15 women slain in US-led airstrike in Iraq

October 22, 2016

Bagdad, Oct 22: At least 15 women have lost their lives and scores of other civilians have sustained injuries when fighter jets operated by the so-called US-led coalition struck a mourning procession in Iraq’s oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk.

bagdad

Local official Amir Huda Karam said the aerial attack targeted a Shia place of worship in the town of Daquq, located approximately 180 kilometers north of the capital Bagdad, on Friday.

‘Not justifiable’

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi condemned the killing of Iraqi civilians by foreign military forces under the pretext of fighting terrorism, saying that no excuse can justify attacking innocent civilians attending a mourning procession.

He also offered the Islamic Republic’s condolences to the Iraqi government and nation over the deadly attack in Daquq.

US-led strike on the heels of Daesh attack

The tragic incident came just hours after three Daesh Takfiri terrorists attacked a power plant in the town of Dibs, located 55 kilometers northwest of Kirkuk, and blew themselves up, killing 18 people, including three Iranians.

Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the slain Iranian technicians were carrying out maintenance at the facility.

The sources added that some of the surviving militants had blocked off the road between the town and the power station.

Crude oil production facilities were not affected as a result of the assault, and power supply remained uninterrupted.

The security sources said the situation in Kirkuk had largely been brought under control after Kurdish forces dislodged the militants from all the police and public buildings they had seized before dawn.

Earlier, multiple explosions ripped through Kirkuk and bursts of machine gun fire could be heard across the northeastern oil city.

Witnesses, requesting anonymity, said much of the fighting was focused on a government compound in the city.

Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim, however, stated that militants had not managed to take control of any government buildings in the city, located 236 kilometers north of Bagdad.

A curfew is now in effect and streets are largely deserted amid fears of militant snipers.

Local authorities had earlier said some of the assailants were holed up in a hotel and a mosque in the middle of Kirkuk.

Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati, commander of Iraq's Joint Operations Command, said the attackers in Kirkuk came from outside the city.

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group later claimed responsibility for the attacks in Dibs in an online statement.

The assaults came four days after nearly 30,000 army soldiers, fighters from pro-government Popular Mobilization Units and Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched a massive and multi-pronged operation to retake the city of Mosul from Daesh militants.

Iraqi journalist killed in Kirkuk

Additionally, a senior correspondent for the regional and state-run Turkmeneli television network has been fatally shot by a Daesh sniper in Kirkuk.

An unnamed police colonel said 30-year-old Ahmet Haceroglo was struck by a sniper bullet to the chest and died of his wounds as he was covering incidents in Kirkuk.

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News Network
July 18,2020

Dubai, July 18: An NRI student who passed away in Dubai shortly after shortly after attempting his Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Grade 12 papers in March, has scored an impressive 91.4 per cent on his board examinations, including 100 in his media studies paper.

Ahmed Ziyad, a student of GEMS Our Own Indian School in Al Qouz, Dubai, died on March 19, suffered a heart condition called Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) that stopped him from being active in sporting activities.

Ziyad's parents, teachers, and classmates remember him as a very ambitious pupil, who wanted to launch his own business and achieve great things in his life. His board results are - mass media studies 100, Marketing 97, English 84, Entrepreneurship 82, and Home Science 94.
 
Ziyad's father, Shanavaz Manangath, a real estate professional who has been a resident of Dubai for over two decades said, "Six months ago, he had collapsed while playing with his friends. Since there was an irregularity in his heartbeat, he could not take part in any strenuous activities." He added, "Ziyad had just started playing with his friends on March 19 when he suddenly collapsed and died shortly after. My family has not been able to overcome his loss."

Unable to hold back his tears, an emotional Manangath said Ziyad wanted to do his BBA and launch his own business, "He was very ambitious. Honestly, I haven't looked into his board exam results, but, I know he had studied very hard for the exams."

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News Network
May 19,2020

Dubai, May 19: In a heart-warming decision to reunite families that have been split by anti-Covid travel restrictions, the UAE has announced that residents with valid visas stranded outside the country can return from June 1.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship said they will begin the process on Monday, June 1, by allowing the return of those residency holders currently stranded outside the country who have relatives in the UAE. Residents who meet this criteria must apply for a Resident Entry Permit on smartservices.ica.gov.ae.

The ministry and the authority said the decision was taken to reunite families that have been affected by the anti-coronavirus measures taken due to the exceptional circumstances.

"The UAE is keen to facilitate the procedures for holders of UAE residency visas who are stuck outside the country and reunite them with their families who were affected by the precautionary measures taken by the country in light of the current exceptional circumstances to combat Covid-19," the federal authorities were quoted by state news agency Wam.

Hundreds of UAE residents are currently stuck abroad and are separated from their families due to the unexpected freeze on air travel imposed by many countries as precautionary measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The #BringBackUAEresidents hashtag was trending on Twitter on Monday as several residents and families requested the government to expedite their return to the UAE.

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News Network
April 13,2020

Dubai, Apr 13: The UAE plans to impose "strict restrictions" on countries reluctant to take back their nationals working in the Gulf country in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and restructure its cooperation and labour relations with them, a state-run media report said on Sunday.

Indian expatriate community of nearly 33 lakh is the largest ethnic community in UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country’s population. Among the Indian states, Kerala is the most represented followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

The options being considered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation include "imposing strict future restrictions on the recruitment" of workers from these countries and activating the "quota" system in recruitment operations, state-run WAM news agency reported, citing an official.

It said the options also include suspending memoranda of understanding signed between the ministry and concerned authorities in these countries.

Citing the unnamed official, it said these options are being considered after many countries did not respond to requests by their nationals to return home following the coronavirus outbreak.

The official made it clear that all countries of foreign workers in the UAE should be responsible for their nationals wishing to return to their countries as part of the humanitarian initiative launched recently by the ministry.

Earlier this month, the ministry launched the initiative to enable residents who work in the UAE and wish to return to their countries to do so during the period of precautionary measures undertaken in the UAE to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Employees will be asked to submit their annual leave dates or agree with their employers on unpaid leave.

UAE's Ambassador to India Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Banna has said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) had sent out a “note verbale” to all the embassies in the UAE, including the Indian mission, during the past couple of weeks on the issue.

“We have sent the note verbale and all the embassies have been informed including the Indian embassy in the UAE and even the Ministry of External Affairs in India,” Al Banna told Gulf News over phone on Saturday.

He said the UAE has offered to test those who want to be evacuated.

“We are assuring everybody that we have the best of the facilities, the best of the testing centres and we have tested more than 500,000 people,” he said.

“We are assuring them also of our cooperation to fly those who got stranded in the UAE for some reasons. Some got stuck because of the lockdown and closure of airports in India. Some were visiting the UAE.”

“We are offering our system and making sure that they are good (to fly) by doing all the tests and transport them according to the request of their own government,” he said.

The envoy said those who test positive for COVID-19 will remain in the UAE. “They will be treated in our home facilities,” he added.

The Kerala High Court on Saturday sought the central government's response to a petition seeking a direction to bring back Indians stranded in the UAE in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the gulf nation.

Considering the plea by Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) in Dubai, the court directed the Centre to file an affidavit on the steps taken by it to ensure the safety of Indians living there and bring back those stuck in the Gulf countries.

In its plea, KMCC, the organisation for non-resident Indians from Kerala, sought directions to the Ministries of External Affairs and Civil Aviation to provide exemptions in the international air travel ban to bring back those Indians stranded in the UAE.

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