1 600 gefallene US-Soldaten im Iraq
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The bus was taking about 20 policemen to a Kurdish city in the north for training when the attack took place.
A Reuters reporter saw seven badly burned wounded policemen at the hospital.
The area around Baquba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad has been a hotbed of violence lately, with frequent attacks against Iraqi security forces and civilians.
Insurgents stormed a police checkpoint with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars in a small town near Baquba a week ago, killing five policemen and wounding four.
Poorly equipped Iraqi security forces are an attractive target for assaults by insurgent groups like al Qaeda in Iraq, who have stepped up their campaign of violence after largely peaceful elections two weeks ago.
Er begründete seine Entscheidung am Montag mit seinem Widerstand gegen die drastischen Preiserhöhungen auf Kraftstoff, die die Regierung - wie vom Internationalen Währungsfonds (IWF) gefordert - angeordnet hat. Unterdessen teilten die Behörden mit, dass der Ölexport im Dezember auf den niedrigsten Stand seit der US-geführten Invasion 2003 gefallen sei. Gründe dafür sind unter anderem Anschläge oder Anschlagsdrohungen gegen Öl-Einrichtungen.
Ulum war Ende Dezember gegen seinen Willen beurlaubt worden. Seinen Posten hatte der irakische Vize-Ministerpräsident Ahmed Chalabi übernommen. Ulum hatte eine schrittweise Anhebung der Benzinpreise gefordert, um sowohl den IWF-Forderungen nach einem Ende von Subventionen als auch den Bedürfnissen der irakischen Bevölkerung nachzukommen. Die Regierung hatte dagegen die staatlich-kontrollierten Preise für Benzin und Diesel am 19. Dezember um bis zu 200 Prozent erhöht. Sie hatte den Schritt damit begründet, so den Schmuggel von irakischen Ölprodukten in andere Länder einzudämmen.
Die Regierung wies auf die ihrer Ansicht nach geringen Auswirkungen von Ulums Rücktritt hin. Das derzeitige Kabinett werde sowieso bald wegen der Parlamentswahl im vergangenen Monat abgelöst, sagte der Generaldirektor für Wirtschaft und Öl-Vermarktung, Schamchi Faradsch. "Er (Ulum) hätte keine wichtigen Entscheidungen treffen können, auch wenn er nicht zurückgetreten wäre."
Sein Nachfolger muss mit einer schweren Krise der irakischen Ölbranche fertig werden. Die Regierung schloss im Dezember die größte Raffinerie des Landes im nördlichen Baidschi wegen Anschlagsdrohungen. Weil das Wetter an den Ölverladehäfen im Süden zu schlecht war, musste der Export gestoppt werden. Insgesamt fielen die Ausfuhren im vergangenen Monat auf ein Rekordtief von 1,1 Millionen Barrel.
Ein Schlaglicht auf die gefährliche Sicherheitslage im Irak warfen am Montag weitere Anschläge: Ein Selbstmordattentäter tötete mit einer Autobombe sieben Polizisten in Bakuba nördlich von Bagdad, die gerade mit einem Bus zu einer Schulung fuhren. Der türkische Botschafter, Unal Cevikoz, wurde leicht verletzt, als seine Wagenkolonne in der Nähe des Bagdader Flughafens angegriffen wurde. Bei weiteren Zwischenfällen unter anderem im nördlichen Kirkuk kamen drei Menschen ums Leben.
Last week, about 12 Shia Muslims were killed by a group or unidentified gunmen who broke into their homes south of the Iraqi capital- the victims were members of the same extended family, living in the mainly Sunni town of Latifiya, about 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad. A few days later, another group of gunmen attacked a Sunni Arab household, killing five people.
Also at least 20 Iraqis died on Saturday, the final day of 2005 in bombings and shootings that struck several places in the war torn country.
Organized political killing has surged the past few weeks, as if there had not been elections in the country.
Before the Iraqis head to polling stations two weeks ago, the U.S. President George W. Bush challenged numerous politicians and analysts’ predictions that a civil war would break out soon in IRAQ , ignoring the persistent violence and the deadly attacks in the country, LAtimes wrote yesterday.
At least once every week we read on the news headlines that a group of Shia police were killed in a roadside or car bomb attack that is blamed on the Sunni Muslims.
A militiaman in the Shia-dominated Iraqi security services might arrest, torture and kill a Sunni suspect- A Kurdish official in the U.S.-controlled Iraqi government might be shot dead by armed men on his way to work in the morning, LAtimes editorial added.
The number of victims in most of those attacks usually rises to at least the high single digits events- But that is barely being mentioned in Western news reports.
