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10 dead in Mosul suicide bombings
Suicide car bombings around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed 10 Iraqis civilians on Tuesday, the US military said.Military statements said five Iraqis were killed by a suicide car bomb in northern Mosul and five others died in a similar attack in the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul. Hospital and police sources said earlier the bombs targeted US and Iraqi troops. Militants ambushed a convoy carrying a deputy interior minister, killing a bodyguard and injuring three others, as Iraq hosted US Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld, a leading architect of the war. In Samarra, a pickup truck blew up Monday near a US patrol, killing three civilians and injuring more than 20 others, including four US soldiers, officials said. One soldier was evacuated for medical treatment, and the others were treated and returned to duty, the US military said. In Kirkuk, gunmen opened fire late on Monday on a police patrol, injuring two members of the security service, police said on Tuesday. The Ansar al-Sunnah Army group claimed responsibility for the attack. The visit by Rumsfeld, who helped design the US-led March 2003 invasion and troubled occupation since, reflected a desire to push the political and military momentum that he believes has been growing since the January 30 elections for a national assembly. En route from Washington, Rumsfeld told reporters he would press the new Iraqi leadership to avoid delays on either the political or security front at a time when US troops are still being killed or wounded and billions of US taxpayer dollars are being invested in rebuilding the country. Four leaders of three Al Qaeda linked groups were captured in a US-Iraqi operation on Monday that netted 67 suspected insurgents in the volatile southern Baghdad district of Dura, US and Iraqi officers told reporters on Tuesday. "We captured some of the leadership of the Ansar al-Sunna group, Tawhid Wal Jihad, and Ansar al-Islam," said an Iraq Army commander. Iraq said it captured a former Baath Party member who is believed to have organised and funded attacks as part of Iraq's insurgency. "Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Al-Mashadani, the former leader of the Military Bureau in Baghdad during the Saddam Hussein regime, was apprehended by security forces in a military operation conducted at a farm in the northeast of Baghdad," a government statement said. It said he was suspected of being a crucial link between former senior Baath party leaders hiding in Syria and guerrillas in Iraq. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-04-13 |
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