Bomber Kills 9 At Iraq President's HQ
Suicide Blast Outside Talabani's Party Office; 7 Dead In Karbala Clashes
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The party headquarters of the Iraqi president was left in a wreck of torched cars, in Mosul, Iraq, Aug. 15, 2006, after a suicide bomber attack. The bomber blew up his truck in the car park of the headquarters of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's party, killing at least five civilians and four Kurdish security personnel, officials say. (AP)
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An Iraqi police patrol vehicle drives past a crater on a bridge, caused by a Monday night car bomb, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Aug. 15, 2006. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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U.S. soldiers inspect the damage, after Sunday night explosions in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday Aug. 14, 2006. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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Iraqis salvage their belongings the day after explosions destroyed buildings in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday Aug. 14, 2006. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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- Cause Of Baghdad Blasts Disputed
The suicide bomber blew up his bomb-rigged truck in the car park of the headquarters of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in the northern city of Mosul.
At least five civilians and four Kurdish security personnel, known as Peshmergas, were killed, said police Col. Abdul-Kareem Ahmed al-Jibouri. He said 41 people were injured in the blast, which damaged the one-story office building and set 17 cars on fire.
Mosul is 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
In the southern city of Karbala, Shiite gunmen and security forces exchanged gunfire for several hours Tuesday near one of Iraq's holiest shrines containing the mausoleum of Hussein, a revered figure in Shiite history. The fighting was sparked by a raid by Iraqi soldiers on the cleric's offices.
In other developments:
The fighting in the relatively peaceful Shiite-dominated south presents a new headache for the unity government of Iraq and U.S. troops trying to control a Sunni insurgency and sectarian fighting between Shiites and Sunnis.
The violence, which has occurred mostly in the predominantly Sunni provinces in and around Baghdad, has surged since a Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite mosque. The sectarian violence is claiming more than 1,000 lives every month around Baghdad alone.
Karbala Health Directorate official said three security force members and four gunmen were killed, while 17 people were wounded in the Karbala fighting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The fighting spread over at least five neighborhoods of Karbala around the office of Mahmoud al-Hassani, a cleric who came into prominence after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The fiercely anti-American al-Hassani is believed to have several thousand followers. His whereabouts have remained unknown since his office was raided in 2004 by Polish soldiers, part of the U.S.-led coalition force.
But his followers were out in force Tuesday, wielding AK-47 rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades that they fired at army patrols before running away. Soldiers fired at groups of gunmen roaming the streets.
The trouble started after Iraqi soldiers raided al-Hassani's office before dawn, apparently in search of weapons. Ahmed al-Ghazali, an aide to the cleric, said the raid resulted because al-Hassani's supporters taking over a field behind the building for security reasons.
The raid set off the gun battles, which raged for several hours despite an indefinite curfew in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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