasts rip through Assam
A series of coordinated blasts ripped through India's troubled north-eastern Assam state, killing more than 60 people and leaving at least 300 injured - a bombing frenzy that caused an angry backlash among locals, who rioted in the streets.
About a dozen bombs went off within 15 minutes of each other in crowded markets late yesterday morning in Guwahati, Assam's state capital, and three other towns in the state.
Officials said that 61 people were killed in the blasts with 25 people dead in Guwahati. Eleven were killed in Kokrajhar district and 12 more died in the town of Barpeta. Another 70 are believed to be in "critical condition".
In a serious breach of security, the largest blast was a few hundred metres from the state's main administrative building in Guwahati, home to the offices of the state's chief minister, Tarun Gogoi. Television channels showed people lying on the streets, their clothes soaked in blood. Bystanders dragged the wounded to cars to take to hospitals, while police covered the burned remains of the dead with white sheets, leaving them in the street.
An immediate curfew was announced in Guwahati as some locals, who blamed officials for lax security, rioted, attacking police vehicles and public buses.
Dozens of militant separatist groups are active in India's north-east. Yesterday there was speculation that the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), fighting for an independent homeland for the state's 26 million people, was behind the attacks. But in an email from Ulfa to TV stations the group denied responsibility.
Earlier this month members of Assam's largest tribe, the Bodo, clashed with local Muslims in murderous riots that left 53 people dead.
UN Condemns Bombings in India's Assam as Death Toll Rises to 66
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned 12 bomb blasts that tore through the northeastern Indian state of Assam yesterday as the death toll from the attacks rose to 66 people with 470 injured.
``There can be absolutely no justification for such indiscriminate violence,'' Ban, who was in New Delhi, said in a statement issued through his spokesman. The secretary-general ``strongly condemns this act of terrorism targeting civilians.''
Devices containing high-intensity explosives were detonated between 11 a.m. and noon and targeted crowded areas in Assam, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said by telephone. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks and police are investigating the possibility they were carried out jointly by a rebel organization and Islamist militants, he said.
The blasts follow ethnic clashes this month between indigenous groups and immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh in the tea- and oil-rich state. India has been hit by about 40 bombings in the past five months that have killed 175 people.
Assam, which also shares a border with Bhutan, is home to several rebel groups, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, or ULFA. At least 314 security personnel and civilians were killed last year in violence in the state.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attacks and vowed to track down those responsible.
``Such barbaric acts targeting innocent men, women and children only highlight the desperation and cowardice of those responsible,'' Singh said in a statement yesterday. ``We will take all possible steps to maintain peace and bring the perpetrators of such acts to justice.''
Land Disputes
Long-standing disputes over land between members of the Bodo tribe and Muslim settlers from Bangladesh turned violent this month when 57 people were killed in clashes, including 25 when police opened fire on protesters. The dispute began Oct. 3 in the Udalguri district and spread to other areas.
Yesterday's attacks hit Guwahati, Assam's main city, and the Barpeta, Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar districts, Sarma said.
At least 33 people were killed in Guwahati, where a curfew was imposed after protests by residents accusing police of a delayed response to the bombings, state-run broadcaster Doordarshan said, citing unidentified officials. It has since been lifted, Sarma said.
ULFA Insurgency
Assam has experienced ethnic violence since the early 1980s and authorities have also battled a ULFA-sponsored insurgency, according to Doordarshan. The outlawed group denied any role in yesterday's blasts, the Press Trust of India reported, citing an e-mail statement signed by Aanjan Borthakur of the ULFA's central publicity unit.
Cities and towns across India have been targeted by terrorists this year, with devices strapped to bicycles, hidden under auditorium seats and left near market stalls. Blasts on Oct. 21 in Imphal, capital of the northeastern state of Manipur, left at least 17 people dead.
Yesterday's attacks came six weeks after five blasts in New Delhi killed 26 people, the worst terrorist attack since 56 died in explosions in the western city of Ahmedabad on July 26.
A group called the Indian Mujahedeen has claimed responsibility for recent terrorist attacks in India, including explosions in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and New Delhi. The Jaipur blasts, which took place on May 13, killed at least 68 people.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned 12 bomb blasts that tore through the northeastern Indian state of Assam yesterday as the death toll from the attacks rose to 66 people with 470 injured.
``There can be absolutely no justification for such indiscriminate violence,'' Ban, who was in New Delhi, said in a statement issued through his spokesman. The secretary-general ``strongly condemns this act of terrorism targeting civilians.''
