[Excerpt: Around 25 people were wounded in the attack, the second suicide car bombing in as many days.....Violence, which calmed briefly following the elections nearly two weeks ago, has increased in the past week, in the build-up to the Shi'ite ceremony of Ashura. Election results are not expected for several more days.....Two attacks on Friday targeted Shi'ites and appeared designed to fuel sectarian tension ahead of Ashura, which climaxes on February 19. A suicide bomber killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 40 outside a mosque in a town northeast of the capital and gunmen killed nine people at a Baghdad bakery.] _http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=HM14CEX2QGQUICRBAEKSFFA ?type=worldNews&storyID=671421_ (http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=HM14CEX2QGQUICRBAEKSFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=671421) Suicide bomb kills 18 in Iraq Sat Feb 12, 2005 03:06 PM GMT
By Luke Baker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber has killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad, keeping violence at the forefront after Iraq's landmark election and ahead of an important Shi'ite Muslim religious ceremony. The bomber drove his vehicle towards local government offices and a hospital in the town of Musayyib, southwest of Baghdad on Saturday, but detonated it outside blast walls protecting the buildings and mostly killed civilians, police said. Around 25 people were wounded in the attack, the second suicide car bombing in as many days. Violence, which calmed briefly following the elections nearly two weeks ago, has increased in the past week, in the build-up to the Shi'ite ceremony of Ashura. Election results are not expected for several more days. Two attacks on Friday targeted Shi'ites and appeared designed to fuel sectarian tension ahead of Ashura, which climaxes on February 19. A suicide bomber killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 40 outside a mosque in a town northeast of the capital and gunmen killed nine people at a Baghdad bakery. Most of Iraq's insurgents are thought to be Sunni Muslims, who have exploited religious differences before. Violence also struck the southern city of Basra on Saturday, where masked gunmen assassinated a senior judge, Taha al-Amiri, as he drove to work. His driver was seriously wounded. It was the city's second assassination in a week and the latest in a string of targeted killings across Iraq. Last week gunmen killed a correspondent for Alhurra, a U.S.-funded Iraqi television network, as he was leaving his house. His three-year-old son was also killed. In Kirkuk, police sources said they were hot on the trail of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who has claimed responsibility for many of the worst attacks in Iraq, including the beheading of several foreign hostages. "He came to Kirkuk from Mosul," a source in the Kirkuk police department said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There's a possibility that he might be captured at any moment." There was no immediate comment from U.S. or Iraqi officials on the report. Iraqi officials recently claimed to be close to capturing the elusive militant, who is allied to al Qaeda. U.S. authorities are offering a $25 million (13.4 million pound) bounty for his capture. In Baiji, west of Kirkuk, two Iraqi policemen and a civilian were killed in a roadside bomb blast, a police source said. ELECTION COUNT The renewed violence came as U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq on Friday and warned it would take time for Iraqi security forces to crush the insurgency. Concerned to prevent a wave of bloodshed coinciding with Ashura, the interim government has said it will seal all borders between February 17 and February 22 to stop pilgrims flooding into Iraq. Many pilgrims come from neighbouring Iran and from Pakistan. Last year during Ashura, which honours the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in 680 A.D., suicide bombers blew themselves up among crowds of Shi'ite pilgrims in Baghdad and Kerbala, killing 171 people. The resumption of near-daily suicide attacks is a blow to hopes among some officials that the January 30 election, which saw millions of Iraqis go to the polls in defiance of insurgent threats, might mark a turning point after two years of violence. But U.S. and other officials have cautioned that there would be no quick end to the insurgency after the election, saying bloodshed could even increase in the short term as militants try to retaliate for the poll's success by punishing participants. Attacks slowed after the vote, but suicide bombs in Baghdad, Baquba and Mosul since then have killed more than 60 police, soldiers and would-be recruits to the security forces. Counting of ballots in the vote is still going on. Final results are expected in the next few days, although electoral officials say more time will be required to certify them. A religious-based coalition blessed by Iraq's foremost Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has a commanding lead, with around half the 4.6 million votes so far tallied. A coalition of Kurdish parties is in second place and a bloc led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is third. If the Shi'ite coalition wins, as widely expected, it would put Iraq's 60 percent Shi'ite majority in power for the first time, after decades of oppression under Saddam, a Sunni. Horse-trading to determine who will get the most powerful positions in the next government is already in full swing. Allawi travelled to northern Iraq on Saturday to meet Jalal Talabani, leader of one of two main Kurdish parties, in the hope of striking a deal with the powerful Kurdish bloc. It was Allawi's second meeting with a Kurdish leader in three days. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. enditem [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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