Car Bomb

In an apparent sharp escalation of the Irish Republican Army's campaign to bring violence closer to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative Party, a senior lawmaker who was considered Britain's most strident IRA opponent was killed Monday when a powerful bomb ripped through his car.

BEIRUT - Even with the commander of the United Nations monitoring mission in place in Syria, explosions and attacks continued Monday as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and opposition groups appeared no closer to a cease-fire after 13 months of unrest. In the northern city of Idlib, two early-morning car bombings killed at least eight people and injured more than 100, according to state media and activists. The explosions targeted the air force security and other military security buildings in the southern part of the city dominated by government buildings.

A car bomb explosion killed at least two people and injured 30 in the northern city of Aleppo, Syrian authorities said Sunday, raising fears of a new wave of deadly attacks as the rebellion against President Bashar Assad enters its second year. The explosion in Aleppo, the nation's business hub, came a day after two car bombs detonated in the capital, Damascus, officials said, reportedly killing 27 people and injuring almost 100. Both Damascus and Aleppo are considered strongholds of support for Assad and, apart from car bomb attacks, have been largely spared the fighting seen in other areas.

A series of explosions and shootings struck Iraq on Tuesday, leaving scores dead and injured a week before a major Arab summit in Baghdad aimed at showcasing the nation's stability after the U.S. military withdrawal. Starting shortly after dawn, at least 20 bombs exploded at 13 sites, from Baghdad to the northern city of Kirkuk to the southern cities of Hillah and Karbala. The nationwide death toll was at least 46, with more than 200 injured, the Associated Press reported. At least two car bombs exploded near the heavily fortified Green Zone, where next week's Arab League summit is scheduled to take place.

A car bomb exploded Wednesday near several restaurants in a Shiite neighborhood of northwest Baghdad, killing at least 34 people and injuring more than 70, police and hospital officials said. The blast appeared timed for maximum civilian casualties, going off about 7 p.m., when many Baghdad residents take advantage of cooler evening temperatures for shopping and dining in outdoor kebab restaurants.

A car bomb at a fuel station killed at least 24 people Tuesday in the eastern city of Faisalabad in what authorities said appeared to be an attempt to attack nearby regional offices of Pakistan's main intelligence agency. The explosion, which was not a suicide attack, also injured more than 90 people, several of them critically, said Aftab Cheema, a Faisalabad senior police official. The initial blast at the compressed natural gas fuel station probably triggered secondary explosions of gas cylinders, police said.

A massive car bomb blew up Friday on the outskirts of a city in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens -- an attack that authorities said could have been far worse if the suicide bomber had been able to make his way into the more crowded city center. The thunderous explosion rocked the edge of Khost city, the capital of the eastern province of the same name, which is the site of a large American-run military base known as Camp Salerno. Khost was also the site, 14 months ago, of a suicide bombing at a smaller U.S. installation that killed seven CIA workers, the agency's worst single-day loss in nearly three decades.

A car bomb blast tore through a crowded market in a city near Peshawar today and killed 34 people, the third terrorist attack to strike the area in three days. The blast occurred in Charsadda, about 25 miles northeast of Peshawar. More than 50 people were injured in the suspected suicide bombing, said Charsadda police official Riaz Khan. As Pakistani troops continued to battle Taliban militants in the South Waziristan region along the Afghan border, authorities have failed to stem the tide of retaliatory violence that militants have inflicted on the country.

Four are killed in what officials call a well-planned trap near a federal police headquarters. It appears to be the first time traffickers have used a car bomb since the start of a military-led offensive against drug cartels. Drug traffickers have added a powerful weapon to their arsenal, employing a car packed with nearly 20 pounds of explosives to kill police officers, Mexican authorities said Friday. Four people were killed — including a police officer and a doctor lured to within a few feet of the bomb — in what authorities said was a well-orchestrated trap.

For most of the past decade, Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad struggled to find his place in America, piling up debts and bouncing from one run-down neighborhood to another. In 2004, he and his wife, Huma Mian, plunked down savings to take out a $218,400 mortgage for a two-story house in Shelton, a gritty Bridgeport suburb. The following year, Shahzad was awarded a master's of business administration degree from the University of Bridgeport , normally a ticket to a prosperous future But unable to pay the mortgage or a $65,000 home equity loan, the couple abandoned their home to foreclosure last summer, putting broken furniture and old clothes up for sale.