Devices containing high-intensity explosives were detonated between 11 a.m. and noon and targeted crowded areas in Assam, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said by telephone. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks and police are investigating the possibility they were carried out jointly by a rebel organization and Islamist militants, he said.
The blasts follow ethnic clashes this month between indigenous groups and immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh in the tea- and oil-rich state. India has been hit by about 40 bombings in the past five months that have killed 175 people.
Assam, which also shares a border with Bhutan, is home to several rebel groups, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, or ULFA. At least 314 security personnel and civilians were killed last year in violence in the state.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attacks and vowed to track down those responsible.
``Such barbaric acts targeting innocent men, women and children only highlight the desperation and cowardice of those responsible,'' Singh said in a statement yesterday. ``We will take all possible steps to maintain peace and bring the perpetrators of such acts to justice.''
Land Disputes
Long-standing disputes over land between members of the Bodo tribe and Muslim settlers from Bangladesh turned violent this month when 57 people were killed in clashes, including 25 when police opened fire on protesters. The dispute began Oct. 3 in the Udalguri district and spread to other areas.
Yesterday's attacks hit Guwahati, Assam's main city, and the Barpeta, Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar districts, Sarma said.
At least 33 people were killed in Guwahati, where a curfew was imposed after protests by residents accusing police of a delayed response to the bombings, state-run broadcaster Doordarshan said, citing unidentified officials. It has since been lifted, Sarma said.
ULFA Insurgency
Assam has experienced ethnic violence since the early 1980s and authorities have also battled a ULFA-sponsored insurgency, according to Doordarshan. The outlawed group denied any role in yesterday's blasts, the Press Trust of India reported, citing an e-mail statement signed by Aanjan Borthakur of the ULFA's central publicity unit.
Cities and towns across India have been targeted by terrorists this year, with devices strapped to bicycles, hidden under auditorium seats and left near market stalls. Blasts on Oct. 21 in Imphal, capital of the northeastern state of Manipur, left at least 17 people dead.
Yesterday's attacks came six weeks after five blasts in New Delhi killed 26 people, the worst terrorist attack since 56 died in explosions in the western city of Ahmedabad on July 26.
A group called the Indian Mujahedeen has claimed responsibility for recent terrorist attacks in India, including explosions in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and New Delhi. The Jaipur blasts, which took place on May 13, killed at least 68 people.
Piracy in the
Pirates have hijacked more than 30 ships off
"Total ransom payments for 2008 probably lie in the range of $18-30 million. Inflation of ransom demands makes this an ever more lucrative business," a Chantam House report said.
The gangs have received ransoms between $500,000 and $2 million for each ship taken this year, according to the report titled: Threatening Global Trade, Feeding Local Wars.
Chatham House says the piracy was likely to divert shipping away from the major global sea artery used by about 20,000 vessels each year, increasing operating costs and end prices.
Risk insurance premiums have risen tenfold this year, the report said.
Shippers are considering avoiding the Gulf of Aden for a longer route to Europe and North America around the
"Extra weeks of travel and fuel consumption would add considerably to the cost of transporting goods. At a time when the price of oil is a major concern, anything that could contribute to a further rise in prices must be considered very serious indeed."
The pirates are getting more sophisticated and brazen as little is done to counter their activity, the report said.
In the latest hijacking, Somali pirates captured a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks and have demanded a $20 million ransom.
The pirates are said to be using MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) and rocket propelled grenades during their attacks. They also have GPS systems and satellite phones.
Most attacks have been in the Gulf of Aden between
Despite
The U.S. Navy said last month allied warships in an international force in the region had stopped 12 attacks since May and were doing all they could and that shipping companies should take measures to protect their vessels and crews.
Russia said last moth it had sent a warship to Somalia's coast to combat pirates and German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said on Wednesday European Union states planned to deploy three frigates, a supply ship and three surveillance ships.
Philippa Fletcher, Frank Nyakairu
There was no indications, however, that the Americans or anyone else was preparing to take action.
Last week's hijacking of the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina — carrying 33 Soviet-made T-72 tanks, rifles and heavy weapons — was the highest profile act of piracy off this Horn of Africa nation this year. Several U.S. ships patrolled nearby and American helicopters buzzed overhead.
Moscow also has sent a warship to protect the few Russian hostages on board, but it was a week away from the coast of central Somalia where the Faina has been anchored since Sept. 25. Most of the 20 crew members are Ukrainian or Latvian, and one Russian has died, apparently of illness.
Spurred by the latest hijacking, at least eight European Union countries offered Wednesday to form a new force to help protect shipping in the increasingly dangerous waters off Somalia, France's defense minister said — a move that eventually could give the Navy crucial support in the area.
A U.N. Security Council resolution in June gave permission to nations to send warships into Somalia's territorial waters to stop "piracy and armed robbery at sea" if such operations were taken in cooperation with the weak Somali government in Mogadishu.
Mohammed Jammer Ali, acting director of the Somali Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was giving new permission for such actions.
"The international community has permission to fight with the pirates," he said.
Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf, also appealed to foreign powers. "The government has lost patience and now wants to fight pirates with the help of the international community," he said in a radio address.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to comment on any possible military operation but said the U.S. remained resolved to keep the Faina's military cargo from falling into the wrong hands — meaning Somali militants with links to al-Qaida.
The U.S. military has conducted airstrikes in Somalia and is known to have sent special forces troops in on the ground to go after key militants there.
Whitman would not give details of any new or existing agreement that the U.S. has with Somalia's U.N.-supported government, which is fighting Islamic insurgents and has little control in much of the country.
The U.S. "works closely with its partners in the region to identify, locate, capture and if necessary kill terrorists where they operate, plan their operations or seek save harbor," Whitman said.
Russia has used force to end several hostage sieges on its own territory — sometimes disastrously, as in the 2004 storming of a school in Beslan that resulted in 333 deaths, nearly half of them children.
However, the Russian navy's chief spokesman played down the possibility of the use of force.
"Taking forceful measures, for obvious reasons, is an extreme measure, as this could create a threat to the lives of the international crew of the cargo ship," Capt. Igor Dygalo said.
In a statement, he said the task of the frigate heading to the waters off Somalia was to protect Russian ships and suggested it would mainly prevent further pirate attacks. He said efforts to free the hostages would involve diplomacy.
Ali, the Somali official, said negotiations between the hijacked ship's Ukrainian owners and the pirates were being conducted by satellite telephone. "No other side is involved in negotiations," he said.
At a meeting Deauville, France, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said EU defense ministers had approved planning for an international anti-piracy operation in the Somalia area and called for coordination with NATO, which has warships in the Indian Ocean.
He said Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden had offered ships for the force, and British participation also was a possibility. But he added that no real action could be taken before a formal EU meeting Nov. 10.
With Somalia impoverished by decades of conflict, piracy by Somali gangs has emerged as a lucrative racket that brings in millions of dollars in ransoms and the pirates rarely harm their hostages. A Malaysian shipping company confirmed it paid Somali pirates a ransom this week to free two of its freighters.
Most pirate attacks occur just north Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. But recently pirates have been targeting the Indian Ocean waters off eastern Somalia.
Some 62 ships have been attacked in those areas this year. A total of 26 were hijacked, and 12 remain in the hands of the pirates along with more than 200 crew members. The Navy says two other pirated cargo ships are anchored in the same area as the Faina.
The dangerous cargo on the Faina has drawn worldwide attention. While few believe the pirates would be able to unload the tanks, the Faina's other military cargo or a huge ransom could worsen conflict in
Piracy in the
Pirates have hijacked more than 30 ships off
"Total ransom payments for 2008 probably lie in the range of $18-30 million. Inflation of ransom demands makes this an ever more lucrative business," a Chantam House report said.
The gangs have received ransoms between $500,000 and $2 million for each ship taken this year, according to the report titled: Threatening Global Trade, Feeding Local Wars.
Chatham House says the piracy was likely to divert shipping away from the major global sea artery used by about 20,000 vessels each year, increasing operating costs and end prices.
Risk insurance premiums have risen tenfold this year, the report said.
Shippers are considering avoiding the Gulf of Aden for a longer route to Europe and North America around the
"Extra weeks of travel and fuel consumption would add considerably to the cost of transporting goods. At a time when the price of oil is a major concern, anything that could contribute to a further rise in prices must be considered very serious indeed."
The pirates are getting more sophisticated and brazen as little is done to counter their activity, the report said.
In the latest hijacking, Somali pirates captured a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks and have demanded a $20 million ransom.
The pirates are said to be using MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) and rocket propelled grenades during their attacks. They also have GPS systems and satellite phones.
Most attacks have been in the Gulf of Aden between
Despite
The U.S. Navy said last month allied warships in an international force in the region had stopped 12 attacks since May and were doing all they could and that shipping companies should take measures to protect their vessels and crews.
