Nothing But Politics

[Rick Faurot]

Insurgents Detonate Four Separate Bombs Around Iraq
By Steve Fainaru
The Washington Post

Saturday 18 September 2004

Baghdad - Insurgents opposed to U.S.-led coalition forces detonated four separate bombs in locations around Baghdad and in northern Iraq on Saturday in a continuation of the violence that has killed at least 250 people and wounded hundreds more in the past week.

The deadliest attack came in the northern city of Kirkuk, where witnesses said a dark-skinned young man sped down a dirt road leading to the back of an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in a gray Opel sedan, then blew up the vehicle near a crowd of recruits, killing 19 people and wounding 63.

That attack was the third since Tuesday on Iraqi security forces; at least 69 police officers, national guardsmen and recruits have been killed and 177 wounded. The U.S. military has made the buildup of the Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police the linchpin of its strategy to stabilize the country and reduce the presence of U.S. forces.

Also Saturday, an organization linked to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi threatened to kill two American hostages and one British hostage within 48 hours unless U.S. forces released all Muslim women held at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad and another prison in the southern port city of Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf.

The Americans, contractors Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, and British engineer Kenneth Bigley, were kidnapped Thursday at their residence in the capital. A video displayed on the Qatar-based al Jazeera network showed blindfolded men seated before a gunman dressed in black, his face covered by a black scarf.

The motivation for the demands was unclear. U.S. officials say the only women held by coalition forces in Iraq are biologists allegedly connected to an illegal bio-weapons program under Saddam Hussein. They are Salih Mahdi Amash, known as Dr. Anthrax, and Rihab Taha, known as Dr. Germ. Both are held at Camp Cropper near the Baghdad International Airport, U.S. officials have said.

On the video, the three hostages state their names and jobs. "My name is Jack Hensley and my job consists of installing and furnishing camps at Taji base," says the first captive.

In addition to the two American and one British captives, two French journalists kidnapped on a road south of Baghdad on Aug. 20 and two female Italian aid workers abducted on Sept. 7 in the capital are also still being held.

The Islam Memo Web site reported that it had received a message from the Iraqi group holding the French hostages saying that the two men had been released, according to Reuters news agency. A spokesman for the French government, which has been working to gain the hostages' release, said it was "premature to say whether or not this statement is authentic. We are analyzing it," the agency reported.

The kidnappings are part of a wave of daily violence that has terrorized areas across the country. It is unclear whether the increase is connected to the anniversary a week ago of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to scheduled nationwide elections in January, to the efforts to upgrade the Iraqi security forces or some other reason.

At least three bombs exploded in Baghdad on Saturday. In one, a car bomb detonated near a convoy of U.S. forces traveling between the city and the Baghdad airport. Three U.S. soldiers were injured but were in good condition, said Capt. Mitchell Zornes, a spokesman for the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, which has operational responsibility over Baghdad.

Zornes said another bomb went off near the same location on the airport road, regarded as one of the most dangerous arteries in Baghdad because of frequent attacks on foreigners and U.S. troops. There were no reports of casualties, and Zornes said investigators were looking into both incidents.

In addition, a roadside bomb that apparently targeted a vehicle carrying U.S. officials or contractors exploded Saturday morning in the Karrada district of central Baghdad. The bomb missed the vehicle but hit another car carrying passengers, possibly bodyguards, witnesses said.

Wissam Fawsi, 30, a iron metal worker who rushed to the scene, said one of the men was seriously injured and another was severely burned. A third ran off, Fawsi said.

Residents of the district are demanding that Iraqi officials close the area, the site of several bombings in recent months, to traffic because it has become too dangerous.

"The Americans started to turn off into our street," said Aqeel Jassem, 50, whose shop was close to the explosion.

A crackdown by coalition forces apparently has not stemmed the violence. For the second straight day, Iraqi security forces launched raids on Haifa Street, the scene of intense fighting last week between insurgents and U.S. forces. Witnesses said Iraqi National Guardsmen, sometimes backed by U.S. troops, made several arrests in the area.

Qasim Dawood, minister of state for the interim Iraqi government, said Iraqi forces arrested 26 "foreign terrorists" during the raids and recovered 60 rockets, plus large amounts of TNT and ammunition.

The bombing in Kirkuk was similar to an attack on a police headquarters in central Baghdad on Tuesday in which at least 47 people were killed and 114 were injured, many while lining up to apply for a job.

Dozens of recruits were lined up near the back entrance to the National Guard station in Kirkuk Saturday morning. Maj. Gen. Anwar Hamad Ameen said the area is normally blocked off to traffic but had been opened to give drivers access to an adjacent gas station during a fuel crisis.

"We had plans to prevent such an attack, but the suicide bomber took the chance that the back entrance was open for the cars to get fuel," said Ameen.

Witnesses described what has become a familiar tableau in Iraq: screaming wounded, strewn body parts and a crater.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091904B.shtml