Suicide bomber kills 16 Iraqis
BAGHDAD -- A suicide car bomber plowed into an Iraqi military checkpoint northwest of Baghdad yesterday, killing 16 Iraqis and wounding about 30, as US and Iraqi forces sealed off roads south of the capital in a campaign to curb the insurgency before January's elections.
There were hopeful signs, meanwhile, that talks may produce a cease-fire agreement with a Shi'ite militia headed by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, though residents of his stronghold Sadr City reported explosions in the area late yesterday. A negotiator also said there was progress in talks to end the military standoff in Fallujah, the country's toughest insurgent stronghold and suspected base of Iraq's most feared terrorist group.
The car bomb attack occurred about 11:15 a.m. at an Iraqi National Guard encampment near Anah, 160 miles northwest of Baghdad on the main highway to Syria. According to the US military, the camp came under fire, and a few minutes later a vehicle sped to a nearby National Guard checkpoint and exploded.
Dr. Waleed Jawad Qamar of the Anah health clinic said his facility recorded 13 dead and 25 injured. Another hospital in nearby Hadithah reported three dead and five injured. US officials said no Americans were killed or wounded, but they had no report of Iraqi casualties.
Car bombs, some piloted by suicide drivers and others detonated remotely, have become an increasing threat to multinational and Iraqi forces because insurgents find them safer than other forms of attack that can draw devastating American return fire. In September, 29 Iraqi and multinational troops were killed by car bombs, according to the US command, which did not break down the figure by nationality.
US and Iraqi forces are trying to restore enough control of this country so that national elections can be held in January. President Bush and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi have insisted the elections, considered a vital step toward building Iraqi democracy, must take place throughout the country, despite warnings by some US military officials that balloting may not be possible in certain areas.
At the United Nations, two organizations representing more than 60,000 staff members of the world body urged Secretary General Kofi Annan to pull all UN staff out of Iraq because of the ''unprecedented" risk to their safety and security. In a joint letter to Annan, the staff organizations cited a dramatic escalation in attacks in Iraq and said the United Nations regrettably ''has become a direct target, one that is particularly prone to attacks by ruthless extremist terrorist factions."
More than 3,000 US and Iraqi forces launched a major operation Tuesday to retake control of insurgent-held parts of Babil Province south of Baghdad. The operation in Babil, notorious for kidnappings and ambushes and home to ancient Babylon, followed last week's ouster of insurgent forces from Samarra, 60 miles north of the capital.
As part of the Babil operation, American troops and Iraqi National Guardsmen yesterday blocked the roads leading to Qasir in the Youssifiyah area, about 12 miles south of Baghdad. Residents said two explosions, a car bomb and a roadside bomb, hit two bridges in the area yesterday, an apparent attempt by insurgents to bar the movement of Iraqi and US forces.
As military operations increase, Allawi's government is accelerating moves to peacefully restore control of insurgent strongholds. Iraqi mediators said the government and followers of Sadr were near agreement on a deal to end weeks of clashes between American soldiers and the cleric's militia in the Sadr City district of the capital.
Allawi told reporters there was no cease-fire so far but that a committee was being formed to discuss what he termed an initiative to end the conflict.
Talks were held yesterday in Baghdad between the government and representatives from Fallujah, including Khaled Hammoud al-Jumeili, who said the meeting produced agreement on several points.
