By Andrew Marshall
(Reuters)
BAGHDAD -- Some 40 people were killed by twin car bombs south of Baghdad in the latest attempt to derail the transition to an Iraqi government in three days' time, the U.S. military said Sunday.
Initially 17 people were reported killed and 40 wounded in a single car bomb blast in the town of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad Saturday, but the U.S. military later raised the death toll and said two cars had exploded. Twenty-two people were wounded, it said.
The blasts came as militants led by suspected al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi vowed to behead three Turkish hostages unless Turks stop working with U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
Al Jazeera satellite channel showed footage of the three men said to be Turks crouching before masked gunmen and holding up their passports. It said it had received the footage and a statement from Zarqawi's Jama'at al Tawhid and Jihad group, threatening to kill them within 72 hours.
Zarqawi loyalists have staged a series of kidnappings ahead of the June 30 transition. The group beheaded a South Korean on Tuesday after Seoul rejected a demand to withdraw its forces from Iraq and last month decapitated a U.S. captive. Both killings were filmed and posted on Web sites used by Islamists.
The group's deadline is before the end of a NATO summit Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul to be attended by President Bush, who will discuss a NATO role in Iraq.
Zarqawi has also claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks, most recently a wave of suicide bombings and armed assaults in five cities Thursday that killed more than 100 Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Hilla.
Al Jazeera said the statement warned Turkey the hostages would be killed unless "Turkish forces and companies that support the occupation forces in Iraq" left by the deadline.
Turkey is not part of the U.S.-led force in Iraq but many nationals work as drivers and support staff for U.S. forces.
"A Very Effective Terrorist"
Washington has offered $10 million for Zarqawi's capture.
"He remains the number one target inside this country. He is a very effective terrorist," Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. military in Iraq, told a news conference in Baghdad Saturday.
U.S. forces have mounted three "precision strikes" in the rebellious Iraqi city of Falluja over the past week aimed at destroying Zarqawi's safe houses and killing his followers.
Kimmitt said the latest strike, Friday, may have come close to killing the Jordanian-born militant. He said several cars were seen driving away from the building after it was hit.
Senior military officials said 20 to 25 militants were killed in Friday's strike. But one Falluja resident at the scene said no one had been killed.
Iraqi guerrillas and tribal leaders in Falluja have denied Zarqawi is in the city, where hundreds of Iraqis were killed in April in fierce fighting between U.S. Marines and guerrillas. Critics say Falluja is a safe haven for foreign militants.
Election Delay?
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said violence could force a delay in national elections due to be held by the end of January, a key step in the transition to democracy.
"It's not absolute yet," Allawi said of the election date, according to excerpts of an interview with CBS News.
"We are committed to elections and one of the tasks is really to work toward achieving these objectives. However, security will be main feature of whether we will be able to do it in January, February or March."
Writing in London's Independent Sunday newspaper, Allawi said he would consider an amnesty for Iraqis who resisted U.S. occupation out of a sense of indignation not destabilization.
"We are drawing up plans to provide amnesty to Iraqis who supported the so-called resistance without committing crimes, while isolating the hardcore elements of terrorists and criminals," he wrote.
Witnesses in Hilla said the car bombs exploded in a busy street in the largely Shi'ite town shortly after dark. The U.S. military said they were detonated near a mosque.
Earlier Saturday insurgents stormed the offices of two political parties in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
An attack on the offices of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shi'ite group that has been cooperating with the U.S.-led administration, killed three guards and wounded two, officials said. Guerrillas also blew up a building used by Allawi's Iraqi National Accord party in Baquba.
Kimmitt said six guerrillas were killed in Saturday's fighting in the town. He said one of the dead fighters was found with dynamite strapped to his body.
In Arbil, 350 km (220 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb on Saturday killed one person and wounded more than a dozen, including the Kurdish regional government's culture minister.
(Reuters)
BAGHDAD -- Some 40 people were killed by twin car bombs south of Baghdad in the latest attempt to derail the transition to an Iraqi government in three days' time, the U.S. military said Sunday.
Initially 17 people were reported killed and 40 wounded in a single car bomb blast in the town of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad Saturday, but the U.S. military later raised the death toll and said two cars had exploded. Twenty-two people were wounded, it said.
The blasts came as militants led by suspected al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi vowed to behead three Turkish hostages unless Turks stop working with U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
Al Jazeera satellite channel showed footage of the three men said to be Turks crouching before masked gunmen and holding up their passports. It said it had received the footage and a statement from Zarqawi's Jama'at al Tawhid and Jihad group, threatening to kill them within 72 hours.
Zarqawi loyalists have staged a series of kidnappings ahead of the June 30 transition. The group beheaded a South Korean on Tuesday after Seoul rejected a demand to withdraw its forces from Iraq and last month decapitated a U.S. captive. Both killings were filmed and posted on Web sites used by Islamists.
The group's deadline is before the end of a NATO summit Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul to be attended by President Bush, who will discuss a NATO role in Iraq.
Zarqawi has also claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks, most recently a wave of suicide bombings and armed assaults in five cities Thursday that killed more than 100 Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Hilla.
Al Jazeera said the statement warned Turkey the hostages would be killed unless "Turkish forces and companies that support the occupation forces in Iraq" left by the deadline.
Turkey is not part of the U.S.-led force in Iraq but many nationals work as drivers and support staff for U.S. forces.
"A Very Effective Terrorist"
Washington has offered $10 million for Zarqawi's capture.
"He remains the number one target inside this country. He is a very effective terrorist," Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. military in Iraq, told a news conference in Baghdad Saturday.
U.S. forces have mounted three "precision strikes" in the rebellious Iraqi city of Falluja over the past week aimed at destroying Zarqawi's safe houses and killing his followers.
Kimmitt said the latest strike, Friday, may have come close to killing the Jordanian-born militant. He said several cars were seen driving away from the building after it was hit.
Senior military officials said 20 to 25 militants were killed in Friday's strike. But one Falluja resident at the scene said no one had been killed.
Iraqi guerrillas and tribal leaders in Falluja have denied Zarqawi is in the city, where hundreds of Iraqis were killed in April in fierce fighting between U.S. Marines and guerrillas. Critics say Falluja is a safe haven for foreign militants.
Election Delay?
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said violence could force a delay in national elections due to be held by the end of January, a key step in the transition to democracy.
"It's not absolute yet," Allawi said of the election date, according to excerpts of an interview with CBS News.
"We are committed to elections and one of the tasks is really to work toward achieving these objectives. However, security will be main feature of whether we will be able to do it in January, February or March."
Writing in London's Independent Sunday newspaper, Allawi said he would consider an amnesty for Iraqis who resisted U.S. occupation out of a sense of indignation not destabilization.
"We are drawing up plans to provide amnesty to Iraqis who supported the so-called resistance without committing crimes, while isolating the hardcore elements of terrorists and criminals," he wrote.
Witnesses in Hilla said the car bombs exploded in a busy street in the largely Shi'ite town shortly after dark. The U.S. military said they were detonated near a mosque.
Earlier Saturday insurgents stormed the offices of two political parties in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
An attack on the offices of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shi'ite group that has been cooperating with the U.S.-led administration, killed three guards and wounded two, officials said. Guerrillas also blew up a building used by Allawi's Iraqi National Accord party in Baquba.
Kimmitt said six guerrillas were killed in Saturday's fighting in the town. He said one of the dead fighters was found with dynamite strapped to his body.
In Arbil, 350 km (220 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb on Saturday killed one person and wounded more than a dozen, including the Kurdish regional government's culture minister.
