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Baghdad governor slain
BAGHDAD - Baghdad governor
Ali al-Haydari was assassinated on Tuesday by
gunmen in the Iraqi capital. Haidri is the most
senior Iraqi official to be killed in Baghdad
since the head of the Iraqi Governing Council was
killed by a suicide bomb in May last year. Haidri
had survived a previous assassination attempt in
Baghdad in September that killed two of his
bodyguards.
Meanwhile, police in Iraq say
a suicide car bomb on a security checkpoint in
Baghdad's fortified Green Zone on Tuesday killed
at least 10 people and injured about 40 others.
The blast comes one day after at least 20 people
were killed in insurgent attacks.
In
Baghdad alone, there were three explosions on
Monday, including a suicide car bombing near the
party offices of interim Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi. The attack, which killed two people,
occurred as party officials were due to hold a
news conference announcing candidates for the
election.
Iraqi and US officials have
warned of an increase in violence during the
run-up to elections planned for January 30.
Iraqi intelligence chief General Muhammad
Abdullah Shahwani has said there are now more
insurgents in Iraq than US soldiers. There are
150,000 US troops in Iraq.
The ongoing
security problems in the Sunni-populated center of
the country raise serious questions about the
extent to which polling can take place there. The
problems are highlighted by recent insurgent
attacks on Iraqi National Guardsmen, police
stations, and voter-registration centers.
Insurgents in central Iraq have become
increasingly bold in attacking Iraq's National
Guard - one of the main forces seeking to ensure
election security.
Two suicide bombers in
a car packed with explosives drove into the path
of a bus carrying National Guardsmen on Monday,
killing 23 members of the paramilitary force. The
attack, outside a US military base near Balad,
north of Baghdad, was the deadliest against Iraqi
security forces in four months.
An Iraqi
National Guard soldier described the bombing to
Reuters: "The attack took place at 0800 [local
time] in the morning on the way to Sayyid Muhammad
Street. A number of the National Guards were
heading for work in a bus when suddenly an evil
attack took place, killing 25 members of the
National Guards in Balad."
Gunmen
assassinated two government officials in Diyala
Province, northeast of Baghdad, and an Iraqi
police major in Baghdad on Monday. On the same
day, mortars fired by insurgents landed at two
centers for registering voters in the central town
of Tikrit.
Insurgent groups have
threatened to kill anyone taking part in the
election. So far, the campaign in the center of
the country has had some success in intimidating
election workers.
The election commission
in the northern town of Baiji resigned en masse on
Monday in the wake of death threats against its
members. Earlier, guerillas in the nearby town of
Sharqat ordered municipal employees out of a local
government building to be used as a polling center
and blew the building up.
National
Guardsmen have detained 228 suspected insurgents
over the past week in restive areas south of
Baghdad.
But as insurgents step up
attacks, they appear intent on demonstrating that
the police and National Guard cannot protect
voters ahead of the poll.
US officials
have said that Iraqi security officials will be
responsible for security at polling sites while
US-led international troops maintain a low profile
"just over the horizon". That means out of sight
but near enough to rush to the aid of local
security forces if necessary.
But analysts
say uncertainties over security at polling sites
could reduce voter turnout in many Sunni areas.
Some Sunni leaders also have called for boycotting
the poll, saying it will hand power to Iraq's
Shi'ite majority.
Joost Hiltermann is a
regional expert with the International Crisis
Group based in Amman. He says that a low turnout
in Sunni areas could benefit the insurgents.
"Sunni Arabs who fear a 'de-privileging' as a
result of becoming a political minority in the
future Iraq will, by and large, stay away from the
polls, thereby ratifying their own exclusion but
also giving rise to further insurgency from within
their community," Hiltermann said.
The
major mainstream Sunni political party, the Iraqi
Islamic Party, withdrew from the National Assembly
race last week. The party said it might also
reject the new constitution that is scheduled to
be drawn up after the vote.
But top Sunni
officials in the government, including interim
President Ghazi al-Yawir, have called for the
community to take part in the vote. The government
is seeking support from tribal and other community
leaders to urge Sunnis to go to the polls.
The January 30 vote is to elect a National
Assembly that will choose Iraq's next interim
government. The assembly also will appoint the
body that will write Iraq's first post-Saddam
Hussein constitution.
Copyright (c)
2004, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of
Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW,
Washington DC 20036 |
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