EGYPT: 75 KILLED IN BLASTSEgypt-(Reuters)0100 local time (2200 GMT), Several blasts killed at least 75 people in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik during rush hour with the city full of tourists. The number of people wounded is still rising and has reached more than 150.
According to the BBC,
the first explosion was heard in the area of the old market and
the second two happened in the Naama Bay area where a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into the front of the Ghazala Gardens Hotel.
A third bomb was apparently heard blowing up by some witnesses but further details are still not available.
A hotel employee described the scene to an AFP journalist,
"A suicide car bomber forced the barrier at the entrance of the hotel. A member of the security staff tried to stop him but he sped towards the reception and there was a huge explosion."
Not far away, near the Moevenpick Hotel, a second bomb went off killing and wounding people as well as causing damage to the buildings and the cars nearby.
According to Egyptian Health Minister Muhammad Awad Taj al-Din, the number of deaths is bound to rise:
"Until now, the number of killed has reached 62 and 110 wounded have been brought to the hospital in Sharm al-Shaikh," the Minister told al-Jazeera, adding that the toll will probably continue to grow.
Rescue officials have said that many of the victims were probably Egyptian workers on their lunch-break. French people, Spanish, Italians and British were among the victims too.
Rescue teams are now at work to try to get survivors out of the debris that is covering the area. Israel has offered to send some soldiers in an attempt to help coordinating the emergency.
Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adli and US Secretary of State Coondoleeza Rice agreed on describing the facts as an "ugly act of terrorism" and "horrific terrorist bombings," as they told AFP.
BBCal-JazeeraALSO IN BLOGGERNEWS
Il Romanaccio at 10:11 AM
YEMEN: 30 KILLED IN PROTEST AGAINST OIL PRICESAccording to al-Jazeera, the
Yemeni protest for better oil prices has by now claimed more than 36 lives. Some other sources agree on a higher number such as 39 deaths and 50 wounded. The demonstration originally started in Sanaa, the capital and has spread to other cities like Hedida and Aden.
Yemeni people started a violent protest on Wednesday against oil prices which are higher than affordable for the citizens of one of the poorest countries in the world. During the first day the people were chanting against the ruling party of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Prime Minister Abdul-Qadir Bagammal. The two politicians were guilty, in the eyes of the demonstrators, of raising the prices of oil recently.
According to al-Jazeera,
the rising cost of petrol caused an unacceptable increase of every oil-related service/good:A liter of diesel rose to 45 rials (24 US cents) from 17 rials, a liter of petrol was priced at 65 rials, up from 35 rials and kerosene was up to 45 rials from 16 rials.
Along with these new prices, the government promised the people a gradual growing of wages within the next years as well as 200,000 new cases to accept for social care.
Nabil al-Sughi, a member of the Islamic Islah party, said in a statement,
"The state general budget must change, all public spending must be reviewed and a new programme to cut on military spending and the president's portions which eats up the general budget must be diminished."
The government has officially explained that, due to an economic mechanism, it was virtually impossible to keep down the prices or to maintain them, therefore they were forced by the international situation to raise them.
It is interesting to note that
the Yemeni Civil Service Minister Hamoud Khalid al-Soufi
denied that the fact that people were demonstrating. He said that they were "expressing their views" and that some of them took advantage of the situation to be violent.
al-JazeeraALSO IN BLOGGERNEWS
Il Romanaccio at 11:05 AM
IRAQ : ATTACKS AND BOMBS: TEN KILLEDMany attacks carried out by rebel fighters in and around the area of Mosul and Baghdad have killed at least ten people, including two US soldiers. According to al-Jazeera a suicide bomber drove his car into an Iraqi army checkpoint killing five soldiers and wounding many others in Mahmoudiyah.
Another Iraqi checkpoint was hit by a bomber in southern Baghdad on Wednesday, he killed one soldier and wounded six other. An Iraqi police patrol was targeted by gunmen in the area of Mosul at about 2 p.m.. Seven officers were killed and some other wounded.
A US military convoy was instead hit by an improvised bomb while it was on the way to Rawah. Two U.S. soldiers were injured in the attack.
