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Al-Qaeda fighters killed in Western Iraq
At least 17 insurgents and one U.S. Marine have been killed in a major offensive continuing near Iraq's border with Syria, the military said on Monday as violence flared elsewhere in Iraq.The campaign to secure western Iraq against Sunni Arab insurgents and foreign fighters before a December 15 election went into a third day; a suicide car bomber killed six policemen and three civilians in Baghdad's southern Dora district. Police said another 10 people were wounded in the biggest bomb attack since 29 people were killed in a bombing near a Shi'ite mosque in Mussayib, south of the capital, last week. Sectarian tensions are dominating campaigning for the elections, where the 20 percent minority Sunni Arabs are expected to vote in large numbers for the first time since the fall of fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein in 2003. Some Sunnis have accused the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government and its American backers of killing civilians in offensives like Operation Steel Curtain, the biggest in the mainly Sunni Arab desert province of Anbar since the battle for Falluja a year ago. CNN quoted troops as saying that between 60 and 80 insurgents had been killed but a military statement put the toll at 17 in and around Qusayba, a dusty, low-lying town where most of the 30,000 residents seemed to have fled. Al Qaeda's military wing in Iraq said it would target the homes of anyone who "collaborated" with the military or the government and gave the military 24 hours to stop the offensive. "Their homes shall be brought down on their heads after women and children leave," it said in a statement posted on a Web site used by al Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The wording was an echo of Iraq's defence minister, who last week warned that people sheltering rebels would have their homes brought down on the heads of their families. Several U.S. offensives this year in the Euphrates valley, a green belt running from the border towards the capital, have been aimed at stemming the flow of Islamist militants into Iraq. Marines said on Monday air strikes at nearby Karabila a week ago killed two al Qaeda leaders. They made no comment on local doctors' statements that up to 40 people died in the raids. Fakhri al-Qaisi, whose National Dialogue Council is part of a major Sunni bloc contesting the December poll after boycotting January's first post-Saddam vote, called on all Iraqis to stop the killing after he survived an assassination attempt. Qaisi, whose group has accused the government and its American backers of killing civilians in counter-insurgency operations, was shot five times in Baghdad on Saturday. "I call on international, Arabic and Islamic communities to take legal measures against those who are targeting Iraqi national figures," Qaisi, whose chest was swathed in bandages, told reporters before leaving for more treatment in Jordan. Also on Monday, officials said a national reconciliation conference sponsored by the Arab League would likely be delayed while more participants were convinced to attend. Arab League chief Amr Moussa has promoted the Cairo conference, due to begin on November 15, as a way to ease sectarian tensions. Iraqi officials said the talks would more likely begin towards the end of the month. Several Shi'ite groups have threatened to boycott the conference if senior members of Saddam's former ruling Baath party and insurgents are invited. Saddam and seven others are facing trial on charges of crimes against humanity but his defence lawyers, fearful for their lives, called on Monday for his trial to be moved abroad. Defence lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi was abducted from his Baghdad office and killed by armed men who identified themselves as Interior Ministry employees a day after his court appearance at the start of the trial on October 19. The government has denied involvement but the killing renewed accusations of sectarian violence involving government forces. Saddam's trial is due to resume on November 28. In east Baghdad, three people were killed and four wounded in a mortar attack, police said. At least two Iraqi soldiers died and 13 were hurt when a suicide car bomb detonated near soldiers guarding oil pipelines at Thibban north of the capital. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-11-07 |
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