Three dozen killed as Iraq violence continues

Insurgents killed more than three dozen people in a series of attacks that foiled stringent security measures around Baghdad after an al-Qaida threat to stage bloody reprisals for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

US troops combed through the so-called Triangle of Death, a predominantly Sunni Arab region just south of Baghdad for two soldiers that went missing after an attack that killed one of their comrades at a traffic checkpoint.

US Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said four raids had been carried out since Friday’s attack and that ground forces, helicopters and airplanes were taking part in the search.

The soldiers came under attack at a traffic checkpoint next to a canal south-west of Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of the capital. The area is considered and insurgent hotbed.

“We are currently using every means at our disposal on the ground, in the air and in the water to find them,” Caldwell said.

The Baghdad attacks dealt an embarrassing new blow to Premier Nouri Maliki’s pledge to bring peace to the capital – which has been flush with new police and army checkpoints following a plan announced last week to restore security for Baghdad’s more than five million residents.

His Sunni Arab deputy prime minister, Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, charged that the plan was not properly thought out and needed more work.

“I can say that I am not pleased with the way the Baghdad security plan began,” he told al-Jaazera TV. “The Baghdad plan has begun, but it will need a year or more to finish.”

Al-Zubaie said for it to succeed, the interior ministry responsible for carrying it out had to be cleansed of people who may be responsible for “human rights violations.” Many Sunni Arabs charge the Shiite-dominated security services have been infiltrated by militias.

“There are a lot of responsible people who were responsible for committing numerous acts of foolishness and many human right violations who are still in positions of responsibility,” he said.

A total of seven blasts occurred within a span of five hours to kill at least 25 people and injured dozens. At least 11 other people died around Iraq.

The violence included a suicide car bomber who exploded his vehicle as it was being towed near a police checkpoint in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, killing four civilians and wounding 15. The bomber had claimed his car had broken down and hired a tractor to tow it while he rode inside, al-Samarie said.

A mortar barrage also hit a residential area in Mahmoudiya, a predominantly Sunni city about 20 miles south of Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding three others.

In the Baghdad attacks, a mortar shell was fired at one of Baghdad’s best known markets, which dates back more than 100 years, in the predominantly Shiite suburb of Kazimiyah, killing at least four people and wounding 13, police said.

Nearly half an hour later, a bomb left in a plastic bag struck an outdoor market where second-hand goods are sold in central Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 24, some seriously. Police added that a suicide bomber targeting an Iraqi army patrol near Wathiq Square in the same neighbourhood killed seven people when he blew himself up.

A parked car bomb in south-west Baghdad killed six people and wounded 36, while the rest died in other a number of other roadside bombings around the capital.

The surge in violence has shattered a fragile calm imposed by a security crackdown launched a week after al-Zarqawi’s death.

On Friday, a suspected shoe bomber targeting a Shiite imam who criticised al-Zarqawi blew himself up inside the Buratha mosque during the main weekly religious service, killing 13 people and wounding 28. That attack was carried out despite a four-hour driving ban intended to prevent suicide car bombs during Friday prayers.

It was the second attack on the Buratha mosque in just over two months. On April 7, four suicide bombers, including a woman, set off their explosives during Friday prayers, killing at least 85 worshippers. The US military blamed al-Zarqawi.

On Friday, Al-Jazeera aired an audio tape of a key insurgency leader calling al-Zarqawi’s death a “great loss” but saying it will strengthen the militants’ determination.

The broadcaster identified the voice as that of Abu Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, the head of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, which groups five Iraqi insurgent organisations including al-Qaida in Iraq. The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified.