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A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 4 January 2021
Iraq says it has dismantled mine on tanker in Persian Gulf

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s a top Iranian general, Qa-
military on Saturday said ssem Soleimani, and top
explosives experts with its Iraqi militia leader Abu
naval forces successfully Mahdi al-Muhandis.
dismantled a mine that Iraq is marking the anniver-
was discovered stuck to an sary with a series of events
oil tanker in the Persian Gulf this week, including a cer-
two days earlier. emony at Baghdad’s air-
The statement said Iraqi port Saturday night, where
authorities have opened the strike that killed the two
an investigation into the men occurred.
incident. No group has Thousands of mourners
claimed responsibility for joined a mock funeral
placing the mine. procession on the high-
The announcement came way leading to the airport,
a day after Iraq confirmed which was blocked with
reports by private security cars Saturday evening.
firms that a mine had been Posters of the dead men
discovered attached to adorned both sides of the
the side of a tanker rent- An aerial photo shows oil tankers load crude oil at Iraq’s Al-Basra Offshore Terminal in Basra, Iraq, road, which was lined with
ed from Iraq’s Oil Market- Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020. tents that served food
ing Company, known as Associated Press and drinks for those who
SOMO, as it was refueling pet mine on the MT Pola, a age a vessel. flyovers and sent a nuclear walked the highway. The
another vessel. It said that Liberian-flagged tanker. The discovery came amid submarine into the Persian scene of the bombing
Iraqi teams were working to A limpet mine is a type of heightened tensions be- Gulf over what Trump of- was turned into a shrine-
dismantle the mine. naval mine that attaches tween Iran and the U.S. in ficials describe as the pos- like area sealed off by red
Iraq has not provided fur- to the side of a ship, usually the final days of President sibility of an Iranian attack ropes, with a photo of So-
ther details, but the two pri- by a diver-member of spe- Donald Trump’s administra- on the one-year anniver- leimani and al-Muhandis in
vate security firms said the cial forces. It later explodes, tion. Already, America has sary of the U.S. drone strike the middle, as mourners lit
discovery was likely a lim- and can significantly dam- conducted B-52 bomber near Baghdad that killed candles.q

IS gunmen kill 11 minority Shiite

coal miners in SW Pakistan

Police video of the bodies
revealed the miners were
blindfolded and had their
hands tied behind their
backs before being shot.
The attack took place
Migrants from Eritrea, Egypt, Syria and Sudan, are assisted by near the Machh coal field,
aid workers of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, after fleeing Libya about 48 kilometers (30
on board a precarious wooden boat in the Mediterranean sea, miles) east of the provincial
about 110 miles north of Libya, on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021. capital Quetta.
Associated Press
News of the killings quickly
Spanish-flagged boat rescues spread among the Hazara
community and members
265 migrants in Mediterranean took to the streets in Quetta
and surrounding areas to
ROME (AP) — A Spanish- two days before that res- People from the Shiite Hazara community gather around the protest, blocking highways
bodies of coal mine workers who were killed by unknown
flagged humanitarian ship cue, Open Arms took gunmen near the Machh coal field, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, with burning tires and tree
on Sunday was seeking a aboard 169 migrants, who Jan. 3, 2021. trunks. Officials closed the
port of safety for 265 mi- had departed Libyan Associated Press affected roads to traffic.
grants its crew rescued shores, where many hu- The violence was largely
from the Mediterranean man traffickers are based. By ABDUL SATTAR minority Shiites in recent condemned across the
Sea in the last few days. The traffickers launch ves- Associated Press years. Moazzam Ali Jatoi, country, with Prime Minister
The Open Arms char- sels, many of them flimsy QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — an official with the Levies Imran Khan saying the per-
ity tweeted that its vessel rubber dinghies or rickety Gunmen opened fire on Force, which serves as po- petrators would be taken
on Saturday had safely fishing boats, crowded a group of minority Shiite lice and paramilitary in the to task and the affected
brought aboard 96 mi- with migrants who hope to Hazara coal miners after area, said the attackers families would be cared
grants who had been adrift reach European shores to abducting them, killing 11 identified the miners as be- for.
in a wooden boat with seek asylum. Some are flee- in southwestern Baluchistan ing from the Shiite Hazara Shiite cleric Nasir Abbas
without life vests in inter- ing conflict or persecution, province early Sunday, a community and took them said protests over the inci-
national waters. It said the but many of the hundreds Pakistani official said. to up into nearby moun- dent would be organized
passengers, most of them of thousands of migrants The Islamic State group lat- tains for execution, leaving nationwide. Political and
from Eritrea, included two who have been rescued er claimed responsibility for others unharmed. He said religious leaders from differ-
women and 17 minors and at sea in recent years are the attack in a statement six of the miners died at the ent segments of the popu-
were suffering from hypo- fleeing poverty and thus on its website. The Sunni scene, and five who were lation also expressed their
thermia. are denied asylum by Euro- militant group has repeat- critically wounded died on grief and sorrow over the
In a separate operation pean Union countries. q edly targeted Pakistan’s the way to a hospital. killings. q