 Equal-opportunity enforced ignorance. "Pakistan: Militants blow up boy's school in northwest," from AdnKronos International, January 18: Landi Kotal, 18 Jan. (AKI) - Militants on Monday blew up a government primary school for boys in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber tribal region, Pakistani media reported. The militants planted two powerful bombs which exploded simultaneously, destroying the school. No casualties were reported. Security forces and political administration officials cordoned off the area after the attack, which local officials blamed on the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam). Lashkar-e-Islam is the main extremist group operating in Khyber, which has some ideological ties to the Pakistani Taliban. So far, militants have destroyed more than 15 schools in Khyber agency. Also on Monday, four militants were killed in an armed clash with Pakistani security forces in the District Char Bagh of North West Frontier Province's troubled Swat district. The Pakistani army says at least 2,150 militants were killed in Swat - a Taliban stronghold - and neighbouring Buner and Lower Dir districts in an offensive there between April and July last year. The army claimed to have wiped out most of the insurgent strongholds during the three-month operation.
 The Jerusalem Post is reporting here that the Jordanians believe that Iran was responsible for the bombing of an Israeli diplomatic convoy last week. The sources said the GID was investigating the possibility that the explosives used in the attack had been smuggled into the kingdom by Iranian diplomats. The attack itself was apparently carried out by local al-Qaida supporters who received money and explosives from Iran, the sources said. Analysis. The explosives were just as likely “imported” from Syria. King Abdullah II still has fond memories of the attempted El Queda poison gas event on New Year’s Eve a few years ago. If the Jordanian intelligence services lay this at Bashar’s feet, His Majesty will no doubt be suitably angered. I can’t think of a better way to drive Jordan into the undercover coalition to waste Iran. Several months ago there was an advertised meeting of the intelligence chiefs of Egypt, Jordan and Israel. I said at that time that the senior planners would be meeting shortly thereafter. Although no public statements have been forthcoming about such meetings, my gut tells me they are ongoing. The recent Saudi attempts at Palestinian factional peace making having been thwarted by Iran’s influence over Hamas, there is zero chance that their will be any kind of final status talks in the near future. The recent rocket and mortar attacks are perhaps a hint of what is to come. At the same time, as reported here earlier, the Houthi Rebellion is back on again. This the Saudis do not need. George Mitchell is spinning his wheels. To what end are the Iranians throwing their weight around? One reason may be to convince the Arab governments not to provide aid to the Iranian revolutionaries.
The next post will contain the resignation statement of the Iranian Counsel to Norway. The recent resignations and requests for asylum by Iranian diplomats is not going over well in Tehran. It may well have been for the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist. Even though the Iranians are blaming the Mossad and CIA, the Israelis and we get blamed for so much it is difficult to tell what we really did and what we are being scapegoated for. And the Iraqi elections are in March. World Threats
 THE Iraqi army says it's detained a suspected al-Qaeda leader implicated in the 2003 bombing of the UN's Baghdad headquarters which killed 22 people. Ali Hussein Alwan al-Azawi, nicknamed Abu Imad, suspected of being a top commander in al-Qaeda front organisation the Islamic State in Iraq, was captured in an operation in the capital, Baghdad military command spokesman Qassem Atta said. "He is responsible for the explosion at the UN headquarters in Baghdad,'' Mr Atta said. Before the US-led invasion of 2003, the suspect was a pilot for state-owned flagcarrier Iraqi Airways, he added. The August 19, 2003 bombing which killed UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his colleagues marked the start of an escalating wave of attacks blamed on al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups. The army spokesman said troops have also detained a Saudi national, Mohammed Abdallah Nasser, who's suspected of being an important al-Qaeda commander in Diyala province, north of the capital. They are suspected of being behind a series of four bombings targeting the homes of policemen in the town which killed a total of seven people. The Australian
 IRANIAN nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi was killed today in a rare bomb attack in Tehran which state media quickly blamed on "counter-revolutionaries" and foreign powers. MrMohammadi, a lecturer at Tehran university, died when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle was triggered by remote control outside his home in the northern Tehran neighbourhood of Qeytariyeh, state media said. Iran's state broadcaster said Mr Mohammadi was "assassinated in a terrorist act by counter-revolutionaries and agents of the arrogance," without naming any sources. Iranian officials usually refer to the United States and some other Western powers as the "global arrogance". Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the ISNA news agency that Mr Mohammadi was a lecturer in nuclear energy and said the booby-trapped bike was parked outside his house and exploded as he was getting into his car. Bomb attacks are rare in Iran although several security officials and members of the elite Revolutionary Guards have been killed in bombings by rebels in restive Sistan-Baluchestan province in eastern Iran. A witness said today's explosion was a "strong blast breaking window glasses in neighbouring houses and cars." Iran's state-run Arabic-language TV Al-Alam identified Mohammadi as a "hezbollahi" teacher -- a term used for staunch supporters of the Iranian regime. "This assassination may have been carried out by the Hypocrites (Iran's exiled People's Mujahedeen opposition) or planned by the Zionist regime," Al-Alam said. Iranian authorities have consistently accused arch foes the United States and Israel of seeking to ferment unrest in Iran. Hardliners have also accused the People's Mujahedeen of infiltrating anti-government protests and carrying out attacks. The Australian
 KUALA LUMPUR: Another two churches were firebombed yesterday, taking to six the total of attacks in three days of unrest following a court decision allowing Christians and other non-Muslims to use "Allah" to refer to God. Hundreds of worshippers whose parish church was partly gutted in a firebomb attack last week gathered at a makeshift prayer hall for their Sunday service and called for national unity and an end to violence. A Molotov cocktail was hurled at the All Saints Church in Taiping town in central Perak state early yesterday before it had opened, said state police chief Zulkifli Abdullah. He said the building was not damaged. Also yesterday, a bottle of kerosene was thrown into St Louis Catholic Church, which wasn't damaged. Four churches were hit by petrol bombs on Friday and Saturday. All except the Metro Tabernacle, whose parishioners moved their services, suffered little damage, and no one was hurt. The other three held normal services yesterday. The dispute is over a December 31 High Court decision that overturned a government order banning non-Muslims from using the word Allah in their prayers and literature.
The court was ruling on a petition by Malaysia's Catholic Church, whose main publication, the Herald, uses Allah in its Malay-language edition. The government has appealed against the verdict. The government contends that making Allah synonymous with God may confuse Muslims and ultimately mislead them into converting to Christianity. Prime Minister Najib Razak visited the Metro Tabernacle church late on Saturday and announced a grant of 500,000 ringgit ($160,323) for rebuilding it at a new location. The Australian
 Keep in mind, this is after the Spanish elected Zapatero and withdrew their soldiers from Iraq following the 2005 Madrid bombings. I thought that was supposed to satisfy the terrorists? From CAN: The court set up by the Spanish government to try terrorism suspects has convicted 11 Asians, ten from Pakistan and one from India, for plotting to carry out subway bombings in Barcelona, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The terrorists were sentenced to between 8 and 14 years in jail. Ten of the terrorists were arrested in January 2008, and the final one was arrested later in the Netherlands. The authorities were able to foil the plot due to information provided by an informant.
The plotters were connected with Tehrik-e-Taliban, a group led by Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani branch of the Taliban that was killed by an airstrike from an American unmanned aerial vehicle in August.
Mehsud’s group said that it hatched the plot against Spain due to that country’s military contributions to the war in Afghanistan. Robert Spencer of JihadWatch.org used the report’s omission of the terrorists’ faith to criticize the media’s reporting on this and other similar incidents. “Eight paragraphs in, we learn it was a’ suspected Islamist cell.’ Until then, one might almost have gotten the impression that Pakistan had declared war on Spain,” Spencer wrote on his blog. “And that is the problem with this kind of coverage, which is, of course, thoroughly ordinary. It is not because they are ‘men,’ or ‘Asians,’ or ‘Pakistanis’ that they are waging war on Spain. So these reports are essentially misleading.” This isn’t the first time terrorists have targeted Spain and specifically Barcelona.
On March 11, 2004, terrorists loyal to Al-Qaeda detonated backpack bombs on several buses, killing 191 people. Eleven Pakistanis were also arrested and later acquitted of planning attacks in Barcelona in 2007, although five were found guilty of other charges, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. The suspects found guilty in Spain are appealing their verdict, Newstrack India reports. World Threats
 If that information proves out, Mudallad (or Mutallab, or whatever) will fit the usual Muslim terrorist profile: young, well-educated, from a prosperous family, oriented toward science and engineering. UPDATE: This account comes from the man credited with stopping the bomber, Jasper Schuringa, a film director from Amsterdam: Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn't hesitate. I just jumped," he said. Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab's seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs." "I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs." The unassuming hero ripped the flaming, molten object -- which resembled a small, white shampoo bottle -- off Abdul Mutallab's left leg, near his crotch. He said he put out the fire with his bare hands. Schuringa yelled for water, and members of the flight crew soon appeared with fire extinguishers. Then, he said, he hauled the suspect out of the seat. "I took him in a choke to the first class and all the people were like, 'What's going on?!"
