Home>News Center>World
             
     

    String of car bombs kills 60 in Iraq
    (AP)
    Updated: 2005-09-30 07:36

    Three suicide attackers exploded near-simultaneous car bombs in the heart of a bustling, mainly Shiite town Thursday, killing at least 60 people and wounding 70 amid a new surge of violence before an Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's constitution.


    An US helicopter hovers as plumes of black smoke rise from the Green Zone,the heavily guarded area where foreign embassies and Iraq's parliament are based, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Sept. 27 2005.  [AP]

    Apparently aimed at killing a large number of Shiite civilians, the string of bombings started just before sunset when the first blast ripped through an open-air market crowded with Iraqis buying vegetables. The next bomb exploded at a bank just yards away, followed by a third on a nearby street of clothing shops.

    Sunni insurgents have vowed to wreck the referendum, whose passage is crucial to prospects for starting a withdrawal of American troops. Al-Qaida in Iraq has declared "all-out war" on the Shiite majority that dominates Iraq's government, and moderate Sunni Arab leaders called on their community to reject the constitution, saying it will fragment Iraq and leave them weak compared to Shiites and Kurds.

    The U.S. ambassador has been struggling to negotiate changes to the charter in hopes of winning Sunni Arab support. Frustrating his efforts, Sunnis said U.S. troops raided the homes of two Sunni leaders on Thursday, fueling their sense of alienation in the political process.

    Also Thursday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of five U.S. soldiers Wednesday in a roadside bombing during combat in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a hotbed of Iraq's insurgency.

    It was the deadliest single attack against American troops in more than a month, bringing to 1,934 the number of U.S. service members who have died since Iraq's war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. More than 140 people, including 13 U.S. service members, have been killed in the past four days.

    Until Thursday, however, Balad — 50 miles north of Baghdad and the site of a major U.S. military air base — had seen few major attacks.

    The blasts left streets strewn with body parts and wounded as emergency vehicles rushed in. The attackers detonated their explosives-packed cars within minutes of each other, starting at 6:45 p.m. at the Masraf Street market, then at nearby Bint al-Hassan Street, a major commercial avenue, said police Lt. Ghafil Hassan.

    Most of the 60 casualties were civilians, though among the 70 wounded were the police chief and four officers, said Dr. Khaled al-Azawi of Balad Hospital. Hassan said the toll could reach 75 dead and 100 wounded, saying there were still victims at the scene.

    In Washington, the top American commander in Iraq said Thursday that the process of withdrawing U.S. troops depends greatly on the results of the referendum and elections set to follow if the constitution passes.

    "The next 75 days are going to be critical," Gen. George Casey told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

    But Sunni Arab success in rejecting the constitution would set back the political process for months, prolonging Iraq's political stability.

    Sunnis make up only 20 percent of the population, but they could defeat the charter because of a loophole in voting rules: If two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "no," the referendum fails — even if an overall majority approves. There are four provinces where Sunnis could potentially cross that margin.

    U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has been shuttling between all sides, trying to secure last-minute changes to the draft, which parliament approved Sept. 18 after tough negotiations.

    He has met rejections from Shiites and Kurds on some proposed changes, and some Sunni officials said the proposals were still not enough.

    According to Sunni officials, U.S. forces raided the Baghdad homes of Adnan al-Dulaimi and Harith al-Obeidi, senior officials in the Conference for Iraq's People, a prominent Sunni political group.

    Al-Dulaimi, 73, said soldiers in tanks and Humvees broke into his home at 2:30 a.m., put him and his family in a guest room and searched the house, arresting four of his bodyguards and confiscating weapons he said were licensed.

    "It was if they were attacking a castle, not the home of a normal person who advises Iraq's interim government and has called for reconciliation and renounced sectarianism," said al-Dulaimi, an adviser to Iraq's president on religious affairs.

    Al-Dulaimi said the Americans were acting on a false tip that his bodyguards had links to insurgents. The U.S. military said it conducted several raids in neighborhoods where the leaders live but could not identify the homes involved.

    Sunni leaders complain the constitution does not emphasize Iraq's unity and Arab character. They say its federal system — which would allow Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north to form mini-states — will leave Sunnis in a weak middle region, cheated of oil resources.