Russia said last moth it had sent a warship to Somalia's coast to combat pirates and German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said on Wednesday European Union states planned to deploy three frigates, a supply ship and three surveillance ships.
Philippa Fletcher, Frank Nyakairu
There was no indications, however, that the Americans or anyone else was preparing to take action.
Last week's hijacking of the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina — carrying 33 Soviet-made T-72 tanks, rifles and heavy weapons — was the highest profile act of piracy off this Horn of Africa nation this year. Several U.S. ships patrolled nearby and American helicopters buzzed overhead.
Moscow also has sent a warship to protect the few Russian hostages on board, but it was a week away from the coast of central Somalia where the Faina has been anchored since Sept. 25. Most of the 20 crew members are Ukrainian or Latvian, and one Russian has died, apparently of illness.
Spurred by the latest hijacking, at least eight European Union countries offered Wednesday to form a new force to help protect shipping in the increasingly dangerous waters off Somalia, France's defense minister said — a move that eventually could give the Navy crucial support in the area.
A U.N. Security Council resolution in June gave permission to nations to send warships into Somalia's territorial waters to stop "piracy and armed robbery at sea" if such operations were taken in cooperation with the weak Somali government in Mogadishu.
Mohammed Jammer Ali, acting director of the Somali Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was giving new permission for such actions.
"The international community has permission to fight with the pirates," he said.
Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf, also appealed to foreign powers. "The government has lost patience and now wants to fight pirates with the help of the international community," he said in a radio address.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to comment on any possible military operation but said the U.S. remained resolved to keep the Faina's military cargo from falling into the wrong hands — meaning Somali militants with links to al-Qaida.
The U.S. military has conducted airstrikes in Somalia and is known to have sent special forces troops in on the ground to go after key militants there.
Whitman would not give details of any new or existing agreement that the U.S. has with Somalia's U.N.-supported government, which is fighting Islamic insurgents and has little control in much of the country.
The U.S. "works closely with its partners in the region to identify, locate, capture and if necessary kill terrorists where they operate, plan their operations or seek save harbor," Whitman said.
Russia has used force to end several hostage sieges on its own territory — sometimes disastrously, as in the 2004 storming of a school in Beslan that resulted in 333 deaths, nearly half of them children.
However, the Russian navy's chief spokesman played down the possibility of the use of force.
"Taking forceful measures, for obvious reasons, is an extreme measure, as this could create a threat to the lives of the international crew of the cargo ship," Capt. Igor Dygalo said.
In a statement, he said the task of the frigate heading to the waters off Somalia was to protect Russian ships and suggested it would mainly prevent further pirate attacks. He said efforts to free the hostages would involve diplomacy.
Ali, the Somali official, said negotiations between the hijacked ship's Ukrainian owners and the pirates were being conducted by satellite telephone. "No other side is involved in negotiations," he said.
At a meeting Deauville, France, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said EU defense ministers had approved planning for an international anti-piracy operation in the Somalia area and called for coordination with NATO, which has warships in the Indian Ocean.
He said Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden had offered ships for the force, and British participation also was a possibility. But he added that no real action could be taken before a formal EU meeting Nov. 10.
With Somalia impoverished by decades of conflict, piracy by Somali gangs has emerged as a lucrative racket that brings in millions of dollars in ransoms and the pirates rarely harm their hostages. A Malaysian shipping company confirmed it paid Somali pirates a ransom this week to free two of its freighters.
Most pirate attacks occur just north Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. But recently pirates have been targeting the Indian Ocean waters off eastern Somalia.
Some 62 ships have been attacked in those areas this year. A total of 26 were hijacked, and 12 remain in the hands of the pirates along with more than 200 crew members. The Navy says two other pirated cargo ships are anchored in the same area as the Faina.
The dangerous cargo on the Faina has drawn worldwide attention. While few believe the pirates would be able to unload the tanks, the Faina's other military cargo or a huge ransom could worsen conflict in
Suicide bombers killed about two dozen people on Thursday in attacks on two Shiite mosques in east Baghdad during a holiday to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The attacks were the second wave this week during a lengthy public holiday for observances of Id al-Fitr, which is celebrated at different times by different Sunni and Shiite congregations.
The two attacks happened around 8 a.m. as followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric, were attending prayers for the first day of the feast. In one area, the relatively poor and overwhelmingly Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniya, Iraqi soldiers said a car bomber rammed his Russian-made Volga taxi into an armored Iraqi Army Humvee, which was guarding the entrance to a Shiite mosque. Interior Ministry officials said 14 people were killed.
