Ten die in Iraq blasts as pre-election tensions rise
in BAGHDAD TWO car bombs killed 10civilians yesterday in a blast at a petrol station in central Iraq and another near a two-car convoy carrying foreigners through Baghdad, police said.
The US military also said yesterday they have received information confirming the death of a top aide to the leader of al- Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
A suicide bomber killed six when he drove his pickup into a crowded station in Samarra, 95km north of Baghdad, said police Lt Col Mahmoud Mohammed. Twelve people were injured he added.
In central Baghdad, a parked car bomb detonated when two armored cars drove by, killing four people. No one in the convoy was injured.
In a statement, the US command said that Bilal Mahmud Awad Shebah was killed in a raid on October 14 in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 115km west of Baghdad.
“Detained members of alQaeda claim Abu Ubaydah . . . was one of Zarqawi’s most trusted associates,” the statement said.
In the first signs of trouble to come, four people have been shot in the last two days while trying to hang campaign posters for the December 15 parliamentary elections, police said. Two of the incidents took place in Mosul, 360km northwest of Baghdad, while two more were reported in the capital.
Meanwhile, in Baghdad on Friday, more than 200 members of the Batta tribe gathered at a mosque to demand the resignation of the defence minister following the slaying Wednesday of Khadim Sarhid al- Hemaiyem, three of his sons and his son- in- law. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry denied that government forces were involved.
A statement from the littleknown Partisans of the Sunni claimed it carried out the car bombing Thursday in the mostly Shiite city of Hillah in retaliation for the slaying of al- Hemaiyem and other attacks against Sunni Arabs.
Eleven were killed and 17 wounded in the Hillah attack.
Meanwhile, the Saddam Hussein trial resumes tomorrow following a five-week recess. The trial could raise sectarian tensions ahead of the December elections.