THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007
NEWS
5A
WAR IN IRAO
Explosions resemble al-Qaida
BY KIM GAMEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A U.S. soldier helps secure the area in front of a damaged car at the scene where a car bomb exploded in central Baghdad, Tuesday. A parked car bomb exploded near an Iraqian army check point in Saadon street, killing six including four civilians and injuring 25 others, police said.
BAGHDAD — An explosives-laden sewage truck blew up near a police station and a car bomb struck an Iraqi army checkpoint Tuesday — attacks that bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida and showed extremists can still hit hard despite recent gains by U.S.-led forces.
A U.S. military spokesman said the terror network is on the run in some areas, but it "obviously remains very lethal."
The bombings and a series of shootings mainly targeted Iraqi security forces and tribal leaders facing internal rivalries, but bystanders also were struck. At least 25 people were killed or found dead nationwide.
The deadliest attack occurred when a car blew up near a gas station across the street from an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing four civilians and two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 25 others.
Flames shot out from a military pickup as ambulances raced to the scene, driving past a long concrete barrier that recently was decorated with murals by local artists in an attempt to beautify the city.
It was the latest in a series of car bombings in the capital despite stringent security measures put in place as part of a U.S.-Iraqi military operation — now in its ninth month — and celebrations marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber in a sewage pump truck detonated his payload as he approached a police station recently rebuilt after four previous attacks, police said.
The blast collapsed most of the building, killing at least four policemen, including the station chief, and wounding 75 people, police said. A police spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Waqqa, said several nearby shops and cars were damaged.
Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has seen a rise in violence that many blame in part on an influx of militants who fled the Baghdad security crackdown.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks, but both bombings bore the hallmarks of Sunni Arab insurgents, particularly al-Qaida in Iraq. The terror group had promised to step up attacks during Ramadan, which ended over the weekend with the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Gunmen also killed a Sunni tribal leader who recently turned
against al-Qaida in an ambush west of Baghdad that also left his son and another relative dead, police said.
A Shiite tribal chieftain was killed in a drive-by shooting in the southern city of Nasriyah, the latest victim in violence between Shiite groups jockeying for power in the oil-rich region.
U. S. commanders have said the increase in troops ordered by President Bush in January — and the increased operations that followed — have left al-Qaida fractured and pushed militants into remote parts of the north and south. Additional operations have been going after those pockets of fighters.
Officials have cited a drop in suicide bombings, from more than 60 in January to some 30 a month since July, along with a decrease in the flow of foreign fighters across the borders. But they acknowledge they have been unable to stop the car bombings and suicide attacks usually blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq, which is sometimes referred to by the initials AQI.
"We are not ready to declare anything other than that we have done significant damage to AQI and it is on the run in many areas," said Col. Steven Boylan, a spokesman for the top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus.
Al-Qaida in Iraq "obviously remains very lethal," Boylan said.
Another U.S. spokesman in Baghdad, Rear Adm. Greg Smith, noted the numbers of car bombs have dropped significantly and are causing fewer casualties since the security operation began.
"We have certainly taken a great deal of the network down, a lot of leaders, facilitators, financiers," he said. "But it's clear out here we've
got an enemy that's got a lot of fight left in him."
Iraqis have enjoyed periods of relative calm in the past, particularly after the killing last year of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but the group has proved resilient in finding new recruits and tactics to maintain its attacks.
Smith was optimistic that recent success in turning tribal leaders and other citizens against extremists would have a long-term effect, but he cautioned it was still early to declare victory.
"The trends are in the right direction," he said. "But to call it anything other than what it is — which is a tough fight — would be irresponsible at this point."
The U.S. military announced the arrest of several militants on both sides of the sectarian divide, including one of five extremists believed to be behind last week's rocket attack that killed two American soldiers at Camp Victory, the headquarters for American forces in Iraq.
The suspect was detained along with three associates early Monday by U.S. soldiers, who roasted them from the Agriculture Ministry in Baghdad where they were hiding, according to a statement.
"We have reason to believe that, through two intelligence-driven operations over the last few days, we now have detained all of the leadership and the key operatives of the indirect fire cell that attacked Victory Base last week," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, deputy commander of Baghdad operations.
The statement did not identify the militants, but the Agriculture Ministry is run by Shiite Muslims with a heavy influence by the Mahdi Army militia that is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
PEACE CONFERENCE
BY MATTHEW LEE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit talks to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a joint press conference in Cairo, Egypt. Tuesday, Tasks focused on preparations for the U.S.-sponsored international peace conference on the Middle East planned for next month.
Amr Nabil/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rice's bid wins public support
CAIRO, Egypt — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won public support Tuesday for a Mideast peace conference from a skeptical Egypt, boosting her bid to secure critical Arab backing for pushing Israel and the Palestinians to resume formal negotiations to end their conflict.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said at a news conference with Rice that she had given them "a lot of trust and confidence" about American intentions for the meeting.
Pressing ahead with an intense four-day shuttle diplomacy mission, Rice appeared to have convinced the Egyptians of U.S. seriousness in organizing the conference to be held in Annapolis, Md. in November or December.
"She has helped us to understand the American objective," Aboul Gheit said. "We feel encouraged regarding what we heard from Secretary Rice
and promised her that we would help and we would help the parties as well in order to achieve the objective."
"We will continue to work and help them to create this document and we will then be in a position I think fairly soon to talk about when this meeting ought to take place," Rice said.
Aboul Gheit said Rice had assured the Egyptian government that President Bush, who announced in July that the conference would be held in the fall, was committed to forging an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves office in January 2009.
The Bush administration is particularly interested in having Saudi Arabia, which does not have a peace deal with the Jewish state, attend the conference that it sees as a springboard for a comprehensive resolution to the wider Arab-Israeli conflict.
"She says that she is determined, and the president of the United States is determined to have a breakthrough during the remaining year of this administration," Aboul Gheit said. "We have to believe them. I cannot doubt them."
Rice warned that there is hard work ahead but hoped that a specific date for the meeting, which has not been scheduled, and invitations to attend could be announced soon.
lenges in getting the Israelis and Palestinians to agree to a joint declaration to present for the conference, smiled and nodded as Aboul Gheit spoke.
Rice, who is facing daunting chal
Two senior U.S. officials said later, however, they did not expect a date or invitation list to be issued this week.
Rice has since been urging pushing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to push ahead in their talks on the document and on Monday declared that now is the time for the creation of a Palestinian state, which she said is a key U.S. interest.