Bombs kill 9 during Shiite religious ritual in IraqNovember 14, 2013 - 14:26 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Iraqi officials said a twin bombing has killed nine Shiites in a town south of Baghdad as they were marking a somber religious ritual, according to the Associated Press. A police officer said two bombs exploded simultaneously in Hafriyah, about 50 kilometers (32 miles) from the Iraqi capital, as a group of Shiites were observing the Ashoura. The annual ritual commemorates the 7th century death of Prophet Mohammed's grandson. The officer said the bombing also wounded 31 people. A medical official confirmed the causality figures. Ashoura attracts hundreds of thousands of Shiites. It's often targeted by Sunni extremists who consider Shiites to be heretics. Violence has spiked in Iraq since April with more than 5,500 killed, according to UN figures. Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |