BAGHDAD, Iraq – The governor of the Baghdad region, known for cooperating closely with American troops, was assassinated along with six bodyguards as he drove to work Tuesday in yet another bloody day of insurgent attacks that exposed grave security flaws in Iraq with elections less than a month away.
Other assaults Tuesday killed five American troops as well as 10 Iraqi commandos, bringing the death toll in the last three days to more than 70. Despite the violence, which U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces have been helpless to prevent, American and Iraqi leaders insisted the Jan. 30 vote would go forward.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan acknowledged security “challenges” in Iraq but said the election timetable would not be changed.
“For much of the country, the situation is secure enough to move forward on holding elections,” McClellan said. “There are a few areas that we’re continuing to work to improve the security situation, so those areas will be able to have as full a participation as possible in elections.”
While it’s true that many areas of Iraq are calm, there are vast regions, including the capital, that are extremely dangerous. In places such as Fallujah, which was bombed to ruins in a U.S.-led campaign in November, and the northern city of Mosul, there has been little headway in preparing for the vote.
The attacks have prompted Sunni Arab clerics to call for a boycott, and Iraq’s largest Sunni political party announced it was pulling out of the race because of poor security.
Several Iraqi leaders, including the defense minister and the ambassador to the United Nations, have suggested a delay as a way to get Sunnis to take part, but other officials support Allawi and want the vote to be held on time.
The militant group of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for killing Gov. Ali al-Haidari and his bodyguards, according to a statement posted on a Web site known for carrying such claims.
“We tell every traitor and supporter of the Jews and Christians that this is your fate,” the statement said. Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.
In the American deaths, a roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, and a soldier and a Marine were killed in other attacks outside the capital, the U.S. military said.
The three soldiers killed in the capital were with Task Force Baghdad, and two soldiers were wounded in the attack, the military said.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb attack killed one 1st Infantry Division soldier and wounded another near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.
A U.S. Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action in restive Anbar province, which includes Fallujah.
Tuesday’s attacks came a day after violence that saw a roadside attack and three car bombs, one near the prime minister’s party headquarters in Baghdad and others targeting Iraqi troops and a U.S. security company convoy. At least 16 people were killed Monday.
A car bomb near the Green Zone killed three Britons and an American working for U.S. security firms, their employers and Britain’s Foreign Office said Tuesday.
The American was identified as Tracy Hushin, 34, who was working under contract for the United States Agency for International Development.
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