Hibhib, Iraq: Suicide car bomb kills 13 at Iraq police station

Iraqi soldiers check vehicles at a checkpoint in Diwaniya, 180 km from Baghdad, August 1, 2007. Picture taken August 1, 2007. A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into an Iraqi police station on Thursday, killing 13 people. REUTERS/Imad al-Khozai


Suicide Bomber Kills 13 at Iraqi Police Post

By Megan Greenwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 3, 2007; A12
BAGHDAD, Aug. 2 -- A suicide car bomber drove into a police station north of Baghdad on Thursday and detonated his explosives, killing 13 people, police said.
The attack in Hibhib, just north of Baghdad in Diyala province, took place as police recruits were lined up outside the station, according to Diyala police Lt. Muhammad Hakman. Hakman said police arrested a man acting suspiciously near the station just before the bomb detonated. The man is suspected to have aided the bomber, he said.
Hibhib, a small town with a largely Sunni population, is where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by an American airstrike last year, and Hakman said he believes Thursday's attack was the work of that group. The number of insurgents in the town linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq has risen recently as military operations in Baqubah, Baghdad and western Anbar province pushed them out of those areas, Hakman said.
News of the attack came shortly after the U.S. military announced that the Iraqi army had killed a man in the northern city of Mosul on Thursday who was suspected of leading al-Qaeda in Iraq there.
The military said an Iraqi army convoy had spotted the man, identified only as Safi, as he rode in a pickup truck. Soldiers attempted to pull the vehicle over. The man's bodyguards opened fire on the soldiers, who shot back, killing the bodyguards and Safi.
On Thursday night, police said, mortar shells hit the Baghdad offices of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the country's largest Sunni political group. The attack came a day after the group announced it would withdraw five of its six ministers from the government in protest against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's policies. In a public statement Thursday, Maliki formally asked the Accordance Front to reconsider its decision.
Meanwhile, police in the northern city of Kirkuk announced that they had found a young boy crying next to the corpses of his five adult brothers. The five were apparently killed in sectarian violence after they and the boy were abducted Wednesday as they drove south out of the city, police said.
News that a child had apparently been present during the killings created nationwide outrage. Newscasters on Arabic-language television stations spoke at length about the incident, and several prominent politicians and religious leaders condemned the kidnappers.
The U.S. military said two U.S. troops were killed Tuesday in Baghdad by indirect fire, a term that usually means a rocket or mortar attack. The announcement raises the number of U.S. troops killed in July to 80, one fewer than in March. U.S. death tolls exceeded 100 in April, May and June.
Special correspondent Naseer Nouri contributed to this report.



Suicide car bomb kills 13 at Iraq police station

By Peter Graff2 hours, 40 minutes ago
A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into an Iraqi police station on Thursday, killing 13 people, while politicians prepared for a summit to restore a coalition government after the main Sunni group quit.
The attack followed a day of major bombings in Baghdad, in which 70 people were killed.
A police source said the bomber struck recruits lined up to join the police force in the town of Hibhib, north of Baghdad. The dead included six policemen and seven civilians. Fifteen people were wounded.
Leaders of Iraq's main groups are due to meet in coming days to try to stitch back their coalition, which was set up last year and has so far failed in its aim of reducing violence or agreeing on laws aimed at reconciliation.
The office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, said he would remain in permanent contact with the Sunni Accordance Front, despite its decision to pull its six ministers out of the government on Wednesday.
The Front said it was quitting Maliki's coalition because he had failed to meet its demands, including giving the Sunni bloc a greater share in security matters.
Another large Shi'ite faction, that of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, quit the government in April.
Thursday's attack took place in Diyala province, the area north of the capital which has been a focus of a U.S. offensive over the past two months after Washington dispatched extra troops to Iraq to help stabilize the country.
Washington says the area has seen an influx of al Qaeda militants driven out of Baghdad and western Anbar province as a result of the U.S. offensive and a revolt against the militants by local tribes.
Further north, more than 1,000 Iraqi troops launched a crackdown on militants in Samarra, where an attack on a Shi'ite shrine last year triggered sectarian fighting across Iraq. The mosque was attacked again in June.
The Iraqi forces closed streets and imposed a curfew. The U.S. military said the goal of the Iraqi operation was to stabilize the city so the shrine could be rebuilt.
Washington has seen the number of its troops killed in Iraq fall over the past month after the deadliest three-month period of the war. Commanders say the figures show their new strategy is working.
But figures compiled by the ministries of health and interior show the number of civilians killed in July rose by a third to 1,653, after a sharp drop in June.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.




