19 killed in Iraq attacks as Ramadan begins

BAGHDAD – Nineteen people were killed in Iraq yesterday in a spate of rebel attacks, including three car bombs in Baghdad, security officials said, in a bloody start to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Six people, including four policemen, were killed in a car bomb attack on a police patrol near the capital’s main morgue in the centre of the city. Six others were wounded in the attack, including two policemen.Three civilian drivers were killed when insurgents launched a combined attack of small-arms fire and a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army convoy near Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, an official said.In another incident, a civilian was killed and 14 people wounded, including four policemen, when a car bomb blew up in central Baghdad’s Karrada district, also targeting a police patrol.One police vehicle was destroyed in the blast, which took place just across the street from a church.In the Sunni neighbourhood of Adhamiyah, a car bomb targeting an army patrol killed two soldiers and wounded two other people, including a soldier.A suicide car bomber in the far northern city of Tall Afar rammed an Iraqi army observation post in the centre of town and detonated his vehicle, killing two soldiers and wounding two.The well-fortified post withstood the attack, minimising casualties, according to police.A week ago, a suicide bomber killed over 20 people in the same town.In the mixed Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a scene of relentless violence, five people were killed in a series of attacks.Among the dead was a police officer shot near his home in the provincial capital of Baquba.On Saturday, 31 people, mostly women and children, were killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Sadr City, as Sunnis began the fasting month of Ramadan.Shiites will begin observing the holy month from today.Also Saturday, Colonel Samuel Jihan of the police serious crimes investigation bureau was shot dead in Tikrit when gunmen ambushed him while he was on his way to visit friends.In recent years Iraq has seen a spike in violence during Ramadan.Two leading US newspapers said Sunday that a new classified US intelligence report has concluded that the war in Iraq has helped spawn a new wave of Islamic radicalism and made the overall terrorist threat worse.The findings contained in the National Intelligence Estimate appear to be in stark contradiction with recent claims by US President George W.Bush and other top administration officials that victory in Iraq is the key to winning the global war on terror.Nampa-AFPSix others were wounded in the attack, including two policemen.Three civilian drivers were killed when insurgents launched a combined attack of small-arms fire and a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army convoy near Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, an official said.In another incident, a civilian was killed and 14 people wounded, including four policemen, when a car bomb blew up in central Baghdad’s Karrada district, also targeting a police patrol.One police vehicle was destroyed in the blast, which took place just across the street from a church.In the Sunni neighbourhood of Adhamiyah, a car bomb targeting an army patrol killed two soldiers and wounded two other people, including a soldier.A suicide car bomber in the far northern city of Tall Afar rammed an Iraqi army observation post in the centre of town and detonated his vehicle, killing two soldiers and wounding two.The well-fortified post withstood the attack, minimising casualties, according to police.A week ago, a suicide bomber killed over 20 people in the same town.In the mixed Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a scene of relentless violence, five people were killed in a series of attacks.Among the dead was a police officer shot near his home in the provincial capital of Baquba.On Saturday, 31 people, mostly women and children, were killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Sadr City, as Sunnis began the fasting month of Ramadan.Shiites will begin observing the holy month from today.Also Saturday, Colonel Samuel Jihan of the police serious crimes investigation bureau was shot dead in Tikrit when gunmen ambushed him while he was on his way to visit friends.In recent years Iraq has seen a spike in violence during Ramadan.Two leading US newspapers said Sunday that a new classified US intelligence report has concluded that the war in Iraq has helped spawn a new wave of Islamic radicalism and made the overall terrorist threat worse.The findings contained in the National Intelligence Estimate appear to be in stark contradiction with recent claims by US President George W.Bush and other top administration officials that victory in Iraq is the key to winning the global war on terror.Nampa-AFP