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Thursday, May 26, 2005

At least 10 Iraqis died in violence nationwide, including a child. The statement by the Interior Ministry came hours after an Internet statement claimed Iraq's most feared terror group had appointed a fill-in for purportedly wounded leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

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The statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified, was quickly denied in another Web site claim disputing Abu Hafs al-Gerni had taken over from al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born head of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group. The conflicting statements follow days of rumors al-Zarqawi was wounded and possibly killed or moved outside Iraq for treatment.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said his office believes al-Zarqawi was wounded, but said he did not know how seriously or if he was dead. It was not clear on what evidence Jabr was basing his statement.

He and Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi also announced what they said was an operation aimed at shifting the government position from defensive to offensive.

"Next week,we will have a strong and safe cordon around Baghdad like a bracelet that surrounds the hand. We will not allow anyone to cross this cordon," al-Duleimi said.

Meanwhile on Thursday, a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol at about 7:45 a.m. (0345GMT) in northern Baghdad as people headed to work, said police Lt. Haider Hussein.

Hussein and medic Naseer Hashim of Baghdad's Nour Hospital said the car bomb targeted a police patrol, killing three officers; two other Iraqis were killed and 17 were wounded, they said.

Separately, gunmen in a speeding car fired automatic weapons at a group of people walking to work in Baghdad's southern Risala neighborhood, killing four Iraqis, including a translator working for the American military, said police Lt. Hussam Noori.

Iraqi security forces and Iraqis working with coalition forces have been repeatedly attacked by insurgents determined to bring down the country's U.S.-backed government.

More than 1,000 U.S. troops continued a sweep through Haditha, 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad in the troubled Anbar province, for insurgents responsible for multiple attacks against coalition troops.

U.S. forces have killed at least 10 suspected militants while one Marine died from wounds sustained while entering Haditha during Operation New Market's first few hours on Wednesday, the military announced.

A child was killed when a mortar landed on his family home on Wednesday, the military added.

The offensive, the second on a road to Damascus in less than a month, are aimed at uprooting insurgents who have killed more than 620 people since a new Iraqi government was announced April 28.

Another Iraqi child was killed, this time Thursday, during clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents in northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Syrian border.

Tal Afar has been the scene of clashes since two explosions late Monday killed at least 20 people. Iraqi security forces closed access to the town and residents have said U.S. forces backed by helicopters have since been clashing with insurgents.

"When Multinational Forces engaged the terrorists, the terrorists used Iraqi children as shields," the military said in a statement. "One child was killed as a result of their action."

The statement did not specify who killed the child or how the child died.

Salih Haider Qado, director of Tal Afar hospital, said two children aged one-month and one-year-old were killed during fighting on Wednesday, while four civilians were wounded.

It was unclear if the two incidents were related.

Brig. Saed Ahmed, of Mosul police in northern Iraq, said six militants were also killed, 20 injured and 26 suspected insurgents arrested when militants clashed with U.S. and Iraqi troops on Wednesday afternoon.

Tal Afar was the scene of a nearly two-week siege late last year by U.S.-led forces targeting foreign fighters holed up in the city, which is astride a smuggling route to Syria.

The latest statements concerning al-Zarqawi follow recent rumors and claims he had been wounded, possibly by a bullet penetrating his lung, may have been taken out of Iraq for medical care, or had possibly died.

Jabr, the interior minister, told reporters he has information that al-Zarqawi was, indeed, wounded, but that he wasn't sure how seriously.

"We are not sure whether he is dead or not, but we are sure that he is injured," Jabr said.

The authenticity of either of the Internet postings could not be verified, though the second - denying any deputy had been appointed - was posted in the name of the person who usually handles the group's Web site claims and announcements.

Wednesday's first statement identified Abu Hafs al-Gerni as "deputy of the holy warriors," saying he was "known for carrying out the hardest operations, and our sheik would choose him and his group for the tough operations."

But another Web site statement signed in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq's so-called spokesman, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, denied the militant group had appointed a deputy to fill in for al-Zarqawi.

"We deny all that has been said about appointing the so-called Abu Hafs or anyone by any other name," said the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified.

Middle East experts on Islamic militants told The Associated Press that the man said to be the new deputy leader is a Saudi who has been al-Zarqawi's military adviser and is the emir, or prince - as senior commanders are called - of the military committee of al-Qaida in Iraq.

© 2005 The Associated Press

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