It seems likely that the explosive device, which apparently was designed to circumvent limitations on the amount of liquid that can be brought on board a flight, had already failed or never could have worked. Still, Schuringa obviously did the right thing and deserves great credit. With the airplane reportedly descending for a landing and panic breaking out in the cabin, taking quick and decisive action is no doubt easier said than done. Of course, film directors from Amsterdam have good reason to be attuned to the threat of Islamic terrorism. FURTHER UPDATE: Mark Steyn comments on the sociology of terrorism: The men eager to self-detonate on infidel airliners are not goatherds from the caves of Waziristan but educated middle-class Muslims who have had the most exposure to the western world and could be pulling down six-figure salaries almost anywhere on the planet. And don't look to "assimilation" to work its magic, either. We're witnessing a process of generational de-assimilation: In this family, yet again, the dad is an entirely assimilated member of the transnational elite. His son wants a global caliphate run on Wahhabist lines. Power Line
Jim Hoft Al Qaeda members and supporters in Yemen held a massive rally 4 days ago in a remote area of the poor Muslim country. The members declared war against the US just days before the attempted plane bombing on a flight from The Netherlands to Detroit.
The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen.
Men claiming to be leaders of al Qaeda have made a rare public appearance in Yemen, telling an anti-government rally the fight is against the US, not the country’s army. The statement was made at an al Qaeda training camp in southern Yemen – the same one that was attacked by the Americans leaving more than 30 dead. Al Jazeera’s Tarek Bazley has this exclusive report. The Jawa Report posted video that shows how easy it is for terrorists to build their explosives. With thanks to Gateway Pundit
 Three bomb blasts in Iraq have killed more than 34 people and injured 75 others. Officials said that a double explosion struck near a bus station in Babil province on Thursday, killing 14 policemen and a provincal councillor. The first bomb, in a car, was said to have exploded at about 2pm (1100GMT) in Hilla, the provincial capital about 95km south of the capital Baghdad. Another blast came about 15 minutes later when police arrived. The authorities said that the attacks targeted Shia pilgrims who gathered near the bus station to mark Ashura, a commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein. In northeastern Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad, a bomb planted near a funeral tent killed eight people and wounded another 33. Ahmed Rushdi, a journalist in Baghdad, told Al Jazeera: "The balsts happened nearly at the same time. "They were not by the hand of al-Qaeda - they were not suicide bombers, but mostly car bombs and bombs beside cars." Also on Thursday, a bomb blast also killed two people and injured four others in the Shia sacred city of Karbala, about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, police said. On Wednesday, six people were killed and another 43 people were injured in Baghdad in three explosions targeting Shias. Thousands of Shias are expected to converge on the central city of Karbala for the December 27 Ashura holiday to mourn the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, killed by armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 A.D.. More than 25,000 security personnel have been assigned to protect pilgrims during the celebrations. Al Jazeera
 ISLAMABAD – A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a mosque inside a police compound in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing 10 people in the latest attack by suspected Taliban militants waging war against the Pakistani government. The Taliban have stepped up their campaign of violence since the military launched a major offensive in mid-October in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border. Friday's attack was the second in two weeks against a mosque used by Pakistan's security forces. Most of the 10 people killed in the attack in the Lower Dir region were police leaving the mosque after Friday prayers, said the area's police chief, Feroze Khan. The blast wounded another 28 people, also mostly police, said a local hospital official, Ghulam Mohammed. Lower Dir is next to the Swat Valley, which Pakistani soldiers wrested from the Taliban earlier this year. But periodic attacks have continued in the area. Militants have also staged attacks in Pakistan's heartland, many of them against the country's security forces. A team of militants armed with guns, grenades and bombs raided a mosque near army headquarters outside of Islamabad on Dec. 4, killing 36 people. WSJ
 The Iraqis gave one more piece of evidence tying Syria to the horrific twin bombings in August and General Petraeus has gotten in the mix, revealing that Al-Douri is in Damascus. That’s been widely understood, but this is the highest ranking U.S. official to confirm it and this fact hasn’t been pointed out in months. From MEMRI: In the third day of hearings at the Iraqi parliament, Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani is reported to have revealed in the secret hearings that the cellphone call record of the suicide bomber who blew up the Foreign Ministry last August indicates that he made his last call to someone in Damascus before the operation. In a related matter, General David Petraeus, U.S. CENTCOM head, told Al-Arabiya TV that Izzat Al-Douri, deputy to Saddam Hussein and one of the men most wanted by the Iraqi government, is in Damascus. [In his youth, Al-Douri sold ice blocks from a horse-drawn cart; he is known in Iraq as "The Iceman"] Sources: Al-Mada, December 15, and al-Rafidayn, December 14, 2009 World Threats
 BAGHDAD — Car bombs and other explosions ripped through Iraq's capital and a major northern city on Tuesday, killing nine people and showing again the ease with which insurgents manage to slip past security. The explosions in Baghdad and Mosul came exactly a week after suicide bombers killed 127 people and wounded more than 500 in a series of five bombings in the Iraqi capital — three of which appeared to target government buildings. The blasts raise fresh questions about the government's ability to protect itself and its citizens as U.S. forces prepare to leave Iraq. "There were two military checkpoints using detectors at the beginning of the street, how can such car bombs manage to enter and explode?" said a Baghdad woman who identified herself as Um Ali, her cheeks smeared with blood as she screamed at reporters, echoing the frustrations voiced by many Iraqis. In Baghdad, three car bombs detonated within minutes of each other in different areas near the heavily guarded Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi parliament and other government buildings. One of the bombs went off near the Foreign Ministry, which was targeted in an August bombing; two others exploded near the Immigration Ministry and the Iranian Embassy. Five people were killed and at least 16 wounded, according to Iraqi officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Authorities quickly arrested owners of three parking lots where the bombs exploded, charging them with failing to carefully search the cars and check vehicle registration papers. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, two more car bombs an a roadside mine killed four people. A doctor at the Mosul general hospital said as many as 40 were wounded in the separate blasts that appeared to target a high-traffic neighborhood and a church. More at FoxNews
 PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Grisly ghosts haunt 8-year-old Saira Khan's dreams. Her tiny hands cover her mouth as she tells of the images that come to her at night, images of burnt and mutilated bodies. She heard an explosion last month just a few blocks away from her cousin's home. "I got so scared," she says, her eyes getting wider. "We didn't know what to do, so we just lay on the floor." Peshawar, where Saira lives, is on the front line of Pakistan's war against militants. In October, the Pakistani army launched its most concentrated offensive yet in northwest Pakistan, against the tribal strongholds of some of the country's most ruthless militants. The government said Saturday that the offensive was winding down, although operations were continuing in the area. The militants in turn are fighting back with a vicious bombing campaign. They are striking with frightening regularity anywhere and everywhere in the city. That leaves the people of Peshawar caught in between, afraid, fed up and mistrustful of all sides: the militants, the Pakistani army and the United States, which is seen as supporting the push against insurgents. Peshawar hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded from nearly daily explosions. Dozens of police barricades meant to catch suicide bombers slow the chaotic traffic on bigger roads to a crawl. Schools are shut periodically because of security fears. Ten-year-old Kainat, who goes to Saira's school, calls her hometown scary and telephones her friends all the time now. "I am just worried about everyone," she says. "I talk to them all the time, and I ask, 'how is your mother and your father and everyone is safe?' I just want to know that everyone is all right." The school hides within a 10-foot-high metal gate with two guards watching it. One guard checks the small backpacks of the children every morning with a metal detector. The Taliban has routinely attacked schools, particularly ones attended by girls. More at Foxnews
 A U.S.-born Al Qaeda spokesman, in a newly released English-language video, denies the group was behind a series of bombings in Pakistan that have killed hundreds of civilians, calling such attacks un-Islamic. Adam Gadahn, who commonly delivers the terror organization's English messages, said the extremist network was being framed for the bloodshed by the U.S. and Pakistani intelligence services. "The perpetration of such deplorable acts and the pinning of responsibility for them on the mujahedeen only serves the enemies of Islam and Muslims, who are today staring defeat in the face," he said, blaming the "puppet media" for implicating Al Qaeda in the attacks. "The mercenaries of the ISI, RAW, CIA or Blackwater are the real culprits behind these senseless and un-Islamic bombings," he added. The ISI and RAW are the Pakistani and Indian intelligence agencies, respectively, while Blackwater is the private security firm — now called Xe Services — whose involvement in the killings of Iraqi civilians have tarnished its reputation throughout the Muslim world. More than 500 people have died in a slew of attacks in Pakistan that began in October, just as the Pakistani army started waging a ground offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. A single truck bomb in the northwest city of Peshawar killed more than 100 people at a market that sells mostly women's clothes and children's toys. More recently, twin bombs at a similar market in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed nearly 50. Pakistani authorities have laid blame for the recent spate of attacks on the Pakistani Taliban or their affiliates, which include Al Qaeda and other local militant groups. Such groups, which analysts say are increasingly intertwined, most often to attack security targets. But the militants generally avoid claiming responsibility for assaults that kill a large number of civilians. In a transcript of the video released by the SITE Intelligence Group, a Washington-based monitor of militant Web sites, Gadahn told Pakistanis their real enemies were secular regimes, corrupt police, judges and tribal nationalists. Gadahn's message may resonate in Pakistan, where conspiracy theories are rife, support for militancy has only recently taken a downturn and anti-Americanism is widespread. After the market blast in Peshawar, many Pakistanis expressed disbelief that Islamist groups could have attacked other Muslims in such a manner. And in some corners of the Pakistani media, Blackwater has increasingly been floated as a culprit in nefarious events. Gadahn grew up in Los Angeles and then moved to Pakistan in 1998, according to the FBI. He is said to have attended an Al Qaeda training camp six years later, serving as a translator and consultant for the group. Al Qaeda's media arm, al-Sahab, is increasingly using English-language videos to address Muslims in Pakistan who are unlikely to speak Arabic. Gadahn's message specifically addressed Muslims in south Asia, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. FoxNews
 BAGHDAD — Al Qaeda's umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility Thursday for coordinated Baghdad bombings this week that killed 127 people and wounded more than 500, warning of more strikes to come against the Iraqi government. The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a statement posted on the Internet that the attacks in the Iraqi capital targeted the "bastions of evil and dens of apostates." It also warned the group is "determined to uproot the pillars of this government" in Iraq and said "the list of targets has no end." The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used for militant messaging. The blasts Tuesday were the third major strike against government sites in the Iraqi capital since August, raising serious questions about the abilities of Iraqi security forces ahead of next's year national elections and the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. Al Qaeda's claim gave renewed emphasis to U.S. military warnings that insurgents would likely continue high-profile attacks in an attempt to destabilize the Iraqi government in advance of the March 7 parliamentary elections. Anger over Tuesday's security breaches forced Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday to face tough questions from lawmakers in a closed session of parliament, where he deflected blame and accused political discord of jeopardizing Iraq's stability. Lawmakers, who came out of an ongoing special session, told reporters the prime minister cast blame on rival political blocs that he says prevented him from appointing a chief of secret police as well as a lack of cooperation among security forces in Baghdad. They said al-Maliki went so far as to blame a 2003 decision by the United States to disband the Iraqi army. "His defense is not convincing," Sunni lawmaker Adnan al-Jibouri said. Al-Maliki's top security chiefs stayed away from the session, despite calls by lawmakers they appear as well to answer questions. The ministers have previously refused to attend two other sessions called after bombings on Aug. 19 and Oct. 25. More than 250 were killed in those attacks. More at Foxnews
 IRAQI Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has sacked Baghdad's security chief over a string of coordinated car and truck bombings claimed by an al-Qa'ida group that killed 127 people. The Islamic State of Iraq issued a statement on a forum for Muslim extremists saying it carried out Tuesday's bombings at ministries and courthouses that also wounded 450 people, according to US monitoring group SITE. The statement, translated by SITE, threatened more attacks, saying the latest carnage was the “third wave” in an ISI campaign following bloody days on August 19 and October 25 that left more than 100 people dead. “The list of targets will not end, with permission from Allah, until the flag of monotheism is raised once against on the land of Baghdad and the sharia of Allah rules the land and the worshippers,” it said. The group also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Tikrit, the hometown of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, that killed a senior anti-terror officer on December 3. A senior policeman, meanwhile, said the explosives used in the attacks were manufactured abroad and that the bombers were backed by groups in Syria or Saudi Arabia. “This material could not have been manufactured in Baghdad, it came from abroad,” explosives unit chief Major General Jihad al-Jaabiri said. “Neighbouring countries helped them. The operation required lots of funding, which came from Syria or Saudi Arabia.” Security was beefed up at checkpoints across Baghdad, although roads were reopened after being shut in the wake of the five coordinated attacks. Mr Maliki, who has been sharply criticised by politicians since the bombings, appealed for unity among Iraqi leaders. “I call (on all politicians)... to avoid using these disasters