The most reliable estimates are that at least 1,000 Iraqis have been dying each month, most of them killed by fellow Iraqis.
“The term civil war conjures images of armies massed against each other, and ultimately the breakup of a state — a far cry from the democratic paradigm the U.S. government meant to achieve in Iraq after the overthrow of SADDAM HUSSEIN almost 3 years ago,” LAtimes said.
By allowing the Iraqi army to be organized largely along ethnic and religious lines, the U.S. occupation authority is deepening the divisions among the country's Kurdish north, Shia Muslim south and Sunni Muslim Arab west; fueling the tension between the sects in their struggle to win more authority over the country, suggests an article on The Knight Ridder.
Iraqi officials and political leaders believe that the dominance of Shia and Kurdish militia members in many Iraqi army units gave the Sunnis, who are constantly blamed for the unrest and bloodshed in the country, a broader base of support.
The Sunnis "see them (insurgent fighters) as the only shield that can save them from what they think are official, militia-linked security forces," said Saleem Abdul Kareem, a political analyst at Karbala University in southern Iraq.
Thiab Abdul Hadi, a city council member in the Iraqi western and Sunni-dominated city of Fallujah, said that sentiment was held by most people in his town.
The polarization of the Iraqi army started in 2003, when U.S. officials in Baghdad disbanded it and left more than 200,000 troops, many of them Sunnis, out of work.
And while the U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH and members of the puppet Iraqi government maintain that the new government enjoys unprecedented unity and stability; brushing aside analysts’ warnings that an imminent civil war would take place soon or already started in Iraq, the current bloodshed and persistent violence challenges their claims.
James Fearon, a Stanford University political scientist and an authority on modern conflicts, says that IRAQ's civil war started the day the country’s leader SADDAM HUSSEIN was ousted.
"I think there is definitely a civil war that has been going on since we finished the major combat operations," Fearon said.
"When people talk about 'Will there be a civil war?' they are really talking about a different type of civil war," he said.
The current guerrilla attacks, kidnappings, assassinations and "ethnic cleansing," taking place in IRAQ is typical of modern civil conflicts, Fearon added.
"Since 1945, almost all civil wars, a big plurality, have been guerrilla wars where it is kind of insurgency versus counterinsurgency," he said. "Most civil wars look more like what we are seeing in Iraq now," noting that the continuous presence of the American occupying troops in the conflict would not be unusual.
"A great number [of civil wars] have involved foreign intervention. But I would still call it a civil war on grounds that the insurgents are attacking and killing far more Iraqis than U.S. troops."
A former mid-ranking Iraqi government official, who demanded anonymity, revealed that he had been forced to abandon his Baghdad neighborhood because of his Shia name and now he has to conceal his identity while traveling between Baghdad and his home village near Babylon.
"You cannot drive in the south bearing a Sunni name. You cannot go to [Al] Anbar [province] with a Shia name,'' he said. "There is not a civil war across the whole country, but there are civil wars in at least 20 towns — low-intensity civil war."
"We are not yet in a civil war," said Mahmoud Othman, a senior Kurdish politician and member of the former Iraqi Governing Council. "But if the ongoing violence is not contained, it will turn into an Iraqi-Iraqi war."
The Iraqis now are fleeing their country fearing an imminent civil war. Supplies of food have dwindled to critical levels, even as prices have skyrocketed.
The effects of bombs, which had claimed the lives of tens of thousands of IRAQI CIVILIANS, could kill tens of thousands more, women, children and the elderly who had little to do with the war.
However, the U.S. decided to go back on its words, refusing to continue funding reconstruction projects in IRAQ, a major climb-down from the White House's one-time pledge to rebuild the war torn country, The Independent wrote on Tuesday.
THE U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH made it clear that no more money will be provided for rebuilding projects in Iraq more than the £10.7 billion allocated since the 2003 INVASION.
Now it’s up to other foreign donors and the Iraqi government to complete the basic tasks in the country; supplying reliable electricity and water to the country's 26 million population.
BUSH’s decision not to ask Congress for more money to rebuild the country it destroyed by its illegal war, underlines the consensus that it is time to start winding down the costly commitment to Iraq, says The Telegraph.
It’s no secret anymore that reconstruction has gone badly, with essential services being very slow in coming back on line and roughly half the money earmarked for reconstruction diverted into the military.
Brigadier General William McCoy, the commander overseeing construction projects, was quoted as saying that “the U.S. funding was never meant to be more than a "jump-start ... The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," he said.
The move signals that ththe U.S. claims and pledges for Iraq were far from realities on the ground.
Iraq's oil wealth, which was, before and after the WAR , considered a key strategic asset, was hit by infrastructural problems and sabotage which hampered and dealt a major blow to production.
