Home>News Center>World
             
     

    Iraqi oil official gunned down in Baghdad
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2005-05-19 20:35

    BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed an Oil Ministry official Thursday, the latest assassination in escalating violence that threatens to push Iraq toward civil war.

    Hameed was shot outside his home as he left for work, a police official said.

    Mainly Sunni insurgents have stepped up attacks on officials and security forces since a Shi'ite-led government was announced last month. They have killed more than 400 people in a bloody campaign that has challenged government promises of stability.

    In violence Thursday, a university professor was shot dead, one Iraqi soldier was killed and nine injured in a suicide bombing and four other Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped in a separate incident.

    The surge of attacks have raised concerns the country could erupt into a full-scale civil war.

    Some of those killed were Shi'ite and Sunni clerics. Recent discoveries of people killed execution-style and then dumped at various sites have stirred sectarian passions. Most victims were Shi'ites but some were Sunnis.

    A funeral service was held for Muhammad al-Allaq, a Shi'ite cleric who was gunned down Wednesday, relatives said.

    Top Sunni Muslim cleric Harith al-Dhari publicly accused the Badr Brigades, the militia of the main Shi'ite political party, of assassinating Sunni preachers.

    It was the first time Dhari publicly accused the armed wing of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which won January's elections in a Shi'ite coalition.

    Dhari's Muslim Clerics Association called for a three-day closure of Sunni mosques in protest at the killings and he warned that Sunnis would not keep silent.

    The top Badr official denied the accusations.

    SHOOTING, BODIES FOUND

    Suicide bombings, roadside bombs and other attacks have also killed many civilians, frustrating millions of Iraqis who braved violence to vote in elections in January, hoping they would be rewarded with better security.

    Three gunmen killed a university professor near his house in the capital Thursday, police said.

    Four more bodies were found Thursday, this time just south of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Police said they had been shot dead.

    Iraqi security forces are still not capable of fighting the insurgents on their own, putting pressure on the government to pursue a political approach to ending the carnage.

    Shi'ites and Kurds, the new powers after elections sidelined Sunnis dominant under Saddam for decades, have promised to give Sunnis a bigger role in government and drafting a constitution expected by August.

    They are banking on that strategy to defuse the Sunni-led insurgency.

    So far, many Shi'ites have heeded calls by moderate clerics to show restraint in the face of suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed thousands. But an explosion of violence since the elections has raised questions over their patience.

    In the northern city of Mosul, hospital officials said two people were killed when a bomb exploded prematurely in the car they were driving on a suicide mission. In the town of Baiji, four soldiers from the Iraqi army were kidnapped at dawn.

    A suicide bomber killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded nine in Baghdad Thursday, police said. One civilian was wounded.

    And north of Baghdad, police said a roadside bomb killed two policemen in Baquba, and a police officer and his father were shot dead traveling in their car in Samarra.

    Most of the attacks have been blamed on Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who called for suicide attacks against U.S. forces to be stepped up in an audiotape message attributed to him Wednesday.

    He also defended the killing of "innocent Muslims" in suicide bombings, saying it was legitimate in jihad (holy war).

    Zarqawi's followers issued a new warning against Iraqi forces Thursday in leaflets in Baiji, residents said.

    "Leave your jobs within four hours otherwise you will get yourself killed," said the leaflets hung on mosques.



     
      Today's Top News     Top World News
     

    China slams US over textiles, denies yuan manipulation

     

       
     

    Premier Wen: China to sustain rapid growth

     

       
     

    Coal mine blast traps 51 miners underground

     

       
     

    China urges Koizumi to avoid war shrine visit

     

       
     

    Koreas can't break nuclear impasse

     

       
     

    US expands curbs on clothing from China

     

       
      Rafsanjani urges U.S. to begin thaw in ties
       
      NATO 'very worried' about Uzbekistan violence
       
      Iraqi oil official gunned down in Baghdad
       
      Iraqi terror group plans more bombings
       
      Rival Koreas meet again; status uncertain
       
      Iran won't reverse nuclear plan
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Related Stories  
       
    Iraqi terror group plans more bombings
       
    Alleged Al-Zarqawi tape denounces Shiites
       
    Soldier gets six months in Abu Ghraib case
       
    Iranian minister makes historic Iraq trip
       
    Iranian FM arrives in Iraq for landmark visit
       
    At least 24 Iraqis killed; 50 bodies found
       
    Iraqi police find bodies of 38 men
      News Talk  
      Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
    Advertisement
             
    国产高清中文欧美| 亚洲中文字幕无码不卡电影| 天堂…中文在线最新版在线| 亚洲AV无码一区二区三区DV| 18禁网站免费无遮挡无码中文 | 最近中文字幕免费mv在线视频| AA区一区二区三无码精片| 一本色道无码道在线观看| 最新中文字幕在线观看| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区AV| 人妻丰满AV无码久久不卡| 久久无码AV中文出轨人妻| 区三区激情福利综合中文字幕在线一区 | 国产精品午夜福利在线无码| 亚洲无码在线播放| 无码AV动漫精品一区二区免费| 中文字幕亚洲欧美专区| 无码的免费不卡毛片视频| AAA级久久久精品无码区| 亚洲精品无码精品mV在线观看| 中文字幕一区日韩在线视频| 亚洲日本欧美日韩中文字幕| 亚洲中文字幕第一页在线| 亚洲精品无码专区久久同性男| 蜜臀AV无码国产精品色午夜麻豆 | 亚洲人成影院在线无码观看| 国产精品无码无卡无需播放器| AV成人午夜无码一区二区| 东京热无码av一区二区| 波多野结AV衣东京热无码专区| 久久久久无码精品国产不卡| 无码137片内射在线影院| 免费无码中文字幕A级毛片| 国产成人午夜无码电影在线观看| 国产做无码视频在线观看浪潮 | 免费a级毛片无码免费视频| A∨变态另类天堂无码专区| 四虎国产精品永久在线无码| 亚洲AV无码一区二三区| 天堂а√在线中文在线最新版| 亚洲天堂中文字幕|