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Suicide bombers attack Iraqi ex-policemen, kill 27
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-30 21:18
HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives blew
themselves up in a crowd of protesting former policemen south of Baghdad on
Monday, killing 27 in one of the deadliest attacks in a month of escalating
violence.
The blasts in the mostly Shi'ite town of Hilla and the brief detention of a
Sunni Arab political leader by U.S. forces in Baghdad put fresh strain on ties
between Iraq's Muslim sects. Al Qaeda's network in Iraq claimed responsibility
for the bombings in separate statements posted on the Internet.
Police said the bombers mingled with former police commandos who were
demonstrating outside a government office because their unit had been disbanded.
The first bomber detonated his explosives in the middle of the crowd. As
survivors scattered, the other bomber ran with them and blew himself up nearby.
"You just can't count the dead because the bodies were torn apart," said one
Iraqi man surveyeing the scene. "May God punish those who did this."
More than 100 people were wounded, police said. Body parts lay in pools of
blood on the street beside discarded sandals and shoes. Workers carried shredded
bodies on stretchers and sheets and loaded them onto the back of pick-up trucks.
Insurgents have stepped up suicide attacks and ambushes over the past month,
killing more than 700 Iraqis since a new Shi'ite-led cabinet was announced on
April 28.
Seventy U.S. troops have been killed in May, making it the deadliest month
for the U.S. military since January when insurgents tried to derail the Jan. 30
elections.
In an effort to restore public confidence sapped by relentless violence and
the long delay in forming a cabinet after the elections, the government has
launched the biggest Iraqi military operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein
to hunt for foreign Arab fighters and Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad.
Officials say 40,000 Iraqi troops will seal off routes into the capital and
search the city district by district under Operation Lightning, which began on
Sunday. It was not clear where such a large force will be drawn from.
The al Qaeda network in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it had
launched an offensive in response to the operation.
Insurgents fought Iraqi police in western Baghdad on Sunday and detonated at
least three suicide car bombs in the capital. Across the country, insurgent
attacks killed at least 25 Iraqis and a British soldier on Sunday.
SECTARIAN TENSION
The escalating violence in Iraq has worsened sectarian tensions. Political
leaders have called for calm, telling Iraqis not to allow insurgents to push the
country toward civil war.
There are also fears of ethnic tensions between Kurds and Arabs. In Kirkuk, a
Kurdish general was shot dead overnight, the latest official to be assassinated
in the Arab-Kurd city. The militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna claimed
responsibility.
Washington has been encouraging the Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs that emerged
strongest from the January polls to involve more Sunni Arabs in the drafting of
a permanent constitution, the next step on Iraq's path to democracy.
Sunni Arabs dominated Iraq during Saddam's rule but won only 17 seats in
Iraq's 275-member parliament because many Sunni groups boycotted the elections
and violence in Sunni Arab areas meant turnout there was extremely low.
The government, trying to defuse sectarian tension and undermine an
insurgency dominated by Sunni Arab fighters, gave several cabinet posts to
Sunnis and says it is examining ways to give them a greater role in drafting the
constitution.
But in a move that inflamed Sunni Arab anger, U.S. troops arrested Mohsen
Abdul-Hamid, the leader of an influential Sunni party, on Monday, the party
said. He was later released.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shi'ite, has ordered an investigation into
Abdul-Hamid's detention, his spokesman said.
"We believe there are parties that are benefiting from such raids on
prominent Sunni leaders who have been supporting the political process and
democracy in Iraq," he said. "This is the fourth time that a Sunni leader has
been arrested."
The Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from the January elections, saying violence
in Sunni areas meant the polls would not be fair. But it has signaled it is
ready to take a greater part in Iraqi politics and the writing of a
constitution.
"The U.S. administration claims it is interested in drawing Sunnis into the
political process but it seems that their way of doing so is by raids, arrests
and violating human rights," the party said in a statement.
In western Anbar province, a stronghold of the insurgency, U.S. troops raided
two towns on the Euphrates river and killed several foreign fighters, the
American military said.
"Multiple sources of intelligence indicated that elements of the Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi terrorist network were operating in the area, including key
lieutenants, suicide bombers, and a contingent of foreign fighters," a military
statement said.
"Operations against suspected foreign fighter strongholds resulted in killing
over a dozen terrorists and foreign fighters. Specifically the bodies of three
Saudis and one Moroccan have been identified and others are being sought within
the destroyed buildings." (
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