Moreover, continuous attacks kept the output of electricity and oil at or below pre-war levels- Now the average Iraqi household has electricity for only half the day at best - and in the capital there is electricity for no more than six hours a day.
There were conflicting official accounts of the death toll.
An Iraqi official in Tikrit at the Joint Coordination Center (JCC), which handles information and liaises between U.S. and Iraqi forces in the province, said 14 died when their house was destroyed in the raid late on Monday.
A police officer in Tikrit later contested that account and put the toll at six with three wounded but the JCC spokesman insisted 14 had been killed. No independent information was immediately available and the U.S. military offered no comment.
"There were 14 martyrs ... in the house of Ghadhban Nahi Hussein," the JCC official said, naming the owner of the house.
It was not clear why the building was targeted.
Another four houses were hit and two people were injured in the raid on Monday night, the JCC official said, amending his earlier casualty account of three wounded.
"We have this information from the Iraqi police and army in Baiji," said the official, who declined to give his name.
The police officer in Tikrit, capital of Salahaddin province which includes Baiji, said six people were killed and three wounded. He said the JCC information was incorrect. He too spoke on condition of anonymity.
Baiji has seen considerable rebel violence, including efforts by insurgents to disrupt oil and fuel flows through its refinery, the biggest in Iraq. The closure of the refinery last month is causing serious shortages in fuel across the country.
U.S. forces have used air power increasingly throughout the past year. Official military data show only one strike was carried out in March and the average in the first quarter was five strikes per month compared to over 50 in the last quarter.
Iraqi medical staff, police and political leaders, particularly in the restive, Sunni Arab-dominated west and north, have reported civilian casualties in such raids; U.S. commanders say they make every effort to minimize that risk.
Dienstag, 3. Januar 2006
US-Luftangriff im Irak
14 Familienmitglieder tot
Bei einem US-Luftangriff im Nordirak sind nach Angaben der Sicherheitskräfte des Landes 14 Mitglieder einer Familie ums Leben gekommen.
Bei dem Angriff in der Nacht zum Dienstag sei ein Haus in der Stadt Baidschi zerstört worden, sagte ein Sprecher des Joint Coordination Center, das als Verbindungsstelle zwischen irakischen und amerikanischen Truppen im Irak dient. Alle 14 Menschen in dem Gebäude seien getötet worden. Vier weitere Häuser seien getroffen und drei weitere Menschen verletzt worden. Dies hätten irakische Polizisten und Soldaten aus Baidschi berichtet. Das US-Militär nahm zu den Angaben zunächst nicht Stellung.
Überprüfung des Wahlergebnisses
Nach Protesten in Bagdad und anderen großen Städten im Irak gegen das vorläufige Wahlergebnis geht in den kommenden Tagen eine Kommission aus Vertretern der Arabischen Liga und der EU möglichen Unregelmäßigkeiten bei der Wahl nach. Die ersten Mitglieder der Kommission seien am Dienstag in Bagdad eingetroffen, teilte die Nationale Wahlkommission mit. Die regierungsnahe Zeitung "Sabah" berichtete, das Wahlergebnis werde voraussichtlich am Dienstag kommender Woche veröffentlicht.
In den vergangenen Wochen hatten vor allem Anhänger der arabisch-sunnitisch beherrschten Listen auf der einen und der schiitisch-säkularen Listen auf der anderen Seite gegen das vorläufige Ergebnis der Wahl vom 15. Dezember protestiert. Demnach führt die schiitisch-religiös geprägte Allianz mit weitem Abstand vor der Kurden-Liste und den arabischen Sunniten.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
füx
Das ergibt sich aus getrennten Zählungen der Organisationen Reporter ohne Grenzen und Komitee zum Schutz von Journalisten, die in Berlin und New York veröffentlicht wurden.
Nach der Statistik des New Yorker Komitees kamen 2005 weltweit 47 Journalisten gewaltsam ums Leben, 22 davon im Irak. In mehr als 75 Prozent der Fälle seien die Journalisten ermordet worden, um sie zum Schweigen zu bringen oder sie für ihre Arbeit zu bestrafen, teilte die unabhängige Organisation mit. 2004 waren laut Komitee 57 Journalisten in Ausübung ihres Berufs getötet worden.
Im Irak sind nach dieser Zählung seit Beginn der US-Invasion im März 2003 insgesamt 60 Reporter umgekommen. Das sei die höchste Zahl für eine Konfliktregion seit Gründung des Komitees vor 24 Jahren. Seit 1992 seien mehr als 85 Prozent aller Journalisten-Morde ungesühnt geblieben.
