[NYTr] Iraq: Rockets Strike US Embassy Compound
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The Washington Post - Jan 26, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012500539_pf.html
Rockets Strike U.S. Embassy Compound
At Least 24 Killed in Car Bombings in Baghdad
Premier Is Challenged on Security Plan
By Ernesto Londoqo
Washington Post Staff Writer
BAGHDAD, Jan. 25 -- Two car bombs detonated in a busy commercial area
of central Baghdad on Thursday afternoon, killing at least 24 people
and injuring dozens more, Iraqi officials said.
The bombs were placed in Karrada, a predominantly Shiite Muslim sector
of the city, and wounded at least 60 people when detonated, according
to a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry. A set of car bombs
killed at least 79 people in a Shiite market in central Baghdad on
Monday.
The Karrada explosions occurred shortly after at least two rockets
struck the U.S. Embassy compound in the fortified Green Zone. The
rockets injured six people, one of them seriously, the U.S. military
said in a statement.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said the rounds landed inside the
compound shortly after 4 p.m.
"The damage was minor, and the embassy is functioning normally," Fintor
said. "It wasn't a densely populated area." He said that no U.S.
citizens were injured and that none of the injuries was
life-threatening.
Also Thursday, a soldier from the U.S.-led coalition was killed
northwest of Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle,
the military said in a statement. The soldier's identity was withheld
pending notification of next of kin.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked lawmakers Thursday to
embrace his security plan for the capital, which he said would target
militants aggressively regardless of sect.
"Some people are saying that it targets the Shiites, and others say
that it targets Sunnis," Maliki said. "While I say that it targets
everyone."
Maliki offered few details of the initiative. While acknowledging the
support of U.S. forces, he said the security plan is being driven by
the Iraqi government. "This is a 100 percent Iraqi plan and under Iraqi
command," he said, adding that the American military's role is "just to
provide backup."
Reporters who have accompanied U.S. and Iraqi forces on joint missions
in recent months have described American forces as taking control of
the operations. Several U.S. soldiers have told reporters they don't
trust the ability, competence or commitment of their Iraqi counterparts.
Maliki, a Shiite, has faced questions at home and abroad about his
ability and willingness to enforce the law uniformly amid unrelenting
sectarian violence in a country with a weak criminal justice system. He
urged lawmakers during his speech to help him keep sectarian tensions
from hindering the security plan.
But Thursday's session showed the extent to which sectarian tensions
influence the political process. Abdul Nasser al-Janabi, a Sunni Muslim
legislator who belongs to a bloc that wants U.S. troops to leave and
has criticized Maliki for favoring Shiites, lashed out at the prime
minister and criticized his security plan.
An exasperated Maliki appeared to threaten Janabi: "This brother will
trust the prime ministry when I bring your file forward and hold you
responsible." He did not elaborate.
Numerous other violent acts were reported in the capital and elsewhere
Thursday.
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle slammed into a market in central
Baghdad, killing eight people and injuring 18, according to a spokesman
at the Interior Ministry. At least seven people were killed by
improvised explosive devices elsewhere in the city.
[Special correspondents Waleed Saffar and Saad al-Izzi contributed to
this report.]
) 2007 The Washington Post Company
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