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Baghdad, Iraq CNN —Iraqi social media star Ghufran Sawadi, better known as Umm Fahad, was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, on Friday night, a Baghdad police source told CNN. The attack took place in the Zayouna area east of Baghdad, and was captured on video by a surveillance camera and shared on social media. A Baghdad police source confirmed the authenticity of the video to CNN. Other Iraqi social media personalities have previously been targeted in deadly attacks. Most recently, another popular Iraqi TikTok personality, Noor Alsaffar, known as Noor BM, was shot dead in Baghdad in September 2023, an Iraqi security source told CNN at the time.

Persons: Ghufran, Umm Fahad, Sawadi, ” Sawadi, ”, Noor Alsaffar, Noor, Alsaffar Organizations: Iraq CNN, CNN Locations: Baghdad, Iraq, Iraqi, Instagram

☆ Blinken makes unannounced visit to Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Jennifer Hansler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Baghdad, Iraq CNN —Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday – a significant stop on his whirlwind trip through the region. Blinken met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad for more than an hour. In the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack, Iranian-backed proxy groups have scaled up attacks aimed at US troops in Iraq and Syria. Ahead of his stop in Iraq, Blinken on Sunday also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah amid escalating Israeli settler violence in the West Bank. Before Blinken’s visit to Iraq, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was the highest-ranking Biden administration official to travel to the country, when he made an unannounced trip to Baghdad in March.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Mohammed Shia, “, ” Blinken, Matthew Miller, ” Miller, Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken’s, Defense Lloyd Austin, Biden, CNN’s Jack Forrest, Abby Baggini, Oren Liebermann Organizations: Iraq CNN, Sunday, Iraqi, Embassy, US, State Department, Palestinian, West Bank, Defense Locations: Baghdad, Iraq, Sudani, Israel, Iranian, Syria, Gaza, Ramallah, Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey

Baghdad, Iraq CNN —A popular Iraqi TikTok personality was shot dead on Monday in Baghdad, an Iraqi security source told CNN. Known on social media as “Noor BM,” 23-year-old Noor Alsaffar had over 370,000 followers collectively on Instagram and TikTok. While being queer is not explicitly banned under current Iraqi legislation, LGBTQ people are often targeted under vague morality clauses in its penal code. Alsaffar spoke in videos about facing threats on social media over choices of dressing. The Iraqi LGBTQ rights group, IraQueer, posted about Alsaffar’s death, adding the hashtags #Transphobia and #MuderOfTransPeople on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Persons: Iraq CNN —, Noor, Noor Alsaffar, Alsaffar, ” Khaled Almehna, Iraq’s Al, “ I’m, I’m, Samir Jermani, “, ”, Iraq “ Organizations: Iraq CNN, CNN, Twitter, Human Rights Watch Locations: Baghdad, Iraq, Iraqi, Sweden, Denmark, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia

Baghdad, Iraq CNN —Condemnation grew in Iraq after a 300-year-old minaret, viewed as a heritage site by the Ministry of Culture, was demolished in the southern city of Basra on Friday. Built in 1727, the 11-meter Siraji minaret, was demolished to create road expansion following complaints of traffic around the mosque, Basra Governor Assad Al Eidani said in a televised interview with Al Taghyeer news channel on Friday. He added that the leveling was a necessary step for road expansion in a growing city experiencing traffic jams. Local residents and government officials were left furious with the decision to proceed with the demolition. A resident of Basra, Ahmed Ali Ibrahim, told CNN that the people of the city “are in pain” over the demolition of the historic minaret.

Persons: Basra Governor Assad Al Eidani, Al, Al Eidani, Ahmed Al Badrani, Ahmed Ali Ibrahim, ” Ibrahim Organizations: Iraq CNN, Ministry of Culture, Iraq’s, CNN Locations: Baghdad, Iraq, Basra, Basra Governor

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