Nach der Zählung von Reporter ohne Grenzen wurden im vergangenen Jahr 63 Journalisten und fünf Medienmitarbeiter während oder wegen ihrer Arbeit getötet; das seien zehn mehr als im Vorjahr. Im Irak kamen nach dieser Statistik 24 Journalisten und fünf Medienmitarbeiter ums Leben. In den meisten Fällen seien die Angriffe auf das Konto von Terroristen und aufständischen Gruppen gegangen, doch in drei Fällen seien auch US-amerikanische Truppen beteiligt gewesen. Auf den Philippinen hätten sieben Journalisten ihre kritischen Berichte mit dem Leben bezahlt.
www.welt.de
Bei einem Selbstmordattentat nordöstlich von Bagdad sind heute 30 Menschen getötet worden. Das gab ein Vertreter der Sicherheitskräfte bekannt. Krankenhausangaben bestätigten die Opferzahl.
Bei dem Anschlag auf eine schiitische Trauerprozession wurden zudem nach Polizeiangaben 36 Menschen verletzt. Der Anschlag ereignete sich auf einem Friedhof der irakischen Stadt Miqdadiya, rund hundert Kilometer nördlich von Bagdad.
Die Polizei teilte mit, der Attentäter habe sich inmitten eines Trauerzugs in die Luft gesprengt. Bereits zuvor waren heute bei Anschlägen im Irak zwölf Menschen ums Leben gekommen, darunter vier bei der Explosion einer Autobombe in Bagdad
Extremisten greifen Ölkonvoi an
Es ist einer der blutigsten Tage im Irak seit Wochen: Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag auf eine schiitische Trauerfeier kamen Dutzende Menschen ums Leben. Kurze Zeit später überfielen Bewaffnete in der Nähe Bagdads einen Konvoi aus Öltransportern.
Bakuba - Bewaffnete hätten einen aus 60 Fahrzeugen bestehenden Ölkonvoi der irakischen Regierung aus dem Hinterhalt überfallen, meldete die Nachrichtenagentur Reuters. Der Vorfall ereignete sich auf einer Straße nördlich von Bagdad. Mindestens 19 Fahrzeuge wurden dabei zerstört. Zwischen den Bewaffneten und der Polizei kamen es zu heftigen Schießereien.
Bei dem Selbstmordanschlag im Norden des Landes kamen mindestens 35 Menschen ums Leben. Dutzende weitere Trauergäste wurden verletzt, als sich der Attentäter während des Begräbnisses in Mukdadijah, rund 90 Kilometer nordöstlich von Bagdad, in die Luft sprengte.
Nach Angaben der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters hatten die Trauernden zunächst auf dem Friedhof Schutz gesucht, nachdem Angreifer mit Mörsergranaten und automatischen Waffen auf sie schossen. Dann zündete der Attentäter inmitten der Menschen eine Bombe, die er am Körper trug.
Bereits zuvor waren am Mittwoch bei Anschlägen im Irak zwölf Menschen ums Leben gekommen, darunter vier bei der Explosion einer Autobombe in Bagdad.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least eight people were killed and 12 wounded when a car bomb exploded in southern Baghdad on Wednesday, police and hospital sources said.
The car was parked at the side of a road close to a busy commercial market in the Doura district, they said.
Dutzende Tote bei Anschlägen im Irak
Irakische Extremisten überziehen das Land mit dem blutigsten Terror seit Wochen: Nach dem verheerenden Anschlag auf einen Trauerzug gestern rissen Selbstmordattentäter heute wieder Dutzende Menschen in den Tod. Erst traf es Pilger in Kerbela, dann junge Polizeirekruten in Ramadi.
Kerbela - Bei der Bombenexplosion in der irakischen Pilgerstadt Kerbela wurden am Morgen nach Polizeiangaben mindestens 49 Menschen getötet. 52 weitere wurden verletzt. Der Täter hatte vor dem Imam-Hussein-Schrein, einem der bedeutendsten Heiligtümer der irakischen Schiiten, zunächst mehrere Handgranaten geworfen und dann eine acht Kilogramm schwere Bombe gezündet.
Der Ort der Explosion liegt nur 30 Meter von der Grabmoschee entfernt, mitten in einer belebten Fußgängerzone. Verletzte wurden in Handkarren weggebracht, auf dem Boden waren Pfützen mit Blut zu sehen.
REUTERS
Anschlag in Kerbela: "Eine feige Tat"
Kerbela, 80 Kilometer südlich von Bagdad, ist ein Wallfahrtsort für Schiiten aus aller Welt, vor allem viele Iraner besuchen die heiligen Stätten. Ein Berater von Ministerpräsident Ibrahim al-Dschaafari nannte den Anschlag "eine feige Tat". Haidar al-Obadi gab "Elementen der aufgelösten Baath-Partei (von Saddam Hussein) und islamistischen Extremisten" die Schuld.
