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Suicide car bombing kills 14 Iraqis
Three car bombs shook the northern Iraqi cities of Baqouba and Mosul on Tuesday, killing at least 14 Iraqis and one U.S. soldier. At least 126 people were wounded, including 10 U.S. soldiers.
The first blast occurred outside forward operating base War Horse, a U.S. outpost at the former al-Faris air force base 30 miles north of Baghdad. "At rush hour, a suicide bomber blew up his Mitsubishi," said Iraqi police Second Lt. Ali Hussein. "The blast led to huge damage." The explosion killed at least four Iraqis and one American soldier, the U.S. military and police said. Sixteen Iraqis and 10 American soldiers were wounded. The soldiers were working at a checkpoint just outside the base when the car blew up, said Maj. Neal E. O'Brien. The wounded were taken to a U.S. combat hospitals. The explosion occurred yards from the base's main gate, Hussein said. Hundreds of Iraqis who work at the base were standing in line awaiting security checks, said one of the injured, Ahmed Abdul-Latif. Two car bombs also exploded in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing 10 and wounding 100 people, the U.S. military said. The first explosion took place at about 9:15 a.m. near a local government building and a school. Body parts were hurled into the street and nine vehicles were set on fire. "We were driving in front of the school, said Khairi Ahmed Darweesh, who suffered shrapnel wounds. "Suddenly, I heard an explosion." Witnesses saw three suicide bombers in an orange and white taxi, the U.S. military said. Some of the victims were taken to a military combat support hospital in Mosul. The second bombing took place about 45 minutes later outside a coalition operating base. There was no word on casualties from the second blast. The bombings are the latest in a series of attacks on U.S. forces and their allies in the days leading to the handover of sovereignty in Iraq on June 30 A car bomb exploded Sunday near the gate of another a U.S.-run base north of Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 30 others — including two American soldiers, the U.S. military said. The latest explosions came one day after Iraq's new prime minister announced an agreement by nine political parties to dissolve their militias, integrating some of the 100,000 fighters into the army and police and pensioning off the rest to firm up government control ahead of the transfer of sovereignty. The plan does not cover the most important militia fighting coalition forces — the al-Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — or smaller groups that have sprouted across the country since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003.
Also Monday, roadside bombs killed an American soldier south of Baghdad and wounded three civilians working for a British security firm in the northern city of Mosul, authorities said. The attacks came after a weekend in which five civilian workers — including two Americans — were killed in two separate shootings. Under the interim constitution adopted in March, armed groups outside government control will be banned as of June 30 when power transfers from the U.S.-run occupation authority to the new interim administration. Coalition officials said the agreement announced Monday makes the ban effective immediately. Some of the nine militias have effectively dissolved already, and others, notably two Kurdish groups, have been allied with the Americans for years. U.S. officials want to disband the al-Mahdi Army and arrest al-Sadr for the April 2003 murder of a rival cleric, although authorities have deferred both goals to reduce tensions in the Shiite heartland south of Baghdad. Instead, the coalition has opted to let Allawi, himself a Shiite, and Shiite clerics deal with al-Sadr. The agreement also does not cover the brigade organized by the U.S. Marines to take control of the Sunni city of Fallujah after the end of the three-week siege in April. U.S. officials described the Fallujah brigade as "a special auxiliary unit" under the nominal control of the Marines. Most of the militias covered by the agreement were organized to fight Saddam. Under the program, the estimated 100,000 fighters will be treated as veterans — eligible for government benefits including pensions and job placement programs depending on their time in service. Others, including the peshmerga fighters of the two main Kurdish parties —
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party — will be
integrated into the police, army and border security force. Officials of both
parties are members of the new government. |
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