World

With Gov't Plan Comes Attack Surge

April 30, 2005 / 5:37 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq on Friday that killed at least 50 people, including three U.S. soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq's newly formed government. An audio tape purportedly by one of America's most-wanted insurgents, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, warned U.S. President George W. Bush there is more bloodshed to come.

The well-coordinated attacks, which also wounded 114 Iraqis, came as interim authorities try to curb the insurgency by drawing in all of Iraq's main religious and ethnic groups into an uncertain new government that takes office Tuesday.

Despite Friday's bloody toll, the U.S. military maintained that attacks are diminishing overall in Iraq.

"We see these attacks as another desperate attempt by the terrorists to discredit the newly formed Iraqi government" and "drive a wedge between the Iraqi people and their right to choose their own destiny," the military said in a statement.

Gen. Wafiq al-Samarie, Iraq's presidential adviser for security affairs, urged Iraqis to stand up to insurgents.

In other recent developments:

Italy and the United States said Friday the investigation into the killing of an Italian agent by U.S. forces in Iraq had ended but they failed to fully agree on the circumstances surrounding the shooting. The two governments issued a joint statement into the March 4 death of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, who was killed after he had secured the release of an Italian hostage. U.S. soldiers mistakenly fired on their vehicle as it approached a U.S. checkpoint near Baghdad's airport. In the statement, the two countries said the investigation had been concluded but they couldn't reach any "shared final conclusions."

An audio tape purportedly by one of America's most-wanted insurgents, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, was posted Friday on the Internet threatening more attacks against U.S. forces and warning against collaborating with Americans. The authenticity of the 18-minute tape could not immediately be confirmed. The voice on the tape directly addressed U.S. President George W. Bush. "You, Bush, we will not rest until we avenge our dignity," the voice said. "We will not rest while your army is here as long as there is a pulse in our veins."

International forensic experts this week examined a mass grave site in Samawa, on the Euphrates River, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad, collecting evidence to prosecute Saddam and his top lieutenants for the mass killings of ethnic Kurds and Shiites during his more than 30 years in power. Many of those buried in the 18 trenches were believed to be Kurds killed in 1987 and 1988 during the Anfal campaign, said Gregg Nivala, from the U.S. government's Regime Crimes Liaison Office.

One Thursday night, an American soldier was killed and four were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Hawija, a city about 150 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. As of Thursday, April 28, 2005, at least 1,572 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi border guard patrol killed one soldier and wounded two west of Basra, said Iraqi Lt. Col. Abdul Hadi al-Najar.

A 10-year-old child was seriously wounded when a mortar round slammed into a house in Dora, said police Capt. Falah al-Mihamadawi.

A U.S. soldier was killed and two others from the 1st Corps Support Command were wounded Friday in a car bombing about 20 miles north of the capital, the U.S. military said.

A car bomb attack near Diyarah also killed two U.S. soldiers assigned to the 155th Brigade Combat Team, II Marine Expeditionary Force, the military said. The statement did not provide additional details.

U.S. military spokesman Greg Kaufman said earlier that seven other U.S. soldiers had suffered minor injuries in other attacks around Baghdad.

Ambulances sped to hospitals and policemen crouched in fear after the explosions in Baghdad, which set fire and caused heavy damage to the special forces headquarters.

Four more car bombs exploded in Madain, an area 12 miles southeast of the capital, U.S. military and Iraqi police said. The dramatic, coordinated assault came less than two weeks after Iraqi forces raided the region to clear it of insurgents, in an operation praised by the U.S. military as evidence of the progress made by Iraq in assuring its own security.

Insurgents detonated a roadside bomb, then sent two suicide car bombers from two different directions into police special forces as they arrived to investigate, said police Lt. Jassim al-Maliky. A third car bomb targeted another police patrol and a fourth detonated near the city hospital, according to Iraqi police, who said the attacks killed 13 people and injured 20.

Many of the wounded arrived covered in blood at the emergency section of Madain's al-Kindy hospital. Hospital staff ran to ambulances to assist as a crowd gathered outside.

A suicide attacker also blew up an ambulance packed with explosives near a police special forces patrol in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing four Iraqis, including two policemen, said police Brig. Gen. Adel Molan. Twenty Iraqis were injured, he said.

Also in Baqouba, a Sunni cleric believed to be a senior member of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist group blew himself up as Iraqi security forces surrounded the city's al-Aqsa mosque, Ali Fadhil of the joint operation center said.

"Imam Abdul Razaq Rashid Hamid ... came out from the mosque with two hand grenades as our forces were surrounding the mosque," Fadhil said. "He threw one of the grenads at the forces while blowing himself with the second one."

Ten others inside the mosque were detained for questioning, he said.

The violence came after Iraq's National Assembly approved an interim Cabinet lineup on Thursday, laying the groundwork for the first elected government in Iraq's history to take office.

The new Cabinet held its first meeting Thursday night to discuss a handover between Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and his successor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. The incoming premier's office said the handover would take place on Tuesday.

Nearly a third of the 275-member National Assembly stayed away from Thursday's vote, underscoring the myriad ethnic and religious divisions that have hampered the formation of a government since landmark parliamentary elections on Jan. 30.