Iraqi defense official slain

BAGHDAD — Gunmen yesterday killed a senior Iraqi defense official and a suicide bomber blew up a Baghdad police station, killing 10 and wounding at least 60, as insurgents continued a deadly campaign targeting Iraq’s new government.

The fresh reports of violence came just hours before a convoy of Philippine soldiers crossed the border into Kuwait, completing a much-criticized withdrawal in order to win the release of a kidnapped Philippine truck driver.

The Bush administration, the new Iraqi government and several governments in the international security force have criticized Manila for evacuating troops a month earlier than planned, saying it will fuel terrorism and hostage-taking.

The assassinations and suicide attacks on Iraqi authorities have become a familiar pattern in recent weeks.

Issam Jassem Qassim, director-general of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, was shot by three gunmen outside his southern Baghdad home, government officials said.

His death follows the slayings of a senior official of the Industry and Minerals Ministry and the governor of the northern Nineveh province last week, as well as an attack of the convoy of the new Iraqi justice minister Saturday that killed five of the minister’s bodyguards.

In a separate incident, the body of Lt. Col. Nafi al-Kubaisi, the police chief of the town of Heet, was discovered yesterday at a market in nearby Fallujah, officials said. The police chief had been kidnapped Saturday from his police station, Capt. Nasir Abdullah said.

And in the northern city of Mosul, Leith Hussein Ali, a broadcaster and a leader of the local ethnic Turkoman community, was killed and two others injured when their car came under fire, police said.

Yesterday’s deadliest attack came when insurgents drove a loaded fuel tanker into a police station in Baghdad.

The explosion leveled the police station as well as nearby car-repair shops and other businesses in the industrial area. Most of the victims were Iraqi civilians, although many police were just lining up for the day, waiting for their assignments.

Flames from the tanker were still leaping skyward an hour after the blast, as volunteers grimly collected body parts several yards away.

“We were all standing in a row, listening to our officer as he gave us our assignment for the day,” said Mehdi Salah Abed Ali, 32, lying in a bed at al-Yarmuk hospital, a bandage around his leg. “There were many policemen standing in the square when the tanker exploded,” he told the Associated Press.

British officials announced that a British helicopter crashed yesterday near Basra, killing one, but Defense Minister Geoff Hoon said in London he did not believe the helicopter had been shot down by insurgents.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has promised to crack down on insurgents and restore security to the country.

Mr. Allawi, in his first foreign trip since taking office June 28, discussed the security situation with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and thanked him for helping train thousands of Iraqi troops.

Iraq also took its first step toward re-engaging the world less than a month after regaining sovereignty. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced 43 new ambassadors, who will head to countries across the globe, including nearly all Arab nations.

Iraq’s new government, struggling for control at home, cautioned other countries in the region not to take advantage of its difficulties.

Mr. Zebari, who is scheduled to meet fellow foreign ministers of neighboring countries at a conference in Cairo this weekend, told reporters that countries surrounding Iraq must not exploit Iraq’s continued instability.

“I will explain the political and security situation in Iraq, and seek cooperation on security matters,” Mr. Zebari said. “No one should believe they will benefit from undermining Iraq’s security, … especially Iraq’s neighbors.”

U.S. officials say international commitment to Iraq remains strong, but have not tried to hide their unhappiness with the Philippine government’s decision to withdraw its small military humanitarian mission a month ahead of schedule.

An Islamist militant group threatened to kill hostage Angelo dela Cruz, a father of eight, if the Philippine troops were not removed. The threat placed enormous strain on the government of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

A group led by Jordanian-born al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi seized two Bulgarians earlier this month and released video footage showing one of them being beheaded.

Zarqawi’s group has already killed an American and a South Korean hostage ,as well as the Bulgarian, dressing them in orange jumpsuits that mimic those worn by Muslim prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and beheading them.

Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for many of the deadliest car bombings in Iraq and is the U.S. military’s prime target in the country, with a $25 million price on his head.

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