Baghdad explosion kills 11

BAGHDAD — A suspected suicide bombing and two assassinations yesterday shattered more than two weeks of relative calm following the transfer of authority from U.S.-led forces to an Iraqi interim government.

The day began with a powerful explosion in central Baghdad. At least 11 persons died and another 40 were wounded, including one American soldier.

Later yesterday, insurgents tossed hand grenades and fired machine guns at a government convoy near the northern city of Mosul, killing Gov. Youssef Kashmola and two of his guards, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry yesterday also reported the assassination of an Iraqi auditor in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad on Tuesday evening.

The explosion rattled windows throughout Baghdad shortly after 9 a.m. yesterday, near the British Embassy and less than 50 yards from the main entrance for pedestrians into the green zone, the nerve center of the interim government.

A four-wheel-drive vehicle with three or four occupants slowed down at the joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint and exploded before it could be searched, according to U.S. military officials.

“This is naked aggression against the Iraqi people,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who visited the scene about 90 minutes after the blast. “We will bring these criminals to justice.”

Mr. Allawi said the attack was retaliation for the government’s arrest of 500 criminals and terror suspects a day earlier.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any of Iraq’s insurgent groups.

But a statement posted on a Web site yesterday and attributed to Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi claimed responsibility for a mortar attack near Mr. Allawi’s home last week.

The statement said Zarqawi’s militant group would continue to pursue Mr. Allawi, whom insurgents view as a collaborator with the 160,000 foreign troops in Iraq.

“We are after you,” the statement said.

President Bush, campaigning in Wisconsin, said Zarqawi was probably behind the Baghdad car bombing.

Reflecting the tough stand he has taken in his war against terrorism, he said he would not negotiate with Islamist militants, whom he called cold-blooded killers. “Therapy is not going to work with them,” he said.

Mr. Allawi’s office is inside the green zone, less than a mile from where the car bomb exploded yesterday. Neither Iraqi nor U.S. officials could say what the specific target might have been.

Security precautions had been raised hours earlier in anticipation of an attack on the anniversary of the 1958 overthrow of a British-installed monarchy.

“The car detonated before it was searched,” said Col. Mike Murray of the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, which has primary responsibility for patrolling Baghdad.

He said it was probably a suicide bombing, because no one had gotten out of the car.

Violence around the country since the transfer of power has killed scores of U.S. soldiers, Iraqi national guardsmen and civilians.

But Baghdad, despite several daylight gunbattles and fatal mortar attacks, had been relatively calm before yesterday’s bombing.

The bomb gouged a crater in the road, and pulverized a section of the 8-foot-tall concrete wall at the green zone perimeter. Several vehicles lay twisted and melted.

Within seconds the scene became bedlam: People panicked, ambulances raced to the wounded and military helicopters swarmed the sky. U.S. tanks closed off nearby streets as Iraqis fled on foot.

The attack came hours after a terrorist group claimed it had killed one of two Bulgarian hostages and the Philippine government announced it had begun withdrawing its military force in Iraq in an attempt to save the life of an abducted truck driver.

The bombing marked the most significant assault against U.S. or Iraqi targets since the American-led occupation turned authority over to an interim Iraqi government on June 28.

The attack near Mosul came several hours later.

Insurgents tossed hand grenades and fired machine guns at a convoy that was transporting the governor to Baghdad.

The Tuesday evening shooting killed Sabir Karim, an auditor at the Interior Ministry. Mr. Karim was the second auditor in Iraq’s interim government to be slain by insurgents.

At the time of the car bombing, many civilians were waiting in line to apply for jobs, presumably with the new Iraqi government or multinational forces.

“We were thrown on the ground. Then I saw many dead people on the ground,” said Alla Hassan, a witness to the attack.

The Iraqi Health Ministry said 10 persons were killed. The U.S. military put the toll at 11, four Iraqi national guardsmen and seven Iraqi civilians.

The wounded U.S. soldier was grazed by shrapnel and would probably return to his duties shortly, Col. Murray said.

The green zone is a heavily fortified fortress in the heart of Baghdad, containing the offices and living quarters for more than 1,000 U.S. civilians working here.

The new U.S. Embassy is within its concrete barriers, as are the offices of the interim Iraqi government and the British Embassy.

The area is also the site of the Republican Palace and myriad office, commercial and residential buildings.

Its checkpoints have often served as a backdrop for tumultuous demonstrations, car bombings and assassination attempts.

In May, the president of the since-disbanded Iraqi Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim, was killed in a suicide car bomb attack as he entered the compound.

U.S. officials said they anticipated trouble yesterday, a holiday commemorating the 46th anniversary of the nationalist coup that overthrew Iraq’s last king, Faisal II.

However, they had no specific threats against the green zone.

Meanwhile, Philippine Foreign Ministry sources said truck driver Angelo dela Cruz was in no danger and might be home as early as today, after the government began acceding to insurgent demands that it withdraw its troops.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.