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Deadly attacks include mosque

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 24, 2006

The bombing in the mixed Tunis neighborhood bore the markings of the sectarian violence tormenting Iraq. The mosque is near the Sunni Arab stronghold of Azamiyah.

An hour later, police said, a roadside bomb exploded outside a bakery in southeast Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 12. Five people were killed earlier in the day when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to a police station in Baghdad's biggest Shiite neighborhood.

Dozens of Iraqis have been killed nearly every day in the weeks leading up to formation of the new unity government, which many hope will eventually provide Iraq with enough security to allow the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

At least 3,886 Iraqis have been killed this year in war-related violence, and at least 4,239 have been wounded, based on an Associated Press count that may not be complete because the reporting process does not cover the entire country. During May, at least 691 Iraqis were killed. These figures include Iraqi civilians and security forces, but do not include insurgent deaths.

Washington set aside any possibilities that some foreign troops could start packing for home soon.

"We're not going to sort of look at our watches and say, 'Oop, time to go,' " White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

He was responding to comments made by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Iraqi security forces would start taking control of some provinces and cities next month, a process that a British official suggested could lead to full withdrawal of foreign troops in four years.

"As we've said all along, when Iraq stands up, we'll stand down," Snow said. "And whether that fits into any convenient time frame, we're going to find out. The conditions on the ground are going to determine when the United States begins doing troop withdrawals and that sort of thing. And that, and that alone, is going to be the ultimate factor."

Maliki reportedly spent much of the day meeting with advisers and discussing candidates for the defense and interior ministries - key posts that still need permanent appointments.

Parliament also did not convene as deputies asked for time to examine the nuts and bolts of running the chamber and the procedures for setting up committees. They decided to convene the 275-member body Sunday.

The U.S. military said Tuesday it had killed a number of insurgents during a joint operation with Iraqi soldiers in Samarra. It said Monday's raid resulted "in the deaths and detention of several terrorist operatives," but did not provide a number.

Iraqi contractor worked for Zarqawi

AMMAN, Jordan - An Iraqi government contractor confessed on Jordanian television to kidnapping and killing on the orders of al-Qaida in Iraq before he was arrested in Jordan.

The man, identified as Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly, said that he had kidnapped two Moroccan embassy employees and an Iraqi finance ministry official under direct orders from the terror group and its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

In a flat tone he described how he killed a Jordanian truck driver who had a wife and four young daughters: "His name was Khalid al-Dasouqi. He said, 'What will you do?' I said, 'I will kill you.' He started to beg me, 'Please, do not kill me,' and so I said, 'I must kill you.' He kept on begging me, and I pulled my personal pistol and said to him, 'Say your prayers.' He said them as he was begging.

"Immediately I shot him twice in the head. I left him in that spot and he was handcuffed and blindfolded. I made sure that he was dead, put his passport and papers over him and went away."

Information from the Washington Post was used in this report.

[Last modified May 24, 2006, 05:21:20]