Nur al-Cubicle

A blog on the current crises in the Middle East and news accounts unpublished by the US press. Daily timeline of events in Iraq as collected from stories and dispatches in the French and Italian media: Le Monde (Paris), Il Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), L'Orient-Le Jour (Beirut) and occasionally from El Mundo (Madrid).

Friday, October 22, 2004

22 October 2004 Events in Iraq

00:24 Baghdad. Allawi: "No concessions to kidnappers of Margaret Hassan". Premier Allawi will make no concessions nor will he deal with the kidnappers of Margaret Hassan, CARE Director in Baghdad. "We must stand firm - said Allawi --and intransigent in our intention to bring the kidnappers to justice." The Premier added that he hoped that the woman would soon be released. "She will be released, we are doing our best and praying for her. We are doing our utmost for her release." [Is this doubletalk or what?]

21:09 Skopje. Macedonia to stay in Iraq despite executions. Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski says his country will not pull out its contingent despite the beheading of two Macedonian nationals. However 19 Macedonian workers who had employment contracts in Iraq with the same company returned to Skopje.

19:46 Baquba. 9 insurgents killed. US troops and Iraqi forces kill 9 in a gunbattle provoked by an attack on a US patrol.

18:21 Baghdad. Turkish hostage escapes. A Turkish laborer escaped his kidnappers and is now in the Turkish embassy in Baghdad.

16:35 Fallujah. US warplanes struck the suburb of Shuhada southeast of the city.

15:52 Baghdad. Hassan: "Help me! Blair must withdraw!" "These could be my last hours, help me." Video of plea by Margaret Hassan broadcast by Al Jazeera.

14:14 Mosul. Battle inside mosque after US raid kills one, wounds nine. A gunbattle broke out in the Thi al-Muraid mosque in Mossul. Eye-witnesses reported that US troops raided the compound and were fired upon with RPGs. Sheik Rayan Tawfiq had announced that US troops entered the compound to make an arrest. One Iraqi was killed and seven US marines were wounded.

12:54 Baghdad. Two Iraqi police were wounded when a carbomb exploded next to their station in Ishaqi, 80 km north of Baghdad. The bomb was meant for a US convoy. The blast destroyed a jail cell wall and two prisoners escaped.

12:02 Fallujah. Two little girls killed. US troops opened fire on a car in which two little girls were travelling as passengers, killing them.

10:43 Bohrouz. A child and three adults wounded. Four Iraqi civilians were wounded during a clash between rebels and US troops in Bohrouz, north of Baghdad.

09:50 Baghdad. Sunni Imams throughout Iraq protest arrests. Sunni imams throughout Iraq condemn US arrests of clerics and call on the faithful to boycott the January elections. Meanwhile Ahmad al-Safi, spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Sistani, has exhorted Iraiq Shi'a to vote, under pain of punishment under Sharia law. "Abstainers are traitors and will go to hell."

09:00 Baghdad. US sources: "There are 12,000 rebels".

08:57 Baghdad. Kidnapped Englishwoman's husband lashes out at Blair. Tahsine Ali Hassan says Blair's careless talk about his wife endangers her life.

08:56 Fallujah. City bombed by US warplanes, 7 dead.

08:55 Baghdad. Ulema member arrested. Sheik Abdessatar Abdel Jabbar, a director of the Committee of Iraqi Ulema, was arrested in Baghdad together with three other people, including two of his sons. The arrests caused disturbances in mosques north of the city. An Ulema spokesman says 6 imams were arrested on Wednesday.

08:30 Baghdad. Abdessalam al-Kobeissi, member of the committee of Iraqi Ulema, accused US forces of having attempted to arrest several imams of mosques north of Baghdad. Worshipers prevented the arrests.

08:00 Paris. Frenchman dies defending Fallujah. 19 year-old French citizen Redouane H. was killed by US troops in Fallujah.

07:45 Geneva. UN advises ex-pat Iraqis to stay abroad. A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner of Refugees, Rupert Colville, tells Denmark, Britain and Germany not to pressure expatriate Iraqis to return to their country because of the poor security situation.

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