BAGHDAD // Suicide bombers attacked local administration offices in Ramadi yesterday, killing as many as 17 people, in the first major al Qa'eda assault in Iraq since the new government was named last week.
The first bomb, a minibus loaded with explosives, detonated in the centre of the city, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad yesterday morning. As the emergency services responded, and bystanders gathered to watch, a man in a police uniform wearing a suicide vest entered the crowd and triggered a second bomb, according to police officials.
Initial casualty reports gave conflicting tolls of the dead and injured, something typical in the confused aftermath of attacks in Iraq. Police sources said at least 17 people had died, most of them security officers, with another 47 wounded.
Qassim Mohammed, the governor of Anbar province - Ramadi is the provincial capital - had earlier said seven were killed and 28 wounded. A higher toll of 14 dead and more than 50 wounded was, however, given by hospital officials. The Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed doctor as saying some of the wounded were in a "serious" condition.
Although no group had claimed responsibility for the blasts, al Qa'eda in Iraq was quickly and widely blamed by the security services and local politicians. Little more than two weeks ago the same compound was attacked, also in a twin bombing, an assault that killed 13 people and wounded dozens more.
A security source in Anbar said defensive measures had been tightened in the wake of that earlier attack, but that militants had successfully infiltrated police and army units in Ramadi, enabling them to continue operations in the city.
"We have a strong security plan in Ramadi but al Qa'eda has broken it because they have people inside the security services," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media. "There are people inside the army and police working for al Qa'eda."
He said a "new plan" was now being drawn up to improve security at the government compound.
Riyad Tikriti, an independent political analyst based in Salahaddin province, said militant groups had infiltrated security forces across the country, and that radical action was needed to address the problem.
"We need to stop having locally recruited police," he said. "The police force in Ramadi should be recruited from another province, that is the only way to deal with this and to stop al Qa'eda getting access inside the security forces."
While the army is largely recruited on a national basis, with soldiers from different provinces deployed to other areas, police units are recruited from the places they work in. That gives them the advantage of local knowledge but can make them more vulnerable to infiltration by locally based insurgent sympathisers.
Al Qa'eda in Iraq held a strong influence over Anbar province, until local tribes, which had fought alongside the militants following the 2003 US-led invasion, switched sides and, funded by the American military, turned their guns on their former allies.
This so-called Awakening movement - Sahwa in Arabic - was successful in rolling back the presence of al Qa'eda across much of the country between 2005 and 2010. But, with US troops withdrawing and the tribal Sahwa councils being wound down by the Iraqi government, there are concerns that Anbar is, once more, becoming a fertile recruiting ground for violent extremists opposed to the government and its US backers.
"There are al Qa'eda sympathisers working in the police in Anbar, and in Salahaddin, as well as other places," said Mr Tikriti, the political analyst.
"They also know the areas well and can put real pressure on the security services in these provinces. They know where officers' families live, so they are in a position to threaten and to get [security personnel] to help them or turn a blind eye to their activities.
"If police were recruited from different provinces, that leverage would disappear and it would be much harder for militants to infiltrate security units."
In addition to the Ramadi bombings, gunmen using silenced weapons wounded two police officers in Baghdad yesterday, and a bomb exploded in Dujail, 50km north of the capital.
There have been more than a dozen similar, small scale but deadly attacks in Iraq over the Christmas period.
nlatif@thenational.ae
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
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“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
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Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.