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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

.. the longer we stay, the worse off they are ... ?



http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/ap09-29-221515.asp?reg=mideast&vts=93020040745

 

Baghdad bombings kill 35 children

 

New hostages seized

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 29 - Bombs exploded near a U.S. convoy in western 
Baghdad on Thursday, killing 35 children and seven adults, a hospital 
official said. Hours earlier, a suicide car bomb killed a U.S. soldier and 
two Iraqis on the capital's outskirts. 

 

     The bombs in <>Baghdad's al-Amel neighborhood caused the largest death 
toll of children in any insurgent attack since the conflict began 17 months 
ago. 
       It was unclear if the bombs - which also wounded 141 people, including 
10 U.S. soldiers - targeted the convoy or a ceremony marking the opening of a 
new sewage system that was taking place at the same time. 
       The day of violence, including insurgent attacks and U.S. airstrikes 
in Fallujah, left a total of 46 people dead and 208 wounded. 
       A U.S. helicopter evacuated some of the wounded while other aircraft 
circled overhead. U.S. forces sealed off the area. 
       In the northern city of Tal Afar, meanwhile, a car bomb targeting the 
police chief killed at least four people and wounded 16, Iraqi and U.S. 
officials said. A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity said the 
police chief, whose name was only given as Col. Ismail, escaped the 
assassination attempt. 
       There were conflicting accounts about what caused the blast. Military 
spokeswoman Capt. Angela Bowman said it was a car bomb, but police in nearby 
Mosul said it was a device planted in the road. 
       Also Thursday, the Arab news network Al-Jazeera showed video of 10 new 
hostages seized in Iraq by militants. Al-Jazeera said the 10 - six Iraqis, 
two Lebanese and two Indonesian women - were taken by The Islamic Army in 
Iraq. The group has claimed responsibility for seizing two French journalists 
last month. 
       A Lebanese official later said kidnappers had released one Lebanese 
captive, although it was not clear if he was among the 10. 
       In the al-Amel attacks, Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan 
Abdul-Rahman said two car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded in swift 
succession as the convoy was passing about 1 p.m. 
       Yarmouk Hospital received 42 bodies - including those of 35 children - 
and 131 wounded, said Iyhsan Nasser, head of the facility's statistics 
department. 
       Lt. Col. Jim Hutton, spokesman for the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, said 
10 American soldiers were among the wounded. 
       Resident Samir Abul-Karim said the attack happened during a ceremony 
marking the opening of a new sewage system in the neighborhood. Body parts 
were strewn in the streets amid pools of blood. 
       ''This attack was carried out by evil people who do not want the 
Iraqis to celebrate and don't want (reconstruction) projects in Iraq,'' said 
Iraqi National guard Lt. Ahmad Saad. 
       Hours earlier, a suicide car bomber struck in the Abu Ghraib area 
outside of Baghdad, killing the American and at least two Iraqis, and 
wounding 60, Iraqi and U.S. officials said. 
       That bomb targeted a compound housing the mayor's office, a police 
station and other buildings, police 1st Lt. Ahmed Jawad said. A U.S. Bradley 
fighting vehicle parked in front of the compound was hit, he said. 
       ''I saw people flying in the air and falling on the ground,'' said 
Saad Mohsin, who was in front of the mayor's office and was struck by 
shrapnel. 
       Elsewhere on the outskirts of Baghdad, insurgents fired a rocket 
Thursday at a logistical support area for coalition forces, killing one 
soldier and wounding seven, the military said in a statement. No further 
information was disclosed - including whether or not it was a U.S. soldier. 
       Meanwhile, the United States targeted a suspected terrorist safehouse 
in Fallujah. The military said intelligence reports indicated the house was 
being used by followers of Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 
to plan attacks against U.S.-led forces and Iraqi citizens. 
       At least four Iraqis were killed - including two women and one child - 
and eight were wounded, said Dr. Ahmed Khalil of the Fallujah General 
Hospital. Witnesses said two houses were flattened and four others damaged in 
the strike. 
       ''Significant secondary explosions were observed during the impact, 
indicating a large cache of illegal ordinance was stored in the safehouse,'' 
the military statement said. Explosions continued for hours. 
       American jets, tanks and artillery units repeatedly have targeted 
al-Zarqawi's network in Fallujah in recent weeks as U.S.-led forces seek to 
assert control over insurgent enclaves ahead of elections slated for January. 
The military says the attacks have inflicted significant damage on the 
network, which has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, 
kidnappings and other attacks. 
       Doctors say scores of civilians have been killed and wounded in the 
strikes. 
       Zarqawi's group, Tawhid and Jihad, has claimed responsibility for 
several beheadings and kidnappings. On Wednesday, video surfaced of British 
hostage Kenneth Bigley, believed held by Zarqawi's group, pleading for help 
behind the bars of a makeshift cage and begging Prime Minister Tony Blair: 
''Have some compassion. Only you can save me now.'' 
       The sobbing, 62-year-old Bigley urged Blair to meet the demands of his 
captors, which are the release of all female prisoners in Iraq. He accused 
Blair of lying about efforts to secure his release. 
       ''My life is cheap. He doesn't care about me. I am just one person,'' 
the civil engineer said. ''I want to go home. Please, Mr. Blair, don't leave 
me here.'' 
       Later Thursday, Blair ruled out negotiating with Bigley's kidnappers 
but said his government would do what it could to aid his release. 
       ''I am not sitting here saying, 'If they get in contact with us then 
we are just going to refuse to do anything,''' Blair told the British 
Broadcasting Corp. 
       ''We will do whatever we can. In fact, there is a lot that we are 
trying to do, which I won't go into. But we are trying to do whatever we 
possibly can.'' 
       The tape was the second in a week to surface showing Bigley appealing 
for help. Tawhid and Jihad beheaded two American hostages seized with him 
Sept. 16 and warned he will be the next to die unless its demands are met. 
       More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq and at least 26 
have been killed. Some, like Bigley, were seized by insurgents as leverage in 
their campaign against the United States and its allies. But others were 
taken by criminals seeking ransom. 
       The Al-Jazeera video of the latest hostages showed three captives, who 
were not identified, and two masked gunmen pointing weapons at them. There 
was no mention of demands by the militants or when or where they were 
captured. The network said the 10 were employees of the Jib electricity 
company. 
       Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister in charge of 
intelligence, later confirmed that two Lebanese had been kidnapped along with 
a group of others that included women. He had no other details. 
       The Frenchmen, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, disappeared 
Aug. 20 during a trip to the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The Islamic Army 
in Iraq demanded that France revoke a new law banning Islamic head scarves 
from state schools. 



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