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At Least 18 Iraqis Killed in Attacks

Posted on: Thursday, 18 May 2006, 06:00 CDT

By SAMEER N. YACOUB

BAGHDAD, Iraq - As Iraqis awaited the final formation of their new national unity government, at least 18 people were killed and a police chief narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in attacks in the country's two largest cities Thursday.

Bombers also destroyed a small Sunni shrine near the volatile city of Baqouba in an apparent reprisal attack less than a week after similar bombings heavily damaged six Shiite shrines in a mixed area where tensions are running high. No one was injured in any of the attacks.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki said that he will unveil his new Cabinet to parliament this weekend, the first sign that the country may finally end weeks of wrangling over the formation of a government - a process that began in December with the election of a new parliament.

There are hopes that sharing power successfully among Iraq's majority Shiites and its minorities of Sunni Arabs and Kurds will help heal the sectarian rift underlying the relentless wave of violence that has swept Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago and open the way for the 130,000 American troops to begin returning home.

But talks were still under way on choices to head the critical ministries of interior and defense, which control the police and army respectively. Without an eventual agreement, there can be no resolution of the basic conflict between Shiites and Sunnis.

An al-Maliki spokesman said Wednesday that he would present the Cabinet at a parliament session Saturday, with or without a decision on those two posts.

"The government is almost completed. Only the interior and defense ministries remain," said the spokesman, Salah Abdul-Razaq. "If an agreement is not reached, the announcement will be made without these posts."

He did not elaborate, but his remarks suggested that al-Maliki, a Shiite, would appoint himself to head the two ministries until all parties agreed on the two appointees. Saturday would be two days ahead of a 30-day deadline for al-Maliki to present a Cabinet, and it was unlikely that he would present a deal for parliament to vote down.

Parliament must approve each proposed minister by an absolute majority of all 275 members.

Meanwhile, the violence in Iraq continued.

Gunmen stopped a minibus in southwestern Baghdad and killed all eight Iraqis aboard - a group of car mechanics and their driver. A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in northern Baghdad's Waziriya neighborhood, killing three police officers and five bystanders. Another nine people were wounded, police said.

In Basra, Iraq's second largest city, police chief Gen. Hassan Swadi narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb hit his convoy as he was heading to work on Thursday morning, said police spokesman Karim al-Zeidi. The blast damaged one vehicle but caused no casualties, al-Zeidi said.

Elsewhere, 15 Taekwondo athletes were kidnapped in western Iraq while driving to a training camp in neighboring Jordan, and coalition forces killed three insurgents and wounded 10 in fighting in and around the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. command said.

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and Olympic sport popular in many parts of the world.

A U.S. sailor also died Wednesday in fighting with insurgents in Anbar province, an area of the country where many Sunni Arab-led insurgent groups are based and there is frequent fighting between them and coalition forces. Sailors often team up with U.S. Army and Marine forces in Iraq, sometimes serving as medics or in other support roles.

The death raised to at least 2,451 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The kidnapping of the athletes occurred Wednesday on a road between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, one of the most violent areas of Iraq. They were members of a private sports club that hopes to one day send athletes to the Olympics.

"We are negotiating with the kidnappers who are demanding $100,000 in ransom. We are doing our best to ensure their release," said Jamal Abdel-Karim, an official with the Iraqi Olympic Committee, which oversees professional and amateur sports teams.

In Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, gunmen killed a math teacher and former senior Baath party member as he was leaving his house, police spokesman Rahman Mishawi said.

In northern Kirkuk, police reported that two people had been killed in a drive-by shooting. They also said they found the beheaded body of woman labor activist affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic party - one of two that administers the Kurdish regional government.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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