In der westirakischen Stadt Ramadi tötete ein Selbstmordattentäter nach Krankenhausangaben mindestens 31 Menschen, als er sich inmitten einer Gruppe von Polizei- und Armeerekruten in die Luft sprengte. Mindestens 30 Menschen wurden verletzt. Nähere Angaben lagen zunächst nicht vor.
Gestern hatte ein Selbstmordattentäter bei einer Trauerfeier von Schiiten im irakischen Makdadija mindestens 36 Menschen mit in den Tod gerissen. Die neue Eskalation der Gewalt steht offenbar im Zusammenhang mit der Regierungsbildung nach der Parlamentswahl vom 15. Dezember.
Some 120 killed in one of Iraq's bloodiest days
Thu Jan 5, 2006 12:43 PM ET
KERBALA/RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers killed 120 people and wounded more than 200 in attacks near a Shi'ite holy shrine and a police recruiting center on Thursday, the bloodiest day in Iraq for four months.
Seven U.S. soldiers were killed in two roadside bomb attacks, three bombs exploded in Baghdad and insurgents sabotaged an oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk, causing a huge fire.
Coming a day after 58 people died in a wave of bombings and shootings, the latest bloodshed ratcheted up tension between Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs and majority Shi'ite Muslims.
The suicide bombers struck in Kerbala, one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest cities, and Ramadi, a Sunni Arab stronghold in western Anbar province and a hotbed of the insurgency.
"This is a war against Shi'ites," said Rida Jawad al-Takia, a senior member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the country's leading Shi'ite parties.
"Apparently to the terrorists, no Shi'ite child or woman should live," he told Reuters. "We are really worried. It seems they want a civil war."
The bombings shattered hopes Iraq might start 2006 on a more peaceful footing than in 2005, allowing for a swift withdrawal of some of the 150,000 U.S. troops in the country.
BLOODIEST WEEKS
In all, violence has killed more than 240 people and wounded more than 280 in the five days since the New Year started, a death toll comparable with some of the nation's bloodiest weeks since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
Thursday's U.S. death toll was the highest for a single day since last month's parliamentary elections, which have yet to produce a government. Final results from the vote are expected soon but it could be months before a new parliament is formed.
President Jalal Talabani blamed the attacks on "groups of dark terror" and said they would fail to stop Iraqis forming a national unity government capable of meeting the demands of the country's rival sects and ethnic groups. Continued ...
Thu Jan 5, 2006 8:36 AM ET
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RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - The death toll from Thursday's suicide bomb attack on police and army recruits in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi has risen to over 60, with more than 70 wounded, a doctor at the local hospital said.
Dr Mahmoud al-Dulaimi from Ramadi general hospital said some U.S. soldiers were among the wounded, but could not say how many.
Five were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and two were killed by a similar device near the southern city of Najaf.
Neue Bush-Analyse
Ungeachtet einer neuen Gewaltorgie im Irak mit mehr als 100 Toten spricht US-Präsident George W. Bush von "verdammt guten Fortschritten". Den größten Erfolgsschub werde es jedoch geben, wenn die Iraker es selbst mit den Feinden aufnehmen können, die ihre Demokratie stoppen wollten, sagte Bush am Donnerstag in Washington.
Aufgrund der anhaltenden Kritik an seiner Irak-Politik hatte Bush ehemalige Außen- und Verteidigungsminister der demokratischen und republikanischen Partei zu einer "Ideen-Beratung" ins Weiße Haus eingeladen. Er habe die Chance, sich deren Ideen und Vorschläge anzuhören, sagte Bush. Nicht alle an dem Tisch seien mit dem Irak-Krieg einverstanden gewesen und er werde sich die Ratschläge zu Herzen nehmen.
An dem Treffen nahmen auch die derzeitigen Außen- und Verteidigungsminister, Condoleezza Rice und Donald Rumsfeld, sowie der Oberkommandierende der US-Streitkräfte im Irak, General George Casey, und US-Botschafter Zalmay Khalilzad teil.
Angesichts schlechter Umfragewerte hat Bush in den vergangenen Wochen versucht, mit einer Reihe von Grundsatzreden die US-Bevölkerung vom langfristigen Nutzen des Irak-Krieges zu überzeugen. Der Präsident räumte während dieser Reden auch Fehler ein.
Two more were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Thursday, the military said, taking the total U.S. death toll for the day to nine. The military had said on Thursday that five U.S. soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on their patrol in the capital.
