Explosion targets US convoy

An explosion targeted a US convoy today in southern Baghdad, leaving a US vehicle in flames, while gunmen south of the capital assassinated a member of the Babil provincial council.

The US military had no immediate comment on the explosion that damaged a US humvee.

Soldiers cordoned off the area in the Dora neighbourhood and dispersed a crowd that had gathered.

In Hilla, gunmen killed a member of the Babil provincial council, Salim Hilal, as he was heading to work, Babil provincial police spokesman Capt. Muthana Khalid said. He said two suspects in the attack were arrested.

In the central city of Baqouba, gunmen wounded a government translator and killed her father in a drive-by shooting, said Brigadier General Adil Molan of the Diala provincial police department.

Politicians also continued negotiations today, a day before a parliamentary session in which they were expected to name Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as Iraq’s president – starting the task of forming Iraq’s new government.

Yesterday, the US military said prisoners at Camp Bucca, Iraq’s largest detention facility with about 6,000 prisoners, clashed with guards because they were angry that the prison was transferring several detainees deemed ”unruly” by authorities.

The prisoners hurled rocks and set tents on fire in a disturbance on Friday that injured four guards and 12 detainees, the military said. Authorities said the injuries were minor.

The protest on Friday was the first of at least three conflicts at Iraqi prisons during the past four days.

In the latest attack, a suicide bomber driving a tractor blew himself up on Monday outside the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, wounding four civilians, police 1st Lt. Akram al-Zubaeyee said.

On Saturday, dozens of insurgents attacked Abu Ghraib with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and a car bomb, wounding 44 US service members and 13 prisoners, the US military said.

Abu Ghraib was at the centre of the prison abuse scandal last year after photographs were publicised showing US soldiers humiliating Iraqi inmates, including having them pile naked in a human pyramid. The US holds nearly 3,500 prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Late on Sunday, al Qaida in Iraq said in an internet statement that 10 of its fighters died in the attack on Abu Ghraib, including seven suicide car bombers. The statement was impossible to verify, and it conflicted with the US military’s version of events.

The US military said at least one insurgent was killed and about 50 were wounded, adding that the wounded were able to escape or were dragged away by other militants.

The military also said a detainee evacuated from an unnamed facility to the 115th Field Hospital died yesterday after suffering gunshot wounds two weeks ago during an attack on US-led coalition forces. The incident is under investigation, the military said in a statement.

Some Iraqi politicians have called for the release of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and parliament leaders have said the topic will be among the first they discuss.