BAGHDAD, Iraq – Gunmen ambushed a bus Monday carrying British Muslims to Shiite shrines, killing two Britons and wounding three. The U.S. Embassy confirmed an American is missing in Iraq, presumably one of four aid workers who disappeared over the weekend.
Also Monday, two Sunni Arab politicians were slain in separate attacks. U.S. and Iraqi officials had predicted an escalation of violence in advance of Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.
The attack on the pilgrims took place in the southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, one of the most dangerous parts of the capital. The victims were en route to Shiite holy cities of Karbala, Najaf and Kufa, according to friends in Britain.
| The latest identifications reported by the U.S. military of personnel recently killed in Iraq:
Army Spc. Gregory L. Tull, 20, Pocahontas, Iowa; died Friday in Anbar province when an explosive detonated near his vehicle; assigned to the National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery, Storm Lake, Iowa. Marine Master Sgt. Brett E. Angus, 40, St. Paul, Minn.; died Saturday from an explosive near Camp Taqaddum; assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron-372, Marine Wing Support Group-37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Army Sgt. 1st Class Eric P. Pearrow, 40, Peoria, Ill.; died Thursday in Baghdad when his tank accidentally rolled into a canal; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo. Army Pfc. Ryan D. Christensen, 22, Spring Lake Heights, N.J.; died Thursday at the Medical University of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., from a noncombat related illness in Balad; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. Army Staff Sgt. Aram J. Bass, 25, Niagara Falls, N.Y.; and Army Sgt. William B. Meeuwsen, 24, Kingwood, Texas; died Wednesday in Baghdad when their unit came under fire; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. |
Deputy Interior Minister Hussein Kamal said authorities had no leads into the weekend disappearance of four Western humanitarian workers. No group has claimed responsibility.
On Sunday, a Canadian official said the four included two Canadians. Britain has said one of its citizens, retired professor Norman Kember, had vanished in Iraq but refused to say whether he was among the four.
Kember is a longtime peace activist who once fretted publicly that he was taking the easy way out by protesting in safety at home while British soldiers risked their lives in Iraq.
“He’d been involved in peace and nonviolence programs for most of his life, constantly challenging wars and violence and committed to supporting conflict resolution programs,” said Pat Gaffney, an adviser to the Christian Peace Education Fund, where Kember is a trustee.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said only that an American had been reported missing and that the person’s name and organization were being withheld.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials said Monday that a growing number of Iraqi troop battalions – nearly four dozen as of this week – are playing lead roles in the fight against the insurgency, and American commanders have turned over more than two dozen U.S.-established bases to Iraqi government control.
President Bush is to give a major speech Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in which administration officials say he is expected to spotlight recent moves toward increasing Iraqi security responsibilities.
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