Two US soldiers among 14 dead in rebel attacks
An attack by a suicide car bomber near an American patrol in southern Baghdad killed two US soldiers and wounded four, an official said today.
The explosion occurred in the Al-Amil area of the capital Baghdad last night, said Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, a spokesman for America’s 3rd Infantry Division. Seven Iraqi civilians were taken to Al-Yarmouk Hospital with injuries.
It was one of a series of attacks by insurgents in Iraq yesterday, which killed a dozen other Iraqis and wounded more than 60.
They included another car bomb in western Baghdad targeting a US patrol that wounded seven Iraqis, police and hospital officials said.
Al Qaida in Iraq, the nation’s most-feared terrorist group, claimed responsibility for yesterday’s worst attack, a suicide bombing near an army recruitment centre in Baghdad that police said killed at least six Iraqis and wounded 44.
For the past week, there has been a surge of violence by militants in the capital.
In another development, Iraqi politicians adjourned for about an hour yesterday in a protest demanding an apology after a Shiite legislator linked to a radical anti-American cleric tearfully said he was handcuffed and humiliated at a US checkpoint.
It was the third consecutive day Iraq’s interim parliament was side-tracked from its job of setting up a government and writing a constitution. The legislators meet behind the sandbags and blast walls of the US-protected Green Zone.
Fattah al-Sheik stood before the assembly and cried as he described being stopped at a checkpoint on the way to work yesterday. He claimed an American soldier kicked his car, mocked the legislature, handcuffed him and held him by the neck.
“What happened to me represents an insult to the whole National Assembly that was elected by the Iraqi people. This shows the democracy we are enjoying is fake,” al-Sheik said. “Through such incidents, the US Army tries to show that it is the real controlling power in the country, not the new Iraqi government.”
Al-Sheik’s small party has been linked to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led uprisings against the US-led coalition in 2004. On his way home after the session, gunmen fired on al-Sheik’s convoy, but he escaped unharmed, police and his party said.
The US military said its initial investigation indicated that in the morning, al-Sheik got into an altercation with a coalition translator at the checkpoint. US soldiers tried to separate them and “briefly held on to the legislator,” while preventing another member of al-Sheik’s party from getting out of his vehicle, a military statement said.
“We have the highest respect for all members of the Transitional National Assembly. Their safety and security is critically important,” US Brig. Gen. Karl Horst said in the statement. “We regret this incident occurred and are conducting a thorough investigation.”
During the adjournment, Salam al-Maliki read an assembly statement demanding an apology from the US Embassy and the prosecution of the soldier who allegedly mistreated the legislator.
Hajim al-Hassani, the parliament speaker, said: “We reject any sign of disrespect.”
Each day this week, the legislature’s opening session on current affairs has extended well beyond the scheduled 30 minutes. Legislators have discussed traffic jams in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein’s alleged war crimes, claims that hostages were being held south of Baghdad and al-Sheik’s complaint. Coffee breaks, lunch and lengthy debates over issues such as how long each legislator should be allowed to speak have taken up the rest of the day.
In other violence in Iraq yesterday, insurgents opened fire on Iraqi soldiers in Khaldiyah town, 75 miles west of Baghdad, killing four and wounding seven, police and hospital officials said. And in the capital, masked men shot and killed professor Fuad Ibrahim Mohamed al-Bayati as he left home for the University of Baghdad, police said.
One Iraqi civilian was killed in a roadside bombing in the Iskandariyah area, about 30 miles south of Baghdad, and three were wounded in a similar attack in Baqouba, north-east of the capital. The Baqouba bombing missed a US military convoy. American soldiers returned fire, wounding one of the attackers, the military said.