In the other area, the much more middle-class district of New Baghdad, a bomber wearing a suicide vest tried to slip past the security cordon around the Rasoul mosque, according to the head of security, who gave his name as Abu Mustafa. The congregation had overflowed from the ornate 50-year-old prayer hall, he said, and many people were praying in the street.
“He was behaving irrationally,” Mr. Mustafa said. “One of our people told him to stop, he refused to obey the order and when one of the guards tried to grab him he blew himself up.” The Iraqi police and mosque officials estimated the death toll to be around 10.
In a separate attack, gunmen fatally shot six Sunnis as they traveled in a minibus in the mainly Shiite town of Wajihiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
Outside the mosque in Zafaraniya, on a dusty street, shattered car windows and damaged building facades bore witness to the attack. Jamal Tawfiq, 28, who had a black plastic bag closely tied around his right hand to protect it, collected body parts and placed them in a separate yellow bag. “They were targeting the prayers in the mosque,” he said. “Nobody expects anything like this on Id al-Fitr.”
But in truth, the Iraqi security forces had predicted just such an attack, after numerous Sunni insurgent bombings during previous Shiite festivals. Iraqi and American officials said the Humvee was posted there for just that reason.
Haider Khadum Hassuni, a member of the Iraqi Red Crescent in Zafaraniya, said that the day before the blast “the Iraqi police came to us and told us that they were expecting something tomorrow, so they asked me to inform them in case I had suspicions about outsiders or visitors.”
As he looked at the damaged buildings, he said: “I think Al Qaeda are targeting Shiites because they want the Iraqis to go back to sectarian war.” He was referring to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the home-grown terrorist group that the United States says is foreign-led.
However, many in the crowd immediately said they suspected American involvement. Such sentiments — apparently out of the desire to blame outsiders rather than Iraqis — have become increasingly common in recent months. The crowd offered no evidence to support those assertions, claiming only that an American patrol had passed nearby a few minutes before the blast. They also displayed no obvious signs of hostility to a group of American soldiers who remained at the scene for some time, overseeing the Iraqis’ efforts to tow away the bombed Humvee.
But the sentiments reflected deep levels of antagonism toward American forces, in an area where the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has much support.
Maj. Jade Hinman, an American adviser to the Iraqi Army, said that while it was regrettable that the Iraqis sustained losses, the Humvee had done its job, protecting a soft target.
“This Humvee prevented mass civilian casualties of a holy shrine, of a mosque,” he said. “Unfortunately Iraqi soldiers gave their lives to protect this mosque. But I guess that’s what we are here for. We are here to protect the populace, and the Iraqi Army did their job.”
At the scene of the other bombing, many were convinced that the attackers were Sunni insurgents.
Some voiced concern about loyalties of former Sunni insurgents in civilian patrols, called Sons of Iraq or Awakening Councils. Only a day before the bomb, the groups in and around Baghdad were transferred from the American to the Iraqi government payroll.
But others said that in the complex political and military transitional period between the American troop increase and a likely American troop decrease, any number of criminal, terrorist or personal motivations could have been factors in the attack.
Meanwhile, those celebrating Id al-Fitr carried on. Across Baghdad children and adults danced and sang in parks, as parents handed out balloons and candy. Iraqi girls dressed in brightly colored dresses and boys played with imitation plastic handguns and fake automatic weapons.
At one riverside garden, a woman who gave her name as Umm Hussein, from Shuala, explained the festive atmosphere, despite the attacks:
“We are used to this,” she said. “We are fed up with grief. We want to have fun, even if it is once in our lifetimes.”
Last year on Id al-Fitr, her mother-in-law was killed by a bombing in the center of Baghdad, and the year before, her father-in-law died in Hurriya amid a spate of sectarian killings.
Suicide attacks outside two Shiite mosques killed at least 20 people in Baghdad on Thursday as worshippers left early morning prayers marking the end of Ramadan, the Interior Ministry said.
The suicide bomb blasts also wounded 35 people, a ministry official said.
The bombs went off as worshippers left the mosques to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of a month of fasting.
Shiite followers of Ayatolla Ali al-Sistani began their Eid celebrations Thursday. Other Shiites and Sunni Muslims have been celebrating the holiday since Tuesday.
A suicide car bomber carried out the first attack in the Zafaraniya neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad. The attack killed eight people and wounded 10. Among the victims were four Iraqi soldiers who were part of an army patrol providing security for worshippers, the ministry said.
