Iraqi TV journalist shot day after anti-government activist s killing
Published
image captionAhmed Hassan, a reporter for Alforat TV, was targeted outside his home in Diwaniya province
An Iraqi journalist is in a critical condition after being shot in the head, in the second such attack in 24 hours.
Ahmed Hassan, a reporter for Alforat TV, was targeted as he got out of his car at his home in the al-Shamiya area of Diwaniya province early on Monday.
image copyrightAFP
image captionMourners at Ihab al-Wazni s funeral blamed Iran-linked groups for his killing
His death sparked unrest in the Shia Muslim holy city. Demonstrators, who blamed militias backed by neighbouring Iran, set fire to the outer gates of the Iranian consulate.
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Iraqi Health Minister Resigns After 130 Killed in Hospital Fire
5 May 2021
Iraqi Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi resigned Tuesday, saying he had a “moral obligation” to do so and a need to preserve “my career path, my family, and professional history” after a fire at the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad on April 24 killed about 130 people.
The Iraqi government officially believes 82 people died in the hospital fire, but the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights put the death toll at 130 or more. Another 110 people were injured, according to the Interior Ministry.
The fire appears to have started after some oxygen tanks exploded. Most of the dead and injured were coronavirus patients. Ibn al-Khatib hospital, located in one of the poorest districts in Baghdad, did not have smoke detectors, sprinkler systems, or even fire hoses. The head of the Iraqi civil defense forces ruefully observed that the ceilings in the intensive care ward were made of flammable materials
Fire at COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad kills at least 82 people
After an accident caused an oxygen tank to explode, eyewitness accounts and video clips of the terrible scenes of the fire at the hospital treating COVID-19 patients have provoked shock and anger throughout Iraq. A hashtag demanding Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi be sacked was soon trending on Twitter.
Saturday’s fire at the Ibn Khatib hospital, an intensive care facility dedicated to COVID-19 patients in the Diyala Bridge neighbourhood, one of Baghdad’s poorer districts in the southeast of the city, has killed at least 82 people and injured 110. At least 28 patients with severe symptoms of the virus who were on ventilators were among the dead.