    Khalilzad met with the top Kurdish leaders, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, on Wednesday and conveyed three changes sought by Sunnis, said Fuad Massoum, a Kurdish member of the constitutional commission.

    Massoum said the changes concern: confirming the use of Arabic along with Kurdish in the northern Kurdistan region; adding a clause stating that "Iraq is a single nation, and the constitution guarantees its unity"; and allowing parliament to alter the constitution by a two-thirds vote rather than requiring a referendum.

    Khalilzad presented the same proposals earlier Wednesday to Shiite leaders, said Humam Hamoudi, the Shiite head of the constitutional committee.

    Both Kurds and Shiites rejected the third proposal, Massoum and Hamoudi said. The Kurds want the second proposal rephrased to "federal nation," though they accept the first provision, Massoum said.

    Even so, one of the main Sunni Arab parties, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that acceptance of all three changes would not be enough for some Sunni leaders.

    Party official Nasser al-Ani said his side put forward 12 proposals, including changes in the federal system that Shiites and Kurds have insisted cannot be altered.

    "If the American ambassador revealed only three of our 12 demands, this would not be satisfactory," he said.

    A U.S. official confirmed that Khalilzad was seeking "tweaks" in about a half-dozen points in the draft "to maximize the public support." He said agreement was closest on the use of Arabic in Kurdistan and on "Iraq's identity as a nation state" but would not discuss the other points.

    The changes "will absolutely help, because the Sunni Arabs' main concerns have been the unity of Iraq," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussion.



    Australia fending off bird flu
    Massive Indonesian vaccination drive against polio resumes
    Hurricane Rita aftermath in the United States
     
      Today's Top News     Top World News
     

    No US-China textile deal; more talks in October

     

       
     

    American DVD piracy convict deported home

     

       
     

    US, China clash over UN N. Korea statement

     

       
     

    Arctic may have no ice at all in 55 years

     

       
     

    String of car bombs kills 60 in Iraq

     

       
     

    Chinese vice premier to visit North Korea

     

       
      Roberts takes oath as US chief justice
       
      String of car bombs kills 60 in Iraq
       
      Hundreds evacuate as US wildfire threatens
       
      Jobless claims related to Katrina climb
       
      Belgium seeks arrest of Chad's ex-leader
       
      $5.2b project to save Venice to proceed
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      News Talk  
      Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
    Advertisement
             
    最近免费中文字幕大全高清大全1| 久久国产精品无码一区二区三区| 精品无码久久久久国产| AV无码人妻中文字幕| 国产成A人亚洲精V品无码性色| 无码人妻丰满熟妇区96| 精品久久久久久中文字幕大豆网| 无码国内精品久久人妻| 亚洲伊人久久综合中文成人网 | 18禁超污无遮挡无码免费网站| 国产 欧美 亚洲 中文字幕| 国产a级理论片无码老男人| 亚洲日韩国产AV无码无码精品| а√天堂中文官网8| 国产精品中文久久久久久久 | 中文亚洲AV片在线观看不卡| 99无码熟妇丰满人妻啪啪| 亚洲成a人片在线观看无码专区| 最近中文字幕视频在线资源| 中文字幕无码播放免费| 免费无码婬片aaa直播表情| 国产精品无码av在线播放| 亚洲精品无码高潮喷水在线| 欧美中文字幕在线| 日韩精品一区二区三区中文| 中文字幕乱码中文乱码51精品| 无码8090精品久久一区| 狠狠精品干练久久久无码中文字幕| 免费无码中文字幕A级毛片| 日韩午夜福利无码专区a| 无码超乳爆乳中文字幕久久| 亚洲成A人片在线观看无码不卡| 狠狠躁天天躁中文字幕无码 | 中文字幕无码不卡免费视频| 一区二区三区在线观看中文字幕| 日本乱人伦中文字幕网站| 区三区激情福利综合中文字幕在线一区| 久久丝袜精品中文字幕| 免费看成人AA片无码视频羞羞网 | 亚洲综合无码AV一区二区| 永久免费AV无码网站国产|