Suicide bombers killed 27 people in attacks in two Iraqi cities on Monday in the worst violence since the country's historic election eight days ago. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for both blasts and vowed further attacks on "apostates and their masters," an apparent reference to U.S.-led forces and the Iraqis who work with them. U.S. forces stormed a house in Baghdad to free Egyptian telecommunications engineers kidnapped in Iraq, the head of their Egyptian parent company told Egyptian television. "Two were released when U.S. forces barged into where they were being held in Baghdad and the other two escaped on their own ... The Americans caught one of the kidnappers," said Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom. Sawiris said the four Egyptians were safe and the company had contacted their families to inform them that they were free. A U.S. military spokesman said he was unable to immediately confirm the report, but the military were making checks.As the counting of votes continued following the Jan. 30 polls, a Kurdish coalition moved into second place, pushing a bloc led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi into third. A Shi'ite alliance is still well in the lead.
At least 15 civilians were killed and 17 wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded outside the main police headquarters in the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad. Police said the bomber tried to ram his car into the police station but was blocked by a concrete barrier and detonated his explosives near civilians instead.
In the northern city of Mosul, 12 people were killed and four wounded when the other suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of police officers in a hospital compound. A large crater was blown in the road and at least five cars were destroyed. Most, if not all, the victims were thought to be police officers waiting to collect their salaries. "A lion in the martyrs' brigades of al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq attacked a gathering of apostates seeking to return to the apostate police force in Mosul near the hospital," al Qaeda's Iraqi unit said in a statement posted on a militant Web site. "The martyr was wearing an explosives belt and blew himself up after he entered the crowd." A separate mortar attack on the city hall building in Mosul killed one person and wounded three.
The Islamist militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna said it shot dead an Iraqi translator working for U.S. forces and posted a video of the killing on the Internet. The video showed the hostage appealing to other translators not to deal with U.S. forces before he was blindfolded and shot in the head.
An Iraqi group which claims it is holding an Italian journalist abducted in Baghdad on Friday said it would release her soon because she was not a spy, a statement on an Islamist Web site said. The Islamist militant group had threatened to kill Giuliana Sgrena, a journalist with communist Rome newspaper Il Manifesto, if Italy did not withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq. "Since it has become absolutely clear that the Italian prisoner is not involved in espionage for the infidels in Iraq, and in response to the call from the Muslim Clerics Association, we in the Jihad Organization will release the Italian prisoner in the coming days," the statement dated Monday said. It was not possible to verify the statement. The Muslim Clerics Association, a group of Iraqi clerics seen as influential among insurgents, had called for her release.
More than a week after their first multi-party election in 50 years, Iraqis are still awaiting the final result, although partial figures showed a coalition of Iraq's main two Kurdish parties has moved into second place in counting so far. The leading Shi'ite alliance has around 2.3 million votes, the Kurds have 1.1 million and Allawi's bloc has around 620,000. Officials stressed the results did not necessarily give a clear picture of the final distribution of votes. They also revealed gunmen had looted polling stations in northern Iraq during the election, tampering with ballot boxes and preventing thousands of people from voting.
One of the key figures in the Shi'ite alliance which is leading the poll rejected calls for U.S.-led troops to leave Iraq immediately. "If the multinational forces left now, Iraq could face a bloodbath. I believe this 100 percent," Ibrahim Jaafari, head of the Dawa Party and a leading contender to be Iraq's next prime minister, told Reuters.