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Iraq video claims to show US adviser killed

Bystanders comfort a crying woman who was looking for her son at the scene of a suicide car bomb explosion in Baghdad yesterday. PHOTO: AP

An extremist group, the Islamic Army of Iraq, posted a video on a Web site yesterday that showed an unidentified man being shot in the back of the head, and the group claimed the killing was of US adviser Ronald Allen Schulz.

The video did not show the face of the victim, however, and it was impossible to identify him conclusively. The victim was kneeling with his back to the camera, with his hands tied behind his back and blindfolded with an Arab headdress when he was shot.

In a separate piece of film, shown on a split screen as the killing was aired, the extremist group also showed a picture of Schulz alive. The group had aired the same footage of Schulz alive when he was first taken hostage earlier this month.

In an earlier Internet posting last week, the group had claimed it killed Schulz, and then later said it would show the killing.

Schulz, a civilian contractor, has been identified by the extremist group as a security consultant for the Iraqi Housing Ministry, although neighbors and family from Alaska, where he lives, say he is an industrial electrician who has worked on contracts around the world.

Schulz, a native of North Dakota, served in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1991. He moved to Alaska six years ago, and friends and family say he is divorced.

The videotaped killing showed the man being shot as he kneeled in an open, empty area of dirt. The video also showed Schulz's identity card.

Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded outside a children's hospital in western Baghdad yesterday, killing at least two people and wounding 11, including seven policemen, officials said.

Police believe the bomb had been targeting a passing convoy carrying a police colonel, who was among the injured.

In western Baghdad, gunmen attacked the convoy of the city's Deputy Governor Ziad Tariq, killing three civilians and wounding three of Tariq's bodyguards, Baghdad police said. Tariq was not injured.

A string of violent attacks, including shootings and bombings, began Saturday night, shattering the relative calm since Iraq's parliamentary election last week.

In a speech on Sunday, US President George W. Bush praised the vote and warned against a pullout of US forces.

Hours before Bush spoke, US Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit to Baghdad, saying the election's strong turnout had brought Iraq closer to taking control of its own security. But Cheney also cautioned against a rapid US withdrawal.

Bush said last week's voting would not end violence in Iraq but "means that America has an ally of growing strength in the fight against terror."

He warned that a US troop pullout would "signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word."
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