THURSDAY, APRIL 21. 2005
WORLD NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5A
WORLD
50 bodies pulled from Tigris
BY ALEXANDRA ZAVIS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's interim president announced yesterday the recovery of more than 50 bodies from the Tigris River, saying the grisly discovery was proof of claims that dozens were abducted from an area south of the capital despite a fruitless search by Iraqi forces.
Northwest of Baghdad, witnesses said 19 bullet-riddled bodies were found slumped against a bloodstained wall in a soccer stadium in Haditha.
The discoveries came as insurgents unleashed a string of attacks that killed at least nine Iraqis and wounded 21. They included four suicide car bombs — one of which targeted interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's convoy — and a roadside explosion in the capital, police said.
Allawi escaped unharmed, they said.
Another blast sent smoke billowing over Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the Iraqi government and foreign embassies. It was not clear what caused that explosion.
Interim President Jalal Talabani did not say when or where the 50 bodies were pulled from the river, but he said all had been identified as hostages.
The country's most feared terror group, al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for two of the Baghdad attacks in a series of statements posted on a militant Web site. It was not possible to verify the claim.
"Terrorists committed crimes there. It is not true to say there were no hostages. There were. They were killed, and they threw the bodies into the Tigris." Talabani told reporters. "We have the full names of
those who were killed and those criminals who committed these crimes."
Shiite leaders and government officials claimed last week that Sunni militants had abducted as many as 100 Shiites from the Madain area, 14 miles southeast of Baghdad. But when Iraqi forces moved into the town of 1,000 families, they found no captives, and residents said they had seen no evidence anyone had been seized.
Madain is at the tip of a Sunni militant stronghold known as the "Triangle of Death," where there have been numerous retaliatory kidnappings. Police and health officials said victims are sometimes killed and dumped in the river.
As summer approaches and temperatures start to rise, bodies have been floating to the surface, said Dr. Falah Al-Permani of the Swera district health
department. He said some 50 bodies have been recovered over the past three weeks. But it was not clear whether they were the bodies referred to by Talabani.
In Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, taxi drivers Rauf Salih and Ousama Halim said they heard gunshots and rushed to the stadium. There they found 19 bloodied bodies lined up against a wall, the two men and an Iraqi reporter said. All appeared to have been gunned down.
Residents said they believed the victims — all men in civilian clothes — were soldiers abducted by insurgents as they headed home for a holiday marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
The reporter did not see any military identification documents on the bodies, and it was not possible to verify the claim.
One killed in Iran runway mishap
▼ WORLD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran — A Boeing 707 carrying 157 passengers skid...ed off a runway at Tehran's airport and caught fire yesterday, killing a child and injuring several other people, state-run television reported.
The station had initially reported 50 dead in the crash of the Iranian Saha Airlines plane, then reported scores killed before backing off both claims.
Television reports said the landing gear of the jetliner failed to open and the plane caught fire after making a hard landing, its nose and wing slamming into the runway.
State TV quoted the airline's managing director, identified only by his last name Nikokar, saving a child was killed.
"Only one person has been
killed and a number of passengers have been injured," television quoted Nikokar as saying.
Reports said part of the plane's fuselage plunged into a river but passengers were able to jump out of the craft.
The injured, many of whom suffered broken bones, have been taken to Tehran hospitals for treatment, the television said.
The broadcaster said the plane landed at 10:15 p.m. and the fire erupted minutes later. It said the aircraft carried 157 people, including eight children, and had flown in from the tourist island of Kish in the Persian Gulf.
Saha Airline Services is owned by the Iranian military but also operates civilian flights. It was not known whether military personnel were aboard yesterday's flight.
A Saha Airlines Boeing 707 plane lies where it stopped after skidding off the runway and into a river carrying 157 passengers at Tehran's Mehrabad airport late last night. One child was killed in the accident according to state-run television and several passengers were reported injured. Television reports said the landing gear of the Saha Airlines Boeing 707 failed to open and the plane caught fire after making a hard landing.
Hasan Sarbakhshian/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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