Al-Qaeda warlord shot dead, emirs nabbed in Iraq raids
BAGHDAD
03-Aug-07
brunei
IRAQI troops killed a local al-Qaeda warlord and US soldiers arrested two of the extremist network's chieftains, during several operations announced yesterday in the wake of deadly bomb attacks.
The raids were announced after a series of car bombings killed at least 70 people in Baghdad on Wednesday, which served as a bloody backdrop to mounting political crisis in Iraq's shrinking coalition government.
A militant known as Safi, touted as al-Qaeda in Iraq's emir of Mosul, was killed in a shootout with Iraqi soldiers on Wednesday after he and two cohorts were spotted driving in the country's third largest city, the US military said.
An Iraqi unit gave chase and halted the vehicle. Safi and his bodyguards jumped out and opened fire. Iraqi troops returned fire and the three members of the al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate were killed, the US Army said.
American forces also announced the arrest of two other alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq emirs during operations targeting senior leaders and propaganda cells in the terror network on Wednesday and Thursday.
They said they captured the alleged al-Qaeda "sniper emir", whom they suspect was involved in a plot against the mayor of Mosul last March and has allegedly claimed the killing of at least one US-led coalition soldier.
A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into an Iraqi police station yesterday, killing 13 people, while politicians prepared for a summit to restore a coalition government after the main Sunni group quit.
The attack followed a day of major bombings in Baghdad, in which 70 people were killed.
Agencies



US 'underestimated' mistrust in Iraq
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Friday, August 03, 2007

Washington underestimated the difficulty of getting Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites to agree on key national reconciliation measures, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted Thursday. At the end of a regional tour, he called the withdrawal of the main Sunni bloc from the Baghdad government "discouraging."
Meanwhile, Iraqi politicians said they were hoping for a breakthrough to restore a unity government after the withdrawal of the Accordance Front, but the magnitude of the sectarian conflict was underlined by the slaying of five brothers.
A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into a queue of recruits at a police station north of Baghdad, killing 13 people a day after bombs killed more than 70 people in the capital.
Gates told reporters as he flew back to Washington that gains made in security in western Iraq's Anbar Province and at the local level were cause for optimism, but he also acknowledged they were offset by divisions at the top.
"In some ways we probably all underestimated the depth of mistrust and how difficult it would be for these guys to come together on legislation, which let's face it is not some kind of secondary thing," he said.
"The kinds of legislation they're talking about will establish the framework of Iraq for the future, so it's almost like our constitutional convention," Gates said.
"And the difficulty in coming to grips with those we may all have underestimated six or eight months ago," he added.
All six ministers from Iraq's largest Sunni bloc tendered their resignation from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government on Wednesday following a month-long spat.
The decision by the Accordance Front triggered what Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salah called the worst political crisis since Iraq's new Constitution was adopted.
But a senior member of Parliament from Maliki's Shiite bloc said a "breakthrough is possible" in resolving the standoff.
"Talks are continuing among the heads of the political blocs. The prime minister and the (Shiite) Alliance are ready to find a solution along with the Accordance Front. Things are not that difficult," Rida Jawad al-Takki told Reuters.
Politicians from leading groups are due to have a summit in the coming days in the hopes of restoring the power-sharing system.
"Now there are daily meetings and committees are working to prepare for the summit, in which we hope the leaders will avoid any escalations and agree on common issues," Salim al-Jubouri, a leading Accordance Front member of Parliament told Reuters.
Maliki's office said the prime minister would remain in "permanent contact" with the Front despite their decision to quit the government.
Gates said the developments on the political side "are somewhat discouraging at the national level. And clearly the withdrawal of the Sunnis from the government is discouraging. "My hope is it can all be patched back together," he said.
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But Gates added that he was "optimistic on the security side because of what I see in Al-Anbar, and what we're seeing in some ... other provinces where we're getting cooperation."
"I think the key is, not only establishing the security, but being able to hold on to those areas and for Iraqi Army and police to be able to provide the continuity of that security over time," he added. "It's under that umbrella I think progress will be made at a national level."
Gates said that political setbacks would have to be weighed against improvements in security when the top commander in Iraq and the US ambassador report to Congress in mid-September.
Demonstrating the viciousness of sectarian violence, a young boy, crying but unharmed, was found next to the bodies of his five brothers near the northern city of Kirkuk after they were kidnapped by gunmen a day earlier.Thursday's biggest attack took place in Diyala Province, the area north of the capital which has been a focus of a US offensive over the past two months after Washington dispatched extra troops to Iraq to help stabilize the country.
A police source said the suicide bomber struck recruits lined up to join the police force in the town of Hibhib, north of Baghdad. The dead included six policemen and seven civilians.
Meanwhile, a militant known as Safi, touted as Al-Qaeda in Iraq's emir of Mosul, was killed in a shootout with Iraqi soldiers on Wednesday after he and two cohorts were spotted driving in the country's third-largest city, the US military said Thursday.
US forces also announced the arrest of two other alleged Al-Qaeda in Iraq emirs during operations targeting senior leaders and propaganda cells in the terror network on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Thursday, more than 1,000 Iraqi troops backed by US paratroopers launched an operation to expel Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate from Samarra, two months after it was accused of attacking a revered Shiite shrine there, the military said.
Gates was speaking at the end of a tour of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates which focused on Iraq, Iran's nuclear program and US arms contracts.
Gates had harsh words for Iran on Thursday.
"We can't wait years for them to try to change their policies. The more countries in the world that cooperate in the UN sanctions and in bringing pressures to bear on this government, that its policies are antithetical to the interests of all its neighbors, the better off we'll be," he said.
Both he and Rice urged Middle East allies to press on with financial sanctions against Iran.
"There's not really room for bystanders here," he said, adding that the Arab leaders are unanimous in their concern about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. - Agencies