11 die in suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad
Friday, October 24, 2008
According to Iraqi government and hospital officials 11 people were killed and 22 injured when a suicide car bomber drove into a Shiite government minister’s convoy in Baghdad on Thursday.
A police officer at the scene said that those killed included a total of four bodyguards and three police officers.
The suicide bomber used a Toyota Land Cruiser filled with explosives.
The attack on the minister, Mahmoud Muhammad al-Radhi, was the second in four months against a member of the 40-person cabinet, underlining the continued perils confronting Iraqis despite a sharp reduction in overall violence.
A spokesman for the labor minister, Abdullah al-Lami, was quoted by The Associated Press as telling Al Arabiya television that the bombing was "the latest in a series of criminal attacks that are targeting the development process in Iraq."
Iraqi forces take control of Babil province
Iraqi forces have been handed control of security in the province of Babil by the US military.
It is the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed back to Iraqis.
Babil Province has a population of 1.3 million. The majority are Shia.
The move comes two days after clashes between militants and Sunni tribesmen killed at least 15 people.
Babil has seen much sectarian violence, including a suicide attack in the capital, Hilla, which left more than 100 Shia pilgrims dead in March 2007.
Violence abated in part due to former Sunni rebels in Babil who joined so-called Awakening Councils and turned against al-Qaeda militants.
The previous province transferred to Iraqi security control was Anbar - once the centre of Iraq's Sunni insurgency - which was handed back in September.
At the handover ceremony in the provincial capital, Hilla, Iraqi national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said more provinces will follow.
The handover comes amid growing tension between the US and Baghdad over a draft agreement covering the long-term presence of US troops in Iraq.
On Wednesday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh described as "unwelcome" a warning by US military chief Mike Mullen of "major security losses" if Iraq does not pass the deal.
Military spokesman Brig Gen Qassim Atta said Iraqi forces were ready to handle security across all of the country's 18 provinces.
Iraq's cabinet has called for changes to the draft pact, which allows US forces to stay in Iraq after their UN mandate ends in December.
Source: Internet