Bomb Targets Iraqi Gov't Workers
Authorities say a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint guarding several government ministries as Iraqi employees arrived at work Monday morning, killing at least seven policemen and three workers.
The blast, which occurred at about 7:50 a.m., also wounded 10 policemen and eight government employees, according to police Capt. Nabil Abdel Qadir.
The employees were just arriving for work at Iraq's oil ministry, irrigation ministry and national Police Academy, including some on a private bus that appeared to be damaged by the blast, Qadir said. In Baghdad, the government work day generally begins at 8 a.m.
Employees at the three government buildings affected by the blast often are searched at the checkpoint before they are allowed to walk to their offices about 100 yards away.
The blast occurred at about 7:50 a.m., at the large checkpoint near Iraq's oil ministry, irrigation ministry and Police Academy, said police Lt. Col. Fuad Asaad.
Employees were just arriving at work, including some on a private bus, Asaad said.
The work day for government workers generally begins at 8 a.m. Employees often are searched at this checkpoint before they are allowed to walk to the complex where their offices are located.
In other recent developments:
Sunday, gunmen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ambushed an Iraqi patrol in an eastern Baghdad slum, and nearby U.S. forces joined the 90-minute battle, killing as many as eight of the attackers in the first significant violence in the neighborhood in nearly a year.
al-Sadr's militia, the al-Mahdi Army, was a repeated problem for American forces until a truce was negotiated about a year ago that allowed some U.S. troops to pull out of Sadr City to join the November assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, west of the capital.
Before the truce, al-Sadr's forces had led unsuccessful but bloody uprisings against coalition forces in Kut and the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, all south of Baghdad.
With a referendum on Iraq's new constitution less than three weeks away, violence in the poor Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad could deepen opposition among al-Sadr's supporters who are bucking mainstream Shiite support for the constitution.
The potential for a coalition of sorts among disaffected Sunnis and radical Shiites was reflected in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi on Sunday as a small group of Sunnis and Shiites marched through town calling for the defeat of the constitution.
Shiite unity has been seen as critical for passage of the basic law, which minority Sunni Muslims by and large oppose.
A statement read to reporters by an official with al-Sadr's office accused U.S. forces of trying to draw them into a battle "aimed at destroying Iraqi towns, particularly those in pro-Sadr areas and .... to prevent al-Sadr followers from voting" in the referendum.
In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair gave no ground in the continuing dispute with Iraqi officials in the southern oil hub of Basra, saying Sunday an arrest warrant against two British soldiers has no legal standing. "We will do whatever is necessary to protect our troops in any situation," Blair told the BBC.
Basra authorities issued the warrants after the two soldiers, working undercover, were arrested Sept. 19, prompting rioting when British armor surrounded the prison where the soldiers were detained. That night the armored vehicles crashed through the prison wall and freed the men. British authorities said they were in the hands of militiamen loyal to al-Sadr, not the police.