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Widespread attacks kill 14 in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-16 21:07
In the latest violence, a car bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol killed
six civilians and wounded 11 Thursday in northern Baghdad's Shula neighborhood,
said police Maj. Moussa Abdul Karim.
Three prominent tribal figures driving to a funeral were killed by gunmen
spraying machine-gun fire from a minibus in Khan Bani Saad, about 25 miles
northeast of Baghdad, Diyala police's Joint Coordination Center said.
Police identified the victims as Sheik Mindab al-Khafaji, 55, a clan leader
and head of Khan Bani Saad tribal council; Sheik Hanash al-Moussaoui, 45, a
member of Khan Bani Saad's local council; and Raad Ahmed Chibish al-Jibouri, 45,
a Sunni Arab member of the tribal council.
"We condemn these criminal acts directed against our brothers," said
Abdul-Rassoul Saeed, head of Khan Bani Saad council. "The aim of this attack is
to ignite civil strife, but such efforts will fail."
Khan Bani Saad is a predominantly Sunni Arab town of about 40,000 people on
the edge of Diyala province, which borders Baghdad. It has been the scene of
previous attacks targeting religious leaders and supporters of U.S.-led
reconstruction
In downtown Ramadi, gunmen also killed the brother of the deputy governor of
the volatile western Anbar province, police Lt. Khalid al-Dulaimi said.
An Iraqi policeman was killed and three bystanders were wounded by a car bomb
in Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood, while gunmen killed an Iraqi Army captain
and his driver in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.
Three prominent Iraqi tribal members were also fatally shot in a drive-by
attack on their car north of Baghdad, police said. A Jordanian Embassy driver of
Iraqi nationality was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting in western
Baghdad, said a hospital official who initially said the victim had died.
Another car bomb blast in Baghdad targeted the convoy of Nouri al-Nouri, a
former government human rights official who was dismissed in December over the
discovery of tortured detainees in a Baghdad government building. Al-Nouri
escaped the blast unharmed but four civilians were wounded, police Lt. Mohammed
Khayoun said.
The motive for the attack was unclear, but it came as Othman, the human
rights minister, said several Interior and Justice Ministry employees were
expected to be prosecuted over the torture about 170 Iraqis, most found in
November at the Jadriyah Interior Ministry facility in Baghdad.
Othman said her ministry will release a final report on the torture claims
next month.
In a statement on the detainee abuse photos broadcast on an Australian TV
station Wednesday, al-Jaafari said "the Iraqi government condemns the torture
practices revealed through the recent pictures that show Iraqi prisoners being
tortured."
But he welcomed the U.S. denunciation of the pictures, which date back to
2003, when earlier images were released of U.S. forces abusing
detainees.
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