Suicide bombs kill six in Iraq, minister survives blast

AFP ^ | 7/17/04

[TexKat]

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Two suicide car bombs in Iraq killed six people and injured 36, but Iraq's 83-year-old justice minister, target of one of the blasts, escaped injury.

Also Saturday, a US soldier was killed and another injured by a roadside blast, and a second street bomb injured three policemen and five people were wounded in an attack on a police station.

In Iraq's serial hostage drama, there was fresh hope for an Egyptian whose abductors telephoned his Saudi employer to say he would be released on Sunday, but there was no word on the fate of a Filipino and a Bulgarian, both threatened with beheading.

The car bomb that targeted Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hasan's motorcade was claimed by al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

Hasan emerged from the attack unscathed, three of his bodyguards, including a nephew, were killed along with two civilians, officials said.

Eight people were also wounded in the blast which hit Hassan's motorcade as it was taking him to work from his home in the west of the capital.

"My father is fine and in good health and he went straight to his office at the ministry after the attack," his son, Haidar Dohan al-Hassan, a 37-year-old businessman, told AFP by telephone.

A driver in a white Toyota approached the minister's convoy and blew himself up, said interior ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman.

Three policemen were wounded less than an hour later when a bomb planted on the side of the road exploded close to their vehicle.

Hassan, a seasoned lawyer and politician, assumed a high profile earlier this month with the unveiling of a new national security law giving the government emergency powers in its battle against the 15-month-old insurgency.

He is also one of the key players in the process of trying deposed dictator Saddam Hussein and 11 of his lieutenants, after their first appearance in the dock on July 1.

Zarqawi's Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unification and Holy War) group claimed the attack in a message posted on an Islamist website, although its authenticity could not be immediately verified.

In another blow to Iraq's nascent security forces, a car bomb exploded outside a National Guard base in the restive town of Mahmudiya, 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Baghdad, killing an Iraqi civilian and injuring 25, hospital and interior ministry sources said.

"An Oldsmobile vehicle sped towards the entrance of the building and when its driver failed to stop as instructed, he was fired on and the car exploded about 25 metres (yards) from the entrance," said guardsman Adel Taha.

The interior ministry confirmed the attack was a suicide bombing.

The violence came on the anniversary of the 1968 coup that brought Saddam Hussein's Baath party to power and was an important national holiday under the old regime. It also followed a rash of deadly car bombs earlier in the week.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is under mounting pressure to restore stability to the country since the US-led occupation ended almost three weeks ago and US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte named security as a top priority for his embassy, America's biggest in the world, as it adopts a support role for the new administration.

"My vision of the mission of our embassy here in Baghdad is to support and assist the government and the people of Iraq," Negroponte told reporters.

Underscoring the challenges ahead, a US soldier was killed and another wounded when their convoy was targeted in a roadside bombing near the northern Iraqi city of Beiji, the military said.

That brought to 656 the number of US troops killed in action in Iraq since the start of the US-led war in March 2003, according to US Defence Department figures.

Also in northern Iraq, two policemen, two civilians and an insurgent were injured in an attack on a police station in the village of Hawija, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, said a police official.

In Baghdad, a Sunni Muslim cleric belonging to the Iraqi Islamic Party was gunned down by unidentified assailants, a party official said.

Meanwhile, the Saudi employer of an Egyptian hostage being held in Iraq said he would be released on Sunday, citing a telephone call from the kidnappers.

But there was still no word on the fate of a Philippine hostage despite Manila's concession to his captors' demand for the early withdrawal of its 51-strong troop and police contingent from Iraq.

And the whereabouts of a Bulgarian captive also remained a mystery after his companion was beheaded earlier in the week.

In Britain, almost six out of 10 Britons would not trust Prime Minister Tony Blair to lead the country into another war following intelligence failures over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, according to a poll published in the Sunday Times newspaper

[TexKat]

A vehicle belonging to a convoy for the Iraqi Minister of Justice, Malek Dohan al-Hassan, burns following an attack in Baghdad. Hasan, 83, emerged unscathed from the attack but three of his guards, including a nephew, were killed.(AFP/Ahmed Fadaam)

Iraqi policemen rescue one of the victims of an explosion at the site of an attack targeting a convoy for the Iraqi Minister of Justice, Malek Dohan al-Hassan. Six people were killed and 36 wounded in two suicide car bombings in Iraq, one targeting the government minister and purportedly claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.(AFP/Ahmed Fadaam)

An Iraqi policeman stands next to an unexploded artillary shell set to explode with a remote control device on the convoy of Iraqi Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan in Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, July 17, 2004. Al-Hassan's convoy was attacked by a car bomb that killed 5 of his bodyguards, but not him. The shell had been set for him on an alternate route.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)