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| Iraq |
| 30 killed in Baghdad bombing |
| 2005-12-09 |
| A top Sunni party official predicted yesterday that Sunnis would vote in large numbers in landmark elections next week in spite of a campaign of violence that intensified yesterday with more than 30 people killed in a bus bomb and the first reported killing of an American hostage in more than a year. Coalition military officials, meanwhile, predicted that Jordanian-born terror leader Abu Musab Zarqawi "is going to pull out all the stops between now and the elections." The Islamic Army in Iraq, a Sunni group with an extreme Islamist bent, said on its Web site that it had killed an "American security consultant for the Housing Ministry" after the United States failed to fulfill its demand to release all Iraqi prisoners. Ronald Schulz, an electrician from Alaska who worked in security monitoring, was shown on Al Jazeera television Tuesday sitting with his hands tied behind his back, his blond hair visible from under his blindfold. "The war criminal Bush continues his arrogance, giving no value to people's lives unless they serve his criminal, aggressive ways. Since his reply was irresponsible, he bears the consequences of his stance," the group said in a statement, the Associated Press reported. In Baghdad, a suicide bomber climbed aboard a bus after it had passed through a checkpoint and blew it up, killing at least 32 civilians and wounding scores more. The bus was full of Shi'ites traveling south for the Muslim weekend. Police Lt. Wisam Hakim told the AP that a man jumped on board as the bus was pulling out of the station. "He sat in the middle of the bus and then the explosion took place," leaving a pile of charred bodies and mangled metal. "We are not complacent. We know Zarqawi will conduct more operations in the week to the elections," coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters. "He's been trying since October, but we have been stopping him." U.S. and Iraq authorities hope Thursday's elections, which will give Iraq a constitutionally elected four-year legislature, will undermine the Sunni-led insurgency by drawing Sunnis into the political process and isolating foreign terrorists such as Zarqawi. Ala'a Makky, a member of political bureau of the Sunni Islamic Party, said in an interview that he thinks the Sunni turnout will be much higher this time than in elections to an interim parliament in January. "I think most of the Iraqi population is now convinced that the elections and political solutions and reconciliation are the only solutions for the current problems," he said. "I think the Iraqi people will go ahead and vote in the elections, as it is so critical," he said. "I don't think [Zarqawi] can disrupt this process." David Satterfield, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, also said yesterday that attempts to draw Sunnis into the political process were working. "Sunnis have come into the political process and they've come into it in a big way and they've come into it in an overwhelming way, in terms of numbers," he said during an telephone interview conducted from Washington. Having spent most the past year boycotting the political process, Sunnis "will be elected proportionate to their population," Mr. Satterfield predicted. He said the United States would like to see Iraqis elect "a representative, cross-sectarian government that is capable of meeting the needs of the Iraqi people" and that he expected precisely that sort of government to emerge from the elections. Mr. Satterfield also noted that security has improved to the point where all the candidates are able to campaign openly. During balloting in January, many candidates were named on party lists but kept those names secret. The reported killing of Mr. Schulz follows a fresh wave of kidnappings of Westerners. Four humanitarian workers -- two Canadians, one Briton and one American -- were last shown apparently in orange jumpsuits and in shackles, held by a group called the Swords of Righteousness, which also demanded the release of all those in jail in Iraq. A German woman kidnapped separately is also under death threat unless Germany stops dealing with the Iraqi government. Gen. Lynch said 95 percent of suicide bombers in Iraq are foreign fighters brought in just for that purpose. The military spokesman said there had been a "significant increase" in the capture of foreign terrorists, with 292 captured since June. A chart released by the military showed that 67 foreign nationals were arrested in November, including 22 from Kuwait, 16 from Syria, eight from Egypt and eight from Saudi Arabia. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |