Car bombs kill 11 as Rumsfeld meets troops

TWO car bombs shook the capital in quick succession yesterday, killing at least 11 people, including an American soldier, and wounding 16.

A Marine was killed on Saturday in action in Anbar province, west of the capital, the military said in a statement. No other details were released.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld met with American troops in Iraq’s western desert, telling them it was unlikely the United States would pull out any troops before next year’s elections. He said the violence was expected to increase in the run-up to the elections.

It was Mr Rumsfeld’s first visit to Iraq since the United States handed over authority to an interim government on June 28. With American troops getting killed at a rate of more than one per day in Iraq, Rumsfeld’s trip was not announced in advance.

A suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near an eastern Baghdad police academy, police Captain Ali Ayez said at the scene. At least four mangled bodies lay on the street amid scattered shoes, papers and a handbag. Police collected body parts on stretchers.

The dead included three police academy students and a female officer, Capt Ayez said. US forces assisted the wounded, including a police recruit who received stitches in his abdomen. Police recruiting centres have been frequently targeted in an attempt to undercut support for Iraq’s security services.

The nearby Kindi Hospital received 10 bodies and treated five wounded from the blast, said Dr Ali Ghazi. Police said 15 people were injured in all.

Another car bomb exploded as an American military convoy was passing near a small market in east Baghdad, police Lieutenant Ahmed Hussein said at the scene. An American soldier wounded in the attack was evacuated for treatment but died at a nearby military medical facility, a military statement said.

The blast also wounded at least one bystander and left a gaping crater in the road.

Iraq’s most feared terror group, Tawhid and Jihad, claimed responsibility for both attacks. The claim, posted on an Internet site known for its Islamic content, could not be verified.

Captain Mitchell Zornes of the US 1st Cavalry Division confirmed that a convoy was targeted in one of the blasts but he wasn’t immediately sure which one. One wounded American soldier was evacuated to a medical facility, he said. Improvised bombs - some left by the side of the road, others rigged in vehicles - have become insurgents’ weapon of choice in Iraq.

Mr Rumsfeld addressed Marines at Al Asad air field in Iraq’s western desert Sunday morning. “Our hope is that as we build up Iraqi forces we will be able to relieve the stress on our forces and see a reduction in coalition forces over some period of time, probably post-Iraqi election,” he said. “But again, it will depend entirely on the security situation here in this country.”

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s government hopes to suppress insurgents and take control of rebel enclaves before the legislative elections planned for January. US and Iraqi officials have been negotiating for weeks with tribal and religious leaders in key rebel strongholds but have said they are prepared to use force if talks fail, as they did in Samarra last month.

Also yesterday, clashes broke out between US forces and insurgents in Hit, west of Fallujah, killing one Iraqi and wounding two, police First Lieutenant. Muhsin Nassir said.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi intelligence officer was killed in a drive-by shooting. Three gunmen in a car opened fire on the man as he left his house to go to work, said Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry. He did not identify the officer.

South of the capital, the US command said 15 more insurgents were rounded up Saturday in a joint American-Iraqi operation to suppress resistance in an area notorious for ambushes and kidnappings. At least 78 people have been apprehended since the push began last week, the military said yesterday.