Bombing kills 4 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-26 17:58

A car bomb exploded near a two-car convoy carrying foreigners through central Baghdad on Saturday, killing four Iraqi civilians, police said.

No one in the convoy was hurt, but one of the armored cars was damaged and removed by U.S. forces, Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said. The foreigners were not immediately identified.

In northwestern Baghdad on Friday, 200 people carrying banners and chanting slogans gathered at a mosque to demand the resignation of the defense minister.

They were angered by the death of Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyem, a Sunni Arab sheik killed along with three of his sons and his son-in-law by gunmen who broke into his home on Wednesday.

Relatives said the men were wearing Iraqi army uniforms and that another of al-Hemaiyem's sons was killed by men in uniform last month.

A spokesman for the interior ministry denied that government forces were involved.

Iraqi policemen look at the burning wreckage of a car bomb that exploded near a two-car convoy carrying foreigners through central Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005, killing four Iraqi civilians. [AP]

A statement from the little-known Partisans of the Sunni claimed it carried out a car bombing Thursday in the mostly Shiite city of Hillah in retaliation for the slaying of al-Hemaiyem and other attacks against Sunni Arabs. Eleven people were killed and 17 were wounded.

"We have warned the (Shiites) to stop assassinations and detentions and torture," the statement posted Friday on an Islamist Web site said. "You should know, your blood is no more dear than ours. You kill our men, we kill yours. You kill our sheiks, we kill yours. You started this war."

An interior ministry official said security forces were aware of the Partisans group, which has been active in the area south of Baghdad for months.

A videotape posted on the Internet — allegedly by al-Qaida in Iraq — purportedly showed how the terror group planned and carried out the Oct. 24 triple suicide attack against the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, in which 17 people were killed.

A narrator said the Palestine — headquarters of The Associated Press, Fox News and others — was occupied "by foreign journalists and security companies" but indicated the Sheraton was the main target because it housed "assassination teams, intelligence groups" and American soldiers.

The videotape's authenticity could not be verified but it appeared on an Islamic Web site known for publishing messages from militant groups.

Also Friday, a prosecutor in Saddam's trial said a key witness in the case has died of cancer but his testimony already had been taped for presentation in the proceedings, which are set to resume Monday.

Wadah Ismael al-Sheik died Oct. 27, four days after talking to court officials, said Jaafar al-Mousawi, the main prosecutor. Al-Sheik was a senior Iraqi intelligence officer at the time of the Dujail massacre in 1982 that Saddam and seven other co-defendants are charged with.

If convicted, Saddam and the others could face the death penalty for their role in the killing of nearly 150 people from the mainly Shiite town north of Baghdad after a failed assassination attempt.

The Saddam trial resumes following a five-week recess granted by the court to give the defense time to study the evidence. The trial could raise sectarian tensions ahead of the Dec. 15 national elections. Saddam's regime was dominated by Sunnis, and the trial involves the deaths of Shiites.

More than 250 people have been killed since Nov. 18 in car bombings and suicide attacks against Shiite targets.

U.S. officials hope that a big Sunni turnout will encourage members of the community to turn away from the insurgency, hastening the day when American and other international troops can go home. Sunnis form about 20 percent of Iraq's 27 million people but are the backbone of the insurgency.