Twin Car Bombings Kill 18 in Baghdad
2 hours, 54 minutes ago Top Stories - AP
By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two car bombs exploded near the interior minister's offices Thursday, killing 18 people and wounding three dozen. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the blasts, the latest in several weeks of stepped up attacks that followed a relative lull in violence in mid-March.
In a statement posted on the Internet, al-Qaida in Iraq, headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the bombings were targeting police who were guarding the offices of Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, who is in charge of the nation's police. The claim couldn't be independently verified.
Al-Naqib was in his office at the time of the attack, but he left to examine the damage and said he was fine. The explosions didn't damage the building.
The blasts sent large plumes of smoke rising over the city and threw passers-by to the ground. Ice cream vendor Ali Ahmed, 28, said he heard an explosion, followed by gunfire and another explosion.
"My stall was partially destroyed because of this terrorist act," he said. "Some people have lost their lives. As for me, I have now lost my source of income."
The blasts blew out the windows of nearby restaurants in the upscale neighborhood of Baghdad, near the heavily fortified Green Zone. Panicked students from a nearby secondary school wept and shouted that they weren't going to attend classes anymore, waiting in the street for school buses or relatives to pick them up.
After clearing the area, U.S. forces set off a third car that apparently failed to explode earlier, police said. No one was injured in the last blast.
Interior Ministry official, Capt. Ahmed Ismael, said the first two blasts killed 18 and wounded 36. One government worker said five garbage collectors he was supervising were among the dead.
Insurgents kept up attacks Thursday against Iraq's security forces, which the U.S. military says must be able to impose a level of calm in the country before American troops can depart.
Gunmen hit police patrolling near the central Iraqi city of Baqouba, killing one officer and wounding three others, Lt. Col. Muthafar al-Jubori said.
In the capital, attackers shot and killed 1st Lt. Firas Hussein as he made his way to work at Iraq's intelligence service, police Maj. Mousa Abdul Karim said.
In Kirkuk, seven gunmen riding in two vehicles fired on the police station just south of Kirkuk shortly after dawn, killing five police officers and one civilian, police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said.
Militant group Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in an Internet posting that its "knights of Islam" attacked "renegade policemen doing their morning training." The claim couldn't be independently verified.
Ansar al-Sunnah also said it had teamed up with al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida in Iraq for an attack earlier this week in Kirkuk — an unusual mention of cooperation among Iraq's disparate and sometimes competing militant groups.
The Web posting said the Wednesday explosive device that killed 12 police was composed of three bombs buried under a decoy device — a lure to draw policemen to the blast site.
That's about all you need to read to know that this article is propaganda. al-Zarqawi has been dead for years. He is the only excuse for the U.S. continued presence in Iraq.In a statement posted on the Internet, al-Qaida in Iraq, headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the bombings were targeting police who were guarding the offices of Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, who is in charge of the nation's police.
Zarqawi's been dead for years?
Dude, get your facts straight at least.
Who needs to get their facts straight again?Zarqawi's been dead for years?
Dude, get your facts straight at least.
Source:MSNBCBAGHDAD, Iraq - A Jordanian extremist suspected of bloody suicide attacks in Iraq was killed some time ago in U.S. bombing and a letter outlining plans for fomenting sectarian war is a forgery, a statement allegedly from an insurgent group west of the capital said.
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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniyah mountains of northern Iraq “during the American bombing there,” according to a statement circulated in Fallujah this week and signed by the “Leadership of the Allahu Akbar Mujahedeen.”
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Source:What Really HappenedAbu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniyah mountains of northern Iraq “during the American bombing there,” according to a statement circulated in Fallujah this week and signed by the “Leadership of the Allahu Akbar Mujahedeen.”
The statement did not say when al-Zarqawi was supposedly killed, but U.S. jets bombed strongholds of the extremist Ansar al-Islam in the north last April as Saddam Hussein’s regime was collapsing.
It said al-Zarqawi was unable to escape the bombing because of his artificial leg. [MSNBC 3/4/04]
Arab commentator Abd al-Bari Atwan says it is quite possible that al-Zarqawi is now dead.
He told Aljazeera.net: "There is no real proof that he is alive. If he is supposedly moving around freely in Iraq, why haven't Iraqis spoken about him? He can't be that difficult to recognise with his wooden leg.
Need more proof?
A body would be nice...
For what? So a GI can take it back to Fort Knox as a war trophy?A body would be nice...
Just ask yourself, if Al-Zarqawi is really alive why is it that all the men in the Nick Berg snuff video had two legs? How did Al-Zarqawi, a virtual nobody in the Al-Queda network before Iraq and a illiterate, all of the sudden become the head of Al-Queda in Iraq, and how is it he always manages to stay a step ahead of persuing forces? And why is that even though we never seem to have any clue where Al-Zarqawi is, we always seem to know when he is communicating with Bin Laden (captured) or some other (alleged) member of Al Queda?
do you think bin laden has already been captured?
Now we're supposed to be listening to insurgents, the same insurgents who practice the kind of media propaganda practiced by Hitler and Stalin?
That's some good reefer you're smoking Dan.
If that's what you choose to call it. Think about it this way, Bin Laden needs kidney dialysis every few months. He is not getting that medical care hiding in some cave in Afghanistan or in the Pushtin region of Pakistan as the administration would like you to believe. More than likely, and this is just a guess here, Bin laden is most likely back in Saudi Arabia hiding behind his family's wealth and power. Having hung up his terrorism hat long ago, for some negotiated peace and tranquility. Why else would W say that Bin Laden was no longer a concern unless we knew where he was and what he was up to? And how better for Bin Laden to appear at opportune times - like he did just before the 04 Presidential elections - that most benefit the administration?do you think bin laden has already been captured?
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