WORLD / Middle East
Iraq VP narrowly escapes assassination
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-02-27 08:36
An employee of an Iraqi ministry receives treatment at Yarmouk hospital
after he was wounded in a bomb attack in Baghdad February 26, 2007. A
blast at an Iraqi ministry building killed six people and slightly
wounded Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi during a ceremony on Monday.
[Reuters]
Baghdad - Iraq's Shiite vice president narrowly escaped assassination
Monday as a blast ripped through a government meeting hall just hours
after it was searched by US teams with bomb-sniffing dogs. At least 10
people were killed.
Adel Abdul-Mahdi was slightly wounded in the explosion, which splintered
chairs, destroyed a speakers' podium and sent a chilling message that
suspected Sunni militants can strike anywhere despite a major security
crackdown across Baghdad.
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As US forces sealed off the area around the municipal building,
investigators grappled with the troubling question of how the bomb was
smuggled into the ministry of public works -- a seven-story structure
with crack surveillance systems from its days as offices for Saddam
Hussein's feared intelligence service.
The bomb, possibly hidden in the podium, went off moments after the
minister for public works finished a speech in the third-floor chamber,
witnesses said. Abdul-Mahdi had made a welcoming address a few minutes
earlier, raising speculation the bomb could have been on a timer-trigger
that missed the vice president by sheer luck.
Among those killed were several ministry employees, police said. More
than 25 were wounded, including the public works minister, Riyad Gharib.
Abdul-Mahdi, smothered by his bodyguards in an instant, suffered minor
leg injuries and was hospitalized for tests, his office said. He was
later released.
"I heard a big explosion," said Tagrid Ali, a public works ministry
employee who attended the gathering to honor outstanding workers. "I fell
to the ground, and the whole place was filled with black smoke."
Suspicion for the attack fell on Sunni insurgents, who have waged nonstop
bombings and attacks against Iraq's majority Shiites for cooperating with
the US-backed government.
Adbul-Mahdi is one of two vice presidents. The other, Tariq al-Hashemi,
is Sunni.
An Associated Press photographer witnessed security forces hustling a man
from the building, but there were no immediate reports of any arrests.
"The aggression against you this day is further proof that these groups
are doing their best to destroy Iraq's unity," said a message to the vice
president from Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who heads the country's largest
Shiite political group.
Even as Iraqis learned of the attack, word was coming from neighboring
Jordan that their president, Jalal Talabani, was facing more medical
tests.
Talabani, from Iraq's Kurdish north, was taken to Amman after falling
unconscious Sunday. His son, Qubad Talabani, said the 73-year-old leader
was "up and about" and blamed the episode on fatigue and exhaustion.
"He'll be back in Baghdad soon," added Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
But his private physician, Dr. Yedkar Hikmat, would give no timetable on
his discharge, saying only that rumors Talabani had heart problems were
"categorically wrong."
The bombing of the municipal building was another blow to claims by US
and Iraqi forces that a nearly 2-week-old security sweep across Baghdad
is making headway. On Sunday, more than 40 people were killed in a
suicide blast at a mostly Shiite college.
Criticism of the security plan is getting louder.
Al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice president, said the security plan does not
treat all groups equally, an apparent reference to Sunni complaints that
they are facing the most pressure and attention.
"Up to now, legal procedures have not been observed," he said in an
interview. "The human rights of Iraqis have not been respected as they
should be."
Al-Hashemi also said he warned US officials during a visit to Washington
in December that sectarian rivalry had paralyzed the unity government and
the White House must study alternatives if its current security strategy
fails.
"I was very frank with the American administration. I encouraged them to
think seriously about `Plan B,'" he said. "What sort of alternative do we
have in the future in case the current security plan fails?"
In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, a suicide bomber driving a stolen
ambulance packed with explosives struck outside a police station, killing
at least 14 people and wounding 10, police said.
In Baghdad, al-Maliki's Cabinet signed off on a proposed new oil law that
would divide revenues among all Iraqi factions. It now moves to the
Shiite-dominated parliament for a final vote.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has stressed the importance of making
rapid progress on the oil law as a way to strengthen unity in the deeply
fractured nation and encourage foreign investment in one of OPEC's former
heavyweights.
Iraq's Appeals Council, meanwhile, agreed to review the case of Saddam
Hussein's deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was sentenced to death by
hanging Feb. 12 for his role in the massacre of Shiite civilians in 1982
following an assassination attempt against the former Iraqi leader.
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