to create conflicts during the election campaign because if the temple falls, it falls on everyone, and no one will be spared,” he said in a televised address. Yet MPs demanded that Mr Maliki and his ministers answer for any failings that led to the attacks. “MPs are angry, and the people are even more angry,” influential independent Kurdish MP Mahmud Othman said. “We want to know what is going on. What is the security plan? Have they revised the plans since the explosions in August and October? What are the results of their investigations? “Why do these explosions keep happening?” Another spate of deadly attacks rocked the capital yesterday as a roadside bomb in the predominantly Sunni northern Baghdad district of Adhamiyah killed two people and wounded seven, according to an interior ministry official. Also in Adhamiyah, a sniper killed a policeman and a bomb hidden inside a minibus exploded, killing two people and wounding 11. In Mahmudiyah, an ethnically mixed town just south of Baghdad, another bomb concealed inside a minibus killed three people and injured eight. Tuesday morning's bombs all exploded within minutes of each other. One suicide attacker detonated his payload at a finance ministry office, another struck at a tunnel leading to the labour ministry and a third drove a four-wheel-drive car into a courthouse. A fourth in a car struck a police patrol in Dora in south Baghdad, while a car bomb hit interior ministry offices in the city centre. Violence across Iraq dropped dramatically last month, with the fewest deaths in attacks recorded since the 2003 invasion. Official figures showed a total of 122 people were killed in November. Both the Baghdad government and the US military have warned of a rise in attacks in the run-up to the election. The Australian
 The presidential council on Tuesday postponed Iraq's parliamentary elections by seven weeks and set March 7 as the date for the vote, Reuters reported. The delay has raised concerns about an increase in violence in the country. The decision on the election date came as a series of coordinated attacks killed at least 102 people and wounded 197 in Baghdad. It was the worst day of violence in the Iraqi capital in more than two months. Three car bombs struck near government sites in the Iraqi capital, the third time since August that government buildings were targeted by multiple blasts that brought massive casualties. U.S. and Iraqi military officials had warned of the chance of increased pre-election violence aimed at destabilizing the government. Iraq was able to set the election date only after parliament approved a new law on balloting guidelines during an emergency session convened just before a midnight deadline Sunday. Failure to pass the new law would have forced Iraqi authorities to revert to rules used in its last parliamentary election in Dec. 2005 — a move that would have likely thrown the political process into a tailspin. The council's March 7 election date is a week later than what election officials initially recommended, said Faraj al-Haidari, the head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission. "We needed more time to organize voting abroad and time to complete preparations for the elections in general," al-Haidari said. The commission requested the Jan. 16 elections be postponed after the elections law was vetoed by Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who wanted a greater political voice for minority Sunni Arabs and changes in the distribution of seats in Iraq's expanded 325-seat parliament. On Monday, the electoral commission recommended a 45-day delay in the elections that would have pushed it to the end of February. But al-Haidari said the council decided to delay the elections a bit longer because of a series of religious holidays that could interfere with the planning. The U.S. military plans to withdraw all but 50,000 of its roughly 120,000 troops from Iraq after the elections. But the delay could complicate the timetable on that withdrawal, which American commanders have said will occur 60 days after the election. FoxNews
 Suspected US missiles killed three people in a Taliban-riddled northwest region yesterday, as Pakistanis reeled from a day's worth of bombings that killed at least 59. Twin bomb blasts tore through a busy market in Pakistan's second city of Lahore early yesterday, killing 36 people and wounding scores more. Another 10 people were killed by a suicide bomber in the northwestern provincial capital of Peshawar, which has borne the brunt of Taliban attacks. The latest alleged American missiles hit a car carrying three people in a village near the town of Mir Ali, in the North Waziristan tribal region, intelligence officials said. Pakistan protests against the missile strikes as violations of sovereignty, but many analysts believe it secretly aids them. The popular Moon Market in the centre of Lahore was transformed into flames and rubble when two bombs exploded 30 seconds apart outside a police station and a bank. He put the number of wounded at 95. Lahore police chief Muhammad Pervez Rathore put the death toll slightly lower, while bodies were still being pulled from the rubble. "Twenty-seven people are confirmed dead but the death toll may rise. A total of 137 people were injured," he said. "The blasts knocked out the electricity. Fire engulfed the whole of the market. We fear there are still bodies inside." In Peshawar, a suicide bomber in a rickshaw approached a district courthouse and blew himself up, killing 10 people. "He got down and tried to enter the building but could not do so because of our security arrangements," said Bashir Bilor, a senior provincial minister. The bomber detonated about 6kg of explosives, killing 10 people, including a policeman, and wounding 44 others, said Zafar Iqbal, a doctor at Peshawar's Lady Reading hospital. "I was sitting outside the court when I heard a deafening blast," lawyer Rashid Hussain said. "I rushed to the spot and saw dead and injured lying on the ground. It was really horrible; there were body parts and the injured were crying for help." Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned both bombings, deploring "the loss of innocent lives", a statement said. The Australian
