Iraqi suicide car bombs kill 12

2004-06-08 21:04

Mosul - Two suicide car bombs killed 12 people, including a United States soldier, and wounded 68 people on Tuesday in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland, while coalition forces rescued three Italian and one Polish hostage from a den of insurgents.

Tuesday's suicide bombings were carried out as the United Nations security council prepared to recognise Iraq's first sovereign government since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.

In the latest unrest, a suicide car bomb and a roadside bomb exploded simultaneously in the northern city of Mosul, killing 10 people and wounding 37, according to hospitals.

The fate of three suicide bombers who helped carry out the targeted attack was unclear.

"A car bomb and a roadside bomb exploded as Major-General Sammi al-Haj Issa's nine-car convoy passed by," said police brigadier-general Adnan Obeidi.

Issa, who is chief of the city's security committee, was slightly wounded by the blasts as the convoy, which included members of the provincial council, passed the city hall, said major-general Tareq Mohammed Ali.

Wounded 31 people

The US military said an orange-and-white taxi exploded at 09:15, with three suicide bombers in the car.

An hour earlier, a suicide car bomb exploded as Iraqis queued for work at the US military base in Baquba, 60km northeast of Baghdad.

The explosion killed one US soldier and one Iraqi and wounded 31 other people, said military and medical sources. Ten of the wounded were US troops.

A red Mitsubishi sped into the cement barriers outside the US base, used by the 1st Infantry Division, and burst into flames, Mahmud said.

At least six soldiers, including two from Poland, three from Slovakia and one from Latvia were killed in a blast Tuesday during a demining operation south of Baghdad, military authorities and diplomats said.

The imminent UN resolution has fuelled tensions among Iraq's Shiite majority and Kurds, who are feuding about whether the text will acknowledge the Kurdish minority's right to self-rule in northern Iraq.

The three Italian security guards, kidnapped in early April, and the Polish contractor, abducted last week, were freed south of Baghdad, without any exchange of fire, said the top US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez.

17 foreigners still missing

"All hostages were at the same location and we did detain some individuals at the site."

Sanchez said all four hostages were in good health after the first successful rescue operation since a frenzy of kidnapping broke out in early April when Sunni and Shiite rebels were in full-scale revolt.

Anglican cleric Canon Andrew White later said about 17 foreigners were still missing in Iraq.

The coalition had previously said about 40 people of 12 different nationalities had been taken hostage in the first two weeks of April.

- AFP