World

Insurgents Hit Baghdad Police

August 24, 2005 / 3:47 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Insurgents attacked Iraqi police patrols in western Baghdad on Wednesday with at least three car bombs and small arms fire, killing at least five people and wounding 19, police said.

Two of the car bombs were piloted by suicide drivers who struck near the western neighborhood of Khadra, police Capt. Taleb Thamer said. He said five people, including three policemen, were killed and 19 people, including three policemen, were wounded.

Following the explosions, dozens of gunmen attacked police with small arms and rocket propelled grenades, and fighting was ongoing in mid-afternoon, police and witnesses said.

Police sealed off streets to the area.

At least one of the dead and many of the wounded were rushed to nearby Yarmouk Hospital, where there were chaotic scenes as families rushed in to check on their relatives.

One woman dressed in a full black veil screamed as a body covered with a sheet was rolled into the hospital on a gurney.

"All I remember is that I was sitting in my shop and the shattered glass fell on me," said a man who suffered a minor head injury and his shirt turned red by blood as he received treatment.

In other developments:

Deputy justice minister Awshoo Ibrahim escaped a second assassination attempt in two days when gunmen fired at his convoy, killing four of his bodyguards and wounding five, police said.

Saddam Hussein has fired his legal defense team except for an Iraqi attorney who is the only person authorized to represent him, a court said Wednesday. A statement by the Iraqi Special Tribunal said Saddam was questioned Monday about news reports that he had fired all his lawyers except for Iraqi attorney Khalil al-Dulaimi. "Mr. Saddam confirmed that he canceled all the power of attorneys and fired them," the statement said. "At present, his only authorized defense counsel is Mr. Khalil."

The Polish military said the Polish-led multinational force stationed in Iraq has handed over to the Iraqis one of its bases — the "Zulu" base in the Wasit province. The base will be now under the control of Iraqi army's 8th division headed by Gen. Ottoman Farhood.

Iraq's new constitution must be for all its people and should meet the aspirations of Sunni Arabs, President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday.

The new head of Iraq's biggest Sunni Muslim government organization accused "some elements" in the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry of random arrests to keep Sunni Arabs from registering to vote in the constitutional referendum in October.

Speaking after a meeting with parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani, Talabani said the country's stability cannot be achieved without consensus among Iraq's Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

"The constitution will be to serve everybody and not only one community of the Iraqi society," Talabani said.

Sunni members of the constitutional drafting committee oppose several parts of the document, which was handed to parliament Monday. Their opposition forced parliament to delay a vote for at least three days to give Shiite and Kurdish negotiators time to win over the Sunnis.

The Sunni objections include federalism, references to Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led Baath Party and the description of Iraq as an Islamic — but not Arab — country.

The leader of the largest Shiite party has called for a federal region in Shiite-dominated areas of central and southern Iraq. The Kurds demand that Iraq be transformed into a federal state as a way to protect their self-rule in three northern provinces.

"We will stand, with all our wisdom and strength, against anyone who wants to divide Iraq and fulfill this grand plot against the country," a major Sunni figure, Adnan al-Dulaimi, told reporters. "We are determined to safeguard the unity of Iraq. We call on all Iraqis to work on keeping the unity of the country."

"We reject federalism in the center and south because it would stand only on a sectarian basis," he added. "All Iraqis should stand against any one who want to deepen sectarianism in Iraq. Iraq will stay united with Baghdad as the capital."

Parliament speaker al-Hassani, a Sunni Arab, said discussions over the draft will continue until Thursday, adding that Sunnis are not against the principle of federalism but "they prefer that its approval and adoption come on stages."

Talabani, who is Kurdish, said there is unanimity among all groups that the constitution should exclude Baath Party members who committed crimes against the people from government positions and politics.

Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai, head of the government's Sunni Endowments, alleged an arrest campaign was under way in the Madain, a predominantly Sunni Arab community about 12 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Al-Samarrai said the campaign was to keep them from meeting the Sept. 1 deadline to register to vote in the planned Oct. 15 constitution referendum.

"Those elements and militia are loyal to sides from outside the country and they are trying hinder the Sunnis' march toward taking part in the referendum," al-Samarrai told reporters. He demanded the ministry release the Sunnis immediately.

The Interior Ministry denied the allegations.

Many Sunni Arabs boycotted the Jan. 30 election, enabling Shiites and Kurds to win an overwhelming majority in the 275-member National Assembly. But now Sunni clerics are urging their followers to register and take part in the October referendum to reject a constitution if the final version is unfavorable to their interests.

Al-Samarrai, head of the organization that administers Sunni mosques and shrines, said that if the constitution appears to follow "our Islamic principles, then we will say `Yes."'

About 400 Sunni Arabs and Shiite followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rallied Wednesday in the town of Hawija southwest of Kirkuk to protest the draft constitution and plans for federalism.

Many Arabs in the Hawija area oppose federalism because they consider it a tactic by the Kurds to expand the borders of their self-ruled region in the north.