Iraqi police also said on Thursday that two U.S. soldiers were killed in a blast that destroyed their Humvee near the southern city of Najaf, but the U.S. military has not confirmed those deaths.
The confirmed deaths take the total number of U.S. fatalities since the start of the war to oust Saddam Hussein to 2,191, according to Reuters figures.
In the Ramadi bombing, a suicide bomber blew himself up as 1,000 men waited in line to be security screened at a glass and ceramics works which had been turned into a temporary recruiting centre. Hospital sources said 70 people were killed and 65 wounded.
The U.S. military said in a statement a Marine and a soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) were killed in the blast.
Insurgents have often attacked Iraqi police and army recruits, who the Americans hope will eventually replace them in the fight against the largely Sunni Arab insurgency, allowing U.S. troops to withdraw.
Many young Iraqi men are drawn to work in the security forces by the promise of relatively high pay, although thousands have been massacred.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Eleven U.S. troops -- eight soldiers and three Marines -- were among about 140 people killed in attacks across Iraq Thursday, military officials said. It was the deadliest day in Iraq in nearly four months.
A U.S. soldier and a U.S. Marine were killed in a major suicide bombing targeting an Iraqi police recruitment center in Ramadi, the military said Friday. Both were assigned to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Their deaths bring the number of people killed in the Ramadi attack to at least 82, along with about 70 wounded. (More on what happened)
In addition, two U.S. Marines were killed by small arms fire in separate attacks during combat operations in Falluja, the military said. The Marines were assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Also, a roadside bomb killed two Task Force Baghdad soldiers on patrol in the Baghdad area of operations, the military said Friday. That incident was under investigation.
And five other Task Force Baghdad soldiers died in a separate roadside bombing near Baghdad.
The names of the soldiers and Marines were withheld pending notification of relatives. Since the war began, 2,193 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.
Thursday's violence also included a suicide bomb attack in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, where 45 people were killed and 82 wounded, police and hospital officials said. The attacker detonated his explosives near two Shiite shrines, the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.
The area has been closed off and police are investigating, said police spokesman Rahman Mishawi.
Karbala, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, has been relatively free of violence for the past year.
Asked if the attacks were a sign that the December elections had failed to diminish the insurgency in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace said the opposite was true.
Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that with each of the country's three elections, voter turnout increased, indicating that "the terrorists failed at each of their primary missions of stopping the vote."
"What's clear to me is that each of the elections has been a major blow to al Qaeda," Pace said at a Pentagon news conference Thursday. "I think what you're seeing now is a continuing attempt to disrupt the proper formation of the Iraqi government, and I'm confident they will fail."
Other developments
A homemade bomb damaged a main pipeline carrying oil from the country's largest refinery in Baiji to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Kirkuk's police chief said.
U.S. President George W. Bush and his top aides met Thursday with more than a dozen former secretaries of defense and state at the White House, Reuters reported. Bush said he would "take to heart" the suggestions the former policy-makers had for the U.S. strategy in Iraq. (Full story)
von Sami Jumaili - Kerbela (Reuters) - Nach den schweren Anschlägen auf Schiiten im Irak der vergangenen Tage schlägt die Trauer unter den Angehörigen der Opfer zunehmend in Wut um. Rufe nach Vergeltung wurden am Freitag lauter. Doch führende Geistliche riefen ihre Glaubensbrüder weiter zur Zurückhaltung auf. In Kerbela sagten einige Einwohner, für die Schiiten sei die Zeit gekommen, sich selbst zu verteidigen. Dort waren am Vortag mindestens 53 Menschen bei einem Selbstmordanschlag getötet worden. Zwar hat sich niemand zu dem Attentat bekannt, doch zweifelt in der den Schiiten heiligen Stadt niemand daran, dass radikal-sunnitische Moslems dahinter stecken.
"Das ist zuviel", sagte etwa Mohammed Abbas Haidar. "Ich wünschte, mir würde grünes Licht gegeben, gegen diese Leute zu kämpfen und ihnen eine Lektion zu erteilen." Die Rufe nach Zurückhaltung treffe die Schiiten wie die Bomben selbst. Ladenbesitzer Dschabbar Nasr stimmte ihm zu: "Sunniten stecken hinter diesem Verbrechen. Ich fordere von unseren schiitischen Institutionen die Erlaubnis, zurückzuschlagen." Wütend fügte er fragend hinzu: "Wie lange sollen wir noch ruhig bleiben?"
