A car bomb ripped through a police station south of Baghdad yesterday killing about 50 people, in the latest attack on Iraqis seen as collaborators with US occupation forces.
The bombing came after US officials said an Islamic militant with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was plotting to ignite a civil war in Iraq to undermine efforts to hand over power to Iraqis.
A reporter said he had counted at least 20 bodies outside a hospital in the small town of Iskandariya, 40km south of Baghdad. But the director of the local hospital said the explosion killed around 50 people.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"There are around 50 martyrs, 30 of whom have been identified, and dozens wounded," Dr. Tahsim Ahmad said at Iskandariya hospital, near the site of the attack.
The hospital's director, Razak Jannabi, said: "Thirty dead have been brought here, I believe that number is rising. I believe it's at 49."
Earlier yesterday, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the house of Amer Suleiman, chief of the al-Duleimi tribe in the area and head of the local US-appointed authority in the restive town of Ramadi, 110km west of the capital, wounding four bodyguards.
The attacks followed a pattern of targeting Iraqis seen as collaborators with the US occupation. Twin suicide bombings in northern Iraq against two Kurdish parties allied with the US killed more than 100 people on Feb. 1.
Ramadi and surrounding areas, at the heart of the so-called Sunni triangle where resentment of the US is strongest, have seen scores of attacks on US forces.
US troops said on Monday they had seized a computer disc containing a letter from Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Washington links to Ansar al-Islam, outlining plans to destabilize Iraq.
The US says the group, which operates in northern Iraq, is affiliated to al-Qaeda.
"There is clearly a plan on the part of outsiders to come into this country and spark civil war, breed sectarian violence and try to expose fissures in the society," said Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, the top US military spokesman in Iraq.
Dan Senor, chief spokesman for Iraq's US governor, Paul Bremer, said the 17-page letter proposed attacks on shrines and leaders of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, whom Arab Sunnis and Kurds fear could dominate a future government.
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the letter showed al-Qaeda was under pressure but had not given up.
"With respect to the letter itself, it's very revealing. They describe the weaknesses they have in their efforts to undercut the coalition's effort," Powell said.
Iraq's US occupiers have long said they suspect al-Qaeda has played a role in the insurgency against US troops and particularly in attacks on civilian targets in Iraq.
In New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke to Security Council members about the electoral team he sent to Baghdad on Saturday to see whether elections could be held quickly, as Shiites want, or recommend alternatives for selecting Iraqi leaders before the US relinquishes power on June 30.
"I am concerned that there is no consensus yet on the best way to handle the transition," Annan said, according to his speaking notes. "Many Iraqis have been calling for elections before June 30. Others disagree and prefer other options for choosing the members of Iraq transitional institutions."
He told reporters the team, led by veteran UN official Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, had met members of the coalition and a variety of Iraqis.
Annan said the team would soon meet Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered cleric among Iraq's Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the population.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
RSS