Bombings Kill 31 More In Baghdad
Brutal insurgent bombings that killed nearly 200 people in Baghdad over the past two days were a "predictable spike in violence" tied to the coming referendum on Iraq's new constitution, the U.S. military said Thursday.
As suicide bombers kept up their campaign for a second day, at least 31 people were killed — 23 of them Iraqi police and Interior Ministry commandos, now targets of choice for the Sunni-dominated insurgency.
At least seven of 570 people wounded in Wednesday's attacks have died, hospital officials said, raising the toll to at least 167 in the worst day of killing to hit the capital since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
"These spikes of violence are predictable around certain critical events that highlight the progress of democracy," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the chief American military spokesman.
"Remember, democracy equals failure for the insurgency. So there has to be heightened awareness now as we work our way toward the referendum" on Oct. 15, he said. "That's power, that's movement toward democracy."
In other developments:
Al Qaeda in Iraq, headed by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the bombing campaign launched after an Iraqi-U.S. force of 8,500 stormed the northern city of Tal Afar, an insurgent bastion, this week.
Al-Zarqawi purportedly declared "all-out war" on Shiite Muslims, Iraqi troops and the government in what the United States has called a desperate propaganda campaign to derail the political process.
Leaders of the Sunni Arab minority in Iraq have vowed to defeat the constitution, which they claim favors the Shiite majority and the Kurds.
Lynch said the joint force killed 145 insurgents and captured 361 in the second operation in a year to rid Tal Afar of militants, including foreign fighters crossing from Syria.
Now, he said, U.S. forces along with the Iraqis were fighting to regain control of the Syrian border, near the western insurgent stronghold of Qaim well to the south of Tal Afar.
"The focus is ... to restore control of the border and in this particular case the border with Syria," he said. "We believe that the terrorists and foreign fighters are entering Iraq across the Syrian border, down the Euphrates River Valley into Baghdad."
Recent violence only served to deepen the misery in Baghdad, where streets were noticeably quieter Thursday — deserted in the southern Dora district where the latest bombings were concentrated.
U.S. and Iraqi forces using loudspeakers roamed the district warning residents to stay indoors because five more suicide car bombers were believed to be in the area.
Wednesday's spasm of violence terrorized the capital for more than nine hours. The first attack, at 6:30 a.m., was the deadliest: a suicide car blast which tore through the predominantly Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Kazimiyah.
That blast hit one of Baghdad's busiest markets where laborers gather every day looking for work, reports CBS News Correspondent Lara Logan. Witnesses say the suicide bomber drove up in a pickup truck and pretended he had jobs to offer. As the eager men surged around the vehicle he set off his bomb. One injured man said it was literally raining blood.
Some of the dead were taken for burial Thursday to the huge Shiite cemetery in the holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad.
"We appeal to the government to punish those criminals immediately," said Ali Hamza, a victim's father, in tears.
As al Qaeda in Iraq intensified its bombing and propaganda campaign, the government hit back with threats.
"We will not retreat or be silent. There will be no room for you (insurgents) in all of Iraq. We will chase you wherever you go," Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni, told reporters.
Iraqi authorities have taken pains in recent days to convince the population that the insurgency is overwhelmingly foreign, claiming, for example, that they arrested a Palestinian and a Libyan in the Kazimiyah attack. The bomber was a Syrian, the government said without detailing evidence.
The Americans have quietly contradicted that government line, saying the insurgency is only about 20 percent foreign.
The massive bombings took place with both Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in the United States.
"Today, Iraq is facing one of the most brutal campaigns of terror at the hands of the forces of darkness," Talabani said Thursday, addressing the U.N. General Assembly with an appeal for international help.
"We are in desperate need of your experience, investment and your moral support for the effort to fight terrorism."
With bombs continuing to exploded in Baghdad, U.S. forces and insurgents reportedly clashed in Ramadi, a militant stronghold on the road to neighboring Jordan. A Web posting purportedly from Al Qaeda in Iraq said its forces engaged the American military in the predominantly Sunni city.
Police Capt. Nasir Alusi said U.S. and Iraqi troops in Ramadi came under mortar attack as militants roamed the streets. Shops were closed and streets empty. Automatic gunfire echoed through the area, he said.
The Americans did not confirm the engagement, but Lynch said U.S. operations were continuing in Anbar province, where Ramadi is the capital.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press obtained the text of minor, final changes to Iraq's draft constitution. The United Nations is to print the draft in Baghdad and insure its distribution before the referendum, but the world body said it was awaiting final approval. There were conflicting reports on when Iraq's parliament would sign off on the document.
Two articles in the draft were changed, one was dropped entirely and one was added. Of those, the main change was a new clause noting that Iraq was a founding member of the Arab League, an addition Sunni Arabs sought to underline the country's links with the Arab world.
The dropped passage gave the constitution precedence over international human rights agreements, which the United States asked to be removed.