Car bomb kills 28 at Baghdad hospital

BAGHDAD: A car bomb near a funeral procession outside a hospital in east Baghdad killed at least 28 people and wounded 50 on Friday, a doctor at the hospital said. An interior ministry official confirmed the explosion in Zafraniyah, which struck at 11:00 am (0800 GMT), but said it was caused by a suicide attacker driving an explosives-packed car. The blast hit the funeral procession of Mohammed al-Maliki, a real estate agent who was killed along with his wife and son a day earlier in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Yarmuk, the doctor and interior ministry official said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity. The procession had collected Maliki’s body and was transporting it for the funeral when the explosion struck. Violence...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

‘Militias, army torturing detainees in Libya’

TRIPOLI: Libya’s regular army and array of militias have been torturing loyalists of slain dictator Muammar Qadhafi, several of whom have been killed in custody, human rights groups charged on Thursday. Amnesty International said that despite promises, Libya’s new rulers have made “no progress to stop the use of torture”, as Doctors Without Borders suspended their work in the third-largest city Misrata over similar claims. Their accusations came after a top UN official raised concerns that militias composed of former rebels who helped topple Qadhafi were posing an increasing security risk as they repeatedly clashed with each other. “Several detainees have died after being subjected to torture in Libya in recent weeks and months...

Read more »

Posted in: INTERNATIONAL