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A DEADLINE set by
Islamist kidnappers to kill eight Chinese labourers
has expired with no word on their fate, while nine
British soldiers were wounded by a powerful
explosion in the Shi'ite dominated south of Iraq.
The soldiers and some Iraqi civilians were wounded
in last night's blast, which a witness said was a
car bomb, outside a British military base near the
southern city of Basra.
"Several Iraqi civilians have suffered injuries but
we cannot yet confirm the number of the injured or
the severity of the injuries," the military said.
The Ministry of Defence in London confirmed the
incident, while the BBC reported nine British troops
had been injured, citing the ministry.
Meanwhile, a court-martial of three British soldiers
accused of abusing Iraqi detainees ploughed on in
Germany.
Basra had been quiet in recent months, but
insurgents bent on disrupting the key January 30
general elections have targeted population bases
that are home to Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority.
And as the 48-hour deadline passed for Beijing to
"clarify" its position in Iraq, there was no news
from the captors of the eight hostages still being
held somewhere in the war-torn country.
The Xinhua news agency reported that Chinese
diplomats were in talks with the Committee of Muslim
Scholars, but the Chinese embassy in Baghdad and the
influential body of Sunni Muslim clerics declined to
comment.
On Tuesday, kidnappers released footage to al-Jazeera
television of the eight labourers holding Chinese
passports, and claimed the workers were helping the
US military build facilities in Iraq.
Beijing opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003
but, like other nations, its companies have chased
lucrative reconstruction contracts in the
war-ravaged country.
The Committee of Muslim Scholars, which has mediated
the release of foreign hostages in the past, on
Wednesday called for the release of all people held
by various groups.
Brazilian construction company Norberto Odebrecht
said that one of its employees was probably
kidnapped close to Baiji.
A British firm, Janusian Security Risk Management,
announced that a Briton and an Iraqi employee had
been shot dead on Wednesday near the refinery town
of Baiji and that a third foreigner went missing.
Al-Qaeda-linked Army of Ansar al-Sunna claimed the
attack, saying it had murdered the Briton and that
it had also killed a Swede in a statement posted on
an Islamist website.
Playing on pre-election fears, Ansar al-Sunna posted
video footage on its website on Wednesday, showing
two men it claimed were setting up Internet systems
for the vote, being shot in the head.
Just 10 days ahead of Iraq's first free elections in
half a century, police said five Iraqi soldiers were
killed in Sunni areas north of Baghdad.
The capital was calm on the first day of Eid al-Adha,
a Muslim festival.
A civilian was also killed and three others wounded,
including a four-year-old girl, when Iraqi soldiers
mistakenly opened fire near Tikrit.
Eight insurgents were killed around the northern
city of Mosul, the military said.
Meanwhile, the body of an Iraqi police officer who
belonged to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was
found riddled with bullets in the northern oil
capital of Kirkuk, police and medics said.
In the west, one Iraqi was killed and four wounded
as rebels pounded the city of Ramadi, witnesses and
the US military said.
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