The Hindu : International : Deputy Interior Minister injured, five killed

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Sunday, May 23, 2004

International

International

Deputy Interior Minister injured, five killed

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, MAY 22. At least five persons were killed and several injured in a suspected suicide car bomb attack that appeared to target a senior Shia member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council.

The blast took place in Baghdad outside the home of Abdul-Jabbar Youssef al-Sheikhli, one of the three Deputy Interior Ministers in the Council.

Mr. Al Sheikhli received head and chest injuries but was said to be in stable condition. Some members of Mr. Sheikhli's family were also reported injured a number of his bodyguards were killed.

Witnesses said five bodies covered in blankets were laid out in the garden of the two-storey house.

More than an hour after the blast, Iraqi police were still picking up body parts and putting them in plastic bags for burial. Five cars were burnt out, two of them upside down.

Thick black smoke could be seen funnelling into the air, and half a dozen cars were on fire after the bomb detonated just before 8 a.m. local time.

This is the second attack on a Shia member belonging to the Islamic Daawa party.

Ezzedine Salim, head of the Council, was assassinated on Monday in a suicide car bomb attack when he was on his way to work, outside Baghdad's high security "Green zone" that the U.S. forces control.

Analysts point out that the Shia component of the Governing Council has found itself under attack during this week. Apart from the two strikes on top officials of the Islamic Daawa party, Ahmed Chalabi, a prominent Shia leader has been forced to break ties with the U.S. occupation authorities after Iraqi police backed by American forces raided his residence and party office on Thursday.

Deal in Karbala

AP reports:

The U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to the rebel cleric, Moqtada Al Sadr, have agreed to withdraw from the embattled city of Karbala, Mr. Al Sadr's office said on Saturday. Witnesses said there were no combatants in the city after heavy fighting on the previous day.

Officials in the Karbala office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric, confirmed that a deal was reached for the adversaries to stop fighting.

The representatives of Mr. Al Sadr and the Ayatollah declined to give their names.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military command in Baghdad.

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