According to a policemen,
four people were killed and four other were wounded in Hilla by bombings. Meanwhile Iraqi police has stormed the province of Babil on Wednesday in an attempt to stop recent violent episodes, the last one killed 90 people a week ago in the same area.
CNNal-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:40 AM
PALESTINE: REBEL GROUPS TO START TRUCEPalestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas has asked the Fatah Party and Hamas
to stop fighting, after 13 people were recently killed during clashes erupted in the Gaza strip between the two parties. Sufyan Abu Zaidai, Palestinian minister for prisoners and Nizar Rayyan, a Hamas spokesman, said that all the fighters were now coming back home and stop shooting.
Tuesday's episode takes our memory back to some years ago, when these kind of clashes where happening on a daily base.
Apparently
the reason why Hamas and the Fatah party were "infighting" on Tuesday is a
Israeli raid into the Gaza Strip. On Monday night the Israeli army penetrated in the village of al-Yamun with about 30 jeeps and two bulldozers. This invasion caused confusion between the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas military group), which have started to fight against each other at Jabalya refugee camp. The two faction were accusing each other of causing the violence.
The Palestinian security forces were already having troubles with the al-Aqsa martyrs brigades and the Israeli military was apparently preventing the Red Cross as well as many journalists to enter the site of the fighting.
Some buildings nearby were demolished by the Israeli bulldozers, as well as many cars and vehicles. The al-Arabi Centre, a cultural institution, was destroyed in the attack: Its director, Ismail Shakir, was reached on the phone and told about what happened to his centre.
"This incident is a very serious and a very dangerous one and can serve only the Zionist enemy. We call on the Palestinian Authority to show its responsibility and to arrest whoever is behind this awful crime," said Shakir.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 10:21 AM
IRAQ : US WORKERS KILLED13 people were killed by a group of armed men in Baquba, north of Baghdad, on Tuesday. The minibus was passing by to bring the US workers to their base. The fighters opened fire and killed all the people inside the vehicle, including the driver. 9 people have died immediately by the rifle wounds, three others have died as the minibus bumped on the fighters' car.
Later on two other people were killed and four wounded as a roadside bomb exploded next to a police convoy in the northern city of Kirkuk. A member of the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), the party of President Talabani and a policemen were killed in the attack. The bomb blew off at 8.30am (0430 GMT), in the central al-Wasiti neighbourhood.
"The IED (improvised explosive device) was targeted at a passing police patrol in which one policeman was killed and one wounded," said the Iraqi police Col.Adel Zaein al-Abidin.
Recent developments in the struggle for Iraq have shown a rising violence perpetrated by the al-Quaida groups in this country,
which was not a base for terrorists during Hussein's dictatorship.
The worst attack happened
on Saturday at the al-Musayyib mosque where a suicide bomber caused
the death of 83 people and the wounding of more than 150 other.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 10:20 AM
IRAQ : 110 PEOPLE KILLED IN THREE DAYS BY BLASTSAccording to medical and police sources,
more than 110 people were killed in Iraq during the last three days.
Al-Quaida's Iraqi wing has recently revealed its intentions of seizing Baghdad, starting a violent campaign that will only stop once the task is accomplished or everyone is dead.
Three deadly attacks rocked the city on Sunday and killed at least nine people:
The first attack targeted an eastern police checkpoint in Baghdad killing three people and wounding fourteen other. One dead a three wounded were instead counted for the attack in the southern police checkpoint. The third an most deadly bomb exploded close to an election commission headquarters killing five and wounding seven.
The Tragedy which happened a day before in the town of al-Musayyib,
killed at least 71 people and wounded more than 150 other. A suicide bomber blew himself up near a tanker truck, unleashing the hell on earth: 20 veihcles were burning as well as many buildings. The target was a Shia mosque which also gives hospitality to the supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr.
A mortar attack immediately followed the bombing at the mosque.
"I was 100 metres away when I saw the fireball. It was enormous... People were burning in their cars. We had to get them out with hooks," said a 24 year-old witness.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:06 AM
