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Friday, Apr 15, 2005

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International

Spurt in violence in Iraq

Atul Aneja

Suicide bombers target convoy of police vehicles in Baghdad

MANAMA: At least 18 persons were killed and 30 wounded in a double suicide car bombing in Baghdad, marking a sharp spurt in violence in Iraq.

The bombers appear to have targeted a convoy of police vehicles that had been caught up in a traffic jam. Both the explosions took place nearly simultaneously, but at least one of the cars blew up before it could come near the target. Consequently, many civilians including children were killed. As the violence in Iraq begins to spiral, the northern oil city of Kirkuk has become a flashpoint.

Three policemen and a civilian were killed on Thursday when vehicle-borne gunmen shot at a police station in the city.

Heightened tension

A day earlier, nine Iraqi security guards, three of whom worked for the Northern Oil Company, died when a bomb exploded as they tried to dismantle what appeared to be a decoy explosive device.

Kirkuk has been especially tense after ethnic Kurds began to reassert their claims over the oil city recently.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have also been siding with U.S. forces opposed by the Sunnis — a move that has heightened tensions between the two communities.

Meanwhile, an American citizen, who has been kidnapped, appeared in a video aired by the Al Jazeera satellite television. The hostage, believed to be Jeffrey Ake, a subcontractor, appealed for a dialogue between the U.S. Government and the Iraqi guerillas.

"I ask my family and friends to demonstrate and speak directly to the American Government to open a dialogue with the Iraqi resistance," he said in the video.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has said that the Government was working "very, very hard" to secure his release, but ruled out negotiations with his captors.

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