Schiitische Spitzenpolitiker zeigten sich von der jüngsten Anschlagserie schockiert, bei der in den vergangenen drei Tagen landesweit etwa 180 Menschen getötet wurden, die meisten von ihnen Schiiten. Ein führender Schiiten-Politiker bezeichnete die Taten als "einen offenen Krieg" gegen seine Religionsgemeinschaft. Die Anschläge verschärfen die Spannungen zwischen den religiösen Gruppen weiter und begraben Hoffnungen auf ein Nachlassen der Gewalt im neuen Jahr nur wenige Wochen nach den Parlamentswahlen Mitte Dezember.
In Kerbela vermuten viele, dass die Attentäter mit den Anschlägen den Druck auf die neue Regierung erhöhen wollen, die auch nach den jüngsten Wahlen erneut von Schiiten dominiert werden dürfte. "Was hier geschieht ist eine Warnung an die schiitischen Parteien und die Regierung, dass alle schiitischen Provinzen das gleiche erleiden werden, sollte den sunnitischen Forderungen nicht nachgegeben werden", sagte der 27-jährige Kasem Sain. Die Sunniten fordern eine angemessene Beteiligung an der Regierung.
Am Donnerstag hatte in Kerbela ein Attentäter seinen Sprengstoffgürtel in einer belebten Straße unweit des Imam-Hussein-Schreins gezündet. Die Stadt war erst zwei Tage zuvor Schauplatz von Gewalt, nachdem es dort fast ein Jahr lang relativ ruhig geblieben war. Im März 2004 waren in Kerbela bei koordinierten Selbstmordanschlägen während eines religiösen Festes mehr als 90 Menschen getötet worden. Seit dem Sturz des sunnitischen Präsident Saddam Hussein dominieren Schiiten und Kurden die irakische Politik. Viele Sunniten fühlen sich daher ausgegrenzt und kämpfen gegen die Regierung in Bagdad und die US-Truppen, die sie als Besatzer ansehen. Die Ergebnisse der Parlamentswahlen bezeichnen führende sunnitische Politiker als gefälscht.
"Bush, you must confess that you have been defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan and you will be too in Palestine soon," he said in the video broadcast by Al Jazeera television.
Jazeera said the video, which had English subtitles, carried the date of the Muslim lunar month which ended in December.
"I congratulate the Muslims on Islam's victory in Iraq. I said more than a year ago that the Americans departure from Iraq is only a matter of time," said the bespectacled Zawahri, who wore a white turban and sat next to an assault rifle.
Bush, who has refused to set a timetable for any withdrawal, said on Wednesday reducing U.S. troops in Iraq was possible in 2006.
But he said any cuts would be based on the situation on the ground and decisions by military commanders, not on a political timetable imposed by Washington.
The satellite television station aired a brief portion of the tape of Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, and said other excerpts would be broadcast later on Friday.
Bin Laden and Zawahri have eluded capture since U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government in 2001 after the September 11 attacks on the United States by al Qaeda.
Critics of Bush have demanded a quick withdrawal from Iraq, where about 2,200 American military personnel have been killed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and say the president needs a clear exit strategy
Übersicht
Der Stellvertreter von Al-Kaida-Führer Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Sawahiri, hat US-Präsident George W. Bush in einer heute veröffentlichten Video-Botschaft aufgefordert, seine "Niederlage im Irak" zuzugeben.
"Bush, Du musst zugeben, dass Du im Irak besiegt worden bist", hieß es in der Aufnahme von Zawahiri, die der arabische Fernsehsender Al-Jazeera ausstrahlte. US-Pläne zu einer Verringerung der Truppen im Irak bezeichnete er als "Sieg" für den Islam.
"Bald auch in Palästina besiegt"
Bush sei von den Moslems besiegt worden, sagte der Vize des Terrornetzwerks. Auch in Afghanistan sei der US-Präsident dabei zu verlieren, und "mit Gottes Kraft und Hilfe" werde er auch in Palästina bald besiegt sein, sagte Zawahiri weiter.
Nach Angaben von Al-Jazeera stammt die Botschaft aus dem moslemischen Monat Sul Kwida, der in der vergangenen Woche zu Ende gegangen ist. Die USA hatten einen Teilabzug ihrer Truppen aus dem Irak für die Zeit nach den Parlamentswahlen Mitte Dezember angekündigt.
Friday, January 6, 2006 Posted: 1904 GMT (0304 HKT)
(CNN) -- An Arabic language news network has aired a video of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, in which he called on U.S. President George W. Bush to admit defeat in Iraq.
Al-Jazeera said the video, which is about a minute long, was made in December.
According to CNN's translation of the video, Ayman al-Zawahiri offers his condolences to Pakistan for the October 8 earthquake before congratulating fellow Muslims for what he says is a victory in Iraq.