The U.S. military said three Iraqi soldiers and one civilian were killed in the attack.
In the second attack, in eastern Baghdad's New Baghdad district, 12 people were killed and 25 were wounded when a teenage boy detonated his explosives-laden vest at a security checkpoint outside the mosque, the ministry official said.
The U.S. military said five civilians were killed when the bomber detonated his explosives as he was being searched prior to entering Al Rashood mosque. Spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover credited "the heroic action" of Iraqi security forces for preventing "a much higher loss of innocent life."
"The appalling use of a teenager as the suicide bomber shows how monstrous AQI (al Qaeda in Iraq) truly is," Stover said in a written statement. "To take advantage of a youth's innocence and attack a holy structure is consummate evil."
The attacks Thursday are at least the third time Eid revelers have been targeted in Iraq this week.
On Wednesday, a car bomb went off in the parking lot of a mosque in Balad, killing four people and injuring 15. The victims were part of a large crowd that had gathered to celebrate Eid in the city located 50 miles (80 km) north of Baghdad, the U.S. Army said.
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura condemned the ongoing attacks across Iraq in a statement from his representative.
"Mr. de Mistura described these recent attacks as particularly abhorrent, targeting men women and children as they prepared to break their fast and celebrate Eid al-Fitr al Mubarak, or on their way for the pilgrimage," the statement said.
In other violence, an explosion struck a U.S. military convoy in western Baghdad, wounding two civilians and four U.S. personnel, according to the U.S. military and Interior Ministry officials. It is unclear what caused the blast. The military's initial report said it was a roadside bomb, but the ministry officials blamed a suicide car bomber.
A mortar round also struck the International Zone, also known as the Green Zone, an Interior Ministry official said, and a Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman confirmed that the area received indirect fire.
There were no reports of damage.
Mortar and rocket attacks on the International Zone -- which houses several embassies and government headquarters -- have become rare in recent months, following U.S. military operations in Baghdad's Sadr City and the building of a wall in the southern part of the sprawling slum. >>>>
Suicide bombers struck two Shiite mosques in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens during celebrations marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
To the north, suspected Shiite militiamen gunned down six members of a Sunni family, including women and children, police reported.
Those attacks occurred four days after a series of explosions killed 32 people and wounded nearly 100 in Shiite areas of Baghdad, raising fears that al-Qaida in Iraq is trying to provoke Sunni-Shiite reprisal killings now that the last of the American "surge" troops have left the country.
In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives about 20 yards from a mosque in Zafaraniyah in southeastern Baghdad. The blast killed 14 people, including three Iraqi soldiers, and wounded 28, police said.
The death toll would likelier have been higher, but Iraqi soldiers prevented the attacker from driving closer to the mosque, police said.
"Pools of blood and the smell of burned flesh were everywhere and I saw a man of about 70 bleeding and lying on the ground," said Ammar Hashim, 25, whose brother was also wounded by broken glass in his shop.
In the other attack in the capital, a suicide bomber who appeared to be in his late teens detonated his explosive belt as worshippers were leaving the Rasoul mosque in the eastern New Baghdad district.
Ten people died and 24 were wounded, police and officials at al-Kindi and Ibn al-Nasif hospitals said. The dead included a guard who blocked the attacker from entering the mosque, police said.
The Iraqi army said 17 people were killed in the two blasts. But area hospitals said that figure did not include victims who died later from their wounds.
The attack on the Sunni family occurred in Diyala, a heavily mixed province north of the capital. Police said gunmen sprayed the family's vehicle with automatic weapons fire as they traveled to the provincial capital of Baqouba to visit relatives.
The dead included two children, three women and a man, police said. Another woman and her small child were wounded.
Police said the area was controlled by mostly Shiite security forces and that they suspected Shiite militiamen were responsible for the attack.
The police officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Victims of the Baghdad attacks were attending prayers marking Eid al-Fitr, the religious holiday that comes at the end of Ramadan. Sunnis and other Shiite groups celebrated Eid al-Fitr earlier in the week.
Iraqi police and soldiers have been on alert for sectarian attacks around Ramadan, when devout Muslims fast from dawn until dusk and religious fervor runs high.
Last Sunday, five bombs exploded in Shiite areas of Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding about 100. U.S. officials believed al-Qaida was behind the blasts.
Shiite cleric and lawmaker Jalaluddin al-Saghir blamed the mosque attacks on "the beasts of al-Qaida" that consider Shiites as religious heretics and collaborators with the Americans.
