String of car bombs kill 24 in Iraq

BAGHDAD - A string of car bombs killed at least 24 people in Iraq Friday, ramming home to the new government in Baghdad that insurgents are as strong as ever.

Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq appeared to make the same point in an audio tape, purportedly made by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last month, in which the Jordanian vowed more suicide attacks.

Nine car bombs targeted Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and the nearby town of Madaen, a bloody display of capabilities one day after a new government was formed. The top US general said this week the rebels were as strong as they were a year ago.

Eighty-nine people, mostly police and National Guardsmen, were also wounded, underscoring the security challenge facing Iraq's new leaders after three months of post-election wrangling that appears to have emboldened the insurgency.

Hours after four bombs killed at least 13 people in the Aadhamiya district of the capital, insurgents struck in the New Baghdad area, killing two people with the increasingly common tactic of following one strike with another.

After a first car bomb hit a National Guard convoy, police who had gathered at the scene were struck by a second car bomb.

In a pattern of violence that has raised concerns over sectarian tensions, insurgents also struck in the town of Madaen, where police say tit-for-tat kidnappings and killings between Shi'ites and Sunnis have been on the increase.

Three car bombings killed at least nine Iraqi soldiers and wounded 35 in attacks near a checkpoint, at a hospital and at the post office in the town south of Baghdad, police said.

In the relatively tranquil Kurdish city of Arbil, insurgents blew up a bomb disposal expert as he tried to defuse a roadside bomb, police said. The blast also killed a civilian.

ELECTED GOVERNMENT

Although Iraq's first democratically elected government in more than 50 years was a relief for Iraqis who endured three decades of iron-fisted rule under Saddam Hussein, they want their new leaders to quickly deliver on promises of stability.

But that will not be easy. Washington's military commander said this week that insurgents are just as capable as they were one year ago and were mounting up to 60 attacks a day.

The 275-seat parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of a cabinet proposed by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a devout Shi'ite Muslim, ending a power vacuum that had served to dissipate much of the optimism created by the Jan. 30 election.

But Jaafari failed to name permanent ministers to five key portfolios, including oil and defence, and a top Sunni Muslim official criticized the new government as sectarian. Two deputy prime minister posts are also left vacant in the cabinet.

Iraq's new leaders said the government reflected its ethnic and sectarian diversity, a theme politicians frequently stressed in a country where Shi'ites and Kurds are the new powers and Sunnis, who dominated under Saddam Hussein, have been sidelined.

Iraqi officials accuse the Sunni Muslim Zarqawi of mounting suicide bombings designed to spark civil war.

Officials believe capturing Zarqawi, who has a $25 million US bounty on his head, would weaken the insurgency. But he remains elusive, despite frequent US and Iraqi government claims that forces have been hot on his trail.

The latest Zarqawi tape posted on the Web appeared to have been recorded last month. It warned President Bush that his troops would face more danger in Iraq.

"We promise God that the dog ... Bush will not enjoy peace of mind and that his army will not have a good life as long as our hearts are beating," the speaker said. "We are coming." Zarqawi also warned fellow insurgents against taking up any offer of negotiation from the Americans or their Iraqi allies.

"WHY ARE THEY KILLING US?"

The four car bombs in Baghdad shook the Aadhamiya district, where insurgents are active. One struck a restaurant crowded with security force personnel eating breakfast, police said.

Explosions gutted shops, destroyed cars and left pools of blood in the street.

"Why are they killing innocent Iraqis? Why are they trying to set Sunnis and Shi'ites apart?" asked onlooker Adnan Aziz Salman, inspecting the destruction of one of the car bombs.

"They should go and kill our occupiers. We don't care who our leaders are. We just want security."

Reuters Television footage showed Iraqi police and US military vehicles gathered at one of the bombings in Baghdad. Minutes later a second car bomb exploded nearby.

Many Iraqis are hoping that their security forces and police will improve their skills and take charge of security so that some 150,000 US troops can leave the country.

But as the car bombs in Baghdad showed, Iraqi forces can barely protect themselves against the guerrillas, who have killed more than 300 of their comrades in the past six weeks.

President Bush, who phoned Jaafari to congratulate him on forming the government, said progress was being made in Iraq despite the insurgency but declined to set a timetable for withdrawing US troops.

"I don't think it's wise for me to set out a timetable. All that will do is cause an enemy to adjust," Bush said.

(additional reporting by Omar Anwar and Michael Georgy)

- REUTERS