Iraq: 17 bombs, 50 dead, 120 hurt, 'more to come'
Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq, killing at least 50 people, including three US soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq’s newly formed government.
An audio tape by one of America’s most-wanted insurgents, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, warned US President George Bush there was more bloodshed to come.
Yesterday’s attacks, which also wounded 114 Iraqis and seven Americans, came as political leaders are trying to curb the insurgency by including all of Iraq’s main religious and ethnic groups into an uncertain new Shiite-dominated government that takes office on Tuesday.
Many of the bombing targets were Iraqi security forces and police, whom insurgents accuse of collaborating with the Americans.
“You, Bush, we will not rest until we avenge our dignity,” al-Zarqawi said in the audiotape that was posted on the Internet. “We will not rest while your army is here as long as there is a pulse in our veins.”
He threatened more attacks against US forces and warned against collaborating with Americans.
US officials had hoped the new Cabinet approved Thursday would help dent support for the militants within the Sunni Arab minority that dominated under ousted leader Saddam Hussein and is now believed to be driving the insurgency. However, the lineup excludes Sunnis from meaningful positions and leaves the key defence ministry in temporary hands.
An association of Sunni Muslim clerics believed to have links with the insurgency, saw little prospect for peace as long as US forces remain in Iraq.
“We don’t believe that the government will solve the problems of an occupied Iraq. We don’t trust the government,” Harith al-Dhari, head of the Association of Muslim Scholars, told Turkey’s Anatolia news agency. “We don’t see hope because the occupation is continuing.”
At least 13 car bombs exploded in and around the capital yesterday, killing at least 23 Iraqi security force members and wounding 31, the US military said. Iraqi police said they included six suicide attacks.
In the worst attack, four suicide car bombings took place within minutes in Azamiyah, said police chief Brig. Gen. Khalid al-Hassan. The first hit an Iraqi army patrol, the second a police patrol, and the third and fourth exploded at separate barricades near the headquarters of the police special forces unit.
The Azamiyah blasts killed at least 20 Iraqis, including 15 soldiers and five civilians, Col. Hussein Mutlak said. At least 65 were injured, including 30 troops and 35 civilians, he said.
