BAGHDAD, Iraq – The assassination of a provincial governor and the first major car bombing in Baghdad since Iraq’s interim government took power gave fresh evidence Wednesday of insurgents’ intentions to carry on their rebellion.
Usama Kashoula, governor for five months of the northern province that includes the city of Mosul, was ambushed with machine guns and grenades while traveling in a convoy north of Tikrit in an area known for its loyalty to ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Lt. Gen. Donald Petraeus, the former U.S. commander in Mosul charged with re-establishing Iraq’s national army and security forces, praised Kashoula as a “courageous, committed and determined governor.”
“His loss is a terrible blow,” he said.
Although initial reports about the attack were sketchy, one U.S. source said it was reported that two of the attackers were killed, another was captured, and a fourth was wounded and under guard at a hospital in Bayji, an oil refining center near the site of the attack.
At least one other governor has been killed since the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq began last year – in Irbil province in a February suicide bombing.
In Baghdad, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi spent two hours at the scene of a morning truck bombing just outside the Baghdad Convention Center at one of the entrances to the heavily fortified Green Zone, the district in the center of the capital that serves as headquarters for the Iraqi government, the new U.S. embassy and a host of military commanders.
The death toll reached at least 10, including four Iraqi national guardsmen, with about 40 people injured, hospital officials said. The dead included Iraqis who work for the U.S.-led military forces. Shrapnel injured one U.S. soldier.
As U.S. helicopters swooped overhead and police fanned out through the area, Allawi condemned the “naked aggression against the Iraqi people,” and promised that tough security policies he had instituted would “bring these criminals to justice.” The attack, he said, might have been a reprisal for sweeps by his government’s revitalized police force in recent days.
“We think this is a response,” Allawi said. “We have caught some prominent criminals … . They are cooperating and have been divulging important information.” The attack Wednesday was the first major bombing in Baghdad in more than a month and the first since the June 28 hand-over of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government. Some analysts fear that it signals an end to a period of relative calm.
The estimated 1,000-pound bomb left a crater 10 feet across. Burned cars lined a wall that was partly blown away by the explosion, and twisted shards of metal littered the ground.
Associated Press
A U.S. soldier races behind a metal frame to the scene of a car bomb explosion Wednesday in Baghdad.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
