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Bombs kill at least 14 in Kirkuk
13.6.2006
By Sherko Raouf
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KIRKUK, Kurdistan-Iraq, June 13, -- A wave of
bombings hit the Iraqi oil Kurdish city of Kirkuk on
Tuesday, killing 14 people in what was seen as an
attempt by al Qaeda to show the death of its leader
in Iraq would not stop its campaign of violence.
The bloodshed came hours before U.S. President
George W. Bush and his aides were to hold a video
conference with new Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
and his cabinet and urge them not to squander the
chance to assert their authority.
Al Qaeda in Iraq on Monday named a successor to Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in a U.S. air strike last
week, and vowed the new leader would press on with a
campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings.
"The terrorists want to send a message that they are
staying active despite the fact that Zarqawi was
killed," said Rizgar Ali, the head of Kirkuk's
governing council.
In one attack, a car bomb exploded outside the house
of a senior police officer, seriously wounding him
and killing one of his bodyguards, police said.
As police and U.S. forces gathered in the area, a
roadside bomb exploded, killing 10 civilians, a
common tactic by Sunni Arab insurgents seeking to
topple the Shi'ite-led government backed by the
United States.
A senior police officer said policemen had been put
on high alert and were moving around in civilian
cars to avoid being spotted by guerrillas in the
northern city.
"The situation is very difficult," said the officer,
who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.
Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, is
claimed by several sects and ethnic groups,
including Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Its fate
is one of Iraq's most explosive unresolved issues.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have said Zarqawi's suicide
bombings were designed to spark a sectarian civil
war.
An umbrella group of al Qaeda and other militant
organisations suggested the U.S. military killed him
by chance.
"They were surprised to find out that the Sheikh,
God's mercy be upon him, was there after the bombing
was finished," said an Internet statement from the
Mujahideen Shura Council.
"Had the crusaders known that the Sheikh was there
before the bombing why didn't they surround the area
and arrest him? This would have been a victory for
the American propaganda apparatus."
TARGETS
U.S. military commanders say they are focussing
their counter-insurgency campaign on Baghdad. A
security plan involving thousands of local forces
and an undisclosed number of U.S. troops is expected
to be implemented in the capital on Wednesday.
It will mean extra checkpoints and patrols in two
major trouble spots -- the districts of Dora and
Adhamiya -- as well as Mansour, which has also been
hit by violence.
The plan will include two army regiments, two
Interior Ministry regiments and U.S. forces and
armoured vehicles.
On Tuesday in Kirkuk, a suicide bomber in a car was
shot by guards as he tried to attack the police
headquarters. He blew himself up, killing two
policemen and wounding 10 civilians.
Another suicide bomber in a car blew himself up at
one of the local offices of a Kurdish party headed
by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, wounding two
people, police said.
A suicide bomber in a car was shot by guards as he
tried to attack the same building. Another suicide
bomber in a car attacked another office of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, wounding four guards.
A roadside exploded outside a law college, killing
one person and wounding two.
Little is known about Zarqawi's successor, Abu Hamza
al-Muhajir. Bush vowed on Monday he would be "on our
list" of targets and said U.S. troops had to stay in
Iraq for now.
In further violence, gunmen shot dead Baghdad
University Professor Muthana Harith Jassim in
Baghdad, police sources said, and police found six
bodies in parts of Baghdad, showing signs of
torture, hallmarks of sectarian killings.
Iraq's insurgency is dominated by Saddam Hussein
loyalists.
Reuters
Kurdish city of Kirkuk is still not under the full
control of Kurdistan Regional government.
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