 FIVE powerful car bombs have rocked Baghdad, killing at least 101 people, many of them students, and wounding 182 and shattering a month of calm in the capital ahead of a general election. Two car bombs exploded near the labour and interior ministries and a suicide attacker driving a car struck a police patrol in Dora, in southern Baghdad, causing 15 of the deaths, an interior ministry official said. The first explosion in central Baghdad was heard at 10.25 am (0725 GMT) with a second blast within seconds and a third one minute later. Sporadic gunfire then sounded and the sirens of emergency vehicles were also heard, with helicopters taking to the skies soon afterwards. The interior ministry official said 12 of those killed by the suicide attacker in Dora were students at a nearby technical college. The remaining three victims were policemen working at the checkpoint. Violence across Iraq dropped dramatically last month, with the fewest deaths in attacks since the US-led invasion of 2003. Official figures showed a total of 122 people were killed in November. However the Baghdad government and the US military have warned of a rise in attacks in the run up to the election, which is expected to take place in February. The threat of political violence linked to the poll is a major concern after bloody attacks in Baghdad in August and October that killed more than 250 people. The attacks, including truck bombings outside the finance, foreign and justice ministries, punctured confidence in the Iraqi security forces. "We believe that there will be an attempt to conduct more attacks between now and the election,'' General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, said in November. Tuesday's bombings came two days after the war-torn country's parliament passed a law governing the election, which will be the second national ballot since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein from power. The United Nations on Monday urged Iraq to announce ``as soon as possible'' the date for the vote after more than two months of delays. The presidency council, made up of President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies, now has to announce a date for the ballot. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in a statement said that February 27 was ``feasible'' and it stood ready to give all possible help to bring this about. US diplomats, most notably Christopher Hill, Washington's ambassador to Baghdad, had pushed MPs to pass the law, seeking to avoid delays to the planned pullout of tens of thousands of American troops in 2010. The United States has 115,000 soldiers in Iraq, but that figure will drop to 50,000 next year as all of its combat troops are pulled out before a complete withdrawal by the end of 2011. The Australian
 At least eight people have been killed, mostly students, in a bombing at a school in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
Among the dead were six children between the ages of 6 and 12, an Iraqi police official said.
Monday's blast also wounded at least 41 others. The toll is expected to rise.
An interior ministry official confirmed the casualties.
The blast took place at Abaa Dhar School for boys, in Baghdad's Shia district of Sadr City, an area that has seen only infrequent attacks because it is encircled by US and Iraqi security forces and has its own neighbourhood security. Many children were returning to school for the first time after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Twenty-five children were among the wounded, two hospital officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information.
The blast partially toppled a brick wall in front of the school, leaving a crater that quickly filled with muddy water, apparently from a broken water line.
The attack comes a day after the Iraqi parliament passed a new electoral law paving a way for the general elections in February.
Iraqi and US military officials have expressed concern about a possible spurt in attacks aimed at destabilising the government before next year's elections.
On Monday, gunmen stormed a checkpoint near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, killing five members of an anti-al-Qaeda group, police said.
The men were members of the Sunni Awakening Council, one of many Sunni groups that have begun taking on al-Qaeda in Iraq.
There are an estimated 2.5 million Shia living in Sadr City, a stronghold of Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, known for his anti-US stance.
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Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
E-mail: info AT ReformIslam.org
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Equal-opportunity enforced ignorance. "Pakistan: Militants blow up boy's school in northwest," from AdnKronos International, January 18:
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