Gunmen Kill 14 Travelers on Iraq Highway
Pastor Dale Morgan
Gunmen Kill 14 Travelers on Iraq Highway*
Tuesday May 1, 2007 4:16 PM
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - Gunmen ambushed travelers on a highway leading from
Baghdad to Shiite areas to the south on Tuesday, killing 14 people,
while mortar rounds slammed into an area near the Iraqi prime minister's
office in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in the capital, a government
official said.
The attacks against the travelers began at 6:45 a.m., when gunmen took
aim at a minibus, killing 11 Shiites and wounding three, as it passed
near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad in a predominantly Sunni
area dubbed the ``Triangle of Death'' because of frequent insurgent
violence.
About 45 minutes later, a group of gunmen standing on the highway opened
fire at civilian cars, killing three people and wounding five near
Latifiyah and about 6 miles north of the site of the initial attack.
The attacks occurred on the main highway linking the capital to
predominantly Shiite southern provinces. Farmers often use the road to
transport goods and Shiite pilgrims use it for treks to the holy cities
of Najaf and Karbala, but they have to go through the dangerous areas
closer to Baghdad.
No casualties were reported in the mortar attack - the second strike
against the sprawling complex in about 12 hours - but it underscored
heightened concerns about security in an area that is home to the U.S.
and British embassies and thousands of American troops, as well as the
Iraqi government headquarters.
The chief government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, meanwhile, said Iraqi
officials have received reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu
Ayyub al-Masri, was killed by Sunni tribesmen but the information has
not been confirmed.
The U.S. military said it was still looking into the reports amid a
series of conflicting statements by other Iraqi officials on the
subject. Iraqi officials have released similar reports in the past, only
to acknowledge later they were inaccurate.
The first round of explosions in the Green Zone occurred about at 10
p.m. Monday and another round struck at about 10 a.m. Tuesday.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said no military
personnel were injured in Monday's strike. He said the explosions on
Tuesday were still under investigation, although ``indications appear it
was indirect fire,'' the term used by the military for rocket or mortar
attacks.
An Iraqi government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because
of the sensitivity in discussing security issues, said six mortar rounds
fell around the offices of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday and
the closest came with 100 yards of the compound. The explosions late
Monday also were directed toward that part of the Green Zone, also known
as the international zone, the official said.
Insurgents and militia fighters routinely fire rockets and mortars into
the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies, the Iraqi
government headquarters and thousands of American troops on the west
bank of the Tigris River.
The attacks seldom cause casualties or damage because they are poorly
aimed and the 4-square-mile zone contains much open space. But concerns
have been heightened after two Americans - a contractor and a soldier -
were killed in late March in a rocket attack on the area and two suicide
vests were found unexploded less than a week after that.
The adequacy of security in the vast area in central Baghdad more
recently came into question in the aftermath of the April 12 suicide
bombing in the Iraqi parliament building's dining hall. One lawmaker was
killed in the blast, which was claimed by an al-Qaida-led amalgam of
Sunni insurgents.
The Pentagon also said Monday that documents captured in recent fighting
in Baghdad included two identity cards for access to the Green Zone and
an ID card for access to the U.S. Embassy.
On the diplomatic front, a senior Iranian envoy, Ali Larijani, met with
Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in the holy
city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad.
Larijani flew to Baghdad on Sunday for talks with Iraqi leaders ahead of
this week's regional meetings in Egypt - the highest-ranking Iranian
official to visit Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in
2003.
Al-Maliki is hoping to shore up support for his embattled
Shiite-dominated government at the conference in Sharm el-Sheik.
Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi's
office said Monday that he had discussed threats by Sunni ministers to
leave the Shiite-dominated government during a weekend telephone
conversation with President Bush.
The White House confirmed that Bush called al-Hashemi on Sunday to
discuss ``the current situation in Iraq'' and ``the importance of
additional steps in the reconciliation process.''
In a statement on his Web site, al-Hashemi said the call was made after
his Iraqi Accordance Front, which holds 44 seats in the 275-member
parliament, threatened to quit al-Maliki's Cabinet.
Bush and al-Hashemi ``spoke frankly about the stumbling political
process and ways of getting out of the current dilemma,'' the vice
president's statement said. ``It seems that the (Accordance) Front has
lost hope for a change in the current situation.''
In Washington, presidential spokesman Tony Snow said Bush ``deals with
leaders throughout the Iraqi government,'' including al-Hashemi, who
visited the White House last year. Snow did not discuss the substance of
the conversation.
The Front's departure from the Cabinet could plunge Iraq into a major
political crisis because it would mean the end of the unity government
of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Bushra Juhi contributed
to this report.