A suicide bomber swerves his sedan across a highway median and
detonates it in a police convoy in south-east Baghdad, in the worst of
several attacks and gun battles that leaves at least 25 people dead and
dozens wounded. The violence comes amid demonstrations and sharpening
sectarian tensions across Iraq over the coming nationwide referendum on
Iraq's constitution. American military officials have said they
expect to see more attacks as the Oct 15 referendum approaches. The
suicide bombing in Baghdad killed three members of an elite police
commando unit and six civilians, including several people selling bread
outside a bakery not far away, witnesses said. South of the capital in
Musayyib, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his payload in a
crowd of civilians near a well-known Shiite shrine, killing six people
and wounding 19, Interior Ministry officials said. Attacks on Shiite
civilians, one of the Sunni-led insurgency's chief targets, have
grown in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the
most notorious terrorist in Iraq, declared an "all-out war on
Iraq's Shiites". Musayyib was the site of a suicide bombing in
July that left 71 people dead, in one of the worst single attacks Iraq
has yet seen. Nearby in the town of Hilla, a bomb placed on a bicycle
exploded Sep 25 morning in a street full of bookshops, killing one
civilian and wounding 20, Interior Ministry officials said. The violence
came hours after gun battles broke out early Sep 25 morning in Baghdad
between militia fighters loyal to the renegade Shiite theologian Muqtada
Al Sadr and American and Iraqi troops, Iraqi officials said. At least
seven Iraqis died in the violence in Sadr City, the Shiite slum in
north-east Baghdad, the officials said. The violence began when gunmen
ambushed an Iraqi patrol that was trying to capture an insurgent cell
believed to have carried out kidnappings and torture, American military
officials said in a statement. US forces responded for reinforcement,
and the ensuing gun battle lasted for 90 minutes. The fighting was the
first between American forces and Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army,
since August 2004, when Sadr led a bloody uprising in Najaf. Tensions
between Sadr's followers and the coalition have grown since last
week, when British forces arrested to high-ranking Mahdi members, and
militia fighters later attacked British tanks during a British raid on
an Iraqi police station. But Sadr City remained quiet throughout the
day. Sadr issued an order not to retaliate so as to spare the blood of
Iraqis, said Abdel Hadi Al Daraji, a spokesman for the theologian. Also
on Sep 25, heavily armed gunmen ambushed a minibus belonging to finance
ministry in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district, killing two guards
and making off with $850,000 in cash, Interior Ministry officials said.
Nine other guards were injured in the robbery, the officials said. West
of Baghdad in Ramadi, more than 1,000 people rallied to protest the
constitution, Reuters reported. Sunni Arab leaders have angrily
criticised the document and called for Iraqis to vote against it in the
referendum, saying its provisions on regional autonomy will further
divide the country. The march came a day after thousands of Shiites
marched in support of the charter in Basra.
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