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Car Bomb Targets Iraqi Justice Minister

Posted on: Saturday, 17 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb struck the Iraqi justice minister's as it passed through western Baghdad on Saturday, the latest in a wave of assassination attempts on government officials. Malik Dohan al-Hassan was unhurt but five bodyguards were killed.

The blast hit the tail end of al-Hassan's convoy at an intersection 500 yards from his home. At nearly the same time, a car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad. One person was killed and 25 were wounded, hospital officials said.

Loae Hassan, one of al-Hassan's bodyguards, said five members of the justice minister's security detail were killed in the convoy blast, which destroyed three vehicles. Among the dead was the minister's nephew.

"A car was parking on the opposite direction of the road, when the driver, God curse him, saw us and exploded himself," said Hassan.

But the justice minister was not hurt, officials said.

"My understanding is that the minister is fine," said Col. Michael Formica, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade.

Insurgents have targeted officials in the interim Iraqi government for assassination because of their decision to work with American forces. Guerillas see the officials as collaborators.

Earlier this week, militants killed the governor of Nineveh province and a senior official in the Industry Ministry. Guerillas also attacked a convoy of Foreign Ministry officials, killing one and wounding two others.

In the other blast, prospective recruits were waiting to get into the headquarters, said Dr. Dawoud Jassim Taie, director of the Mahmudiyah Hospital. Six of the wounded were National Guard troops while the rest were prospective recruits, he said.

National Guard troops became suspicious of a parked car near a checkpoint and opened fire, said one officer, who declined to be named. The bomb went off about 30 feet away from the checkpoint.

Insurgents have repeatedly targeted police and security officials in Iraq, because they are seen as being collaborators with the Americans.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned recently that terrorists would step up their attacks on the interim government and security officials. He also announced the formation of a new security agency to combat terrorism and vowed to annihilate guerrillas seeking to derail efforts to bring peace here.

Insurgents have also kidnapped dozens of foreigners in hopes of pressuring countries taking part in the U.S.-led coalition to withdraw. The strategy also appears intended to further isolate the United States, which already provides the bulk of the 160,000-member multinational force in Iraq.

The Philippines withdrew 11 more soldiers from Iraq on Friday to meet the demands of kidnappers holding a truck driver hostage, ignoring warnings from the United States that the move sends the wrong signal to terrorists.

The decision by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to pull out peacekeepers outraged U.S. allies in the war on terror, who fear that bargaining for the life of Angelo dela Cruz will set a dangerous precedent.

The 51-member Filipino contingent had been scaled back to 43 in recent days. A further 11 Filipinos - the head of the humanitarian mission and 10 other soldiers - drove over the border into Kuwait on Friday in three vehicles and were seen off by a delegation of U.S. troops, said Lt. Col. Hashem Abdullah, an Iraqi officer at the border town of Safwan.

Despite the ferocity and number of attacks in recent days, most coalition countries said this week they are standing firm.

El Salvador's legislature approved an extension late Thursday of its 380 troops in Iraq. Italy, whose contingent of 3,000 troops is the third-largest in Iraq, has no plans to pull out. Neither does Poland, with 2,500 soldiers; Romania, with 730 infantry and military police; Denmark, with 500 troops; Hungary, with 300; nor the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with about 100 each.

Bulgaria, which has 480 troops in Iraq, was working desperately to win the freedom of a captive Bulgarian truck driver after another driver reportedly was killed this week. It reiterated its determination Friday to remain in Iraq, despite calls by lawmakers and other groups to pull out.

Arroyo had faced overwhelming pressure from the public at home, where many have family members working abroad. More than 7 million Filipinos work overseas.

In agreeing to pull out peacekeepers, Arroyo also decided not to allow any more Filipino workers come to Iraq. But that does not affect the thousands of Filipinos already at U.S. bases performing menial tasks such as serving food and cleaning toilets to free military personnel for crucial combat duty.

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Associated Press writer Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

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