11 killed in Baghdad bombings
Car bombers struck twice in rapid succession in the Iraqi capital today, killing at least 11 people including an American soldier and wounding at least 16.
The attacks came as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that violence may increase as the January election approaches.
Iraq’s most feared terror group – Tawhid and Jihad – said it carried out the near-simultaneous car bombings, one near an east Baghdad police academy and the other outside an east Baghdad market as an American military convoy was passing by.
An American soldier was fatally injured in the convoy attack, US and Iraqi officials said. One Iraqi was also injured. The Kindi Hospital said it received 10 bodies from the police academy blast, and police said 15 others were injured there.
The dead at Kindi hospital included three police academy students and a female officer.
In a statement posted on the Web, Tawhid and Jihad, led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the car bombings were carried out by its military wing and were ”martyrdom” operations, meaning suicide attacks.
Improvised bombs – some left by the side of the road, others rigged in vehicles – have become insurgents’ weapon of choice in turbulent Iraq and have accounted for about half the American battle deaths in recent months.
Al-Zarqawi’s group also warned it would continue “to slaughter infidels” until the Americans and their Iraqi allies release all women detained in Iraq. The warning was part of a message contained in a videotape posted today on the Web depicting the brutal decapitation of British hostage Kenneth Bigley.
Mr Bigley, whose death was announced by his family on Friday, was shown pleading for Prime Minister Tony Blair to save his life moments before assailants severed his head with a knife. His body has not been found.
“Here I am again, Mr Blair, very, very close to the end of my life,” Mr Bigley said in a calm voice. “You do not appear to have done anything at all to help me.”
One of the hooded men then spoke, saying the British government “pretended to care about its people” but ”they are lying”.
He accused Britain of lying when Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the government did not know how to contact Tawhid and Jihad.
“Britain is not serious,” the speaker said. “So this malicious Briton has nothing except the sword.”
The speaker then drew a knife from his felt and cut off Mr Bigley’s head while three others held him down.
The Sunday Times newspaper of London reported that Mr Bigley was killed after briefly escaping by car after British intelligence helped bribe two of the captors.
Mr Bigley was recaptured and the two captors who helped him were killed, the newspaper said.
Elsewhere, the US command said a Marine was killed Saturday by hostile fire in Anbar province but gave no further details.
Insurgents ambushed a Marine convoy today near the western town of Hit, US officials said. Marines killed three of their attackers and wounded five but suffered no casualties.
In Baghdad, an Iraqi intelligence officer was killed Sunday morning in a drive-by shooting as he left home for work, according to Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry.
In Baghdad, an Iraqi intelligence officer was killed in a drive-by shooting as he left home for work, according to Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry.
The latest violence occurred as Rumsfeld arrived for an unannounced visit, his first to this country since the United States handed over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government June 28.
Mr Rumsfeld flew to a US-controlled air base in the western desert, where he fielded questions at a “town hall” style meeting with about 1,500 Marines.
He warned the insurgents were likely to step up attacks between now and national elections in January, so it was unlikely the US military could withdraw any troops before then.
