Hum Ali Kay Azadar: News

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LONDON - Former British prime minister Tony Blair has apologised for “mistakes” made in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Blair also said there are “elements of truth” in claims that the invasion was the main cause of the rise of the Islamic State group.
Blair’s decision to send troops to back the US-led invasion is still a live political issue in Britain, where a six-year public inquiry into the conflict is yet to publish its findings.
Asked whether the offensive was the principal cause of the rise of Islamic State, which now controls large areas of Iraq and neighbouring Syria, Blair said there were “elements of truth” in that. “Of course, you can’t say that those of us who removed (former Iraqi dictator) Saddam (Hussein) in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015,” Blair told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
Critics say the US decision to disband Saddam Hussein’s army after the invasion created a huge security vacuum exploited by Al-Qaeda, which was eventually replaced by Islamic State.
Some former Iraqi army officers, members of the Sunni minority which says it has been marginalised by the Shi’ite-led government backed by Western powers, are senior strategists in Islamic State. The Iraqi government says it has not marginalised Sunnis.
Blair said the “Arab Spring” uprisings across the region also affected Iraq, and pointed out that Islamic State had risen out of a base in Syria, not Iraq.
Blair apologised for what he described as mistakes in planning and intelligence before the war and in preparations for what would happen once Saddam was removed, but said it had been the right decision.
“We have tried intervention and putting down troops in Iraq; we’ve tried intervention without putting in troops in Libya; and we’ve tried no intervention at all but demanding regime change in Syria. It’s not clear to me that, even if our policy did not work, subsequent policies have worked better,” he said.
“I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam. I think, even from today in 2015, it is better that he’s not there than that he is there.”
By the time the war officially ended on Dec. 15, 2011, more than 4,000 US troops and 179 British servicemembers had died and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed, according to the website Iraq Body Count.
More than 3,000 American soldiers are currently in Iraq, training and advising government forces and police.
The comments from Blair, a divisive figure for leading Britain into the Iraq war, come shortly before a timetable for the publication of the much-delayed public inquiry into the Iraq war is due to be announced.
Amid intense pressure to publish from lawmaers and families of military personnel killed in the war, John Chilcot will write to Prime Minister David Cameron by November 3 saying when the inquiry, launched in 2009, will be completed.

Source:
The Nation

JACOBABAD (Staff Report) – At least 22 people including five children were killed in a blast targetting a 9th Muharram procession near a park in the ‘Lashari’ neighbourhood of Jacobabad on Friday evening.

Police confirmed 40 others including several children, have been injured in the attack.

The injured have been rushed to nearby hospitals, while at least 15 of the injured are said to be in critical condition.

SSP Zafar Malik said, “It appears from the evidence collected that it was a suicide attack.”

He added that a pistol has also been found from the site of the blast.

Sindh Home Minister, Sohail Anwar Sial, has directed rescue teams to immediately reach the site.

He has also directed the IG to submit a report on the blast.

Chief Minister Sindh, Qaim Ali Shah, condemned the attack and expressed his condolences on the precious loss of lives.

He ordered for immediate provision of medical facilities to the injured.

Source:

Daily Pakistan

LONDON: A major increase in violence by the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group saw over 1,000 attacks and nearly 3,000 deaths worldwide in the past three months, analysis firm IHS Jane’s said on Thursday.

The figures show a 42 per cent jump in daily attacks by the militant group, averaging 11.8 per day from July to September, up from 8.3 per day between April and June.

The figures suggest that air strikes by the US-led coalition have had only a limited impact on the group.

The London-based analysis firm recorded 1,086 IS attacks, causing a total of 2,978 civilian and government fatalities --- a huge 65.3 per cent increase in the average daily killings by the group compared to the previous three months, and an 81 per cent jump on one year earlier.

IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre uses open sources to compile their database, and said IS likely carried out far more attacks that could not be verified.

“While the air strikes and wider coalition efforts have put the group under significant pressure, it is seemingly still some way from being sufficiently weakened to allow the recapture of territory, let alone be defeated,” Matthew Henman, head of the Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, said.

Russia’s increased involvement in Syria in recent weeks is likely to further strengthen IS, since there was a “clear indication” that Moscow was more interested in defending the Syrian regime than defeating IS.

“Already over the past week the Islamic State has made gains in areas of Aleppo governorate due to the targeting of rival opposition groups and this is likely to continue,” said Henman.

“Civilian deaths in Russian air strikes also give the Islamic State a powerful propaganda tool.”

Nigerian group

The figures reflect the inclusion of Nigeria’s brutal Boko Haram militant group, which declared allegiance to IS in March. Renamed Wilayat Gharb Afriqiyah, the group’s attacks were the deadliest of any IS affiliate.

“This underlines the nature of the group’s insurgency in Nigeria and several bordering countries, with its operations characterised by mass-casualty operations targeting the civilian population in the group’s northeast operational heartland,” Henman said.

The new figures also reflect changes in the type of combat over the summer in Iraq and Syria, which still account for the vast majority of IS activity.

After capturing some key areas, including the Iraqi city of Ramadi and Syria’s Palmyra earlier this year, the group focused on defending them from government forces and rival insurgent groups.

This meant an increase in “frequent, low-level, close-quarters engagements”, rather than the previous focus on mass-casualty attacks used to seize territory.

Overall, IS did not make any major territorial advances during the three-month period, though it did announce a new branch --- known as a “wilaya” --- in Saudi Arabia in August.

It has previously announced ‘wilayas’ in Afghanistan-Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Russia’s North Caucasus and Nigeria, in addition to the group’s operational heartland in Iraq and Syria.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2015

QUETTA: A suicide attacker blew himself outside an imambargah in Bolan’s Goth Chalghari area on Thursday, killing at least 10 people and injuring many others, DawnNews reported.

“At least 10 people were killed and 12 others were wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up at an imambargah,” said Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti.

Local administration official Mohammad Waseem confirmed the attack and death toll.

Bugti said there were six children between 10 and 12 years old among the dead and that some women had also died. He added that the death toll may rise.

Waseem said the suspected suicide bomber appeared to be about 18 years old and was wearing a woman's burqa.

Rescue workers and people of the area faced difficulties in shifting the injured to any hospital.