BAGHDAD, Feb. 9 -- Gunmen killed at least six Iraqis Wednesday -- three members of a Kurdish political party, a Housing Ministry official, a reporter for a U.S.-funded television network and his 3-year-old son -- and the U.S. military announced the deaths of four soldiers as attacks continued around the country in the aftermath of Jan. 30 parliamentary elections.
Iraqi officials said final election results, which were expected to be announced by Thursday, would be delayed to allow a recount of the contents of about 300 ballot boxes.
Relatives mourn the death of Abdul Hussein Khazal and his 3-year-old son who were killed in front of their home in Basra. Khazal was a reporter for the U.S.-funded al-Hurra television channel.
(Atef Hassan -- Reuters)
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In a brazen attack, gunmen killed Abdul Hussein Khazal, 40, and his son, Karrar, in front of their home in the southern city of Basra, witnesses said. Khazal reported for Virginia-based al-Hurra, which was launched in February 2004 as a counter to the Arabic-language television networks al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya, which U.S. officials contend broadcast anti-American propaganda. Khazal was also an official of Dawa, a prominent Shiite political party, and a spokesman for the Basra city council.
Witnesses indicated that the gunmen did not hesitate to open fire on Khazal, even though he was with his son. Hatem Aqeeli, who was standing nearby, said the gunmen converged from both sides and attacked Khazal and his son as they were in Khazal's pickup. Aqeeli said the assailants fired at least 13 times.
Asked to assess the efforts of U.S. and Iraqi forces seeking to stem the insurgency, a senior U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad told a group of reporters: "First of all, I think this is going to take quite a number of years. I do not see an early end."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "the most optimistic scenario" was a political solution that both reassures and protects Iraq's Sunni Arab minority combined with increased military pressure that would make the insurgents "less and less effective."
"And then," the official said, "it will still take you years."
An average of about 18 people a day have been killed in Iraq in the 10 days since the elections. The attacks have largely targeted Iraqi soldiers, police officers and army and police recruits, but the incidents reported Wednesday underscored that insurgent violence is not limited to such groups or by geography.
Insurgents attacked an oil pipeline before dawn about 15 miles north of the town of Baiji, setting the pipeline ablaze. A security guard hired to protect the site said that he and other guards fled before the attack because they had been warned by the insurgents.
"Let me say it frankly: We are afraid of these people," said Mahmoud Mohammed, 21. "They came to us and threatened us if we do not cooperate with them or if we resist them, they will kill us. So when they came, we went immediately to our rooms and they attacked the pipeline. We don't want to lose our lives. They know everything about me: my family, my house. Even the authorities in Baiji know them, but they cannot do anything to them because they are afraid."
At 7:30 a.m. in Baghdad, four armed men dragged Riyadh Gatea Alaiwi from his BMW and abducted him while he was on his way to work in the Interior Ministry's operations department. Lt. Col. Hussein Shammari of the Interior Ministry said Alaiwi had been talking to another officer while still in his car when the assailants approached in a red vehicle and tried to kidnap both men. The other officer was able to flee, Shammari said.
Later in Baghdad, a Housing Ministry director was assassinated while driving in his car. And on Haifa Street, the scene of numerous clashes between U.S.-led forces and insurgents, gunmen ambushed and killed three members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. That attack came two days after partial election returns boosted the main Kurdish slate into second place, making it likely that representatives of the Kurdish minority will wield considerable power in the new parliament.
In brief statements, the U.S. military announced that one soldier was killed Wednesday in an ambush in Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad; one soldier was shot and killed Sunday in the northern city of Mosul, where violence has surged since security conditions were relaxed following the elections; and on Tuesday, one soldier was killed and another was wounded in an attack on a convoy in Balad. Another soldier was found dead of a gunshot wound at Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Balad on Monday, but the cause of the incident was being investigated, the military reported.
Meanwhile, trials for members of former president Saddam Hussein's government are scheduled to begin within the next several weeks, a Western legal expert told reporters. The expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was not known who would be tried first, but Hussein's cousin, Ali Hassan Majeed, is expected to be among the first. Majeed is widely known as "Chemical Ali" for ordering the use of poison gas against Kurds in the late 1980s.
Special correspondents Bassam Sebti and Omar Fekeiki in Baghdad contributed to this report.