A car bomb explosion killed at least two people and injured 30 in the northern city of Aleppo, Syrian authorities said Sunday, raising fears of a new wave of deadly attacks as the rebellion against President Bashar Assad enters its second year. The explosion in Aleppo, the nation's business hub, came a day after two car bombs detonated in the capital, Damascus, officials said, reportedly killing 27 people and injuring almost 100. Both Damascus and Aleppo are considered strongholds of support for Assad and, apart from car bomb attacks, have been largely spared the fighting seen in other areas.

At least 30 Iraqi police officers and civilians were killed and dozens injured Thursday morning in a series of rush-hour car bombings, explosions and attacks by gunmen that rocked Baghdad. The hour-plus string of violence, largely aimed at government security officers, began when gunmen took over a security checkpoint near the Sarafiya Bridge in Baghdad's center, killing six police officers and injuring three. Eight additional attacks occurred across the city, including a car bombing in the Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Karada, which killed nine civilians and injured 26. The explosion damaged cars and shops, and shook buildings blocks away.

Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a grave threat to world stability and possibly an existential threat to this country's Middle Eastern ally, Israel. But how far can one go in efforts to thwart Tehran's nuclear ambition before going too far? Economic sanctions are one thing, but what about launching viruses to ravage Iranian computers? And how about the targeted assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists? That appears to be what happened Wednesday, when Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a supervisor at the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, was killed — reportedly by a car bomb that had been magnetically attached to his vehicle by a passing motorcyclist.

In a dramatic twist in the nine-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad, government officials said Friday that two suicide car bombers detonated hundreds of pounds of explosives in front of buildings used by intelligence agencies in the heart of Damascus, the capital. Officials quickly pointed the finger at Al Qaeda, saying the dramatic escalation in violence confirms their contention that armed terrorists are behind the unrest. To reinforce the point, state television broadcast video of mangled body parts, burned-out vehicles and bloodied pavement against an action-movie-like soundtrack.

A car bomb exploded Friday near a mosque in southern Iraq as mourners gathered for the funeral of a tribal sheik, killing at least 17 people and wounding 70, Iraqi officials said. The blast took place at 5 p.m. in a town outside Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, as the mourners gathered in a hall near the mosque. The explosion set cars ablaze and damaged several nearby buildings. Many local officials, including the chief of provincial council, his deputy and some judges, were at the ceremony but were not among the dead or injured.

As authorities in New York and Washington stepped up security on Friday morning, Vice President Joe Biden told morning news shows that intelligence officials had information from a "credible source" that terrorists intend to enter the U.S. in advance of the Sept. 11 anniversary Sunday and attack targets "using a car bomb. " The FBI has set up a dedicated cell in its Washington operations center to monitor information about terrorists using a car bomb to attack sites in New York and Washington.

Three car bombs killed 33 people in Baghdad and the western Iraqi city of Fallouja on Sunday as people expressed anxiety over the country's security situation. Two car bombs ripped through the Iraqi capital almost simultaneously just after 10 a.m. The deadliest attack was in the Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Kadhimiya, where a suicide car bomb exploded outside an office of the state Ministry for National Security and left 19 dead and 53 wounded, according to police sources. The blast destroyed several homes and turned the prosperous neighborhood into a scene of mourning and rage.

A series of blasts and gunshots ripped across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 70 people and wounding more than 300 in a spasm of bloodshed that raised fresh concerns that the nation's security forces might be overwhelmed by insurgents when American soldiers withdraw later this year. The sprawling attacks, including suicide bombers, car explosions and militants firing Kalashnikov rifles, struck from north to south throughout the morning in what appeared to be a coordinated plan. Soldiers, police officers and market shoppers were targeted in Najaf, Kut, Baghdad, Baqubah and other areas.

A series of blasts and gunshots ripped across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 60 people in a day of bloodshed that indicated the nation's security forces may be overwhelmed by insurgents as American soldiers withdraw later this year. The attacks, including suicide bombers, car explosions and gunfire, struck from north to south throughout the morning in what appeared to be part of a coordinated plan. Soldiers, police officers and market shoppers were targeted in Najaf, Kut, Baghdad, Baqubah and other provinces.