Iraq At least three car bombs in downtown Baghdad, near the Green Zone, killed at least five people on Tuesday, reports NPR.
“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 woman who identified herself as Um Ali, her cheeks smeared with blood as she screamed at reporters, echoing the frustrations voiced by many Iraqis.
The explosions came exactly a week after suicide bombers killed 127 people and wounded more than 500 in a series of five bombings across the capital – three of which appeared to target government buildings. Suicide bombers on Aug. 19 and Oct. 25 also targeted government ministries and buildings in a series of horrific bombings in which more than 250 people were killed.
BBC reports that the Baghdad bombing was followed by another car bombing in Mosul.
Pakistan A car bomb outside a politician’s home in Dera Ghazi Khan town in Punjab province killed at least 22 people and injured 70 more Tuesday, reports the New York Times.
Afghanistan At least 16 policemen and possibly two militants were killed in two attacks Monday on police posts, one in Baghlan province in the north and one in Helmand province in the south, reports BBC. More than 1,000 police officers have been killed in Afghanistan this year.
A car bomb in central Kabul on Tuesday morning killed at least eight people, reports the New York Times. The bombing was near the home of a former Afghan vice president, and also near a hotel that is used by many Westerners.
Yemen Some 70 civilians were killed in an air force bombing of a market in the Bani Maan village in the border region between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, say rebels known as Houthis. The renewed fighting between rebels and the Yemeni government has been going on since August, but the insurgency dates back to 2004. The Yemen air force says that it, and not the Saudis, carried out the bombing, according to BBC. The Yemeni army spokesperson said the village was one of the most fortified Houthi strongholds.
Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch in New York, accuse the Yemeni government of abuses, according to another BBC article. Until 1990, Yemen was two separate countries.
The authorities have suspended publication of several newspapers, censored coverage of sensitive issues and arrested popular bloggers, Human Rights Watch say.
In 1994 there was a civil war in Yemen after an attempt by the south to secede was quashed by the northern government of Mr Saleh.
People in the south, home to most of Yemen’s oil facilities, have long complained the central government takes advantage of their resources but marginalises and discriminates against them.
Mary Turck
News Day 