Gunmen target Baathists in Iraq amid reconciliation meet
Copyright 2005 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Baghdad
As the preparatory meeting for a reconciliation conference of Iraqi ethnic and religious groups continued Sunday in Cairo, reports from Iraq suggested an assassination campaign was underway that targeted members of the Baath Party and their families.
Gunmen killed Sahab Abbas and his son Ali Saturday just west of Karbala, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, witnesses said. Abbas, who was attacked at the restaurant he owned, was a member of the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein.
Witnesses reported a similar incident Friday, also in Karbala, in which insurgents shot to death Noama Suman and his daughter Shebib as well as Adil Uhda, also a member of the party.
Police in the southern city declined to comment on the reports.
The incidents took place as Iraqi officials made statements indicating that Baath Party loyalists would not be welcome in the reconciliatory dialogue that they were meeting at the Arab League to prepare for.
President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari both made comments to that effect Saturday at the opening of the preparatory meeting.
The comments followed more conciliatory remarks by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari who said that low-level former Baathists who had renounced the organization were welcome to participate in national dialogue.
Representatives of the country's various ethnic and religious groups joined officials at the Arab League's Cairo headquarters at a meeting that began Saturday and which wraps up Monday.
The gathering aims to pave the way for the holding of the Iraqi National Accord Conference, either following mid-December parliamentary elections or in early 2006.
In other news, gunmen kidnapped two young women who worked at an Iraqi army base Sunday from their home in Tikrit, 180 kilometres north of Baghdad, witnesses said.
Three gunmen burst into the home of Najat and Saada Hayawi, who worked for an Iraqi base. People working the militaries in Iraq, particularly the U.S. army, are frequently targets of the insurgency.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military claimed to have identified a detainee picked up in Baghdad October 31 as Abu Ibrahim, a technology expert, advisor and supplier to al-Qaeda.
Abu Ibrahim, according to the military, confessed to providing triggering devices for bombs as well as communications technology including handheld radios, cell phones and computers.
A U.S. marine died when a roadside bomb exploded Saturday near Haditha, which is located just kilometres away from the Syrian border, the U.S. military said.
The area has witnessed a massive U.S.-Iraqi operation since November 5 that is directed at preventing its use as a gateway from Syria into Iraq by foreign fighters joining the insurgency.
November 20, 2005
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Baghdad
As the preparatory meeting for a reconciliation conference of Iraqi ethnic and religious groups continued Sunday in Cairo, reports from Iraq suggested an assassination campaign was underway that targeted members of the Baath Party and their families.
Gunmen killed Sahab Abbas and his son Ali Saturday just west of Karbala, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, witnesses said. Abbas, who was attacked at the restaurant he owned, was a member of the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein.
Witnesses reported a similar incident Friday, also in Karbala, in which insurgents shot to death Noama Suman and his daughter Shebib as well as Adil Uhda, also a member of the party.
Police in the southern city declined to comment on the reports.
The incidents took place as Iraqi officials made statements indicating that Baath Party loyalists would not be welcome in the reconciliatory dialogue that they were meeting at the Arab League to prepare for.
President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari both made comments to that effect Saturday at the opening of the preparatory meeting.
The comments followed more conciliatory remarks by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari who said that low-level former Baathists who had renounced the organization were welcome to participate in national dialogue.
Representatives of the country's various ethnic and religious groups joined officials at the Arab League's Cairo headquarters at a meeting that began Saturday and which wraps up Monday.
The gathering aims to pave the way for the holding of the Iraqi National Accord Conference, either following mid-December parliamentary elections or in early 2006.
In other news, gunmen kidnapped two young women who worked at an Iraqi army base Sunday from their home in Tikrit, 180 kilometres north of Baghdad, witnesses said.
Three gunmen burst into the home of Najat and Saada Hayawi, who worked for an Iraqi base. People working the militaries in Iraq, particularly the U.S. army, are frequently targets of the insurgency.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military claimed to have identified a detainee picked up in Baghdad October 31 as Abu Ibrahim, a technology expert, advisor and supplier to al-Qaeda.
Abu Ibrahim, according to the military, confessed to providing triggering devices for bombs as well as communications technology including handheld radios, cell phones and computers.
A U.S. marine died when a roadside bomb exploded Saturday near Haditha, which is located just kilometres away from the Syrian border, the U.S. military said.
The area has witnessed a massive U.S.-Iraqi operation since November 5 that is directed at preventing its use as a gateway from Syria into Iraq by foreign fighters joining the insurgency.
November 20, 2005