Three Iraqis, Two Americans Die in Attacks

01/23/2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide car bomber killed at least three Iraqis Monday near the Green Zone housing the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government, and the U.S. military said two American airmen died in a roadside bomb blast north of the capital.

Iraqi officials named a new judge to take charge temporarily of the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants in the 1982 massacre of more than 140 Shiites in Dujail. The trial was scheduled to resume Tuesday.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities conducted joint operations in an intensive effort to free kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll, who was abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad. Carroll’s father pleaded for her life in an interview Sunday night on CNN.

The suicide bomber targeted a police patrol near the Iranian Embassy, which is close to the checkpoint into the Green Zone known as the “Assassins’ Gate,” said the top Baghdad police officer, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Razaq al-Samarie.


Two civilians and a policeman were killed and six Iraqis were wounded, including five policemen, al-Samarie said.

The two U.S. airmen were killed and a third was wounded in an attack on a convoy Sunday near Taji, where a U.S. air base is located 12 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.

The deaths brought the number of U.S. military personnel killed since the war in Iraq began in March 2003 to at least 2,226, according to an Associated Press count.

Another car bomb exploded on a highway about 20 miles south of Baghdad, killing one Iraqi civilian and wounding four others, said police Capt. Hussein Shamil. Drive-by gunmen also shot dead a doctor who worked at the Iraqi Health Ministry as he drove to work in Baghdad’s Saydiyah neighborhood, said police Capt. Qassim Hussein.

A judicial official announced the appointment of a chief judge to temporarily take charge of the Iraqi High Tribunal set up to hear cases against Saddam and other former regime figures.


Raid Juhi, the chief investigator who prepared evidence for the Dujail case, named Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, to replace chief judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, who submitted a letter of resignation on Jan. 15 amid complaints of government criticism in the process.

Abdel-Rahman’s appointment came as a surprise. Amin’s deputy in the trial, Saeed al-Hammash, was expected to replace the judge in line with the Iraqi law.

Amin’s resignation was the latest complication in the case which has already seen two defense lawyers assassinated and a judge step down.

Carroll’s father pleaded with his daughter’s captors to release the 28-year-old freelance journalist.

“She is not your enemy,” Jim Carroll said in a CNN interview broadcast Sunday night.


“Jill started to tell your story, so please, let her finish it,” he said in a statement. “Through the media, if necessary, advise her family and me of how we might initiate a dialogue that will lead to her release.”

He said his daughter is “honest, sincere and of good heart” and has great respect for the Iraqi people. “When you release her alive, she will tell your story with that same conviction,” he added.

Carroll has not been heard of since her kidnappers released a videotape that was first aired on Jan. 17. It was accompanied by a threat that she would be killed if U.S. forces did not release all Iraqi women in military custody.

Iraqi Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim Ali said six of the nine women were expected to be freed later this week as part of a routine release planned before the kidnappers’ ultimatum. But he believed the U.S. military was wary about the releases being seen as part of a swap for Carroll.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the efforts to free Carroll, said American authorities refuse to negotiate with hostage-takers.


“But we are using the full resources available from the U.S. law enforcement and diplomatic side, plus the cooperation of the Iraqi government, to secure Jill’s freedom,” the official said.

Jim Carroll said he was “very encouraged” by the support for his daughter and his family’s plight.

“We’re getting by,” he said. “It is very difficult, as you might imagine. But, again, the amount of support from family, friends, and total strangers around the world sending us messages of support and all of their prayers has been very encouraging.”

Another hostage, Jordanian Embassy driver Mahmoud Suleiman Saidat, appeared in footage aired on Al-Arabiya TV pleading for his life. His captors also extended the deadline to kill Saidat, who was kidnapped on Dec. 20.

The kidnappers said they were giving neighboring Jordan more time to cut ties with the Iraqi government. They also want Jordan to free a female would-be suicide bomber whose explosives belt failed to go off during Nov. 9 attacks that killed 60 people at three hotels in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility.

More than 250 foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq, either by insurgents or gangs, since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam. At least 39 have been killed.