"After being weakened and isolated, the terrorists want to make a comeback in the capital and show that they are still powerful," al-Saghir told The Associated Press. "I think the al-Qaida efforts will fail because Iraqis now are more aware of the heavy price of any new round of sectarian violence."
The main Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, joined in condemning the mosque attacks and called on Iraqis to unite against "those who want to transfer political disputes into the language of violence."
Bloody assaults on Shiite civilians helped trigger the massive wave of sectarian fighting that led to President Bush's decision to dispatch nearly 30,000 reinforcements to Iraq in 2007.
The last of those "surge" troops left Iraq in July after violence in the capital dropped to its lowest level in four years.
U.S. commanders have acknowledged a small increase in attacks recently in the Baghdad area as Iraqi forces assume a greater role in security. Late Thursday, a rocket or mortar shell exploded in the Green Zone, causing no injuries, the U.S. military said. It was the first known attack against the U.S.-protected area in weeks.
In a statement Thursday, U.N. special representative Staffan de Mistura expressed concern over the "recent spike in violence," urging Iraqis to maintain unity "in foiling the aims of those who want to push them back into the murderous cycle of sectarian violence."
Also Thursday, a bomb wounded four American soldiers in western Baghdad, according to U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Stover. He gave no other details, but Baghdad police said the attacker detonated an explosive-laden car alongside a U.S. convoy.
Two Iraqi civilians were also wounded, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was also not authorized to speak to the press.
Kidnapped 19-member European tour group was freed Monday and the 11 tourists and eight Egyptian guides and drivers are in good health and on their way to
The group, which includes five Germans, five Italians and a Romanian, disappeared Sept. 19 while on a desert safari trip in a remote corner of southwestern
Italian news reports quoted Foreign Minister Franco Frattini as saying the 19 have been freed.
He told Italian reporters in
The Egyptian report referred to an "operation this morning" to free the 19 but did not say where it took place. It said all 19 were in good health, but again gave no details.
"Our compatriots and the other hostages in
ANSA said Frattini declined to give details on the release because the group was still in an unsafe area. German officials had been negotiating with the kidnappers, who were demanding millions of dollars in ransom.
On Sunday,
After three unsuccessful tries, SpaceX launched its two-stage Falcon 1 rocket into orbit for the first time on Sunday — potentially changing the cost equation for spaceflight.
"That was frickin' awesome," Elon Musk, SpaceX's millionaire founder and chief executive officer, told cheering employees at the six-year-old company's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif.
"There were a lot of people who thought we couldn't do it ... but as the saying goes, 'The fourth time's the charm,'" he said after the rocket soared into orbit from its launch pad on Omelek Island, 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) southwest of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.
The ascent to orbit was broadcast live on the Web, from cameras positioned on the ground as well on the rocket itself.
Success after failure
The launch company's first undisputed success came after an oh-so-close failure on Aug. 2, when the timing was off on the shutdown of the Falcon 1's first-stage engine. Instead of separating cleanly, the first stage bumped into the second stage and knocked it off course. That led to the loss of three satellites, including a NASA prototype solar sail and small experimental satellites from NASA as well as the Defense Department.
The rocket that failed last month also carried cremated remains from more than 200 people who had paid thousands of dollars to have the ashes sent to the final frontier. Among the dearly departed: Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper as well as James Doohan, who played the engineer Scotty on the original "Star Trek" TV series.
This time around, the 70-foot-tall (21-meter-tall) rocket was carrying only a 364-pound (165-kilogram) dummy payload. After the launch and a planned on-orbit engine restart, the second stage and the attached payload reached its target orbit of 312 by 437 miles (500 by 700 kilometers), which ranges higher than the international space station, Musk said.
Sunday's launch puts SpaceX among a select few
"Falcon 1 has made history as the first privately developed launch vehicle to reach orbit from the ground," launch commentator Max Vozoff declared after receiving word that the Falcon 1's second-stage Kestrel engine had cut off successfully.
From dot-com to private space venture
Various factors were behind SpaceX's previous three failures, including a fuel-line leak, a premature engine cutoff and last month's bad timing. Despite the difficulties, Musk persevered, spending more than $100 million of the fortune he gained in the dot-com rush as a founder of the PayPal online payment system.
After last month's
After last month's failure, Musk announced that he was taking on outside investment for the first time, a $20 million infusion from San Francisco-based Founders Fund.
The South African native founded SpaceX in 2002 to follow through on his vision of helping humanity become a multiplanet species. In Sunday's remarks to employees, he said the technologies pioneered by Falcon 1 could eventually bring humans to Mars.
