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Double Suicide Attack in Baghdad Kills Dozens

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by Rehan Qamar

Another horrific incident occurs in Iraq, adding to the increasing country death toll, as a twin suicide bombing occurs in central Baghdad.

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, at least 27 people were killed and many others injured Monday, from the twin suicide bombing which occurred in a heavily crowded market street in central Baghdad. 

Security forces, and medical teams rushed to the scene to contain the area after the attack, hurrying to clear the debris and help as many people as possible. Injuries totaled to about 100 people, officials said. 

Most of the victims included large groups of laborers who usually gathered in the morning looking for work.

Monday’s suicide attack marked the second deadliest attack to hit the city of Baghdad in the past three days.

Earlier that week, on a Saturday, a suicide bomber attacked a Shitte gathering in a market square. Killing 41 people and injuring at least 33 people. The attack took place in a crowded market tent in the neighborhood of Shaab. ISIS later claimed responsibility in an online statement.

Baghdad has been a key target to the terror group, ISIS, as they gained land in 2014.

As of now, No group has taken responsibility for either attacks done in the past days.The attack in Aviation square was deemed the deadliest attacks in Baghdad since the massive truck bombing. Which killed 324 and injured many, in a commercial district of Karrada, July 2016. This bombing was the single deadliest attack Iraq has faced since the 2003 US invasion that exiled Saddam Hussein.

Iraq has been subject to many attacks in the past from ISIS which have been occurring after the Iraqi government claiming victory over ISIS. They had claimed this victory after regaining control of an estimated one third of the country that had been under ISIS control.

Iraq Takes Full Control of Kirkuk, Peshmerga React

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by Aysha Qamar

Earlier this week, the Iraqi army stated it has taken full control of Kirkuk, including the city’s airport and oil field, following a major advance on Kurdish-held territories. According to Al Jazeera, Iraqi security forces had captured the government building in the centre of Kirkuk city with no opposition from Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

This action was part of a major operation to retake the oil-rich province, during an escalating dispute that occurred when Baghdad declared a referendum on Kurdish secession illegal. As the Iraqi army advanced, thousands of people, including civilians and Peshmerga fighters, fled the disputed the city, which is said to be home to about a million Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians.

“It seems to be a complete withdrawal from the Peshmerga inside and around the city,” Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford  reported from the outskirts of Kirkuk.

According to Stratford it took only about 15 hours for Iraqi troops to capture the city.

“Standing by the side of the road, there were Peshmerga fighters demanding that their colleagues went back to Kirkuk and continued to try and defend it. But there were also a lot of very frightened people desperate to get out as quickly as possible.”

While no response was immediately met with the capture, the Kurdish Peshmerga General Command (PGC) later issued a warning to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, stating the Iraqi government will pay a “heavy price for this unfairness” referring to its military campaign in Kirkuk, which it described as “a declaration of war against the nation of Kurdistan”.

“We call upon all the real Peshmerga of the country and the resilient and enemy-defeating people to do all they can to resist and defeat the attackers,” the statement said.

While the accusations have been denied by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the PGC has accused some of the leaders of PUK of “treason”, alleging that forces under the party’s control had withdrawn from areas they held.

“Unfortunately, some officials from the … PUK helped this plot against the Kurdistan nation and committed a great and historic treason against Kurdistan and the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Kurdistan under the PUK flag,” the statement said.

The time that it took for Iraqi militant forces capture and seize the city has left Kurdish forces with many questions.

Al-Abadi met the threat with a call to the Peshmerga to collaborate in maintaining the peace in Kirkuk.

“We call upon the Peshmerga forces to perform their duty under the federal leadership as part of the Iraqi armed forces,” he said in a statement on Facebook, urging “all employees in Kirkuk to continue their work normally and not to disrupt the interests of citizens”.

According to reporters, Al-Abadi said he was fulfilling his constitutional duty “to serve the citizens and protect the unity of the country, which was in danger of partition due to the insistence on holding the referendum organized by those in power in the Kurdistan region in a unilateral step”.

Tensions between the two sides have been rampant since Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for secession in last month’s referendum. The non-binding poll was held in areas under control of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and in various disputed territories, including Kirkuk.

A lack of agreement on who should control Kirkuk, between the two parties, has created a division since the Kurdish Peshmerga forces first took control of oil-rich Kirkuk, after the Iraqi army fled from attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group in 2014.

Don’t Go There, It’s Too Dangerous

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by Amina Khan

“The more they tell me I can’t go somewhere, the more I need to see what it’s really like.” 

More often than not, tourists refrain from going to the Middle East because of the looming negativity illuminated on the news from these countries. In doing so, the portrayal of people who live in these countries is viewed with suspicion and wariness.

Alex Hill, a photographer, rejects these morbid assumptions and reveals the compassionate and humane side of the Middle East through his photography.

Hill has been volunteering for refugees in Istanbul, Turkey. For World Refugee Day he focused on the pure faces of refugee children marred by the horrors of war. The innocence etched on these portraits are threaded with catastrophes no child should witness at such a young age; yet, still shine brightly illuminating a sense of hope. It is clear the refugees in Istanbul and beyond are not letting war devour their ability to seek a brighter future. Hill reaches the heart and soul of these children through his photography to ultimately raise awareness to not forget a growing generation of high hopes.

In recognition of World Refugee Day, I’m posting some portraits (not all of which are traditional face portraits) of refugee kids we’ve been trying to help in Istanbul. Most of them are from Syria, but this city also has Iraqis and Afghanis fleeing from war. Feel free to share, comment, and use these images to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by refugees, especially children,” Hill wrote on Bored Panda.

In choosing to emphasize children for World Refugee Day, Hill exceptionally juxtaposes the harsh realities of war in order to summit the core of innocence and reason to be aware of what’s going on in the Middle East. It is clear in Hill’s photography and small but effective captions of each child, that the passion and grit enabled in these young children will get them to where they want to be.

War has painted Syrian, Iraqi, Afghani refugees as some alien breed that one can only feel sorry for. It is almost as if being ignorant on the matter means we have accepted that their doom only awaits them, completely rejecting that these are humans with a hopeful future. Hill captures the shining faces of refugees in order to purely bring awareness to the everyday life of a refugee and how it mirrors the everyday life of any child living in America, minus the morbid atmosphere of war and being enforced to labeled as a refugee.

Hill has also traveled to Mecca, in order to show the ordinary lives of Muslims roaming around their holy city. His photography instills a warmness in the heart to see a non-Muslim revel in and accept the beautiful religion of Islam with an open mind, amidst the negative portrayal in the media.

Instagram: @alexhillphoto 

Facebook: @alexhillphoto