Iraq counts its dead following 3-day bloody bombing frenzy

BAGHDAD – Iraq was counting its dead yesterday after a bloody three-day bombing frenzy, including a devastating attack near a mosque that was one of the deadliest since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Against the backdrop of violence, international donors were meeting in Jordan on rebuilding Iraq. More than 126 people were killed in the attacks, including 83 who lost their lives when a suicide bomber blew up a fuel tanker on Saturday near a Shi’ite mosque in the small town of Al-Musayyib, south of the capital.Attacks continued yesterday, with two policemen killed by armed men who opened fire on their convoy in Baghdad, adding to the grim death toll among members of the security forces who are a key target of insurgents.The rampant violence is threatening the rebuilding of the country as it moves towards a key phase in its political transition, the drafting of its first post-Saddam constitution.Saturday’s attack in Musayyib, the single deadliest strike since the formation of the new government in May, set off a firestorm that torched 20 cars and set shops and buildings ablaze.Many victims were charred beyond recognition.On Wednesday, 32 Iraqi children were killed in a suicide attack in Baghdad.Saddam himself has now been formally charged in connection with a 1982 massacre of Shi’ites and a trial date will be set soon, Iraqi judge Raed Juhi said Sunday.This follows the conclusion of the investigation into the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the village of Dujail, northeast of Baghdad, after Saddam had survived an assassination bid there, Juhi said.Saddam, his step-brother Barzan Ibrahim Al-Hassan, former vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan, former top judge Awad Badar Al-Bender and others will be tried in the case, he added.Other investigations, including those of alleged genocide against the country’s Kurdish and Shi’ite communities, were continuing, he said, adding that investigators had already examined more than two million documents and interviewed 7 000 witnesses.Saddam, who was overthrown two years ago, has been in US detention near Baghdad airport since December 2003, as have most of his lieutenants.On the banks of the Dead Sea in Jordan, officials from Iraq and international donor countries began two days of closed-door meetings to review the pace of reconstruction in the violence-ravaged country, at a key phase in its political transition.- Nampa-AFPMore than 126 people were killed in the attacks, including 83 who lost their lives when a suicide bomber blew up a fuel tanker on Saturday near a Shi’ite mosque in the small town of Al-Musayyib, south of the capital.Attacks continued yesterday, with two policemen killed by armed men who opened fire on their convoy in Baghdad, adding to the grim death toll among members of the security forces who are a key target of insurgents.The rampant violence is threatening the rebuilding of the country as it moves towards a key phase in its political transition, the drafting of its first post-Saddam constitution.Saturday’s attack in Musayyib, the single deadliest strike since the formation of the new government in May, set off a firestorm that torched 20 cars and set shops and buildings ablaze.Many victims were charred beyond recognition.On Wednesday, 32 Iraqi children were killed in a suicide attack in Baghdad.Saddam himself has now been formally charged in connection with a 1982 massacre of Shi’ites and a trial date will be set soon, Iraqi judge Raed Juhi said Sunday.This follows the conclusion of the investigation into the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the village of Dujail, northeast of Baghdad, after Saddam had survived an assassination bid there, Juhi said.Saddam, his step-brother Barzan Ibrahim Al-Hassan, former vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan, former top judge Awad Badar Al-Bender and others will be tried in the case, he added.Other investigations, including those of alleged genocide against the country’s Kurdish and Shi’ite communities, were continuing, he said, adding that investigators had already examined more than two million documents and interviewed 7 000 witnesses.Saddam, who was overthrown two years ago, has been in US detention near Baghdad airport since December 2003, as have most of his lieutenants.On the banks of the Dead Sea in Jordan, officials from Iraq and international donor countries began two days of closed-door meetings to review the pace of reconstruction in the violence-ravaged country, at a key phase in its political transition.- Nampa-AFP