He refers to a November 30 speech in which Bush reiterated the U.S. position that its military would leave Iraq once Iraqi forces were fully trained, without laying out a timetable.
The video, which had been edited, shows the gray-bearded al-Zawahiri seated, wearing glasses, a white headdress, a white sash, a gray shirt and a clip-on microphone.
As he speaks, he is constantly pointing at the camera with his right hand, but his voice remains calm. Behind him is a gun propped up on a brown wall.
The video has English subtitles and shows the logo of the production company, As-Sahab, which has produced previous al Qaeda videos as well as videos from the 9/11 bombers.
Here is the full translation of the video as it aired on Al-Jazeera:
"Even though I send my condolences to my Islamic nation for the tragedy of the earthquake in Pakistan, today I congratulate everyone for the victory in Iraq. You remember, my dear Muslim brethren, what I told you more than a year ago, that the U.S. troops will pull out of Iraq. It was only a matter of time.
"Here they are now and in the blessing of God begging to pull out, seeking negotiations with the mujahedeen. And here is Bush who was forced to announce at the end of last November that he will be pulling his troops out of Iraq.
"He uses the pretext that the Iraqi forces reached a high level of preparedness. But he doesn't have a timetable for the pullout.
"If all of his troops -- air force, army -- are begging for a way to get out of Iraq, will the liars, traitors and infidels succeed in what the world superpower failed to achieve in Iraq?
"You have set the timetable for the withdrawal a long time ago and Bush, you have to admit that you were defeated in Iraq, you are being defeated in Afghanistan, and you will be defeated in Palestine, God willing."
Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor with a $25 million reward on his head, released five audio and video statements last year, including several claiming responsibility for the July attacks on London's transit system.
In mid-October, U.S. officials released a letter they said was written by al-Zawahiri to the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in July about seeking support for Iraqi insurgents ahead of a U.S. withdrawal.
Days later, al Qaeda in Iraq posted an Internet statement calling the letter "another fabrication ... by the Black House," using its term for the White House.
Osama bin Laden has not been seen on videotape since October 2004.
"This level of violence, I think as we've seen, is an anomaly. We see these spikes periodically," Army Gen. George Casey said on CNN.
On Thursday, suicide bombers in Kerbala and Ramadi killed more than 120 Iraqis, and 11 U.S. troops died in four insurgent attacks.
"These attacks of the past days, I believe, have been intended by the foreign fighters and the Iraqis that are supporting them to foment sectarian tension during a vulnerable period of the formation of the government," Casey said. "But I don't think it's on the brink of civil war."
Casey, in Washington for meetings with President George W. Bush and Pentagon leaders, differed with remarks made on Tuesday by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who preceded him as top commander in Iraq before leaving in 2004.
"The country's on the verge of a civil war," Sanchez told soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq during a ceremony in Heidelberg, Germany, the military affairs newspaper Stars and Stripes reported.
Senior Shi'ite Muslim religious and political leaders urged restraint on Friday after some Shi'ites called for retaliating against Sunni Arab militants they blame for Thursday's suicide bombing in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala.
Shi'ites make up 60 percent of Iraq's population but were oppressed by the minority Sunni Arabs under President Saddam Hussein, who also persecuted Iraq's Kurdish population. The new government is expected to be dominated by Shi'ite Islamists.
'WHAT THE TERRORISTS WANT'
Casey sought to downplay this week's violence.
"We can't let what's happened the last few days distract us from the progress that's been made over the last year. That's what the terrorists want," Casey said. Continued ...
Using U.S. military deaths as a gauge, the level of violence caused by the insurgency has remained consistent over the past two years. In 2004, there were 848 U.S. military deaths; in 2005, there were 846.
The eleven deaths on Thursday made it the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Iraq since December 1, taking U.S. fatalities since the start of the war in March 2003 to 2,193.
Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson, who commands forces in Iraq's most violent province, forecast a decline in bloodshed over the next year and said recent operations in Anbar province have "taken the insurgent off of his stride."
Johnson, briefing reporters at the Pentagon from Iraq, said the insurgency will continue "until the political process has time to develop."
"I think over the next year you'll see a decline in violence as the folks here realize that there are alternatives that they haven't had before," Johnson said.
Johnson said recent counter-insurgency operations in the western part of Anbar province hurt the insurgency.
"I believe that we, in most recent operations in Al Anbar, in the western Euphrates River Valley in particular, have taken the insurgent off of his stride. We have dealt a blow to al Qaeda," Johnson said.
Johnson said Thursday's suicide attack on police recruits in the western Sunni Arab city Ramadi had "all the markings" of being the work of the Iraq chapter of the al Qaeda network, but added there was no evidence to support that conclusion.