"It's just the tip of the iceberg here," Musk said.
The kerosene-fueled Falcon 1 is notable for its price tag: $7.9 million, which is around an order of magnitude lower than the typical cost of an orbital launch. The rocket's first stage is designed to be recovered and reused after each launch, theoretically reducing the expense.
Customers have been lining up already to reserve launch dates for the Falcon 1 and the company's more powerful Falcon 9, which is still under development. During a news briefing, Musk told reporters that he received 500 e-mails from existing and prospective customers.
"They're obviously very excited by what they've seen. ... My phone has been buzzing," he said.
| SpaceX blames third failure on bad timing |
NASA is providing $278 million for the Falcon 9 project under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, or COTS, in hopes that the rocket could help transport cargo to the international space station after the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, which is currently scheduled for 2010.
The first Falcon 9 is due to be delivered to
In the wake of Sunday's launch, SpaceX received a wave of congratulations from advocates for lower-cost, entrepreneurial approaches to spaceflight. Space consultant Charles Lurio said Falcon 1's flight "can be a bright glint of the new dawn for the Space Age that's just over the horizon."
That sentiment was echoed by the nonprofit National Space Society.
"Private ventures such as SpaceX offer the promise of lower-cost launch, opening space to new ventures and people while enabling NASA to explore beyond," the society said in a statement released after launch. "This hard-won success demonstrates again that space can in fact be accessed by small teams and companies, and confirms the promise of a new age in space."
Five bomb attacks struck Baghdad on Sunday, three of them aimed at civilians who were out holiday shopping and strolling. Security sources said at least 27 people had been killed and 84 wounded.
The bombings reinforced fears among a growing number of residents that the security situation in Baghdad was deteriorating, even though over all it remained at the most stable level since the American-led invasion in 2003, according to data measured by the United States military command.
The worst of the bombings, in a bustling market of the central Karada district, seemed intended to inflict casualties on people preparing to celebrate a major holiday at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
First, a car bomb blew up in a parking lot on Attar Street. Then as crowds gathered, a second bomb exploded, in what seemed to be an effort to kill or maim bystanders, several witnesses said.
Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta, an Iraqi military spokesman, said the attacks involved a car bomb and a roadside homemade bomb. He put the toll at 13 dead and 46 wounded.
An official at the Interior Ministry, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, gave a toll of at least 19 killed and 72 wounded.
Police officers at the scene provided a toll of at least 18 killed and 41 wounded. Conflicting tolls are common in the confusion that follows attacks in Iraq.
Ayman Saadi, a resident, said he ran away when the first bomb went off, expecting a second detonation. “We have become accustomed to these traps,” he said.
Nearby, a Karada resident who identified himself as Abbas Jarousha stood in disbelief as he received a call on his cellphone from a stranger who said that he had found Mr. Jarousha’s brother’s phone and that the brother was dead.
The blasts in Karada occurred about 7 p.m. as many people poured onto the streets after the breaking of the daytime fast observed by most Iraqis during Ramadan, which ends Monday. Ramadan is followed by Id al-Fitr, a five-day holiday during which families customarily go out strolling, and children receive gifts and parade in new clothes.
Many people were out shopping on Sunday in Karada, where vendors were selling shoes, clothes, watches and perfume. Attar Street is also home to Jabbar Abu al-Sharbat, a cafe renowned for its pomegranate and raisin juice.
Baghdad was jarred by another explosion shortly before sundown in Shurta, a neighborhood on the city’s southwestern side. A bomb placed in a parked vehicle at a market there killed 12 and wounded 35, according to the Interior Ministry official.
Mizher Abed Hanoush, a Shurta resident, said the attack took place near a Shiite house of worship, or husseiniya, now occupied by the Iraqi Army.
Mr. Hanoush said the husseiniya previously had served as the local base of the Mahdi Army militia of Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric. It was taken over by the army in the aftermath of battles this year between Iraqi and American forces and the militia in Baghdad and the south.
Mr. Hanoush echoed concerns voiced by many Iraqis in recent weeks about the fragility of the security situation in Baghdad. “The situation is turning to the worse again, I do not know why,” he said.
Earlier, an Iraqi soldier was killed and three others were wounded when their patrol hit a roadside bomb in Mansour, a neighborhood in western Baghdad. Also, a bomb inside a vehicle exploded on a main road in the Amil neighborhood, killing the driver, the Interior Ministry official said.
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