IN A BOLD BLOW to Iraqi hopes for peace, suspected Al Qaeda bombers toppled the towering minarets of Samarra’s revered Shiite shrine on Wednesday, adding new provocation to old wounds a year after the mosque’s golden dome was destroyed.

A POWERFUL CAR bomb killed anti-Syrian Lebanese politician Walid Eido and nine other people on Wednesday in an attack his colleagues blamed on Damascus, Reuters reported.

HAMAS FIGHTERS LAUNCHED a fierce offensive on Gaza City yesterday, attacking the main security bases and the president’s compound with mortars and rockets and sending some of the rival Fateh forces fleeing in disarray as the Islamic group appeared close to taking over the entire Gaza Strip.